SLA policies
Set first-response and resolution time targets for every conversation and get alerted before deadlines are missed.
SLA (Service Level Agreement) policies define the maximum time your team should take to first respond to and fully resolve a conversation. Liya tracks these timers automatically and alerts agents and managers before deadlines are breached.
SLA targets
Each SLA policy has two targets:
- First response time — how long until the customer receives their first reply from an agent (AI drafts sent automatically do not count unless auto-send is enabled)
- Resolution time — how long until the conversation is fully resolved
Business hours vs calendar hours
| Clock type | How it counts | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Business hours | Timer pauses outside configured business hours and weekends | Most support teams; customers expect slower responses out of hours |
| Calendar hours | Timer runs 24/7 regardless of business hours | Enterprise SLAs with 24/7 commitments or critical infrastructure support |
Set your business hours in Settings → General → Business hours. Each SLA policy can independently use business or calendar hours.
Creating an SLA policy
Go to Settings → Automations → SLA Policies
Click Create SLA policy.
Name the policy and set targets
Example: "Enterprise 1h/4h" — first response: 1 hour, resolution: 4 hours (business hours).
Set the clock type
Choose Business hours or Calendar hours.
Configure breach alerts
Set when to alert agents and team leads:
- Warning at: e.g. 75% of the time elapsed (30 minutes for a 1h SLA)
- Breach at: when the deadline is reached
- Alert channel: in-app notification, Slack, or email
Assign the policy via routing rules
SLA policies don't apply to all conversations automatically — assign them via automation rules. Example: "If contact attribute plan = 'Enterprise' → apply SLA policy: Enterprise 1h/4h".
You can also set a default SLA policy in Settings → Automations → SLA that applies to all conversations without a specific policy assignment.
SLA status indicators
The Liya inbox shows a real-time SLA countdown for every open conversation:
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green timer | SLA is on track — time remaining before first response or resolution deadline |
| Amber timer | Warning threshold reached — less than 25% of SLA time remaining |
| Red timer | SLA breached — first response or resolution deadline has passed |
| Grey (—) | No SLA policy assigned to this conversation |
Pausing SLA timers
The SLA first-response timer pauses automatically when an agent sends a reply and the conversation is waiting for a customer response. The resolution timer continues running.
You can also manually pause SLA timers on a conversation (e.g. waiting for a third-party response) from the conversation header → Options → Pause SLA. Pausing requires a reason and is logged in the audit trail.
SLA reporting
The Analytics dashboard includes an SLA Compliance report showing:
- First response SLA compliance rate (% of conversations receiving a reply within target)
- Resolution SLA compliance rate
- Average first response time and average resolution time by priority, group, and channel
- Breach trend over time — useful for identifying whether SLAs are getting worse