Service Level Management

Service targets are a means of monitoring and measuring performance of a service provider. In BMC Helix Business Workflows, case business analysts can configure service targets for case and task records by defining the service-level measurements and service-level milestones.

Service target statuses

A progress bar on a case or task details page displays the status of a service target related to that record. If multiple service targets apply to the record, the progress bar displays the status of each service target. The progress bar is automatically refreshed with a default time interval of 1 minute or if the status of the record is updated.

The service target is displayed in working days instead of in hours. The number of days is calculated considering the holidays based on the case site. For example, a service target is defined with a goal of resolving a case in 2 days. If a case is created by using that service target on a Monday, and the next day is a holiday, the time shown to complete that case is displayed as 3 days.

The following sections describe how multiple service targets are displayed on a progress bar, and the color codes and icons of the progress bar:

Color codes and icons on the progress bar for service targets
Progress bar with multiple service targets
Common scenarios with multiple service targets

Color codes and icons on the progress bar for service targets

The following table explains the colors and icons associated with each status, and the corresponding overall service target status displayed on the case and task workspaces. When multiple service targets are attached to a record, the Overall SLM status displays the worst-case status.

Progress bar color	Service target status	Example	Overall SLM status
Green	In progress or met (Measurement is in progress and within time limit)		Within time limit
Red	Missed Goal (Measurement has missed the service target but is still active) Missed (Measurement has missed the service target and is closed) Missed Goal Pending (Measurement has missed the service target and is then paused)		Breached
Orange	Warning (Measurement has reached the warning stage and is in progress) Warning Pending (Measurement has reached the warning stage and is paused)		Warning
Grey	Pending (All measurements for a single service target or multiple service targets are paused)	Single service target paused Multiple service targets paused	Pending

Progress bar with multiple service targets

If a record has multiple service targets associated with it, the service targets are displayed in ascending order of the time that is required to meet the service target.

For example, a request has the following service targets:

Review time (due in 10 minutes)
Resolution time (due in 2 minutes)
Response time (met)

The progress bar displays the response time, resolution time, and review time in that order, as shown in the following figure:

status bar with mutiple service targets.png

Common scenarios with multiple service targets

The following table shows how the progress bar is displayed in common scenarios when service-level goals are missed or met:

Scenario	Example
SLA has multiple service targets One service target is missed SLA has not ended
SLA has multiple service targets Two service targets have the same due date
SLA has multiple service targets All the service targets are paused SLA has not ended
SLA has multiple service targets Only one service target is paused SLA has not ended

Service-level goals

A service target specifies the request goals of a service provider based on the request type and priority. The request goals can of the type response time, resolution time, and so on. A goal determines whether a service target was met or missed.

For example, an employee requests for an employment proof document. An agent has a goal to provide the document within seven working days. This is a request-based goal type and can be called Request Resolution Time.

A SLM Manager defines the goals while configuring service targets.

Service-level measurements

The support staff uses service-level measurements to perform the following tasks:

Monitor the progress of a case or task
Calculate delays in resolving a case or task
Determine whether a goal is met or missed

Service-level measurements contain the conditions to start, end, pause the time calculations for a case or task. Depending on the measurement conditions, Service Level Management (SLM) updates the status of the service targets associated with a case or task.

The following conditions and flags can be defined in SLM:

Terms and conditions—Qualification to define when a service target is applicable to case and task

Start When—Condition to define when to start the measurement of a service target

Stop When—Condition to define when to stop the measurement of a service target

Pause When—Condition to define when to pause the measurement of a service target

Reset goal—Flag to reset the measurement of a service target after the reset condition is met.

Reopen goal—Flag to reopen a service target. The measurements are reopened when the Start When condition is met and the measurement continues from the previous status.

A service target is applied to a record when the Terms and conditions, and Start When qualifications are true. If the Terms and conditions qualifications are true, but the Start When qualification is not true, the measurement record is not created for the service target.

Service-level milestones

Milestones are the mechanism that help track service target commitments and help users to take action before service targets are missed. The SLM manager defines a set of milestones that trigger actions at certain points as a case or task progresses toward the service target goal.

For example, in BMC Helix Business Workflows, an employee requests a proof of employment document. The agent must provide this proof within seven days and the milestone is configured at 50 percent (3.5 days). After 3.5 days, the agent is notified that 3.5 days are left to provide the employment-proof document.

In BMC Helix Business Workflows, you can configure the following types of milestones:

Milestone	Example
Percentage of time from the start or end of the measurement (Specify the time in percentage from the start or end of the measurement)	For a service target that starts at 10:00 A.M., ends at 11:00 A.M., and has a milestone at 75% from the start, the milestone action triggers at 10:45 A.M. For a service target that starts at 10:00 A.M., ends at 11:00 A.M., and has a milestone at 75% from the end, the milestone action triggers at 10.15 A.M.
Hours and minutes from the start or end of the measurement (Specify the number of hours and minutes from the start or end of the measurement)	For a service target that starts at 10:00 A.M., ends at 11:00 A.M., and has a milestone at 0 hours 45 minutes from the start, the milestone action triggers at 10:45 A.M. For a service target that starts at 10:00 A.M., ends at 11:00 A.M., and has the milestone at 0 hours 45 minutes from the end, the milestone action triggers at 10.15 A.M.

Note

While you create or update a case or task, the milestone execution fails and the milestone record is deleted, if you perform the following tasks in less than a minute after a milestone action executes:

reopen a measurement,
reset a goal,
add service targets to group,
or reattach or remove service targets.

Actions associated with milestones

You can configure the following actions for a milestone:

Send an email
Send an alert notification (BMC Helix Business Workflows provides a default notification that is sent when the task and case SLAs are missed.)
Set field
Send a notification by setting a specific value in a record definition field

Viewing the milestones

To view milestones for service targets associated to a case or task, click the icon on the progress bar on the case or task view.

The following table shows how the milestones are displayed:

Scenario	Example
Single service target with single milestone
Single service target with multiple milestones
Two service targets with same due date and multiple milestones