> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tied.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SLA policies

> Response and resolution targets, and breach handling.

An SLA policy in Tied times exactly three things. It is worth being precise about which three, because it is not "however many you would like."

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/tied/EKg57bTFCkV_E_Je/images/diagrams/sla-clock-light.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=EKg57bTFCkV_E_Je&q=85&s=298949706846fa2c160b84cc5b2bbc01" alt="What the three SLA targets time, and the one-way flip from active to active with misses that decides the recorded outcome." className="block dark:hidden w-full my-8" noZoom width="900" height="470" data-path="images/diagrams/sla-clock-light.svg" />

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/tied/EKg57bTFCkV_E_Je/images/diagrams/sla-clock-dark.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=EKg57bTFCkV_E_Je&q=85&s=50c83aaf3482d9a9b54a36210c95202e" alt="What the three SLA targets time, and the one-way flip from active to active with misses that decides the recorded outcome." className="hidden dark:block w-full my-8" noZoom width="900" height="470" data-path="images/diagrams/sla-clock-dark.svg" />

## The three targets, and only these three

<Steps>
  <Step title="First response time">
    The clock starts when the conversation is created and stops at the first reply. Miss the
    threshold, and Tied logs the breach the instant it becomes true — not on some later batch check.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Next response time">
    Only relevant after the first reply has happened and the conversation is genuinely waiting on
    you again, not on the customer. Same treatment on a miss.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Resolution time">
    The clock starts at creation and stops when the conversation is resolved. Same treatment on a
    miss.
  </Step>
</Steps>

There is no fourth target — no time-to-assignment, no per-message SLA. A policy can also be scoped to business hours only.

## Hit, missed, and the two states in between

The moment a conversation is linked to a policy, it starts life `active`. The instant any one of the three thresholds is missed, it flips to `active_with_misses` — the conversation is still open, but the policy is already carrying a mark against it.

Only at resolution does Tied decide the final word:

| Status at resolution | Means |
| - | - |
| Still `active` | **Hit.** Every threshold that applied was met. |
| `active_with_misses` | **Missed.** At least one threshold was missed somewhere along the way. |

<Info>
  **A miss is permanent for that conversation, even if the ending looks fine.** A conversation that
  missed its first response time but still resolved comfortably inside the resolution-time target is
  recorded as **missed**, not hit. One early miss decides the whole policy's outcome — the rest of
  the conversation going well does not undo it.
</Info>

## What a breach does

Each miss creates a durable, queryable record — not just a UI indicator — and notifies the conversation's participants, the account's administrators, and whoever the conversation is assigned to.

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Assignment policies" icon="user-round-cog" href="/automation/assignment">
    Who a breach notification actually reaches.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Teams and business hours" icon="users-round" href="/inbox/teams">
    The hours a business-hours-scoped policy is meant to respect.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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