Metrics

Here’s the detailed breakdown of the exact metrics you’ll find in Plain’s reporting – how they’re calculated, and what they help you measure. All metrics can be broken down by Channel, Company, Group, Label, Priority, and Tier.

Support Volume

This shows the number of support threads in your workspace – helping you track overall demand over time.

Use it to:

• Monitor rising or falling support load

• Understand queue health across segments

• Plan resourcing based on demand

Response and Resolution Metrics

Plain reports on three core time-based metrics – using two key statistical measures to give you a fuller picture:

Statistical Views

• Median – The middle value across all threads. Half of your cases are faster, half are slower.
  Use this to understand what most customers experience.

• 90th Percentile – The time within which 90% of threads are completed.
  Use this to spot outliers and inefficiencies.

These two numbers help balance the day-to-day reality (median) with the long tail of issues that may be dragging performance (90th percentile).

First Response Time

Use this to track responsiveness – especially for new or high-priority requests.

• The time from when a thread is created to when your team sends the first reply.

• Tracked per thread and included in your SLA policies.

Resolution Time

Use this to measure how quickly your team resolves requests, not just responds.

• The time from the first customer message to when the thread is marked as Done.

• This can happen in two ways:

  • Manual: If a teammate manually marks the thread as Done, resolution time is calculated up to that moment

  • Automatic: If a thread is in Waiting for Customer and is auto-closed, resolution time ends when the thread was set to Waiting for Customer

You can adjust auto-resolution settings in Settings → Workflow.

Customer Waiting Time

Use this to understand how long customers are left without a response, even if the team is actively working behind the scenes.

• The total time a thread spends in Todo – i.e. how long the customer is waiting for a reply

• This includes both initial and follow-up wait times