Tracking success: Incident metrics and SLA reporting
At the end of the incident management lifecycle, measuring success is critical to continuous improvement and maintaining strong client relationships. For MSPs, tracking the right metrics and presenting them transparently not only drives internal performance but also strengthens client trust and accountability.
Key metrics to track
Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA)—measures the average time it takes to acknowledge an incident after it is reported. A low MTTA indicates a responsive incident management process, which is crucial for client satisfaction and SLA compliance.
Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR)—measures the average time it takes to fully resolve an incident. Monitoring MTTR helps assess the efficiency and effectiveness of your response and recovery processes.
Number of Incidents Per Client—helps identify patterns, spot at-risk accounts, and measure service stability. A spike in incident volume may signal underlying issues that require attention.
Monitoring these metrics over time (month-over-month or quarter-over-quarter) provides valuable insights into service improvements or areas needing attention. Trend analysis helps MSPs proactively manage risk and showcase continuous service enhancements to clients. Additionally, MSP leadership can identify training needs, resource gaps, or opportunities for process improvements.
SLA compliance monitoring
SLA compliance is central to demonstrating the reliability, responsiveness, and overall quality of your services as an MSP. Clients trust you to meet the expectations outlined in these agreements, and consistently doing so strengthens your credibility and sets the foundation for long-term partnerships. SLA compliance requires systematically tracking, analyzing, and continuously improving performance against the service levels promised.
Response and resolution times: Core SLA metrics
Two of the most critical metrics for SLA compliance are response time (how quickly an incident is acknowledged after being reported) and resolution time (how quickly the issue is fully resolved). To manage these effectively, you should:
- Log critical timestamps: Capture precise timestamps for when each incident is created, acknowledged, escalated (if applicable), and resolved. This creates a clear timeline for each event.
- Compare against SLA thresholds: For every incident, automatically check whether the response and resolution occurred within the contractual SLA timelines. Different SLAs may apply to different incident severities or service types.
- Identify and categorize breaches: Not all SLA breaches are equal. Differentiate between breaches based on incident severity (e.g., a missed response on a critical server outage vs. a minor feature bug) to prioritize improvements where they matter most.
- Analyze trends and bottlenecks: Go beyond individual incidents. Analyze patterns over time to spot systemic issues, such as specific teams, times of day, or types of incidents that consistently delay responses or resolutions. Root cause analysis at this stage can significantly enhance operational efficiency.
- Report transparently: Share SLA performance transparently with your clients through regular reporting. Even when there are breaches, clients value honesty and a demonstrated commitment to improvement over hidden problems.
Uptime targets
Many SLAs specify minimum service uptime targets (e.g., 99.9% availability). To accurately measure uptime compliance:
- Continuously monitor service availability through automated tools.
- Record all service interruptions, including duration and impact.
- Calculate actual uptime percentages over agreed-upon reporting periods.
- Compare results against SLA commitments.
Check the table of standard uptime goals and their corresponding allowed downtime per year and month.
Reporting to clients
Transparent, consistent communication about SLA compliance is key to maintaining strong client relationships and reinforcing the value of your services. Effective reporting not only builds trust but also positions your MSP as a proactive, reliable partner.
The first step is to provide your clients with access to status page(s), where they can check on key metrics regularly and autonomously. Uptime graphs and key metrics will give an overview of the health of the system.
Additionally, provide a clear summary of incidents for the reporting period. Choose between monthly or quarterly spans. We recommend including the following information there:
- Total number of incidents, broken down by severity.
- Response and resolution times compared against SLA targets.
- Percentage of incidents meeting or breaching SLA thresholds.
- A comparison to previous periods to show improvement or highlight new trends.
Demonstrate system reliability by showing measured uptime against SLA commitments. For example, "99.95% uptime target achieved." If there were outages, explain duration, cause, and resolution.
Go beyond raw data and provide a summary of the analysis and insights. You can highlight major improvements, such as faster resolution times or fewer SLA breaches. Provide clear explanations for any breaks or trends of concern, and outline corrective actions taken and future risk mitigation strategies.
Best practices for communicating SLA performance
Be proactive, not reactive. Don't wait for clients to ask about SLA issues. Regular, scheduled reporting shows that you are actively monitoring service quality and care about meeting—and exceeding—expectations.
Be honest and transparent. If SLA breaches occurred, acknowledge them openly. Clients value honesty, especially when paired with clear corrective action plans. Sweeping problems under the rug damages trust far more than acknowledging mistakes.
Tailor reports to the audience. Executive stakeholders often prefer high-level summaries and risk assessments, while technical teams may appreciate detailed incident lists and metrics. Consider offering both an executive summary and a technical appendix.
Visualize the data. Use charts, graphs, and tables to make SLA performance easy to digest. Highlight trends over time with visuals like SLA achievement graphs, downtime timelines, and incident severity breakdowns.
Show progress, not just performance. Emphasize how your service is evolving. Highlight initiatives you've implemented, such as improved monitoring or new escalation processes, that contribute to better SLA outcomes.
Offer contextual comparisons. When possible, show benchmarks against industry standards or previous internal performance. For example: "While the industry average resolution time for critical incidents is 3 hours, we maintained a 2.5-hour average this year."
Schedule review meetings. Accompany major SLA reports with an optional review call or meeting. This personal touch gives clients a chance to ask questions, provide feedback, and further strengthen the relationship.
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What's next
This guide was created to provide MSPs with a practical and strategic roadmap for building a scalable, mature incident management process. From detecting and classifying incidents to responding, resolving, and reporting, we have outlined the frameworks, tools, and best practices necessary to meet stringent SLAs, maintain service excellence, and strengthen client trust.
Whether you're supporting small businesses or managing enterprise-level infrastructures, the ability to handle incidents efficiently enables you to meet growing 24/7 support demands without sacrificing quality. It also helps you tackle the rising complexity of hybrid, multi-tenant IT environments and scale your operations confidently while safeguarding your brand reputation.
By adopting structured incident workflows, investing in robust monitoring and escalation procedures, and emphasizing transparent reporting, MSPs can not only minimize downtime but also differentiate themselves in a competitive market.
Ultimately, incident management for MSPs isn’t just about fixing what's broken. It's about building lasting client partnerships, safeguarding critical digital operations, and ensuring your business thrives.
If you're ready to take the next step in strengthening your incident management strategy, our Incident Management Buyer’s Guide is the perfect place to start. It dives deeper into evaluating the right tools and criteria for scaling your operations while maintaining top-tier service levels. Whether you're refining your current processes or building a new foundation, the guide helps you choose solutions that align with your growth goals, SLA commitments, and client expectations.
