Is there a way to pause SLA/ due date timers?

[Daniel]

Hi,

I was thinking about using trello to track my operations units work. As many other service providers we have strictly set SLAs. However if we are for example waiting for the customer to specify some information or if some customer request is waiting for some actions on their side our time SLAs pause. I am going to provide you with an example of what I would need:

First of all I create a card which in this case represents some customer request. I will set a due date on the card based on the urgency of this request. Lets say that the due date is 3 days and 4 hours from the time I created the card. If after lets say 1 day after working on the card I realize that I need some additional information from the customer I will write him an email and wait for him to respond. During this time I need the due date pause/prolong for the time until the customer replies, thus I need a list in which for the time being there the due date on the card will be moved forward. after I take the card out of the list the due date will then proceed as usual.

Is this butlerable/manageble?

Thank you,

Daniel

[Alina Kurinna _SaaSJet_]

Hi @Daniel 

Trello by default doesn't support SLA tracking or due date pausing in this way

What you can do (with workarounds):

1. Use Labels + Butler to Track Status

You could create a workflow like this:

• Add a "Waiting for Customer" label.

• Use Butler to move the card to a “Waiting” list and record the timestamp (e.g. in a custom field).

• When the card moves back, calculate the time spent waiting and adjust the due date forward.

But… this gets complex very quickly.

2. Better option: Use a Jira + SLA App Setup

If you’re open to exploring Jira, you’ll get native SLA support – and even more control with Marketplace apps.

For example, with the SLA Time and Report, you can:

• Pause SLA timers when the status is "Waiting for Customer"

• Define Start / Pause / Stop conditions per workflow

• Use custom calendars (e.g. 9–5, Mon–Fri)

• Get real-time SLA indicators, reports, and escalation rules

• Export reports for internal reviews or customer audits

So your exact use case – "Pause SLA when waiting for customer, then resume" – is fully supported, and no workarounds or calculations are needed.

Let me know if you have any questions – happy to help!

Regards!

[a_a_alinichenko]

I think this power up can be very helpful for you - 

https://trello.com/power-ups/68b4314f96890de06fde5889

You can create some SLAs and timers which will be started automalically depend on your custom conditions

[Daniel]

Hi all,

thank you very much for such a swift response. I pretty much like the button idea and if that could be implemented (a card having a due date "pause" and "unpause" button) I think I would not even need to have it automated. Would that make it easier?

Once again thank you,

BR,

Daniel

[milynnus]

@Daniel 

Look for power up that allows you to clock them. It will allow you to display the clocked time and you can use the to adjust the due date since you do not need it to be automated. Gaining access to power up data is not always possible to use it for automation. It will depend on the design.

[Brittany Joiner]

@Daniel welcome to the community! This definitely sounds butlerable.... but I'd have to think through it a bit more. Off the top of my head, I'm imagining a card button that creates a custom field with the timestamp of the "pause" date, but i don't know how to do the math between the difference of that timestamp vs the due date to see what time is remaining. if you could figure out that part, and say it's like "2" days remaining, then you could update another custom number field with that number, and then create another card button to "unpause" and set the due date to be x days (whatever the value of that custom field is). 

Maybe a combination of Amazing Fields and Butler? (Amazing Fields can do calculations based on fields, but it doesn't work with automation, so you'd have to mirror those fields to Butler fields... but i haven't played with this yet enough to know for sure how that would work and if it can read due dates.)

Also would need to confirm you can put a variable in the set due in _ days action action, but I think you can. 

cc @milynnus what do you think?

[milynnus]

@Brittany Joiner  @Daniel 

You can do {cardduedate + {{%Number}}d} but I have not figure out a way to get difference two two dates using Trello automation without using the http request to an endpoint.