2.3 Service Level Agreements (SLAs) & Urgency Calculations

2.3 Service Level Agreements (SLAs) & Urgency Calculations

In enterprise operations, completing work accurately is only half the battle—work must also be completed on time. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) in Pega Platform defines business commitments for work timeliness, tracks milestone deadlines, and triggers automated escalations when those commitments are at risk of breach.

SLAs directly manipulate Urgency, a numerical metric that drives the Get Next Work engine to prioritize critical tasks across the enterprise.

---

1. SLA Rules and the Four Time Intervals

An SLA is defined using a Service Level rule (Rule-Obj-ServiceLevel). An SLA rule measures time across four standardized operational intervals:

Start of Interval ────[ Goal ]────> [ Deadline ] ────[ Passed Deadline ]────>
      (T=0)          Target Time     Required Time         (Repeats N times)

The Four Milestone Intervals

1. Start of Interval ($T=0$):

   • Defines when the SLA timer begins ticking.
   • For an assignment SLA, the interval typically starts the moment the assignment shape is instantiated (pxCreateDateTime).
   • Can be configured to start dynamically based on a future DateTime property (e.g., .PolicyEffectiveDate or .ScheduledAuditDate) or calculated via a When rule.

2. Goal Interval:

   • Defines the targeted or ideal duration within which the work should be completed.
   • Represents organizational excellence and optimal customer service.
   • Example: "Review insurance claims within 4 business hours."

3. Deadline Interval:

   • Defines the mandatory duration within which the work must be completed before it is officially late.
   • Represents contractual commitments, legal compliance limits, or regulatory boundaries.
   • Example: "Adjudicate claim within 24 hours of filing."
   • Note: Deadline time is measured from the Start of Interval, not from the expiration of the Goal!

4. Passed Deadline Interval:

   • Begins after the Deadline has expired without the task being completed.
   • Unlike Goal and Deadline (which fire exactly once), the Passed Deadline interval can be configured to repeat at fixed increments (e.g., "Every 2 hours") up to a defined repetition limit (e.g., "Repeat 3 times").
   • Used for escalating alerts and urgency increments until the overdue task is completed.

---

2. Urgency Calculation Mechanics

In Pega, task priority is quantified through Urgency—an integer value that spans from 10 to 100.

Core Urgency Properties

• .pyUrgencyWork: The baseline urgency of the case instance. Configured on the case type or case-level SLA (default value = 10).
• .pyUrgencyAssign: The initial baseline urgency of an individual assignment step (default value = 10).
• .pyUrgencyAssignWork: The final combined urgency of an active assignment, evaluated by Get Next Work.

The Platform Urgency Ceiling Rule

$\mathbf{\text{Maximum Urgency} = 100}$

No matter how many urgency increments an SLA applies, the platform strictly caps .pyUrgencyAssignWork at 100. Any calculated value exceeding 100 is clamped to 100.

Master Urgency Formula

$\text{pyUrgencyAssignWork} = \min\Big(100,\; \text{pyUrgencyWork} + \text{pyUrgencyAssign} + \Delta_{\text{Goal}} + \Delta_{\text{Deadline}} + \big(N_{\text{repeats}} \times \Delta_{\text{PassedDeadline}}\big)\Big)$

Where:

• $\text{pyUrgencyWork}$ is the current case urgency (default 10).
• $\text{pyUrgencyAssign}$ is the assignment starting urgency (default 10).
• $\Delta_{\text{Goal}}$ is the urgency increment applied if Goal expires.
• $\Delta_{\text{Deadline}}$ is the urgency increment applied if Deadline expires.
• $N_{\text{repeats}}$ is the number of completed Passed Deadline intervals.
• $\Delta_{\text{PassedDeadline}}$ is the urgency increment applied at each Passed Deadline repetition.

---

3. Automated Escalation Actions

When an SLA milestone (Goal, Deadline, or Passed Deadline) expires, Pega can automatically trigger one or more Escalation Actions:

1. Adjust Urgency: Adds an integer value to the assignment's current urgency, elevating its position in Get Next Work.
2. Send Notifications: Dispatches correspondence (email, SMS, or mobile push) to:
   • The assigned operator (e.g., "Your assignment is nearing deadline").
   • The operator's reporting manager (.pyReportTo).
   • The Work Group Manager or case parties.
3. Transfer Assignment: Programmatically moves the assignment from an individual's stagnant worklist to a senior operator, a supervisor, or a shared team Work Queue.
4. Execute Custom Action: Invokes a custom activity or workflow to log audit records, notify external monitoring systems, or trigger compliance workflows.

---

4. Hierarchy of SLA Levels

Pega allows SLAs to be attached at three different architectural tiers in the Case Life Cycle:

SLA Interaction Rules

• When an assignment is active, its total urgency combines the Case-level urgency with the Assignment-level urgency.
• If an assignment is completed before the Goal expires, the assignment SLA terminates immediately: no Goal or Deadline increments apply, and no escalations fire.
• Completing an assignment does not stop the Case-level SLA; the case SLA clock runs continuously until the case reaches resolution.

---

5. Comprehensive Worked Mathematical Example

To see how SLA mathematics and escalation actions operate in practice, trace the following real-world scenario:

Case Configuration Parameters

• Case Baseline Urgency (.pyUrgencyWork): 10
• Assignment Initial Urgency (.pyUrgencyAssign): 15
• Goal Interval: 2 hours | Urgency Increment: +15 | Escalation: Send notification to Assignee.
• Deadline Interval: 4 hours | Urgency Increment: +30 | Escalation: Send notification to Manager (.pyReportTo).
• Passed Deadline Interval: 1 hour | Urgency Increment: +15 | Repeat Limit: 3 times | Escalation: Adjust urgency.

Step-by-Step Chronological Progression

---

6. Business Days vs. Calendar Days

Pega SLA rules can calculate milestone intervals using two distinct timing models:

• Calendar Time (24/7): Standard elapsed clock time. 24 hours equals 24 continuous clock hours regardless of weekends or holidays.
• Business Days (Calendar-Driven): Evaluated against a business calendar (Data-Admin-Calendar). Pega takes into account company operating hours (e.g., Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM) and recognized company holidays.
  • Example: If an assignment with an 8-hour business day SLA is created on Friday at 4:00 PM, the Goal interval does not expire until Monday at 3:00 PM!