---
sourceDocument: Australia IT Service Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/it-service-management

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia IT Service Management

ft:clusterId :

    - itsm

bundleId :

    - itsm

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# SLA duration and schedules

# SLA duration and schedules {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
Schedules have
an impact on the duration specified in an SLA definition.

This impact is reflected in the timings that are taken into consideration
while calculating an SLA.  
Note:  
If a schedule is not selected for an SLA, the SLA will run 24X7.

Consider a scenario where you select a duration of one day, which is 24
hours, and a schedule of 9 am to 5 pm, which is 8 hours. The SLA calculation will distribute
the 24 hours across three working days of 8 hours each. So a team working on a task associated
with this SLA has 3 days to complete the task before the SLA is breached.  
Figure 1. Time distribution