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How-to guide

Creating a Milestone on an Entitlement Process

Creating a Milestone is a two-step workflow: define the MilestoneType, then attach it to an Entitlement Process with specific timing and Time Trigger actions.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 16, 2026

Creating a Milestone is a two-step workflow: define the MilestoneType, then attach it to an Entitlement Process with specific timing and Time Trigger actions.

  1. Create the Milestone Type

    Setup, Milestone Types, New. Pick a Name (First Response, Resolution Time), set Description, choose Recurrence Type (one-time or recurring), set Display Name.

  2. Open the target Entitlement Process

    Setup, Entitlement Processes, the process. The page lists existing milestones attached to the process.

  3. Click Add Milestone

    The wizard prompts for the Milestone Type (pick the one created in step 1), Target Time in minutes, Business Hours profile, Order (sequence within the process).

  4. Configure Time Triggers

    For each milestone, click Add Time Trigger. Pick offset (Before or After Target Time, in minutes), add workflow actions (email alert, task, field update). Add warning, violation, and success triggers.

  5. Set Stopped Statuses on the process

    Open the process, Edit, add case statuses that pause the milestone clock (Waiting on Customer, On Hold). Without these, the clock counts customer response time toward the SLA.

  6. Add the Case Milestones related list to the Case page layout

    Setup, Object Manager, Case, Page Layouts. Drag Case Milestones onto the layout. Agents see the tracker on the case page after the change.

  7. Test with a sample case

    Create a case on an entitled account. Confirm the milestone appears in the tracker, the timer counts down, and the actions fire at the right offsets.

Milestone Typerequired

The reusable definition of what the milestone represents. Created once, referenced many times.

Target Timerequired

The target in minutes, measured against the Business Hours profile.

Business Hoursrequired

The work-hour profile used to measure elapsed time. Inherited from the process or overridden per milestone.

Orderrequired

The sequence within the entitlement process. Lower numbers run earlier in the case lifecycle.

Recurrence Typerequired

One-time or recurring. Recurring milestones repeat on a configured interval until the case is resolved.

Gotchas
  • Wrong Business Hours profile is the most common SLA configuration error. The clock measures against the assigned profile, which may not match the case timezone or region.
  • Without Stopped Statuses configured, the milestone clock runs through customer response time. Cases waiting on customer input inflate violation rates falsely.
  • Time Trigger actions reference workflow actions, which are deprecated in favor of Flow. Migrate triggers to Flow-based actions for any new milestone built today.
  • Recurring milestones can become noisy on long cases. A 4-hour recurring update milestone on a 30-day case generates 180 milestones. Plan recurrence intervals carefully.
  • The Milestone Tracker is invisible without the Case Milestones related list on the page layout. Forgetting this step is why agents do not see the SLA progress.

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