NEIL PARKHURST

Out of the box it is pretty easy to create a two stage SLA with Dynamics 365. This is great as often we have a need for a service level agreement that relates to “First Response By” and “Resolve By”. But occasionally a requirement comes up for a third stage to our SLA, typically something like “Resolution Planned By”. I recently needed to configure exactly this for a customer and thought it might be useful to document the process.

In my example I am going to concentrate on the case table, as generally speaking SLAs will be applied to cases. But you should be aware that you can associate service level agreements with other tables. Maybe you have an SLA for work orders, leads or pretty much any Dynamics 365 entity.

The steps involved in creating the third stage are as follows;

• Step One – Create a two stage SLA!
• Step Two – Create a lookup to “SLA KPI Instance”
• Step Three – Create a “Resolution planned” column
• Step Four – Create a quick view form and add to case form
• Step Five – Create third stage in SLA KPI
• Step Six – Create SLA

Step One – Create a two stage SLA!

For the purpose of this post I am going to assume you already have a two stage SLA. This does mean I’m making another assumption that the reader already has at least a basic understanding of how service level agreements in Dynamics 365 operate.

Below you can see that I have created a very simple example SLA. I have just two SLA items, one for first response and one for resolve by. So a simple but typical SLA.

Below you can see that my SLA results in the standard set of two timers on my case record.

Step Two – Create a lookup to “SLA KPI Instance”

My two timers are fine! But in this example I want to add a third SLA, maybe I want to have an SLA to show when a resolution must be planned by.

Below you can see that I have created a solution for my example. Just to keep my changes grouped together! The first thing I need to do a create a new lookup field to the “SLA KPI Instance” entity. Below you can see that out of the box we already have two fields one for first response and one for resolve by.

Below you can see that I have created a new lookup field. I have mirrored the out of the box naming convention by calling my new field “Resolution Planned By”.

Step Three – Create a “Resolution planned” column

Next I want to create a simple yes/no column the purpose for this will become clearer soon!

I’m going to just call my field “Resolution planned”! Notice that I have opted for a “Yes/No” field with a default of “No”.

The purpose of this field is so that I know when a resolution has been planned. With my first response SLA I have an out of the box field called “First Response Sent” which can be used to know when this SLA has succeeded. So I am creating this field to simple mirror that idea.

In a real-world solution you could decide to know your SLA has succeeded using a different method. You will also probably want to add this field into your business process flow on the case table. But I am simply going to add it to my case form for my demonstration. My case form is shown below ….

Step Four – Create a quick view form and add to case form

I next want to create a new quick view form in the “SLA KPI Instance”. The reason being that the timers I see on the case form for first response and resolve by are actually quick view forms we can find on the “SLA KPI Instance” table.

Below you can see that out of the box I have two quick view forms that relate to cases!

I simply open one of these forms. I then change the field name on the form and save it with a new name. Say “Resolution Planned SLA”.

Tip: I think you should be able to complete this step in the newer editing experience we have in make.powerapps.com. But on the day I tried it I seemed to be struggling! So I reverted to the classic interface!

All I did was rename the existing timer control to be called “Resolution Planned In”!

My final step was to add my newly created quick view form into my existing case form. When I added the quick view form I selected the lookup we created earlier and then the quick view form we have just created.

Below you can see that I have positioned my new quick view form between the two existing out of the box forms.

Before you continue to the next step …. Don’t forget to publish all your changes!

Step Five – Create third stage in SLA KPI

Now my customizations have been completed I can create my the SLA.

Firstly I want to define a new SLA KPI. I do this in the service management area of the customer service hub.

Having selected the case “entity” I can now also select the “Resolution Planned By KPI” lookup as my KPI field.

Tip: Don’t forget to activate your new KPI after saving it!

Step Six – Create SLA

I can now create whatever SLAs I need using this new KPI. Below you can see that I have created a new SLA item in my demo SLA.

Notice that the KPI I have selected is my new “Resolution Planned By” KPI. Also that my success criteria is using the field I added onto my case earlier. As I am using this to know a resolution has been planned and therefore the SLA has been achieved.

My final SLA looked like this …. Notice that I have three SLA items. When I started I had two!

Now when I create new cases (as shown below) I have three stages in my SLA. “First response in”, “Resolution Planned in” and “Resolve in”. All three timers are independent.

You can see below by setting my “Resolution planned” field to yes my SLA for resolution planning changes to a “succeeded” status.

Hopefully you will agree the process of adding a third stage to the out of the box SLAs is pretty straight forward. You can of course have even more stages if needed! Enjoy.