3 easy steps to set up reliable SLAs in Jira Service Management

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When support tickets pile up and customer patience runs thin, reliable SLAs (Service Level Agreements) become your best ally.

They bring clarity, accountability, and calm into what can otherwise be a chaotic support process.

               

                        With reliable SLAs your team is ready whatever comes next

If you're a Jira admin or part of a support operations team, set up SLAs right from the start. 

This practice will help you avoid unnecessary escalations, unmet expectations, and “phantom” breaches" (they can haunt your projects for a long, long time 👻).  

Based on best practices and our own experiences, here are three must-do steps to make your SLAs in JSM truly foolproof.

Step #1: Automate SLA tracking right after issue creation

Imagine your customer raises a request via customer portal and the SLA timer doesn’t kick off until someone manually touches the issue. 

In the meantime, the clock ticks, but you’re not tracking it—until the client escalates.

When SLAs aren’t triggered as soon as an issue is created, response times may be miscalculated, potentially resulting in inaccurate reports and SLA breaches.

To prevent this, make sure your SLA timer starts the moment an issue is created.

🔧 How to do it in JSM (Cloud):

1. Go to your project and click on Project settings > SLAs.
2. Click Create SLA (or edit an existing one).
3. Set goals and priorities.
4. Under Start counting time when, select Issue Created
5. Optionally, under Pause counting time when, choose a status like Waiting for customer.
6. Under Finish counting time when, select Issue Resolved or a suitable stop condition.
7. Click Save.

✅This configuration enables accurate tracking, prevents delays in SLA enforcement, and holds teams accountable from the moment a request is submitted.

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Step #2: Align SLA calendars with actual work hours

Nothing’s more frustrating than a SLA marked as “breached” just because it arrived on a Sunday or during a holiday. 

Unfortunately, default JSM SLA tracking doesn’t always recognize regional calendars or time zones, especially for global teams.

Here is a method (with pro tips) recommended by our customer support experts at Deviniti.

🔧 How to do it in JSM (Cloud):

1. Before you jump to SLA, create a dropdown custom field called "Customer location details" in the Jira configuration.

2. This "Customer location details" must be added to the form on the Customer Portal so that customers can complete it when creating a request. It should be mandatory.

3. Now, go to Project settings > SLAs.

4. Create calendars with work hours and holidays for each of your teams.

5. Add SLA.

6. Create a goal by filling in the "Apply to work items" field and entering the customer location details there using JQL. Complete the calendar and the time target (duration).

7. Change the calendar to an appropriate team’s calendar and set time duration.

8. Add all customer location regions for a SLA goal to be properly assigned to work items.

9. Set the correct conditions for the SLA to: start, pause and end.

10. Change the SLA information display to due date centric or time centric.

11. Click Save.

✅ And voila! This setup prevents phantom breaches and aligns SLA tracking with your team’s real schedules.

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Step #3: Make SLA progress visible

Jira Service Management natively doesn’t show SLA metrics to customers—only to agents. That means customers may not realize how quickly their issue is being handled. This is one of the common challenges discussed here, on forums. 

Making SLA progress visibly builds trust, manages expectations, and reduces follow-up questions.

There are no workarounds here, but there are additional tools like SLA Time Management you can use to control SLA visibility. 

🔧 How to show SLA to customers using SLA Time Management app:

1. Open the app and go to the SLAs tab.
2. Click Add SLA.
3. Type a name and choose a project.
4. Set a goals.
5. In the conditions section define start, stop, and pause conditions.
6. Scroll down to Visibility settings.
7. Check the box: Enable SLA tracking for customers on Customer Portal.
   
   

The result looks like this:

💬 Customers will now see how much time remains to get a first reply or resolution, which keeps them informed and reassured.

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Final thought

SLAs aren’t just internal benchmarks—they’re promises to your customers. 

By starting timers on time, using realistic calendars, and making SLA progress visible, your Jira Service Management setup becomes more transparent, and customer-centric.

You don’t need to overhaul your whole system to get there. Start with these three essential steps, and your team (and customers) will feel the difference.

What are your best practices and golden rules when it comes to SLA management in JSM? Share your thoughts in the comments :)