SLA Calculation Skill
This skill teaches Claude how to calculate Service Level Agreement (SLA) deadlines for support tickets.
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when the user requests:
- "Calculate SLA for this ticket"
- "When is the response due?"
- "What's the deadline for this ticket?"
- "Check SLA compliance"
- "Is this ticket at risk?"
SLA Matrix
Response Time Requirements
| Customer Tier |
Urgency |
Response Time |
Business Hours |
| Enterprise |
URGENT |
Immediate |
24/7 |
| Enterprise |
HIGH |
< 1 hour |
24/7 |
| Enterprise |
MEDIUM |
< 4 hours |
Business hours |
| Enterprise |
LOW |
< 24 hours |
Business hours |
| Standard |
URGENT |
< 1 hour |
24/7 |
| Standard |
HIGH |
< 4 hours |
Business hours |
| Standard |
MEDIUM |
< 4 hours |
Business hours |
| Standard |
LOW |
< 24 hours |
Business hours |
Business Hours Definition
- Business hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (local timezone)
- 24/7 coverage: For Enterprise URGENT/HIGH and all URGENT tickets
- Weekend/holiday handling: Business hours SLAs pause, 24/7 SLAs continue
Calculation Process
Step 1: Identify Inputs
Gather:
- Submission time: When ticket was created
- Customer tier: Enterprise or Standard
- Urgency level: URGENT, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW
- Current time: For calculating time remaining
- Timezone: Customer's local timezone (default: UTC)
Step 2: Determine SLA Window
From the matrix above, find:
- Response time requirement
- Business hours vs 24/7
Step 3: Calculate Deadline
For 24/7 SLAs:
deadline = submission_time + response_time
For Business Hours SLAs:
1. Start from submission_time
2. Add response_time in business hours only
3. Skip weekends and holidays
4. Calculate final deadline
Step 4: Calculate Time Remaining
time_remaining = deadline - current_time
percent_remaining = (time_remaining / total_sla_time) * 100
Step 5: Determine Risk Level
- On track: >50% time remaining (green)
- At risk: 20-50% time remaining (yellow)
- Critical: <20% time remaining (red)
- Breached: Past deadline (red alert)
Examples
See examples.md for detailed calculation scenarios.
Example 1: Enterprise URGENT - 24/7
Inputs:
- Submission: Monday 2:00 PM
- Tier: Enterprise
- Urgency: URGENT
- SLA: Immediate
Calculation:
- Response time: Immediate (interpret as 15 minutes for system purposes)
- Coverage: 24/7
- Deadline: Monday 2:15 PM
- Type: Page on-call immediately
Example 2: Standard MEDIUM - Business Hours
Inputs:
- Submission: Friday 4:00 PM
- Tier: Standard
- Urgency: MEDIUM
- SLA: < 4 hours (business hours)
Calculation:
- Response time: 4 business hours
- Coverage: Business hours (M-F 9am-5pm)
- Friday 4pm + 1 hour = Friday 5pm (end of day)
- Remaining 3 hours → Monday 9am + 3 hours
- Deadline: Monday 12:00 PM
Example 3: Enterprise HIGH - 24/7
Inputs:
- Submission: Saturday 10:00 PM
- Tier: Enterprise
- Urgency: HIGH
- SLA: < 1 hour
Calculation:
- Response time: 1 hour
- Coverage: 24/7 (enterprise high priority)
- Deadline: Saturday 11:00 PM
- Weekend doesn't matter (24/7 coverage)
Business Hours Calculation Rules
Same Day Submission
If submitted during business hours with time remaining:
submission: Monday 2pm
SLA: 4 business hours
Monday 2pm + 4 hours = Monday 6pm
BUT: Business hours end at 5pm
Monday 2pm → 5pm = 3 hours used
Remaining: 1 hour carries to Tuesday 9am
Deadline: Tuesday 10am
Weekend Submission
Business hours SLAs start next business day:
submission: Saturday 10am
SLA: 4 business hours
Next business day: Monday 9am
Monday 9am + 4 hours = Monday 1pm
Deadline: Monday 1pm
Holiday Handling
Holidays counted as non-business days:
submission: Thursday 3pm (day before holiday Friday)
SLA: 4 business hours
Thursday 3pm → 5pm = 2 hours used
Holiday Friday: skipped
Monday 9am + 2 hours = Monday 11am
Deadline: Monday 11am
Escalation Triggers
Escalate when:
- < 20% time remaining and still unassigned
- < 10% time remaining and not with senior engineer
- SLA breached → Alert manager + create incident
- Enterprise ticket at risk → Alert team lead
Output Format
{
"ticket_id": "TICK-12345",
"submission_time": "2025-01-17T14:00:00Z",
"customer_tier": "enterprise|standard",
"urgency": "URGENT|HIGH|MEDIUM|LOW",
"sla_window": "1 hour",
"coverage_type": "24/7|business_hours",
"deadline": "2025-01-17T15:00:00Z",
"current_time": "2025-01-17T14:30:00Z",
"time_remaining": "30 minutes",
"percent_remaining": 50,
"risk_level": "on_track|at_risk|critical|breached",
"escalation_needed": false,
"next_checkpoint": "2025-01-17T14:48:00Z"
}
Special Cases
Immediate Response (URGENT)
"Immediate" = operational definition:
- Immediate acknowledgment: Auto-reply sent immediately
- Initial response: < 15 minutes
- On-call paging: Immediately upon classification
- Escalation: If not picked up in 5 minutes
Timezone Handling
If ticket includes timezone:
- Calculate deadline in customer's timezone
- Convert to UTC for system tracking
- Display in customer's timezone in responses
If timezone unknown:
- Default to UTC
- Note assumption in output
- Recommend timezone confirmation
Multiple SLA Tiers
Some tickets qualify for multiple SLAs:
- Enterprise customer + URGENT → Use strictest (Immediate)
- Take minimum response time when ambiguous
- Document which SLA rule applied
Quality Checklist
Before finalizing SLA calculation:
Integration with Classification
Typically used after ticket classification:
- Classify ticket (urgency + category)
- Calculate SLA deadline
- Check time remaining
- Determine if escalation needed
- Route to appropriate queue with priority
Tips
Calculating business hours:
- Count only M-F 9am-5pm
- Skip weekends entirely
- Holidays = non-business days
- Partial days calculated hour-by-hour
Handling edge cases:
- Submission at 4:59pm → 1 minute to EOD, rest next day
- Submission at 5:01pm → Starts next business day at 9am
- Submission during holiday → Starts next business day
Risk monitoring:
- Auto-check SLA status every 15 minutes
- Alert at 50%, 20%, 10%, 0%
- Escalate before breach, not after
Success Criteria
A good SLA calculation should:
- ✅ Be accurate within 1 minute
- ✅ Account for business hours correctly
- ✅ Handle timezones appropriately
- ✅ Identify escalation needs proactively
- ✅ Provide clear risk status
- ✅ Enable SLA monitoring and reporting
