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

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](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:

• Customer tier identified correctly
• Urgency level confirmed
• Business hours vs 24/7 determined
• Weekends/holidays accounted for
• Timezone handled appropriately
• Risk level calculated accurately
• Escalation triggers checked

Integration with Classification

Typically used after ticket classification:

1. Classify ticket (urgency + category)
2. Calculate SLA deadline
3. Check time remaining
4. Determine if escalation needed
5. 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:

1. ✅ Be accurate within 1 minute
2. ✅ Account for business hours correctly
3. ✅ Handle timezones appropriately
4. ✅ Identify escalation needs proactively
5. ✅ Provide clear risk status
6. ✅ Enable SLA monitoring and reporting