# Set service targets

Promise that a request reaches a stage within a number of working hours, choose where the clock pauses, and read the clock on each request until the promise is met or missed.

A service target is a written promise: the requests that match its rules must reach a given stage within a number of working hours. The hours are counted on the working calendar of the desk, so nights, days off and the leaves of the calendar do not use the budget. Each request carries one clock per target it matches.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- You need the **Administrator** access right on **Help Desk** to write targets.
- The desk has **Service Targets** switched on, with the calendar its hours are counted on: [Help Desk settings](helpdesk-settings#promises-and-feedback). The **Front Desk** has them on.

## Write a target {#write}

1. Open **Help Desk/Configuration/Service Targets** and click **New**. **Manage the targets** on the form of a desk opens the same list for that desk.
2. Name the promise, for example `Help desk demo: First answer within a working day`.
3. Under **Applies When Every Line Below Matches**, choose the **Desk**, then narrow the target if needed: **From Priority** covers that priority and the ones above, **Carrying any of these labels** and **Limited to these customers** cover only those. An empty line covers everything. A click on a star saves the target at once, so choose the desk and the stage first.
4. Under **The Promise**, choose the stage the request **Must reach**, the **Working Hours** it has (8 by default), and the stages the **Clock pauses in**, usually the stage where you wait for the customer.

![A target for the Front Desk: reach Working within 8 working hours, with the clock paused in Waiting.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14473-0ad931f0/helpdesk-set-service-targets-target_form-en.png)

5. Click the cloud icon **Save manually**.

## Read the clock on a request {#read}

Open a new request of the desk. Under its title, a tag names each target it carries, followed by the time left before the nearest deadline; the tag turns yellow while the clock is paused, green when the promise is met and red when it is missed. The line disappears once the request is wrapped up.

![The new request carries the target under its title, with the time left before the deadline.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14478-f3eaaa2f/helpdesk-set-service-targets-target_strip-en.png)

The **Additional Details** tab details each clock under **Service Target Clocks**: its **Status** (**Running**, **Paused**, **Met** or **Missed**), its **Deadline**, the moment it was **Reached On**, the hours **Credited Back** for the time spent in a pause stage, and the **Overrun** past the deadline.

![In Waiting the clock of the target is Paused, in the Service Target Clocks of the Additional Details tab.](https://jaah.app/web/image/14484-c1698ae9/helpdesk-set-service-targets-clock_paused-en.png)

Here the request moved to **Waiting**, so its clock is **Paused**. When the request leaves **Waiting**, the working hours spent there are credited back and the deadline moves later by as much. A clock still paused when its deadline passes is marked **Missed** by the hourly job, and nothing is credited back after that.

## How a promise is settled {#settled}

- Reaching the target stage, or a later stage of the desk, before the deadline marks the clock **Met**; reaching it after the deadline marks it **Missed**. A pause stage and a dropped stage never count as reaching it.
- A scheduled job marks **Missed**, every hour, the clocks whose deadline has passed: [Help Desk automations](helpdesk-automations).
- In the lists, a request that missed a target is shown in red; the filters **Target Met** and **Target Missed** find them. The Command Center counts **Missed** and **Targets honoured**, and **Help Desk/Insights/Target Insights** analyses the clocks by desk and target.

## FAQ {#faq}

### My open requests did not get the new target. Why? {#existing-requests}

A request is matched against the targets when it is opened, and again when its desk, priority, labels or customer change. A request opened before the target was written carries it only after such a change.

### Can one request carry several targets? {#several-targets}

Yes, with one clock each. The deadline under the title is the nearest one still running or paused, and the request counts as having kept its targets only when every clock is **Met**.

### What happens when I change a target? {#change-a-target}

Changing the **Working Hours**, the stage to reach or the pause stages dates again the clocks that are still running or paused. Clocks already **Met** or **Missed** keep their result.

### Why do the hours not match the clock on the wall? {#working-hours}

They are working hours on the calendar chosen under **Service Targets** on the form of the desk. A request opened in the evening starts using its budget the next working morning.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/helpdesk/set-service-targets
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Version: Help Desk 19.0.1.1.0
- Verified: 2026-10-28