First level resolution (FLR) is a measure of a service desk’s ability to resolve tickets at Level 1. First contact resolution (FCR) is the percentage of contacts that are resolved by the service desk on the first interaction with the customer. Take the situation where a Level 1 agent accepts a call, logs a ticket, but fails to provide a solution to the caller on the initial contact. Rather than escalate the ticket, the Level 1 agent researches the user’s issue, identifies an appropriate solution, calls the user back, delivers the solution, and closes out the ticket. Although the ticket was not resolved on first contact, it was resolved at Level 1. Now let’s take the situation where the Level 1 agent accepts a call, logs a ticket, and warm transfers the caller to a Level 3 IT professional who works in the NOC. The Level 3 professional takes over the call and provides a solution for the ticket before the user hangs up. This ticket was resolved on first contact but was not resolved at first level. First contact resolution is a quality metric, while first level resolution is a cost metric.
