Milestone Stop and Resume Behavior

Before you use milestones and SLA policies, make sure that the SLA policy End Time field is added to the record page layout.

General Rule for Milestone Timers

The milestone timer stops based on the first action taken to stop it and not the most recent one.

Stop a Milestone Timer Manually

Support reps can choose to manually stop a record’s milestone timer by selecting either Is Stopped or Incident Paused, depending on the object. The milestone timer records the time when the checkbox was selected.

Resume a Milestone Timer Manually

If the record hasn’t exited the SLA policy and the milestone timer was previously stopped manually, a support rep can resume the milestone timer by deselecting the Is Stopped or Incident Paused checkbox.

Stop a Milestone Timer with an SLA Policy

When a record exits an SLA policy and the milestone timer wasn’t already manually stopped, the milestone timer is stopped at the time that the record exits the process. If a record exits the SLA policy, but a user clicks Is Stopped or Incident Paused afterwards, the milestone timer stops at the time that the entitlement exits and not when the checkbox is selected.

Resume a Milestone Timer with an SLA Policy

If the record reenters the SLA policy and the milestone timer wasn’t previously stopped manually, the timer resumes from the time that the record exited the SLA policy.

Milestone Timers Ignore Stops After the Milestone Target Date Is Violated

When a record violates the milestone timer’s target date, the milestone timer calculates the amount of time that the milestone is overdue. Milestone timers count the total amount of time after the milestone is violated, regardless of whether the timer was stopped after the violation. If a user selects Is Stopped or Incident Paused after the milestone is in violation, the timer appears to be paused at the time that it was stopped. However, if the checkbox is deselected, the timer also includes the period where it was paused. For example, a milestone timer is stopped 20 seconds after it’s in violation. After 20 more seconds, the support rep resumes the timer, which now reflects a 40-second violation.

Milestone Timers Inside and Outside Of Business Hours

Milestones operate according to the business hours defined in SLA management, which means the milestone date and time is calculated based on business hours. The milestone timer pauses outside of business hours. If a milestone starts at 4:30 PM with a 60-minute time trigger, and business hours are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM every day, only 30 minutes are counted on the same day (until 5:00 PM). The remaining 30 minutes timer resumes when business hours start again at 9:00 AM the next day, making the final target date and time 9:30 AM the next day.

If a milestone is stopped and restarted inside of business hours, the timer resumes where it left off. For example, if the timer stopped with 10 hours and 5 minutes left and was paused for 5 minutes, when it resumes it has 10 hours and 5 minutes left. The target date is updated, as the paused duration is added to the original target date.

If a milestone is stopped and restarted outside of business hours, the amount of time that passes while it’s paused gets deducted from the timer. For example, if the timer stopped with 10 hours and 15 minutes left and was paused for 5 minutes, when it resumes it has 10 hours and 10 minutes left.