Casting a Dragnet for SLA Performance Metrics?
"This is the software, Autotask... I work with it... I'm a PSA Automation expert."
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The Managed IT Services industry is an interesting place. Most MSPs are honest companies trying to provide exceptional Service Delivery for their Clients for a fair price. Many are leveraging the latest technologies to be efficient and create a Zen-like environment for their Team and Clients. Yet, many are full of manual processes, inefficiencies, chaos, etc. And they’re not leveraging the Autotask software to its fullest.
"...That's when I go to work; I carry an Autotask Certified Consultant badge".
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"It was Tuesday, January 29th. It was cool with clear skies in Maine; we were working the day watch out of the Live Reports Division. My partners are Carol and Chris. My name's Buyze."
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And with my own little version of the famous opening from the classic Dragnet radio and TV series, I say: welcome back Autotask Warriors! As always, it’s fantastic to spend a little time with you each week in the Autotask Neighborhood. Whether you are an MSP Owner, Service Manager, or Service Coordinator, you are welcome here.
So, why the Dragnet opener? Great question. It’s all about giving you what you want. Let me explain:
To say 2023 was a very busy year for Advanced Global is an understatement. We had booths at Autotask Community Live (DattoCon), ChannelCon, MSP franchise events, and IT Owner’s Compass. We gave a lot of Advanced Live Reports away, did a ton of consulting, and spoke with as many of you as we could in phone calls, Coaching, and through our free Autotask evaluations.
We talked to a LOT of MSP Owners. And we listened.
Here’s what we discovered: the majority of Autotask MSPs can be broken down into two distinct categories: DIY and Done for You.
The DIY MSPs want us to give them the ideas and the outlines and let them take it from there. The Done For You folks just want to write a check and have us train their team (Techs, Service Coordinators, Managers, Gerbils, etc.), configure their Autotask to best practices, implement a Service Delivery Improvement program, and/or any of the many other things we do.
You asked, we delivered: We’re going to focus our efforts on getting the DIY folks the basic information as we always have here. We’ll support them through our Gladiator’s Community, with our Coaches and Advanced Live Report Writers participating, as well as a couple WebEx calls a week where our Team (and me!) will be able to help you live.
And what about the Done for You MSPs out there? We are going to devote additional resources to make sure your programs are delivered better and faster (and to get you those critical Live Reports quicker). And yes, there will be plenty in Gladiator’s for the Done for You folks as well – we’re going to be building up a true community where you can share with your peers.
Make sense? Drop me a line at info@agmspcoaching.com and let me know.
So, last week I took a page from Sgt. Joe Friday and gave you "just the facts." (I told you I would explain the Dragnet reference).
I talked about dealing with re-opened tickets, gave you the framework, and let you run with it.
How to Use the SLA Performance Report
This week, we’re going to cover how to use the SLA Performance report to your advantage. For you DIY Autotaskers, you just need the structure explained and you’re good to go. If you need some help, you can reach out in the Gladiator’s Community. If this is just over your head (we’ve all been there) then our Foundational Improvement program is likely your smartest path forward.
Now about the SLA Performance Report: you’ve probably heard us talk about this Advanced Live Report before. After Resource Utilization, Leveraging the SLA performance report is the 2nd easiest way for a Service Manager to positively impact the bottom line.
Know this about the SLA performance report:
(Unlike the Resource Utilization report), it does NOT track financial information.
It DOES monitor and report on a whole host of operational functions.
When they’re performing well, each of the operational functions has a by-product that impacts the bottom line.
The Clear Bottom-Line Impact of SLA Performance
For example, you know Client expectations are being met when:
They don't contact the Tech as frequently, asking for updates via calls, email, or texts.
VIPs relax and let the process work without asking to jump the line or for other special treatment.
They don’t get frustrated and start looking for another Service Provider.
And if Client expectations are not being met, then wouldn’t you rather know that before they ditch you & hire your competitor?
As you can see, there is a clear bottom-line impact of SLA performance. Here are some more impacts of understanding and managing your SLA performance:
Techs engage as expected.
Requests (Tickets) stay off the backlog list of tickets.
The Triage process works as needed.
Service Manager time is spent driving other improvements or growth.
The Owner spends less time in backpedaling or damage control conversations.
Now What to Do with this Autotask Report?
Great, you’ve written this yourself or had one of us write if for you, and now you are getting this report. What are you supposed to do with it?
First, how often do you look at it? When you first start to look at it and understand the SLA Performance report, it needs to be on a weekly basis. Have it scheduled to send to you weekly. After you have mastered it, then you can move to a monthly review.
“So many numbers,” you say. “Where to start?” Easy…Begin by looking at the triage numbers. In column F, what are you expecting the first response to be? What qualifies as a first response? The first response by AGMSP recommendation is when a person looks at the ticket and makes sure all information is there. When a ticket says, “I can’t print,” this is not enough information and needs more details. First Response (Triage) is not always a Technician.
We are all humans, so allow for some error. Never expect the Triage to be 100%. It is great when it does reach that, but don’t expect it. Also consider the total number of tickets you are getting in:
When you get 100 tickets and you miss one, then you are at 99%.
However, if you only get 10 tickets and miss one, then you are at 90%.
This is not a black & white report. Yes, that means you do have to put some thought into it.
Investigating Those Missed Tickets
The next step is to look at what group of tickets triage missed the most. Look at columns B & D. If Column B is below 10, skip it. You don’t need to waste your time looking for 1 ticket that got missed. When you find a priority that has 5 or more tickets that got missed, then it is time to go investigate those.
So, how do you investigate those tickets? Go to your LiveReports and run the SLA Detail report (Confused? We can write this for you). This is a query report and will ask the same question each time it is run. The questions will narrow down the tickets for you to look at.
When this report comes, you will look at the different columns and look for the common items. This could be from the same client or a ticket going into the wrong queue. Or maybe you forgot to remove a queue because there is no SLA to those tickets.
Now down to the nitty gritty: Why did that ticket miss its SLA?
Does it have an SLA?
Does the triage person have a backup when they go to lunch or are in a meeting?
Are the business hours set up correctly?
Are the SLA’s set to go by business hours or extended hours?
Was the Holiday Set updated?
Was someone watching that queue?
Was the priority set correctly?
Are the technicians overloaded and not able to get the tickets?
You Might Not Realize How Autotask Counts Tickets
Did you know that Autotask will count tickets that DO NOT have an SLA as a miss? You want to check this often to make sure you are looking for the right tickets. Yes, AGMSP recommends that the monitoring alerts be part of the SLA’s.
Most companies only have a service coordinator or dispatcher. So, when that person is not in the office, someone needs to be watching the widget for new tickets (you do have widgets setup for this, right?). The backup does not have to know everything, just how to deal with the new incoming tickets.
The SLA’s run off the business hours you have created under your company. Where are those? Go to the hamburger > Admin>Account Settings & Users > Your Organization > Internal Location. Once here you will see 2 tabs and one will say hours. This is where the SLA gets the business hours from.
More Sneaky Stuff to Watch Out For
Oh, don’t forget to set the Holiday Set too. If you miss that one, you will know it, because you will miss so many in one day. Find this under the hamburger > Admin>Account Settings & Users > Resources/Users (HR) > Holiday Sets.
These need to be the day the office is closed, not the day of the holiday. This will have all SLA’s pause, unless you told the business hours not to. Wait, what? Did you see that? If not, you need to go back to the business hours to ensure you checked the right one. The right one to pick “Use hours specified in grid on holidays” is our recommend choice.
Another thing to watch is that all the tickets are going through the triage widget. If not, who is watching them? Starting out, Monitoring alerts are some tickets that will skip the triage until they are under control.
Are you removing/stopping tickets being created that all you do is either complete or delete?
Are there clear instructions on how to handle the monitoring alert tickets?
Get these simple things working right and it will improve the triage SLA.
Don’t stop now. The priority must be set correctly. So, on a weekly basis, you should be reviewing the Workflow Distribution Report (don’t have this? We can write it for a flat-fee or you can ask in the Gladiator’s Community).
In column F on this report, you will set an industry standard target. This report will help you to keep the priorities accurate. Make sure to compare column E to Column F, to ensure you are within industry standards.
Can the Tech Get to Those Tickets?
Finally, make sure the Technician has time to get to the tickets in a timely fashion. How do you know if the Technician is overloaded? You should be watching the workload balance board (Also known as #2 Service Coordinator Dashboard, which we configure for our Clients in our programs).
If you don’t have that, then you need to get estimated times on your tickets. This will help you in looking at what SLAs are due today and what do they need to catch up on. With estimated times, it tells you if they have the time or not. Counting how many tickets they have is not the right way to plan out the day for them to be successful. We will talk about the Estimated VS Actual Report in a later article, so stay tuned.
Now, repeat these steps for the Response Plan. This is what we call the Technician engagement – it’s when the Technician starts working on the ticket. Then repeat for the completed SLA (also known as the resolution met). With these two, you will look to see if a certain Technician keeps missing the SLA’s, instead of the triage.
Of course, you do know that changing the statuses on the ticket is how each of these SLA flags get marked...right?
Summary
The SLA Performance Report is a critical part of managing an MSPs Service Delivery. By routinely reviewing and acting on this report, you can ensure that:
Techs are engaging as expected
Tickets aren’t going into Backlog
Triage is working great
Both the Owner and Service Manager spend their time doing something way more useful than damage control with Clients
Hopefully, you were able to follow along and get everything setup successfully. If not, please reach out. We’d love to talk to you.
Not quite ready for a paid engagement (psst…we do have free consultations). Join our Gladiator’s Community where you can have access to me, my Coaches, and your peers as well as special perks, discounts, and Live Report help.
You may think it’s only February, but the year is going to fly by. If you want to improve your business and grow your profits, you need to step back and look at the little things - or at least have someone’s eye on it.
Talk to you soon.
Steve and Co