3 tools to track SLA in Jira

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Providing great service isn’t just about responding to requests—it’s about doing it on time and meeting expectations. That’s where Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) come in. They help teams define response and resolution times, ensuring issues don’t slip through the cracks. If you use Jira, keeping track of SLAs is key to staying on top of service commitments and keeping customers happy.

In this article, we will explore three tools that help track and manage SLAs effectively:

1. Jira Service Management – Atlassian’s native ITSM solution.

2. SLA Time and Report – a powerful SLA tool that helps Jira Software users automate SLA tracking, prevent breaches with real-time alerts, and generate detailed reports for better service accountability.

3. Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses – an advanced SLA management tool that automates tracking metrics, provides proactive alerts, and ensures teams stay compliant with response and resolution time goals.

Let’s dive into each tool and see how they can enhance your SLA tracking.

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What is a Service-Level Agreement (SLA)?

A Service-Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract between a service provider and a customer that defines the expected level of service. It includes key performance indicators (KPIs) such as response time, resolution time, and uptime guarantees. Keeping track of SLAs in Jira helps teams stay accountable, meet deadlines, and keep customers happy by ensuring requests are handled on time.

The importance of SLAs in Jira

SLAs help organizations set clear expectations for service delivery, improve accountability, and measure performance effectively. For IT teams and customer support departments using Jira, monitoring SLAs ensures:

• Timely responses to customer issues

• Improved efficiency and productivity

• Better compliance with service obligations

• Increased customer satisfaction and trust

To achieve these goals, Jira users need powerful SLA tracking tools. Below are three solutions that help monitor and manage SLAs effectively.

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1. Atlassian’s Jira Service Management

Jira Service Management (JSM) is Atlassian’s native solution for IT service management (ITSM). It offers built-in SLA tracking, automation, and reporting features, making it a robust choice for managing service teams.

Key Features:

• Custom SLA metrics: Set goals based on issue priority, request type, or support hours.

• Automated escalations: Trigger notifications or reassign tickets when SLAs are at risk.

• Reports & dashboards: Track SLA performance with visual reports and historical data.

• Integration with Confluence: Create knowledge bases to help resolve issues faster.

While JSM is a solid solution, it is best suited for teams using Jira Service Management rather than Jira Software.

📌 SLA Tracking in JSM

JSM provides built-in SLA tracking that allows teams to define, monitor, and enforce SLA within service projects. Key performance indicators include:

      ✔ Time to First Response – Measures how quickly agents respond to a request.

      ✔ Time to Resolution – Tracks the total time taken to resolve an issue.

SLA policies can be customized based on priority levels, request types, and pause conditions.

JSM Integrations for ITSM & Knowledge Management

JSM integrates with Atlassian tools to enhance service management:

      📂 Confluence – Links knowledge base articles to tickets for faster issue resolution.

      💡 Opsgenie – Provides incident alerting and on-call management for critical issues.

      🔍 Insight Asset Management – Helps track assets, dependencies, and service relationships.

These features make JSM a powerful, all-in-one ITSM solution with seamless SLA tracking and automation. 🚀

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2. SLA Time and Report for Jira

For those using Jira software or looking for an advanced solution for tracking Service Level Agreements, SLA Time and Report by SaaSJet offers greater flexibility and in-depth analytics.

Key Features:

• Flexible SLA configurations and rules – Configure SLAs based on various conditions, such as status changes, priority levels, assignee, or custom issue types. Define multiple SLAs for different projects, ensuring tailored tracking. The multi-calendar feature allows excluding non-working hours, weekends, and holidays for precise SLA calculations. You can also set up pause conditions (e.g., waiting for a customer response) and configure reset or multi-cycle SLAs for better control over SLA workflows.

• Real-time tracking – View live SLA countdown timers directly on the SLA Grid, helping teams instantly monitor deadlines. Color indicators (Met, In Progress, Exceeded) make it easy to track SLA status across issues. SLA progress is also visible on the Issue Tab, ensuring teams stay proactive in managing deadlines and avoiding breaches.

• Detailed Reporting – Generate custom SLA reports to analyze performance trends and track SLA compliance. The SLA Grid Report provides a structured analysis of SLA metrics for each issue, filtered by key criteria such as assignee, severity, priority, or custom fields. The SLA Pie Chart Gadget can be added to Jira dashboards for a visual representation of SLA fulfillment vs. breaches. Export reports in XLSX, CSV or other format for audits, compliance checks, or further analysis in external tools.

• Automated actions and SLA breach alerts – Set up automated workflows to reassign overdue issues, adjust priorities, or escalate tasks when SLAs are at risk. Real-time alerts notify teams when an SLA is close to breaching or has already been exceeded. Automate status transitions, comment updates, and notification triggers to ensure SLA compliance with minimal manual effort.

This tool is especially useful for teams that need a fully autonomous SLA management system within Jira. 🚀 With SLA tracking, you can monitor response and resolution times for customer-facing support requests. Meanwhile, OLA tracking allows internal teams (e.g., DevOps, IT, and Engineering) to measure performance and optimize service delivery across departments.

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3. Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses

For teams struggling with SLA breaches and unclear issue progress, Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses is a real solution. Add-on automates SLA tracking, eliminates manual follow-ups, and provides real-time visibility into issue transitions. Whether you're tracking response time, resolution time, or custom cycle times, it ensures accurate insights that help stay compliant with SLAs.

Key Features:

• Automated SLA Tracking & Alerts – Eliminate manual SLA monitoring with automated tracking, real-time alerts, and color-coded warnings to ensure issues never breach deadlines unnoticed.
  

• Customizable SLA Metrics for Any Workflow – Define SLA rules tailored to your team’s needs, tracking response time, resolution time, and workflow-specific cycle times with precision.

• Data-Driven SLA Optimization – Gain actionable insights with detailed reports, histograms, and exportable data to continuously improve response efficiency and meet SLA targets.

• Seamless SLA Visibility Across Jira – Instantly see SLA progress in Jira issue views, dashboards, and reports, ensuring transparency and accountability across teams.

This tool is particularly effective for Agile teams looking to analyze issue resolution times and improve their workflow efficiency.

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Final Thoughts

Keeping track of SLAs in Jira isn’t just about following rules—it’s about making sure work gets done on time, customers aren’t left waiting, and teams can stay focused without constantly chasing overdue tasks. Without proper monitoring, delays can pile up, service expectations can be missed, and teams can become overwhelmed with overdue tasks.

Investing in robust SLA management means fewer delays, better collaboration, and stronger relationships with both customers and internal teams. With the right approach, businesses can turn SLA tracking from a reactive process into a proactive strategy for continuous improvement. 🚀