Configuring Jira SLA Notifications: Automation rules, filter subscribe and SLA Time and Report add-on

Enhance Jira SLA Notifications with Jira SLA reporting plugin

How is it possible to set up SLA notifications in Jira?

Notifications can be set up via  SLA Threshold Trigger – Jira Automation rule. Also, you can make a filter subscription for receiving breached issues list via Email, using the JQL filter in the Jira SLAs configuration. This is only available for Jira Service Management sites and users with Jira admin permissions.

Let’s make an example for the Support team. We’ll create a few Automation rules for Time to Response SLA.

  1. First, choose the required Project in your Jira site and go to the Project settings in the left menu.
  2. Go to the SLA configurations and select Time to first response SLA.
  3. Change the SLA Time goal to 6 hours and add the JQL filter for issues. For example, a component from our “Public website” (a customer portal page) — “Ask a question” issue
SLAs configuration in Jira Service Manager

4. Default conditions should already be set: Issue Created status for the Start condition and Finish condition Entered status: Work in progress or Resolution: Set.

5. Save it and go to Automation. We’ll create a few rules for sending email or Slack notifications. 

6. Create a first one when SLA is about to be breached. Choose the “SLA Threshold Breached” trigger from the list of available triggers. In the SLA dropdown, select the Time to First response. Change the SLA trigger time to “will breach in the next 1 hour”. Save and add a New action type — “Send Email”. Configure the email notification subject and content using the Smart values. You can include specifying the email subject and relevant attachments. Name a rule and Turn it on.

7. Let’s create two new rules: when SLA is breached and a reminder about a long-time breached SLA. Cope the existing rule and modify the settings. Rename the second rule and change the SLA trigger option to sla breached. Delete the previous component and add a new one. Choose the “Send Slack message”. Insert your webhook link and add the message text. 

8. For the third rule, once again, modify the settings. Rename the rule and change the trigger to breached by more than 1 hour. Edit the email subject and content to highlight that this is a reminder. Save the action and publish the rule.
You can also use Jira Automation to automatically prioritize requests based on their SLA breach status. To do this, add a “Set Priority” action to the automation rule and configure it to prioritize requests based on their SLA breach status.

9. Save your automation rule and test it by creating a test request that will breach the SLA threshold. Select the same Issue type as we set in the SLA configuration. You should receive a notification when the threshold is breached, and the request should be automatically prioritized according to its SLA breach status. We can check it in the audit log.

Following these steps, you can configure Jira Automation to send SLA-breached notifications, but let’s do more.

JQL filter for issues in Jira

We will create a scheduled email list of issues with breached SLA Time to Response.

  1. Go to your Jira Filters and select the Advanced issue search. Configure a JQL filter per the threshold you need notifications for —an example, for the issues which breached in the last hour.
    “Time to first response” <= remaining(“0m”) AND “Time to first response” > remaining(“-60m”)
  2. Set the time on the right-hand side to match the notification frequency you desire following an SLA breach.
  3. Save the search as a filter.
  4. Then configure a filter subscription, and set the frequency to be the same as that you used in your JQL filter (60m above). You can use “Advanced scheduling” for more detailed intervals.
  5. Refer to Receiving Search Results via Email for more information.

You can repeat these steps for each SLA if required.

We’ve covered all possible options for setting up notifications in Jira Service Management that will be sent when the SLA is close to being violated and after that.

How to set up SLA notifications with SLA Time and Report add-on?

While Jira’s native notification features are powerful, they may not always be enough to meet your SLA tracking needs. In addition, the Jira plans have some critical limitations, such as the number of allowed SLA goals per project and the amount of Automation actions — according to the Standard Jira plan, it is possible to create only 500 Automation and 30 SLA goals per project.

That’s where the SLA Time and Report for Jira add-on comes in. This add-on provides additional notification features that can help you track your SLAs more effectively with no limitations.

Once you’ve installed the SLA Time and Report add-on, you can set up notifications in Jira in two ways: through comments to the issues and via Slack.

Notify Jira users to email, Slack and issue’s comments

Messages in the issues’ comments.

The first way is through messages in the tasks. This type of notification will send you a letter in the mail. To set it up, go to the SLA configuration and set the “Notify users in comment” action for your SLA time goal. You will see the Message Template Editor icon. It allows you to customize the text.

Messages via Slack channel.

The second way to set up notifications is through messages to the Slack channel.

First, you must create a webhook URL for your Slack. If you do not know how to do this, follow the instructions.
Then you can get Slack notifications in a few simple steps:

  1. Open SLA Time and Report add-on and go to the SLA Manager.
  2. Create a new SLA Configuration and choose the conditions you need.
  3. Define time goals and choose the “Notify via Slack” option.
  4. Paste the webhook URL you have according to the tips from above.

Get notifications about the task in your Slack.

How to change the text of notifications for issues’ comments and SLACK messages?

If you need to create a custom text for notifications in issue comments or via Slack — use the Message Template Editor. It only appears when you select the “Notify” action in the SLA time goal settings.

Open the add-on and go to the SLA configuration menu to use it.

In the SLA time goals setting, set the Name and time for your first SLA goal. Select the “Notify” action and recipients, for instance, “Assignee” and “Reporter”. Click on the message icon to open the Template Editor.

Here you can see the default text of the message with different Shortcodes. It’s like “Smart values”, which insert the value from the issue into the message instead of all you can see in the square brackets.

  • [SLAName] – The title of your SLA Configuration Name.
  • [SLAGoal] – The name of your SLA Goal.
  • [GoalValue] – Current SLA Goal value.
  • [Assignee] – The person who was assigned the issue.
  • [Reporter] – The person who is creating the issue.
  • [InvolvedUsers] – List of added people to SLA Goals Limit Exceeded action.
  • [IssueURL] – The URL link for the current issue, which has SLA goals.
  • [ConfigURL] – The URL link for the current SLA configuration.

Change the text as you wish using the Preview mode to look at how it will be in the sent message. Furthermore, if you want the default version back, click on “Reset to default bottom.

Save the result.

SLA configuration for the widespread use case.

The most popular use case for SLA notifications is the support team. They respond to user requests based on their priority within defined time frames and must set up notification reminders before the SLA is violated. We already have a step-by-step guide → follow the article “How to configure SLA time for support team in Jira Cloud“. We created several SLA configurations based on the table for response and resolution breached time. 

Moreover, if you’re interested in configuring SLA in Jira for different time zones, follow the link and learn how to do that in a few simple steps. It will be especially helpful if you have team members who have various schedules and time zones.

To Sum up

If you want to use notifications in Jira, you have only one way – use automation rules in Jira Service Management. This method is more suitable for experienced users and projects that don’t require many SLAs and automation. 

If you are a beginner, you will have to spend time on configuration and testing, which in the worst case, can quickly exhaust the limits of Jira. Changing the Jira plan will be much pricier than subscribing to the add-on if you want to expand the functionality specifically for SLA control.

And vice versa, for the SLA Time and Report for Jira app, you don’t need additional experience to configure SLA notifications. This can be easily done in one window of the SLA settings. 

Additionally, you can test as much as you want since unlimited automation and SLA configurations are available. To quickly customize messages, you can use the Message Template Editor with Shortcodes, which allows you to make changes with just a few clicks, even if you do not know JQL.

Comparison table sla jira software vs jira reporting plugins

Either way, try the 30-day full-featured trial of the SLA reporting Jira add-on or other Jira time tracking report plugins and make your choice. If you require support, the SaaSJet team offers quick and helpful help with a one-on-one demo call.

Don’t forget to try Time in Status for Jira Cloud add-on if you want to track not only SLAs, but the Jira time in status for each of your team members or the team at all.

Kateryna Vyshnevska

The author of the article

Always strive for the best and to be worth it.

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Comments
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