Determining the Ordering Sequence of SLAs

All SLAs receive an algorithm-defined default ordering sequence. The ordering sequence tells the system how to handle a work request that falls under multiple SLAs.

For example, suppose you have an SLA for handling maintenance requests from a specific requestor, say, the company CEO. You also have an SLA for maintenance requests pertaining to the executive lounge. If the company CEO requests maintenance on the executive lounge, the request falls under two SLAs. The program examines the ordering sequence of these two SLAs, notes which SLA has the ordering sequence with the highest value, and applies this SLA to the request.

Ordering Sequence and Grouping

The SLA console that is available from release v.21.2 on includes a grouping feature that enables you to create multiple SLAs at once if the SLA has the same workflow and service levels.To accommodate this change, the field helpdesk_sla_request.grouping has been added . The Grouping field contains a number that groups these SLAs together.

All SLAs that have the same value in the Grouping field will be displayed on a single row in the Determine Ordering Sequence of Service Level Agreements view. You can identify these SLAs because the columns for the request parameters for these SLAs will show multiple values. If there are more values than will fit in the allotted space, an ellipsis will appear at the end of the text.

The row for SLAs that are grouped together shows the lowest Ordering Sequence number for the group of SLAs. For this reason, you will see a gap in the ordering sequence when the view includes SLAs that are grouped.

The ordering sequence for an SLA is stored in the ordering_seq field found in the following tables:

Service Desk Service Level Agreement Request Parameters - helpdesk_sla_request
Service Desk Service Level Agreement Response Parameters - helpdesk_sla_response
Service Desk Service Level Agreement Steps - helpdesk_sla_steps

These fields are part of the primary key for each of these three tables. When multiple SLAs are created simultaneously and grouped together using the helpdesk_sla_request.grouping field, the ordering_seq field in each of these tables must still be unique.

Example

The following shows the ordering sequence for some SLAs:

Request Type	Ordering Sequence	Site	Building	Problem Type	Grouping
SERVICE DESK - MAINTENANCE	17	BOSSTE	BOSMED	WALLS, FLOORS, CEILINGS\|PAINT	2
SERVICE DESK - MAINTENANCE	18	BOSSTE	BOSMED	WALLS, FLOORS, CEILINGS\|DOOR	2
SERVICE DESK - MAINTENANCE	19	BOSSTE	BOSMED	WALLS, FLOORS, CEILINGS\|CEILING	2
SERVICE DESK - MAINTENANCE	20	BOSSTE	BOSMED	WALLS, FLOORS, CEILINGS\|CLEANING	2
SERVICE DESK - MAINTENANCE	21	BOSSTE	BOSMED	OFFICE EQUIPMENT\|INSTALL	6

In the above example, the database contains four SLAs that have the value 2 in the Grouping field (helpdesk_sla_request.grouping). These SLAs will be displayed as a single row in the view. The view will find the lowest value in the Ordering Sequence (helpdesk_sla_request.ordering_seq) within this group, and display this value in the Order Sequence field. In the above example, this would be 17 (the lowest ordering sequence for the SLAs that have the grouping of 2.)

The next highest value in the Ordering Sequence field is 21. Therefore, there will appear to be a gap in the numeric sequence of the Ordering Sequence field in the view. There will be a row in the view that has 21 in this field, and the next lowest row will have 17 in this field. The gap represents the other SLAs in the group.

When SLAs are being reordered, the ordering sequence of grouped SLAs will always be moved together. So, if the SLA that has an Ordering Sequence of 21 is moved down below this group of SLAs, its new Ordering Sequence will become 17, and the five grouped SLAs will be renumbered 18-21 to accommodate this move.

Procedure: Changing the ordering sequence of SLAs

To edit the ordering sequence of the SLAs:

Select the Service Desk Manager / Determining Ordering sequence of Service Level Agreements task.
The form for setting the ordering sequence appears.
In the Filter, select the Request Type from the list, and click Show.
The Service Level Agreements section of the screen shows the SLAs with their ordering sequence listed lowest to highest
Click the Up and Down arrows to the left of the Ordering Sequence column to move an SLA up or down in the list.