SLA Configuration in JSM with Ticket Categories (IR, CR, SR) and Multiple Calendars

[Shasheekant Patel]

Dear Community,

I am setting up SLA configurations in Jira Service Management (JSM) premium plan and need guidance on handling different ticket categories with multiple calendars.

Use Case:

We have a JSM project where we need to manage SLAs based on:

1. Ticket Categories – Incident (IR), Change Request (CR), and Service Request (SR).
2. Multiple Calendars – Some clients operate on a 9-5 business hours (Mon-Friday), 9-5 business hours (Mon-Sunday) calendar, while others require 24/7 support based on product entitlements.
3. Default Workflow – The project follows a standard workflow, and SLA targets should apply dynamically based on the ticket category and the respective calendar.

Requirements:

• SLA timers should be linked to the correct calendar based on ticket category (IR, CR, SR) and client entitlements.
• Some clients have different SLA agreements based on the product they are entitled to.
• The system should automatically apply the correct calendar and SLA metrics upon ticket creation.

Challenges:

• How can we map different calendars to specific ticket categories in JSM?
• Can we automate SLA assignment based on ticket category and product entitlement (perhaps via automation rules or custom fields)?
• What is the best approach to configure SLA targets dynamically when multiple calendars and ticket categories are involved in a single JSM project?
• Can we use any best suitable plugin for shift roster in this use case to automate the SLA's.

I would appreciate any best practices, automation suggestions, or alternative approaches that the community has successfully implemented.

Thanks in advance!

[Rilwan Ahmed]

Hi @Shasheekant Patel ,

• How can we map different calendars to specific ticket categories in JSM? 
  --> Explained below. 
• Can we automate SLA assignment based on ticket category and product entitlement (perhaps via automation rules or custom fields)?
  --> No need of separate automation rule. SLA goals will auto assign the SLA's based on conditions. 
• What is the best approach to configure SLA targets dynamically when multiple calendars and ticket categories are involved in a single JSM project
  --> Make use of appropriate JQLs to filter issues and priorities to set up calendars. 

Settings SLA and Goals:

Under your project settings --> SLAs, create required calendars based on working days and time.

Now again go to SLA tab and create the required SLA and in goals section, mention the required JQL to filter issues and map the calendars.

You can create multiple goals and map different SLA to each goals.

Example: in Goals, you can write JQL as 
Type = ServiceRequest and product entitlement = ABC --> map to calendar 1 based on priority
Type = ServiceRequest and product entitlement = XYZ --> map to calendar 1

More details about SLA and goals are explained in https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/create-service-level-agreements-slas/

[Jack Brickey]

Hi @Shasheekant Patel , based on what you have provided here at all, seems possible and precisely how SLAs work. The one question I have is exactly what you mean by ticket categories here what field or fields will be used to identify ticket categories? If you have not already done so, I recommend that you read the documentation on how to configure SLAs. create-service-level-agreements-slas 

please note that you don't associate calendars to categories here but rather you set up your goals and within the goals, you associate whatever calendar you want. For example, in a single goal, you might have multiple calendars such as 24x7 for critical issues and business hours for non-critical.