Define Completion and SLA

Define done as a business condition, set an SLA, and name the state where the workflow gets stuck.

See the situation

Start with the situation below. Next, we will work through an example together before you try the activity.

Samir · Workflow operator

The case

A record that has not failed

Measure waiting from a named business event, then state its clock, owner, and escalation target.

Step: A draft waiting for its owner to review and send
Days waiting: Nineteen
Status: Not completed, not exited, not errored
Appears in the failure report: No, because nothing failed
Who has been told: Nobody

Your task

Advance the clock to the missed deadline. Choose who receives each alert.

Need a little guidance?

You’re done when: Every wait has a clock, milestone, and escalation path.

An SLA is useful only when the system can show what is waiting and who owns it.

Need a reminder? Reopen the worked example

Watch one example first

This team measures first response from qualification, using eight-hour business days. After eight business hours without contact evidence, its seller manager receives the escalation.

Why this follows from the evidence

An SLA needs a starting event, calendar, target, and owner. A created task does not stop a clock defined around actual contact.

GTM Lab

Saved locally

Workflow Specification · 0 of 8 sections started

Saved locally to your browser.

Case evidence

A record that has not failed

Step: A draft waiting for its owner to review and send
Days waiting: Nineteen
Status: Not completed, not exited, not errored
Appears in the failure report: No, because nothing failed
Who has been told: Nobody

The record above has not failed. That is the problem. Define completion against the outcome, then account for every step that waits on a person.

Workflow workbench

Advance the clock and attach the alert

Start the clock at the recorded qualification event, advance to the missed first-contact target, and assign each human wait to its alert owner.

Example timezone: Pacific. Monday–Friday count as business days; holidays are not modeled. The first-contact target is one business day after the qualification result is recorded.

First-contact SLA · business-day timelineFollow the example events in time order. No live integration runs here.

Mon · 09:00 Pacific
Qualification decision is recorded
The one-business-day first-contact clock starts at this event.
Supported

Where does the first-contact clock start?

Alert owner · Draft awaiting seller review

Alert owner · First-contact attempt overdue

Alert owner · Booking or non-result unresolved

Human waits and their escalation ownersRead in numbered order. Each handoff needs an owner and acceptance evidence.

1. Not assigned
Review and send the prepared draft
Accepts: Draft is ready
Releases: First contact is recorded
Not checked
2. Not assigned
Attempt the call
Accepts: Contact target is due
Releases: Attempt outcome is logged
Not checked
3. Not assigned
Resolve the business result
Accepts: Conversation or reason is pending
Releases: Result or recorded non-result
Not checked

Changes save in this browser as you work.

Inspect the example policy saved by this activity

These are the supplied example-plan entries, not another test. Complete the workbench above to save its result.

When is this workflow done?: Measured against Chapter 1’s outcome, with both halves, so a non-result is a result rather than an absence.
Contact within one business day. One business day from what?: Recorded, unambiguous, and outside the control of the person the promise is being made about.
Three of your five steps wait on a person. Each needs a state, a clock, and somebody who hears.: Waiting on owner is a real status rather than the absence of one, each step gets its own clock, and the alert goes to someone other than the person who is stalled.

Your place saves as you go.

Chapter 6 of 80 complete