https://esm-guide.com/en/tags/priority/Recent content in Priority on ESM GuideHugoen-USFri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://esm-guide.com/en/blog/defining-support-slas/Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://esm-guide.com/en/blog/defining-support-slas/<blockquote> <p><strong>In short:</strong></p> <ol> <li>An SLA rests on a priority matrix crossing urgency and impact, never on urgency as declared by the requester.</li> <li>Two distinct commitments are required: response time and restoration time.</li> <li>Calibration is done on the median actually observed, not on a theoretical target.</li> <li>Without pausing the clock while waiting on the requester, the metric becomes unfair and stops being used.</li> </ol> </blockquote> <h2 id="what-an-sla-actually-commits-to">What an SLA actually commits to</h2> <p>A <strong>service level agreement</strong> is a commitment made to users on measurable turnaround times. It does not describe an ambition, it describes an enforceable promise. This is why an SLA set above the team&rsquo;s real capacity produces the opposite of the intended effect: breaches become the norm, and nobody looks at the indicator any more.</p>