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Milestone Recurrence Types
When you create a milestone, you must choose its recurrence type. Learn what each recurrence type means and when to use it.
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There are three milestone recurrence types in Salesforce:
| Recurrence Type | What It Means | How the Start Date is Determined | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Recurrence | The milestone only occurs once on the support record*. | The Start Date is the time when the milestone criteria are met on the record. | “First Response” “Resolution Time” |
| Independent | The milestone occurs whenever the milestone criteria match the record criteria. Only one occurrence of an independently recurring milestone can be active at a time. |
The Start Date is the time when the milestone criteria are met on the record, regardless of when the previous occurrence was completed. | “Response Time” |
| Sequential | The milestone occurs on repeat whenever the milestone criteria match the record criteria. Only one occurrence of a sequentially recurring milestone can be active at a time. |
For the first occurrence, the Start Date is the time when the milestone criteria are met on the case. For future occurrences:
|
“Customer Contact Made” |
*In these definitions, a support record includes cases and work orders.
- No Recurrence Type
- A milestone named “Resolution Time” is set up to ensure that cases are resolved within
4 hours. The milestone has one criterion: Case: Status EQUALS
New,Working,Escalated.
Here’s how this milestone can be used:
- At 10 a.m., a case is created whose Status is New, causing the milestone criteria to match the case criteria.
- The “Resolution Time” milestone is automatically created with these settings:
- Start Date = 10 a.m. (the current time)
- Target Date = 2 p.m. (4 hours from the Start Date)
- At 1 p.m., the support rep resolves the customer’s issue and closes the case, and the milestone is marked complete.
- Independent
- A milestone named “Engineer Solution Proposed” is set up to track case escalation to
Engineering. When this milestone occurs, the support rep expects a proposed solution
from Engineering within 4 hours. The milestone has one criterion: “Case:
Status EQUALS Waiting on Engineer” (a custom status).
Here’s how this milestone can be used:
- At 10 a.m., the support rep escalates a case to Engineering, causing the milestone criteria to match the case criteria.
- An occurrence of the “Engineer Solution Proposed” milestone is automatically
created with these settings:
- Start Date = 10 a.m. (the current time)
- Target Date = 2 p.m. (4 hours after the Start Date)
- At 11 a.m., well before the Target Date, an engineer proposes a solution that’s sent to the customer. The milestone is marked complete manually or via a workflow.
If the proposed solution works, there may be no other occurrences of the “Engineer Solution Proposed” milestone on the case. However, if the solution doesn’t solve the customer’s issue, another occurrence would be created:
- At 1 p.m., the support rep re-escalates the case to Engineering, causing the milestone criteria to match the case criteria.
- A second occurrence of the “Engineer Solution Proposed” milestone is created
with these settings:
- Start Date = 1 p.m. (the current time)
- Target Date = 5 p.m. (4 hours after the Start Date)
The case now has two “Engineer Solution Proposed” milestones:
- One completed milestone that started at 10 a.m.
- One incomplete milestone that started at 1 p.m. and has a Target Date of 5 p.m.
The milestone can recur as many times as necessary until the entitlement process is completed.
- Sequential
- A milestone named “Customer Contact Made” is set up to track daily contact with a
customer as part of an SLA. When this milestone occurs, the support rep has 24 hours to
communicate with the customer.
Here’s how this milestone can be used:
- At 10 a.m. on Monday, a case is created whose entitlement process includes the
“Customer Contact Made” milestone. The milestone has these settings:
- Start Date = 10 a.m. Monday (the current time)
- Target Date = 10 a.m. Tuesday (24 hours after the Start Date)
- At 11 a.m. on Monday, the support rep communicates with the customer. This means that the milestone can be marked complete, and milestone’s second occurrence is created. However, because the previous occurrence’s Target Date is still in the future, the Start Date of the second occurrence is 10 a.m. Tuesday.
The case now has two “Customer Contact Made” milestones:
- One completed milestone that started at 10 a.m. Monday
- One incomplete milestone that is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Tuesday with a Target Date of 10 a.m. Wednesday
If the support rep communicates with the customer multiple times on Monday, it doesn’t affect the Tuesday milestone.
- At 10 a.m. on Monday, a case is created whose entitlement process includes the
“Customer Contact Made” milestone. The milestone has these settings:
