Configuring Incident SLA (End-to-End)

Configures a complete Incident SLA pipeline for Service Cloud ITSM — the chain deriving an EntityMilestone (with a computed TargetDate) on every Incident with an Entitlement, all via the Salesforce-hosted headless-360 MCP server (org from the OAuth JWT). Requires the org-level SLA Management for IT Service setup item (the Phase 0.5 gate). Four parts: MilestoneType (what you measure) → SLA Policy (SlaProcess, Incident-scoped, entry/exit criteria) → Milestone (time trigger + criteria) → Entitlement (Account-wired, so Incidents engage the SLA).

Scope

• In scope: the four artifacts above + verifying SLA engagement on Incident records; gating SLA Management for IT Service (Phase 0.5); offering the OOB Standard Support for Incidents policy vs a custom one (Phase 0.6, Incident only) — all via headless-360 MCP.
• Out of scope: Case SLA/entitlements; Assignment Rules; Escalation Rules; Notification Rules; general Entitlement CRUD not related to Incident SLA; SLA reporting.

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Output contract — applies to EVERY message

Never print a raw Salesforce record Id (15/18-char: 55…, 550…, 0ny…, 00…) — full or masked (557VW…R3XVYA0 still leaks) — in any user-facing text: interim narration and the final report. Holds for artifacts you created and ones you detected/reused — name each (the name you supplied on create, or matched on reuse), keep its Id internal (chaining only). Verifying or matching via SOQL? Report the verified attributes/name, never the Id you queried by. One exception: on a halt you may relay the raw error body verbatim even if it embeds an Id — don't hand-edit it.

• Wrong: SLA policy created (552VW…) · Incident created (0ny…) · First Response → 557VW…R3XVYA0 (reuse)
• Right: Created SLA policy "Standard Support for Incidents" · reusing the existing First Response milestone type · the test Incident is "the test Incident" until Phase 3, then its IncidentNumber; milestones by MilestoneType name.

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Routes at a glance

Reads → mcp__headless-360__dispatch_readonly, writes → mcp__headless-360__dispatch. Both take raw HTTP {"url","method","body"?,"query_params"?} — not {operation_id, arguments}; read body from {status_code, body}. Full route table with request/response shapes: references/mcp-invocation.md.

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Clarifying Questions

Ask only what you cannot infer from context (pre-populate; note "(from conversation)"). Resolve the Phase 0.5 gate first. Then: which org? (headless-360 binds to the current OAuth session — confirm before mutating); milestone strategy? (Phase 1.4); target Account? (for the Entitlement); milestone criteria? (default Status != Closed + pattern-specific filters).

Default suggestion: SLA Policy Incident SLA Policy, default BusinessHours, the Account the user picks, Entitlement today → today + 1 year, milestone strategy resolved per Phase 1.4.

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Workflow

All steps are sequential. Always read before you write. Every call goes through mcp__headless-360__* tools.

Phase 0 — Reuse what the session already knows

Each Phase 1 read carries a skip-if-already-known clause: skip only when the same fact was produced this session by a successful dispatch_readonly on the current org and unwritten since — a user statement is never cache-eligible. Cacheable: master Incident Mgmt pref (step 1, only if ENABLED), SLA feature + Versioning (Phase 0.5), Incident describe (3), BusinessHoursId (4), Account id (5), SLA Connect ops (2). When in doubt, re-check.

Phase 0.5 — SLA Management for IT Service prerequisite gate

Resolve this gate first, on its own. Reads are safe up front; confirm the org before any write. "SLA Management for IT Service" is enabled only when both Simplified SLA Setup (feature service-cloud-itsm-manage-sla-policies) and SLA Versioning (EntitlementSettings.IsEntitlementVersioningEnabled) are on; either off → not enabled. The one feature-enable turns on both, permanently enabling versioning — inseparable. Shapes / enableBlockedReasons / ack wording: references/mcp-invocation.md.

• Read both (dispatch_readonly); proceed to Phase 0.6 only when both are on.
• On an OFF org, read the master license first (Phase 1 step 1, service-cloud-itsm-incident): NOT_AVAILABLE → HALT — don't flip the permanent Versioning switch where Incident SLA can't run.
• Two separate AskUserQuestion acks — never merge. (a) master Incident Mgmt NOT_ENABLED → ask to enable it first (reversible, no permanence warning). (b) a distinct permanence ack: enabling SLA Management turns on SLA Versioning, which can't be turned off (the feature disables later but Versioning stays on). Offer enable/stop — no "versioning-off"; a bare "enable SLA" is not consent.
• Decline (b), non-empty enableBlockedReasons, or a re-read mismatch → HALT — enable no SLA Mgmt/Versioning, don't proceed to Phase 0.6/1 (a reversible master enable from (a) stands). After any write, re-read both and report the REAL state — never trust 201/204.

Phase 0.6 — Predefined (OOB) vs Custom

Once the gate passes, offer the OOB policy before any custom-flow questions. Incident only.

1. Prerequisite + detect. Confirm master Incident Mgmt pref ENABLED (Phase 1 step 1). Then dispatch_readonly GET /connect/sla-management/sla-policies with query_params.processTypes=Incident; match display name "Standard Support for Incidents".
   • Already present → no re-seed (no idempotency), no custom upsell; report it is seeded. If warn/escalate actions were requested → resolve the named existing milestones → Phase 2.5 → Phase 3 verify → STOP (attach actions even though the policy was already seeded).
2. Fork — one AskUserQuestion, Predefined first / recommended: Salesforce's predefined Incident policy (Standard Support for Incidents — priority-tiered) or a custom one. One-way: predefined seeds an active policy + Entitlement, no un-seed path (manual delete only).
   • Predefined → resolve BusinessHours + Account (Phase 1 steps 4–5) → Phase 2-OOB → Phase 2.5 (if actions requested) → Phase 3 verify → STOP.
   • Custom → existing Phase 1 → 1.4 → 1.5 → 2 → 3, unchanged.

Phase 1 — Preflight & discovery

On any 401 / 403 / 404 from a step below, halt and surface the raw error — the org/client is misconfigured. 401 → MCP auth (ECA/token). 403 → user perm OR ITSM Incident Management license/pref missing. 404 → headless-360 not activated OR Entitlement Management not enabled for Incident.

1. Master Incident Management pref — direct read (skip conditions in Phase 0). dispatch_readonly GET .../connect/setup/discovery/features, filter features[] to the exact apiName == "service-cloud-itsm-incident" — never a look-alike (service-cloud-incident-management is generic Case-based Incident Management, not our target). Read status: ENABLED → proceed; NOT_AVAILABLE (license missing) → halt and surface it — cannot be enabled here, no delegate/ack; NOT_ENABLED → explicit AskUserQuestion ack first (never auto-enable as an implied SLA dependency), then delegate to service-itsm-incident-mgmt-configure inline (confirms-to-write) and re-read; if declined, halt — every SLA artifact below depends on the master being on. Full shape + why setup-org-preferences 404s here: references/mcp-invocation.md (Preflight A).
2. Discover the Connect operations — (skip if already verified this session — see Phase 0). mcp__headless-360__discover(query="sla-management milestone") to confirm the SLA Management Connect API is indexed, then mcp__headless-360__describe(id=<operation_id>) for the milestone-types, sla-policies, and sla-policies/{id}/milestones POST operations to pull their exact input schemas + HTTP routes. If discover returns nothing after rewording the query, the corpus does not index this surface for the org — direct the user to Setup → SLA/Entitlement setup and stop.
3. Verify Incident Management + SLA fields — (skip if Incident.describe result for the current org is already in context — see Phase 0). Otherwise dispatch_readonly on GET /services/data/v67.0/sobjects/Incident/describe and confirm fields[] includes EntitlementId, SlaStartDate, SlaExitDate. If the describe 404s or fields are missing, direct the user to enable Entitlement Management for Incident and stop.
4. Find default BusinessHours — (skip if BusinessHoursId for the current org's default is already captured this session). Otherwise dispatch_readonly on GET /services/data/v67.0/query with query_params.q="SELECT Id, Name FROM BusinessHours WHERE IsActive = true AND IsDefault = true". If body.records is empty, stop with a message to create default Business Hours in Setup. Capture BusinessHoursId.
5. Resolve the target Account — (skip if already resolved this session). Phase 2's Entitlement needs an AccountId. If the user named one → look up (SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Name = '<escaped>' LIMIT 1); not found → stop and ask, never substitute. If the user authorized any/existing Account → pick the most recently active (... WHERE IsDeleted = false ORDER BY LastModifiedDate DESC LIMIT 1) and surface which in the plan. Otherwise → ask via AskUserQuestion: list real candidates by name only + "type a name"; never auto-pick, pre-select, or expose an internal sort key (e.g. recency). If none exists, stop. Capture AccountId + name.
6. Read existing SLA artifacts (idempotency probe) — dispatch_readonly SOQL for SlaProcess by name (... WHERE Name = '<name>' AND SobjectType = 'Incident' — the field is SobjectType; ProcessType returns INVALID_FIELD), each MilestoneType the strategy would create, SlaMilestone under the matched policy, and Entitlement by name on the resolved Account. If every artifact already exists with the requested config, set noOp=true and skip Phase 1.4 + Phase 2 (skip condition (b)); any missing/divergent artifact → proceed to Phase 1.4.

Phase 1.4 — Milestone Strategy

Every SLA policy needs at least one milestone. Load examples/milestone-patterns.md — it lists the skip conditions (concrete shape in prompt / idempotent no-op / explicit up-front authorization) and the five strategy options with their AskUserQuestion prompt, defaults, and MilestoneType-reuse rules. Skip condition (c) still requires Phase 1.5 plan-narration before dispatch. Multi-milestone selection expands to N creates in Phase 2 step 10 (one POST per milestone, order 1..N, same SlaProcess).

Phase 1.5 — Confirm before mutating

7. Confirm the plan — present the resolved config (target org, SLA Policy name, resolved Account name, Entitlement date range, and the full per-milestone list — never collapse Priority-tiered / Custom to "N milestones"). Skip the AskUserQuestion (but still narrate the plan before dispatch) when up-front authorization was granted (note (authorized in prompt)), the branch is a no-op, or it was already confirmed in conversation (note (confirmed in conversation)); otherwise require an explicit "yes" before Phase 2. Everything after this step mutates the org.

Phase 2 — Create SLA Artifacts (exact order — each depends on the previous)

Capture each returned id for chaining only.

8. Create MilestoneType(s) — POST /connect/sla-management/milestone-types. One POST per distinct MilestoneType required by the strategy. Reuse a single MilestoneType across milestones that share a name (Priority-tiered "First Response" reuses one MilestoneType across all four milestones); create separate MilestoneTypes for distinct concerns (Response + Resolution = two MilestoneTypes; Escalation ladder = three). Capture each id. A feature enable pre-seeds a default MilestoneType catalog; a detected/reused one is narrated by name only (Output contract: name, never → <Id>).
9. Create SLA Policy — POST /connect/sla-management/sla-policies with processType='Incident' and the businessHourId from Phase 1. Capture id. The response echoes nulls — verify via SOQL, not the body; narrate the policy by name, never the Id (Output contract).
10. Attach Milestone(s) — load the request-body template from assets/attach-milestone.json and, for each milestone in the strategy, populate milestoneTypeId, timeTrigger, order (1..N in the strategy's order) and any per-pattern filterItems additions from examples/milestone-patterns.md, then POST /connect/sla-management/sla-policies/<slaId>/milestones. Each milestoneCriteria[] item needs milestoneAgreementType (SLA/OLA) and filterType: RuleFilter. Do not put slaProcessId in the body — carried by the path. One POST per milestone; on any failure, halt and surface the raw error (no half-attached policy) — narrate each by MilestoneType name, never its Id/triggerId (Output contract).
11. Create Entitlement — POST /sobjects/Entitlement linking the resolved Account (from Phase 1 step 5), the SLA Policy (SlaProcessId), and Business Hours. For immediate engagement, backdate StartDate to yesterday — narrate it by name/Account, never its Id (Output contract).

Phase 2-OOB — Seed the Predefined Incident Policy

Reached only from Phase 0.6 Predefined (replaces Phase 1.4/1.5/2). Follow the seed recipe in references/mcp-invocation.md (Predefined Incident Policy) with assets/predefined-incident-policy.json — it uses the Phase 2 routes (2 MilestoneTypes → SLA Policy active:true → 6 milestones, each startTimeBasedOn: MILESTONE_CRITERIA → Entitlement), validates each Priority/Status against the live picklist, and avoids the Connect activate PATCH. Then Phase 2.5 (if actions requested), Phase 3 (a non-lowest tier — Moderate/Low, not Critical), and STOP — no proactive custom offer.

Phase 2.5 — Milestone Actions (optional: Warn / Escalate)

After milestones exist (Phase 2 or 2-OOB), only if the user asked to warn/escalate/notify: apply the requested checkpoint(s) to every milestone the user named (not just one), each offset computed from that milestone's own target. Map "warn at X%" → an offset before target, "on breach" → at/after it; confirm the full set before writing (up-front auth waives the re-ask; narrate it regardless — no headless delete), then, per milestone, delegate to headless create-milestone-action (discover → describe → dispatch). Confirm each from the response body (success + non-empty actionMappings; a timed checkpoint also returns a triggerId), never the 201. Narrate each by its MilestoneType name, never the milestone Id/triggerId (Output contract). Formula, roles, proven body, defaults, IST business-hours note: references/mcp-invocation.md (Milestone Actions).

Phase 3 — Verify

12. Verify the SLA Policy — SOQL on SlaProcess (do not trust the create response).
13. Create a test Incident with EntitlementId set. For Priority-tiered / OOB strategies, test a tier other than the lowest order — Critical is order-1, the collapse fallback, so it can't detect a dropped criterion. If a direct Priority insert is rejected (it may be matrix-derived), set Urgency/Impact to derive the tier. Narrate by IncidentNumber, never the Id.
14. Verify engagement + tiering — SOQL that Incident.SlaStartDate is populated and the EntityMilestone lands on the correct tier (a Moderate/Low Incident → the 240/960 tier, NOT 30/120). The create 201 always echoes milestoneCriteria:[]; only this runtime read proves the ACTIVE criteria persisted.
15. Report results using the output format below.

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Rules / Constraints

Constraint	Rationale
Gate SLA Management first (Phase 0.5) — one enable turns on the feature and, one-way, SLA Versioning; two separate acks (master, then permanence) — never merged; decline/blocked/verify-fail → HALT; re-read + report real state	Versioning is irreversible; writes don't confirm state
Offer predefined (OOB) first (Phase 0.6, Incident only); detect before seed; if chosen, seed → verify → STOP (no custom upsell)	OOB seed isn't idempotent — re-seed duplicates
discover + describe before any mutation	Catches a missing SLA surface / disabled Incident Mgmt early
Ask (AskUserQuestion) the milestone strategy — never silently default to Single	Real ITSM policies have >1 milestone
Reuse one MilestoneType per shared name; a distinct one per distinct concern	Runtime keys milestones by MilestoneType
Multi-milestone: halt on any milestone POST failure (no half-attached policy)	Partial attach diverges from the confirmed plan
Priority-tiered: validate every Priority value against the live picklist before dispatch	Server accepts any string → an unknown value is a dead milestone
Entitlement is standard sObject DML; StartDate controls status (future = Inactive)	Not on the /connect/sla-management/ surface
No record Id in any message (see Output contract, incl. reused artifacts); AskUserQuestion labels customer-facing (no "demo"/internal defaults)	The #1 retest failure; leaked Ids / internal framing look unprofessional

Additional API quirks: references/mcp-invocation.md.

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Verification Checklist

• SLA Management gated (Phase 0.5) — feature + SLA Versioning both on, only after the permanence ack (separate from the master ack); reported state = a re-read, not the write. Declined / blocked / verify-fail → HALTED before Phase 0.6/1, no artifacts.
• Predefined vs Custom offered (Phase 0.6) — with the feature ON, OOB Standard Support for Incidents offered first; if present, reported not re-seeded; if chosen, seeded (2 MilestoneTypes + 6 milestones + Entitlement), verified, no custom offer after.
• Master Incident Mgmt pref (exact service-cloud-itsm-incident) ENABLED via live read, or delegated when NOT_ENABLED (NOT_AVAILABLE → HALT) — not a user assertion, not a look-alike.
• discover/describe confirmed the SLA Connect ops.
• Incident describe returned 200 with EntitlementId, SlaStartDate, SlaExitDate.
• Default BusinessHours found.
• Milestone strategy resolved — Phase 1.4 skip condition OR AskUserQuestion; Priority-tiered / Custom validated every Priority/criteria value against the live picklist before dispatch.
• Configuration confirmed OR skip condition met (up-front auth / no-op / prior confirmation / "yes"); the resolved plan (org, SLA name, account, entitlement range, per-milestone list) narrated before Phase 2.
• Artifacts created in order (MilestoneType(s) → Policy → Milestone(s) → Entitlement), each POST 201; any milestone POST failure halted (no partial attach). Trivial on no-op.
• Milestone actions (Phase 2.5) — if requested, attached to every named milestone; each confirmed from body.success + actionMappings, not the 201; full set narrated before write.
• SLA Policy verified via SOQL, not the create response (no-op: the Phase-1 read is the verification).
• Test Incident has SlaStartDate populated (Priority matched for Priority-tiered) and ≥1 EntityMilestone with correct TargetDate; expected milestone(s) present. Skip on no-op.
• No record Id in any message — interim narration and final report; artifacts by name, test Incident by IncidentNumber (see Output contract).
• Before/after + summary shown; no-op states the pre-existing config verbatim + "no changes made".

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Output Format

Use the examples/output-templates.md templates; fill placeholders as-is. The success report must carry, unambiguously: the SLA Policy; every milestone by MilestoneType name + time + criteria; the Entitlement → Account; every requested action by milestone + Warning/Violation role + offset + how confirmed; a Verification section (SOQL-confirmed policy + test-Incident SlaStartDate/EntityMilestones, or an honest partial note); created-vs-reused per artifact; a scope line (only the Incident SLA). No record Id anywhere.

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Reference File Index

File	When to read
references/mcp-invocation.md	Every phase — call shapes, templates, response envelope, discovery, gotchas
examples/milestone-patterns.md	Phase 1.4 — the five strategies: times, criteria, MilestoneType reuse, filter extensions
assets/attach-milestone.json	Phase 2 step 10 — milestone POST body; substitute ids/timeTrigger/order; append filterItems
assets/predefined-incident-policy.json	Phase 0.6 / 2-OOB — OOB seed template (policy + 2 MilestoneTypes + 6 milestones, Moderate+Low merged)
assets/attach-milestone-action.json	Phase 2.5 — Warn/Escalate action body templates (Field Update); pair with mcp-invocation.md (Milestone Actions)
examples/output-templates.md	Output Format — success/partial report templates; fill placeholders, no record Id

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Related Skills

The priority matrix (Impact × Urgency → Priority) is separate — service-itsm-incident-priority-configure; if a Priority-tiered strategy is requested but Incident.Priority lacks values, direct the user there first. Other ITSM flows (Major Incident Mgmt, custom fields) are out of scope.