Use case: Defining business hours
Use case: Defining business hours
This article describes the use case "Defining business hours".
Use case: Defining business hours
Use case description
Business hours are used for defining the hours during which a service is offered to customers or users. Business hours are defined by setting a start and end time for each day the service is available. SLA calculations take the business hours into account in order to facilitate the contractual agreements between vendors and customers or internal stakeholders.
Exceptions, such as bank holidays, typically apply to business hours. There are two kinds of exceptions:
- Exceptional dates mean dates that occur every year on the same date.
- Examples include Christmas Day (25th Dec) and New Year's Day (1st Jan). Each exceptional date is represented by a data card.
- Exceptional days mean days that occur only once on the very same date.
- The Ascension Day is an example of an exceptional day. Each exceptional day is represented by a data card.
The exceptions are managed as Exceptional date and Exceptional day -datacards. Those datacards are linked to the Business hours datacards.
Example scenario
Standard service desk support
A support service for end users at a manufacturing company is offered during office hours, which start at 08:00 and end at 18:00 local time. The support service is available on weekdays, excluding national bank holidays.
Extended support
The company also provides extended support for employees working with operations management related to manufacturing. The extended support hours start at 06:00 and end at 21:00 from Monday through Saturday. National bank holidays are included.
Support for business-critical services
Since the company's business-critical functions must be running all the time with minimal service disruptions, there is a special business-critical support service. The support service is offered every day around the clock, year-round. Therefore, the business hours are 00:00-23:59 every day, without exceptional dates and days.
Use case diagram
Workflow
- Define the start time and end time for each day when the service is delivered
- Add existing exceptional days, or create new ones
- Add existing exceptional dates, or create new ones
Results
- A business hours datacard, with linkages to exceptional days and dates, has been created.
Benefits
- Service level calculation and reporting are done accurately based on the agreed business hours.
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