How SLA Due Dates Are Calculated (Calendar Hours, Not Business Hours)

When you set an SLA deadline on a step — for example "Due within 24 hours" — the countdown uses calendar hours: continuous 24/7 time that does not pause for evenings, weekends, or public holidays.

What calendar hours means in practice

A 24-hour SLA that starts at 3:00 PM on Friday expires at 3:00 PM on Saturday, not Monday morning. The clock runs continuously regardless of working days.

This applies to:

• Step SLA deadlines (the "Due in N hours/days" setting on an Action or Branch node)
• Escalation timers (the "Escalate after N hours overdue" setting)

Why calendar hours and not business hours

Business-hour calculations require a definition of working days, office hours, and public holidays — which varies by organisation, team, and country. Aitomic Flow uses calendar hours to keep SLA logic simple, consistent, and unambiguous across all tenants.

How due dates are stored and displayed

• Due dates are stored in UTC internally
• They are displayed in the viewer's local timezone — the same timezone your operating system or browser uses
• The badge on a pending task shows a colour-coded countdown:
  • Red — the step is overdue (due date has passed)
  • Amber — due within the next 24 hours
  • Muted grey — due in more than 24 hours
  • Hidden — the step has no SLA configured, or it has been completed

Planning your SLA values

Because SLA hours run around the clock, factor in overnight and weekend time when deciding what value to use:

Business-hour target	Suggested calendar-hour SLA
4 business hours	24h — covers overnight safely
1 business day (8h)	24h
End of next working day	48h
2 business days	48h
1 week	120h (5 × 24h)

As a practical rule: if the real deadline is N business days, setting the SLA to N × 24 calendar hours is a reasonable conservative approximation for a standard Monday–Friday team.

Escalation timers use the same logic

The escalation "after N hours overdue" counter starts the moment the due date passes and also runs in calendar hours. An escalation of 4 hours means the manager receives a notification 4 calendar hours after the deadline, not 4 business hours.

See also

• How to Set Deadlines (SLA) on Workflow Steps
• Step Escalation: Automatic Manager Notifications