An Entitlement in Salesforce is the SLA record that defines what level of service a customer receives — which channels they can use, what hours they’re covered for, and what milestone deadlines apply (first response in 1 hour, resolution in 4 hours, etc.). When a Case is opened, the linked Entitlement drives the SLA clock.
What’s on an Entitlement
| Field | What it captures |
|---|---|
| Name | ”Premium Support — Acme Corp” |
| Status | Active, Inactive, Expired |
| Start Date / End Date | When the SLA is in force |
| Business Hours | Coverage window — e.g. 24×7 vs business hours only |
| Type | Web/Email Support, Phone Support, etc. |
| AccountId / ContactId / AssetId | Who or what the SLA applies to |
| Service Contract / Contract Line Item | Parent contract record |
| SlaProcessId | The Entitlement Process driving milestone timers |
How an Entitlement attaches to a Case
When a Case is created with an Account / Contact / Asset that has an active Entitlement, Salesforce can auto-link it (via the Entitlement Process or a Flow). The Case’s EntitlementId becomes the SLA contract for that ticket.
Entitlement Process and Milestones
An Entitlement on its own is just a label. The work happens through:
- Entitlement Process — the workflow that says “for this entitlement, fire these milestones in this order”
- Milestones — the time-bound checkpoints (First Response, Resolution, etc.)
- Milestone Actions — what happens before/after the milestone deadline (notify manager, escalate)
When a Case is linked to an Entitlement, milestones start ticking against the linked Business Hours. If a milestone is missed, the configured action fires (often: re-route, email manager, change priority).
How customers acquire Entitlements
- Bought via a Service Contract (signed support agreement)
- Bundled in a product purchase → created from the Order line item
- Manually granted by the service desk (for VIP customers, escalations)
- Inherited per Account (so any Case from that account picks up the SLA)
Common patterns
| Tier | Entitlement | First Response | Resolution | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | Web/Email Only | 8 business hours | 5 business days | 9-5 weekdays |
| Silver | Web/Email/Phone | 4 business hours | 2 business days | 9-5 weekdays |
| Gold | All channels + dedicated CSM | 1 hour | 24 hours | 24×7 |
When Entitlements aren’t enough
For complex contractual SLAs with per-product, per-region, per-severity matrix logic, many orgs layer CPQ + Service Contracts + Entitlements together — CPQ models what the customer bought, Service Contracts represent the agreement, Entitlements are the actionable SLA hooked to Cases.
Common follow-ups
- Difference between Entitlement and Service Contract? — Service Contract is the document (parent). Entitlement is the granular SLA hook used by Cases.
- Where does Business Hours come from? — A separate Business Hours record, optionally per Entitlement.
- Can a Case have multiple Entitlements? — One at a time on the Case directly; you can chain via parent/child cases.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Entitlement Management. Last reviewed 2026-05-17 for Spring ‘26.