The ticket header (referred to as "Overview" in the navigation) summarizes the following functions and information of a ticket.
Example for the header of an incident ticket
The ticket header provides a quick overview of information and is helpful for quick ticket actions:
Title
•Title: The title is automatically taken from the first 90 characters of the description. Thus, you do not have to enter this text part twice.
•Ticket type: The title is preceded by the name of the ticket type.
Ticket shortcuts
Similar to the action menu above the ticket list, many actions can be executed quickly (usually with one click) in the ticket. The administrator can define which of the available actions should be displayed in which ticket state. Standard actions include creating time entries and new tasks for the ticket, selecting and sending questionnaires, or setting a reminder.
In order to execute an action, the "Apply" button must be pressed after selecting and, if necessary, filling a mandatory field.
Overview of ticket shortcuts:
•Set ticket to "Waiting":For moving a ticket to the state "Waiting", there are two actions in the action menu: "Wait for customer (SLA stop)" and "Wait internal". Additionally, a resubmission date has to be entered, and a reminder will be created automatically at the same time. Setting to "Wait for customer" can be necessary if one is waiting for the feedback of a customer after a query, which is necessary for the processing of the ticket. For this purpose, the agent must obligatorily send a message to the customer (action automatically opens a new message). In this state, the calculation of SLA times is also suspended. If the customer replies to the message or the agent manually resets the "Waiting" state (via another action) or the resubmission date is reached, the SLA will be resumed from this point on. Additionally, there is the action "Wait internally". This may be necessary when waiting for an assignment from a colleague or service provider. In this case, the SLA is not stopped. An information in the ticket header indicates whether the ticket is in the state "Wait internal" or "Wait for customer, SLA stopped".
•Create task: This quick action creates a task with reference to the ticket. Executing the action opens the entry form for a new task.
•First call resolution: By default, this quick action is only allowed in the ticket state "New" for the ticket types "Incident" or "Service Request" and is used for a quick completion of a ticket directly after recording, if the incident or question could be settled directly with the first processing/call (skipping all states, directly in "Completion"). The immediate resolution rate is an important statistical factor in ITIL®. The action shows the section "Completion", a solution description must be entered here, and a completion category must be selected.
•Create time entry: This action directly opens the form for entering a new time entry with reference to the ticket.
•Search knowledge base: This action directly opens the knowledge base. When a knowledge base entry is selected and confirmed, it will be directly linked to the ticket.
•Create knowledge base article: This action is only possible in the "Completion state. When executed, a new knowledge base entry opens, the solution text from the ticket is transferred automatically.
•Copy ticket: A new ticket will be created as a copy of the current ticket. Ticket type, selected ticket template, service and category, as well as the ticket description will be transferred to the new ticket.
•Create template: A new ticket template can be created from a ticket in the "Completion" or "Closed" state. All fields of the template will be filled automatically (ticket type, description, category). The new template has to be checked and approved by the administrator before it can be used.
•Stop on-site time target: If an on-site time target is included in the SLA, this SLA can optionally be stopped manually via the action. This may be necessary if an on-site visit to the customer takes place, e.g. by a service technician, who confirms and documents his/her arrival on site.
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•Fill out questionnaire: The administrator can create and manage any questionnaires. These are either displayed to the customer in the SSP for "self-help" or can be filled out by the ticket processor himself. Depending on the structure of the questionnaire, it serves as a "checklist" so that no questions to the customer are forgotten, or certain checkpoints are worked through. The results/answers of the individual points from the questionnaires used are documented in the ticket in the "Validation and Approval" section.
•Send questionnaire: This action sends a questionnaire to the person affected by the ticket or optionally to other persons via e-mail. A link to the questionnaire is included in the e-mail. The results/answers of the individual points from the questionnaires used are documented in the ticket in the "Validation and Approval" section.
•Create reminder: Creates a new reminder with reference to the ticket.
•Assign parent / child ticket: via the selection dialog, any tickets can be selected from the ticket list and assigned to the current ticket (one parent ticket and any number of child tickets). Depending on the set relationship type between the tickets, the states of the current ticket will then either control the respective parent main ticket or the assigned sub-tickets, or there will be no control.
Ticket progress bar and state
Each ticket has the following states, regardless of the ticket type:
•New
•Classification
•Processing
•Completion
•Closed
These states represent the basic workflow (phases) of tickets. Therefore, they can not be deactivated.
The ticket state provides the agent with information about the processing state of the respective ticket. In addition, states and state changes control certain actions, such as sending an automatic e-mail or displaying ticket details that are relevant for the respective state.
The state of the ticket can be changed via the "State" field in the upper right corner of the form. Authorized users who are entered in the "Responsible user" field in the ticket or are part of the responsible group(s) can change the state and save the selected state by pressing the "Apply" button.
The state field cannot be changed if the user is not authorized to do so or if the ticket can only be controlled by the linked ticket through a rule via the ticket link. (e.g. parent ticket does child ticket)
There is also a graphical visualization of the ticket states below the ticket title as a clear progress indicator. The current state of the ticket is highlighted in color.
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Note: After the "Completion" of a ticket, the final state "Closed" follows. This cannot be selected directly by the ticket user, but is either confirmed by the affected person in the SSP, or the ticket is automatically closed after a timeout defined by the administrator if there is no feedback on the ticket. Tickets may be closed from the help desk's point of view, but possibly not yet from the affected person's point of view. |
Users of the Ticket Manager group can also set tickets from "Completion" directly to "Closed". In addition, the manager can reset tickets in the "Completion" or "Closed" state back to the "In Progress" state. By changing the state in this way, the manager can review solutions objected to by customers and then decide whether to reopen a ticket. This should be done only in exceptional cases so that statistics about the number of processed tickets are not distorted.
Information tiles
Four different information tiles are displayed. These show different information summarized according to availability/need. All information is also visible elsewhere on the form or can be edited there. The tiles are primarily used for the overview.
1.Tile: Ticket classification: This tile shows the ticket number, ticket priority (if calculated), as well as the ticket category (once defined) and the last processor of the ticket. Holding the mouse over the tile will display more classifying features.
2.Tile: Affected person: At this point, you will find a compact overview of the data of the person concerned of the ticket with name, VIP state, communication language preference, company, if necessary additionally maintained company affiliation, telephone number and (if maintained) the user picture. Clicking on the information will take you to the person's master data form. If you hold the mouse over the tile, further information about the person will be displayed.
3.Tile: Associated tickets: The contents are only displayed if linked contents are available. Otherwise, the information "No associations available" is displayed.
•If a category is assigned to the ticket, the knowledge base is searched for matching entries to this category and the number of hits is displayed. As soon as a specific knowledge base article is assigned to the ticket, it will be displayed at the location and can be opened with a kick on the link.
•If a known error is assigned to a problem ticket, it will be displayed as a clickable link.
•If a parent ticket is assigned to the ticket, it will be displayed as a clickable link.
•If there are child tickets associated with the ticket, the number of child tickets will be displayed.
•If the ticket requires approval, the approval state is displayed. Furthermore, there is the information "Approval may be required". This is displayed if approvals are required for the ticket type in principle, but the approval conditions have not yet been determined by the system ("New" or "Classification" state).
•If "External processing" is activated for the ticket, this information is displayed in the tile.
•When you hold the mouse over the tile, further information about the links will be displayed (depending on the entry displayed).
4.Tile: SLA Information: This tile displays the information about the SLA state. The calculated time targets depend on the defined SLA contract. The SLA information (SLA = "Service-Level-Agreement") shows whether an SLA exists for the ticket, and, if so, which time targets have been calculated for the ticket. SLAs are used to control and monitor the time processing of tickets and are calculated based on ticket priorities or criticality of the affected service/asset object. The definition of SLA time targets and time escalation levels for individual ticket types can be set by the administrator in the SLA contracts.
• "Reaction": Time until a first reaction to a new ticket must be made (ticket is accepted by the state change after "Classification").
• "On-site": Time until an employee must have arrived at a customer's site
• "Resolution"/"Recovery": Target time by which the ticket must be completed
The tile is colored dark green if the next time target is still far enough in the future; colored yellow if the next time target is imminent or the defined escalation level in the SLA contract has been reached; colored red if the next time target has been exceeded. The time targets are only displayed if they are actively calculated based on the SLA contract.
In addition to the SLA time targets, the state is also displayed in the tile if the ticket is in the waiting state (ticket action "Wait for customer (SLA stopped)" or "Wait internal").
Responsible group
This ticket section shows to which group or team the ticket is assigned. It is possible that tickets are assigned and processed only on group or team level. Every user from a group can process the ticket. Each ticket must be assigned to at least one responsible group. The groups can be created by the administrator. The administrator also defines which agents are assigned to which groups or teams.
Additional buttons on the selection field enable the following quick actions:
•Set the default responsible person for the ticket: If a default responsible person has been defined for the ticket by rule but has not yet been set, this can be automatically determined and entered via the button
•Set the previous responsible person for the ticket: If a ticket switches back and forth between responsibilities, the last saved responsible group can be set with this quick action
Responsible user
A dedicated responsible user can be entered here. Only users that are included in the responsible group can be selected.
External processing
In addition to responsible group and user, the "External processing" can be activated. The option can also be set automatically via the ticket category.
Additional fields will be displayed via this option:
External ticket number: Text field to document a possibly existing ticket number from an external ticket system (manual entry).
External responsible: Selection of a stored person from the master data.
E-mail to External: Opens a message for sending an e-mail to the entered external person in charge.
The cooperation with the external person takes place via the exchange of messages only. Replies from the external person will be automatically assigned to the ticket again, like all messages, via the ticket number in the subject (if available). This means that communication with the external ticket system is also conceivable, as long as the reply e-mails correspond to the expected scheme in the subject line.
Resubmission date
If the ticket has the optional state "Wait internal" or "Wait for customer", a resubmission date must be entered, otherwise this date field will not be visible.
