Configure SLA retroactive start and pause

---
title: Configure SLA retroactive start and pause
description: You can use retroactive start to retain timing information for an SLA when a task record changes. Retroactive pause prevents immediate breaches and notifications when retroactive start is enabled for SLA definitions.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-service-management/service-level-management/t\_UseSLARetroactiveStartAndPause.html
release: australia
product: Service Level Management
classification: service-level-management
topic_type: task
last_updated: "2026-09-10"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Configuring Service Level Management, Service Level Management, IT Service Management]
---

# Configure SLA retroactive start and pause

You can use retroactive start to retain timing information for an SLA when a task record changes. Retroactive pause prevents immediate breaches and notifications when retroactive start is enabled for SLA definitions.

## Before you begin

Role required: admin

## About this task

When a task record changes, typically a new SLA may be attached, with a new set of timing information. This is useful if you're re-assigning an incident to another group and want to attach a new SLA record with new timing information.

However, you may want to retain time information for the task in specific situations. For example, an incident is raised with priority **3 - Moderate** and changes to **1 - Critical** after 3 hours. A priority 1 SLA is attached at that time. You can use retroactive start to adjust the SLA timing to count from when the incident was created, rather than when the priority changed. This reflects the actual time the user contacted you.

You can use the retroactive pause property to apply pause times to the new SLA.

## Procedure

1.  Navigate to **All** > **Service Level Management** > **SLA** > **SLA Definitions**.

2.  Open the relevant SLA definition record.

3.  In the **Start Condition** section, select the **Retroactive start** check box.

4.  From the **Set start to**, select the event from which the SLA starts.

    This option determines the start time used for every task SLA record created from this SLA definition.

    For example, select **Opened** to start the SLA when the task form was initially opened, which accurately reflects when the end user contacted the service desk. Alternatively, select **Created** to start the SLA when the task form was initially saved.

5.  To enable the retroactive pause property, select the **Retroactive pause** check box.

    Enabling this property ensures the new task SLA record includes any pause time accumulated between the retroactive start time and now, which increases the breach time accordingly.

6.  Select **Update**.


## What to do next

When retroactive start is enabled, it may result in task SLAs being breached as soon as they attach, which will trigger multiple notifications. To prevent a workflow from being processed for these breached SLAs, set the **com.snc.sla.workflow.run\_for\_breached** property to `false`. To prevent a flow from being processed for these breached SLAs, set the **com.snc.sla.flow.run\_for\_breached** property to `false`.

**Parent Topic:**[Configuring Service Level Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/it-service-management/service-level-management/configuring-service-level-management.md)