A timer measures how long a service record spends in a state you define, such as the time it sits in status New before an Agent picks it up. Timers are the raw data your service level setup runs on: measurements report against them, escalation rules fire when one passes a threshold, and dashboards chart them.
Available for:
Customers using SysAid Spaces. If you're using SysAid Classic, see Timer Forms.
How it works
The Timers List table holds ten numbered timers. Setting one up means opening a row that isn't in use yet and defining what it measures.
Two timers come preconfigured:
Time to Repair, timer 1, measures how long it takes to resolve a service record.
Time to Respond, timer 2, measures how long it takes to first respond to one.
What a timer measures comes from its expression, which you build in the Expression Builder. Any service record matching that expression starts the timer, and the timer keeps running until the record changes so that it no longer matches. Time to Repair, for example, runs on an expression that excludes every closed and canceled status, so it counts from submission until the record reaches one of them.
Two things determine what a timer actually records:
Timers are only calculated for service records whose status is classified as open.
Timers count operating time, not clock time. A record submitted at 10:00 and closed at 10:00 the next day logs 10 hours on a desk that operates 8:00 to 18:00, not 24. Operating times are configured separately, see Modify Operating Times.
Timers report their values in minutes.
Where timers are used
Once a timer is collecting data, that data is available in several places:
Measurement lists, which pull a timer's values into a data set that measurements calculate against. This is how a timer becomes an SLA metric.
Escalation rules, which can trigger after a set amount of time has passed on a particular timer.
The service record queue, where a timer can be added as a column.
BI Analytics and dashboards, where the timers appear as the fields Timer 1 through Timer 10. The Service Quality by Timer and Service Breaches charts both run on them.
Access and permissions
Timer Settings needs the SysAid Administrator permission. To learn more, see Managing Agent and Admin Permissions.
Limitations
Ten is the maximum number of timers. Once all ten are in use, taking on a new measurement means redefining an existing timer, and the values already recorded against it were measured under the old definition.
Timers can't be deleted. Setting Enabled to No retires a timer and keeps its caption and expression on the row.
Enabling and configuring a timer
Go to Settings > Tracking > Timers > Timer Settings.
In the Timers List table, click a row whose Enabled column shows No.
From the Enabled drop-down list, select Yes.
Enter a Timer Caption. This is the name the timer appears under everywhere else in SysAid, so make it describe what's being measured.
Click Expression Builder.
Build the expression that defines which service records the timer runs on, then save it. For the full procedure, see Expression Builder.
Click OK to save and close, or Apply to save and stay on the form.
Editing a timer
Editing a timer changes what it measures from now on. Values already recorded against it stay as they are, so a timer whose definition has changed holds two different measurements under one caption.
Go to Settings > Tracking > Timers > Timer Settings.
Click the row of the timer you want to change.
Overwrite the Timer Caption with a new one if you're renaming it.
Click Expression Builder to open the timer's existing expression, change it to match your new criteria, then save it.
Click OK to save and close, or Apply to save and stay on the form.
To stop a timer without losing its configuration, set Enabled to No. The caption and expression stay on the row, and you can switch it back on later.
Viewing timers
The Timers List table shows every timer with its caption, its expression, and when it was last modified, along with who modified it. To see what a timer has actually recorded, add it as a column to the service record queue.
Go to the Service Desk page.
Click the cogwheel icon in the top-right corner of the queue's header row.
Click Add a Column at the bottom of the panel.
Search for or select the timer.
Click Save.
For the full procedure, including reordering and removing columns, see Configuring Queue Columns. To add a timer as a column on other tables in SysAid, see Customizing Table Columns in SysAid.
Next steps
Timers collect the data. Turning that data into an SLA metric takes two more steps:
Measurement Lists, to pull a timer's values into a data set you can report on.
Measurements, to run a calculation on that data set, such as an average.
You may also want Creating a New Escalation Rule, to act on a service record once a timer passes a threshold, or Setting Up a Service Agreement (SLA/SLM) to review the full agreement setup.