SLA for Software Teams

The standard SLA module in Jira Service Management doesn't allow measuring time to resolution in Jira Software projects. This is a pain point to many scrum masters and project managers, who can't precisely calculate the time spent on development. This can be sometimes worked around using heavy scripting, but it's neither convenient nor reliable.

The Challenge

There's a software delivery team working in a Scrum methodology. This team divides its work into epics (which stand for features) and stories. The Scrum Master wants to know how long does it take to deliver an epic (and therefore add a new feature to the app). Independently, the Scrum Master wants to measure how fast is a single story delivered.

The Solution

Thanks to SLA PowerBox we configure two separate SLA Clocks - for Epics (measuring the time from creation until implementation) and for Stories (from defining to resolving). The Scrum Master also sees a Due Date clock, showing when an Epic is close to 1, 2 or 3-month delivery date, depending on priority setting.

Business Process SLA

Managing business processes in Jira is becoming a common thing. It's not unusual - especially in the IT industry - to make the HR or Finance department work using the tool. The challenge is how to measure the time to resolution - e.g. when it comes to accepting a business trip, mission expenses or vacation form.

The Challenge

The Manager wants his HR department to work within specifically defined time boundaries, so no situations happen in which someone hasn't got their mission expenses reimbursement on time, or there are problems with invoicing due to a delay. He can set due date to every issue type created via a post-function, but this won't allow him to get specific measurements or the notification to the HR department employees. Service Management licenses are on the other hand too expensive. The solution comes in the form of setting different SLA goals for each application.

The Solution

The Admin can set a simple SLA Goal for each issue type (e.g. for vacation, business trip or mission expenses), display the clock both to the requestor and the employee handling the application and send an email notification when the SLA goal is almost fulfilled and the second one, when the SLA goal is breached.

SLA for Field Engineers

There's more to Service Level Agreements than just IT and corporate world. Companies that provide hardware support - like maintaining elevators or electric substations - also sign such agreements and need to measure time to resolution.

The Challenge

The thing is that a Field Engineer doesn't really have to be a Jira expert or even have access to it. The Engineer is dispatched to fix a certain problem, goes to the Customer, spends a few hours finding a problem and applying a solution, then comes back and briefs you with resolution time and other useful details. The problem is that you don't know any of this until the issue is resolved, and this means, that with standard SLA tools you cannot record the time in any way.

The Solution

Here's when SLA PowerBox comes to the rescue with the Negotiated Start Date feature. Your SLA Clock for Field Engineers, unlike a standard one, can be filled after the service has been provided, and the time spent on the resolution is negotiated with the Customer and recorded in the system.