HelpDesk - Aras SLA for Helpdesk KB
IT Service Level Agreement
Aras Helpdesk follows an industry-standard framework called ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), which is designed to standardize the selection, planning, delivery, maintenance and overall lifecycle of IT services within a business. The goal is to improve efficiency and achieve predictable service delivery.
This framework is here to help inform Aras practitioners how we process and prioritize the helpdesk tickets we receive everyday. Aras IT averages 750 tickets per month that get handled by approximately 25 agents.
Tickets – or incidents as they are called – are handled based on a Priority Service Level. That LEVEL is a combination of an incident’s Urgency (High, Medium, or Low) and its Impact on the Organization (High, Medium, and Low). The following table shows the resulting incident priority based on determined impact and urgency:
Impact
H
M
L
Urgency
H
1
2
3
M
2
3
4
L
3
4
4
Priority Service Levels (SLA)
Aras IT operates five days a week in approximately 5 of the world’s 24 time zones. The following table shows the resulting Service Level Agreement (SLA) based on the calculated priority. Days are measured in work-days, and do NOT include weekends when calculating our Target Resolution Time.
Priority Code
Description
Target Response Time
Target Resolution Time
1
Critical
1 Hour
4 Hours
2
High
4 Hours
12 Hours
3
Medium
8 Hours
2 Days
4
Low
24 Hours
5 Days
Incident Urgency (Categories of Urgent)
Urgency measures how quickly an incident needs to be resolved based on business needs and is used in the prioritization scheme to help manage workload. What is most misunderstood by users is that urgency takes into account severity. So while you may be inclined to believe your password reset request is “Highly Urgent”, by ITIL standard it is classified as “Low”. Incidents with higher urgency will be addressed before others unless an SLA breach is imminent. Categories of urgent are shown below.
Category
Description of Urgency
High (H)
- This incident type is defined on the high urgency incident list
- The damage caused by this incident is severe and/or will increase rapidly
- The incident prevents time sensitive work from being completed
- Acting immediately on this incident will prevent a major incident from occurring
- This incident pertains to information or data security
- More than one user with VIP status is affected
- The incident is being escalated by a member of the management team
Medium (M)
- The damage caused by this incident will increase over time
- The effort to resolve this incident will increase over time
- A single VIP user is affected
Low (L)
- The damage caused by this incident will not increase or will increase minimally over time
- The impacted work is NOT time sensitive
- The effort to resolve this incident will NOT increase over time
Incident Impact (Categories of Impact)
The measure of impact takes into account the number of individuals affected, their profile in the organization, as well as any possible financial implications. We determine this according to the guidelines described in the table below.
Category
Description of Urgency
High (H)
- A large number of staff (more than 1 department) are affected and are prevented for working
- More than one VIP User is affected and is prevented for working
- A large number of customers/employees (TBD) are affected or severely disadvantaged in some way
- A high profile or strategic customer is affected or severely disadvantaged in some way
- The financial impact of the incident is significant and will likely exceed $10,000
- The will be significant damage to the reputation and/or image of the company
Medium (M)
- A moderate number of staff (1 department) are affected and are not able to perform their job properly. There may be a workaround for the incident
- More than one VIP User is not able to perform their job effectively. There is a workaround for the incident
- A moderate number of customers are affected or inconvenienced in some way
- A high profile or strategic customer is affected and inconvenienced in some way
- The financial impact of the incident is moderate and will likely exceed $1000 but not exceed the threshold for High Impact
- The will be moderate damage to the reputation and/or image of the company
Low (L)
- A single user or minimal number of staff are affected and are able to perform their job with additional effort. There is an acceptable temporary workaround for the incident
- A minimal number of customers are affected or inconvenienced but not significantly
- The financial impact is likely to be less than $1000
- There is minimal or no damage to the reputation of the business