---
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


---

# Actual and business elapsed times

# Actual and business elapsed times {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated July 22, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read  
Task SLA records contain two sets of timing information: Actual elapsed and Business elapsed.
The difference between these two sets of timing is vital when you create and report on SLA definitions.

* Actual elapsed values are calculated on a 24x7 basis.
* Business elapsed values are calculated based on the schedule specified in the task SLA. The schedule is taken from the SLA definition by default.  
  Note:  
  If no schedule is specified, then the Business elapsed time is the same as the Actual elapsed time. This can be disabled by changing the com.snc.sla.always_populate_business_fields property to false in the SLA Engine. When this property is set to false, the Business fields will be 0 or empty.
{#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__ul_d4j_1fr_cs}By default, the related list for the task SLA record displays the actual elapsed time only. You can configure the list to also display the business elapsed time.

## Elapsed times and schedules

Consider a scenario where an SLA has a defined schedule of 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. With this schedule, the difference between actual and business elapsed times can be significant.

If a task SLA starts at 2 p.m. on a weekday, by 9 a.m. the next weekday it shows 3 business hours and 19 actual hours.  
Figure 1. Business elapsed time vs actual elapsed time ![Actual elapsed time and business elapsed time within actual]()

If a schedule defines an 8-hour working day, 24 hours of business elapsed time equals 3 days of actual elapsed time.

## Example

For example, an incident is opened on Friday, December 12 at 9 pm, outside of the SLA schedule of 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays.  
If the current time is the following Monday at 9:30 am, then:

* Business elapsed time is 1 hour and 30 minutes because the SLA business timer stopped at 5 pm on Friday and restarted at 8 am on Monday.
* Actual elapsed time is 60 hours and 30 minutes, representing the real-time between the incident being opened and the current time.
{#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__ul_krc_4jr_cs}Elapsed percentages are also similarly calculated. The actual elapsed percentage is over 750% while the business elapsed percentage is 19% on an 8 hour SLA.

## How the SLA workflow uses business elapsed percentage {#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__section_x5w_ht4_zjc}

The SLA workflow uses the SLA Percentage Timer activity to trigger notifications at defined thresholds --- for example, at 50% and 75% of the SLA duration. These thresholds are calculated using Business elapsed time.

When a timer fires, the SLA workflow evaluates how much business elapsed time has been consumed against the total SLA duration (as defined in the SLA definition's schedule). The timer does not advance while the SLA schedule is
inactive --- for example, overnight or on weekends.

For example, on an 8-hour SLA with a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekday schedule:

50% threshold
:   The 50% timer fires after 4 hours of business elapsed time --- regardless of how many wall-clock hours have passed.

Example timing
:   If the SLA starts at 4 p.m. on Monday, the 50% timer fires at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, after the overnight gap is excluded.
{#r_ElapsedTimeCounting__dl_y5w_ht4_zjc}

This confirms that notifications and escalations reflect actual working time, not calendar time.
**Related concepts**   

* [Flows for SLA](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/Onv7S78i04rOMghJS3e4Nw "Use the flow actions to send SLA notifications when the duration specified in the SLA definition is crossed.")  
**Related topics**   

* [SLA Percentage Timer workflow activity](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=r_SLAPercentageTimer&version=australia&pubname=australia-build-workflows&ft:locale=en-US)