L1 handles common questions and account tasks, L2 handles deeper technical troubleshooting, and L3 handles issues that need code-level investigation, usually engineering. Each tier has more expertise and more expensive time than the one below it.
The tiers exist to protect expert time. The cost is that every move up adds a handoff and a wait for the customer.
What each tier typically owns
- L1: how-to questions, billing, password resets, known issues with documented workarounds
- L2: configuration problems, integration debugging, log review, reproducing bugs
- L3: confirmed bugs, data fixes, performance problems, anything needing a code change
Keeping tickets low in the stack
Most teams find L3 carries tickets L2 could close with the right access and tooling:
- Give L2 read access to logs, config, and code
- Write exit criteria for each tier
- Review a sample of L3 tickets monthly to find ones that didn't need engineering
Decimal gives L1 and L2 the investigation L3 would do. Read more about tiered support.