This section guides administrators through the process of applying their custom Tickets configuration to the system.
These configuration options apply to all Tickets and only needed to be added once.
Step #1 Creating Custom Hold Reasons
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Trouble Hold Reasons
Description: Name of the hold reason that displays in On-hold reason lists and on a Ticket after it has been placed on-hold.
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Hold Reasons allow to specify why a Ticket is being placed on-hold. When a Ticket is on-hold the in progress time stops calculating.
Hold Reasons are required when placing a Ticket on-hold.
The following default on-hold reasons are provided:
Customer action required
Third-party action required
Step #2 Creating Resolution Types
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Trouble Ticket Resolutions
Description: Name of the Resolution Type that displays in list when resolving a Ticket and on a Ticket after it has been resolved.
Start Date: Starting date that the type will be visible to users. Unselected = visible immediately.
End Date: Ending date that the type will be visible to users.
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Resolution Types allow organizations to categorize the solution that was used to resolve a Ticket. Categorizing resolutions can be useful in reporting, analysis and standardization of Tickets.
Resolution Types are not required when resolving a Ticket and no codes are provided by default.
Step #3 Creating Custom Journal Types
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Journal Types
Journal Type: Name for the new Journal Type that will be displayed to users
Journal Group: Set to Customer Management
Journal Class: Set to Journal
Severity: <not used>
Escalation Group: <not used>
Escalation Hours: <not used>
Base Attribute (Optional): Set an attribute definition that will be added to the journal when this type is selected.
Auto-Assign Group: <not used>
Start Date: Starting date that the new type will be visible to users. Unselected = visible immediately
End Date: Ending date that the new type will be visible to users.
Use in OnlineBill: Check to indicate that journals of this type are to be viewable to end-subscribers in OnlineBill (or any other end-subscriber facing application.)
When checked, journals created with this type will default to publicly viewable but this can be over-ridden by the user on a journal by journal basis.
When unchecked, journals created with this type will default to Internal only and users will not be able to over-ride this.
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Journals entries allow users to record additional information, notes, communications and another other information that is relevant to a Ticket.
Journal Types allow organizations to provide classifications of the Journals that are being added.
Classification makes it easier to filter and search for particular types of Journal entries and also gives users an at-a-glance indication of the nature of a Journal without needing to read the details.
An example of a typical Journal Type classification scheme may look like this:
Customer Communication
Customer Status Update
Information Request
Internal Note
Internal Status Update
Vendor Communication
Vendor Status Update
Administrators indicate for each Journal Type whether or not the Journals of that classification will be viewable externally (i.e., viewable to the customer via the OnlineBill subscriber portal).
Journal Types set to external viewing defaults the Journal to customer viewable however the user has the option to override this on an individual Journal basis.
Journal Types set to internal viewing do not allow users to set the viewable status and the Journal will automatically be set to internal only.
Type is required when adding a Journal and the following Journal Types are provided by default:
Internal Note (Internal Viewing Only)
Public Note (External Viewing by default)
Step #4 Creating Custom Ticket Impacts
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Tickets > Ticket Impact
Name: Impact description that is displayed to users in Impact lists when creating or editing and displayed on a ticket when viewing Priority.
If you are planning to utilize automatically setting Priority based upon Impact and Urgency then Impacts should be added before utilizing the Ticket Priority Configuration screen.
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Impact and Urgency are metrics used to assist users in determining the priority of a Ticket.
Users can input the Impact and Urgency of an issue/request based upon the information provided by the customer and have the system automatically assigns a priority based upon your organizations business rules.
Impact of the Ticket is a measure of the effect it has on the customer. Commonly Impact is represented by a measure of how many users, services or systems are affected.
Typically, Tickets affecting a single user would have a lower impact than one affecting an entire company.
Urgency of the Ticket is a measure of the extent to which the Ticket’s resolution can bear delay. Urgency is often influenced by the service that is affected, the nature of the issue/request and commitments to customers on resolution times for certain types of issues.
For example, a Ticket opened because an end-subscriber web portal is unavailable would have a higher urgency than a Ticket reporting an error with a single report within the portal.
Users have the option of either directly specifying the Priority of Ticket when creating it or having Priority be calculated by the Impact and Urgency.
The following Impact and Urgencies are listed by default:
1 - High
2 - Medium
3 - Low
In order to have Priority be calculated administrators must specify which combinations of Impact and Urgency map to what Priorities.
A typical Priority matrix may look like this:
Impact
High
Medium
Low
Urgency
High
1
2
3
Medium
2
2
3
Low
3
3
3
Note
The IDI platform allows a separate Priority matrix to be configured for each Ticket Type.
Step #5 Creating Custom Ticket Urgencies
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Tickets > Ticket Urgency
Name: Urgency description that is displayed to users in Urgency lists when creating or editing and displayed on a ticket when viewing Priority.
If you are planning to utilize automatically setting Priority based upon Impact and Urgency then Urgencies should be added before utilizing the Ticket Priority Configuration screen.
More
Impact and Urgency are metrics used to assist users in determining the priority of a Ticket.
Users can input the Impact and Urgency of an issue/request based upon the information provided by the customer and have the system automatically assigns a priority based upon your organizations business rules.
Impact of the Ticket is a measure of the effect it has on the customer. Commonly Impact is represented by a measure of how many users, services or systems are affected.
Typically, Tickets affecting a single user would have a lower impact than one affecting an entire company.
Urgency of the Ticket is a measure of the extent to which the Ticket’s resolution can bear delay. Urgency is often influenced by the service that is affected, the nature of the issue/request and commitments to customers on resolution times for certain types of issues.
For example, a Ticket opened because an end-subscriber web portal is unavailable would have a higher urgency than a Ticket reporting an error with a single report within the portal.
Users have the option of either directly specifying the Priority of Ticket when creating it or having Priority be calculated by the Impact and Urgency.
The following Impact and Urgencies are listed by default:
1 - High
2 - Medium
3 - Low
In order to have Priority be calculated administrators must specify which combinations of Impact and Urgency map to what Priorities.
A typical Priority matrix may look like this:
Impact
High
Medium
Low
Urgency
High
1
2
3
Medium
2
2
3
Low
3
3
3
Note
The IDI platform allows a separate Priority matrix to be configured for each Ticket Type.
Step #6 Creating Custom Ticket Priorities
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Trouble Severity
Flag Type: Color indicator to be displayed with the Priority.
Description: Priority name displayed to users. Priorities display in numeric/alphabetical order in the IDI platform and it is recommended to use either numeric only or numeric – alpha if the desire is to display Priorities to users in order of importance.
Commit Date Default (optional): Set a default Commit Date to be assigned to the Ticket based upon the Priority. Commit Date is set based upon the configured number of hours from the time the Ticket was opened.
If you are planning to utilize automatically setting Priority based upon Impact and Urgency then Priorities should be added before utilizing the Ticket Priority Configuration screen.
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Priority is used to identify the relative importance of a Ticket and is often used as the main guidance to an organization of how quickly a Ticket should be resolved.
Specifying a Priority is required when creating a Ticket and the following Priorities are provided by default:
1 - High
2 - Medium
3 - Low
Each Priority must be mapped to a color indicator.
The color indicator is used by the IDI platform when displaying the Priority in order to give users a quick visual cue as to the importance of the Ticket.
Available color indicators are:
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Purple
Black
White
Priorities also allow administrators to set a default Commit Date by specifying that the date will be x Hours from when the Ticket is opened.
Step #7 Creating Custom Statuses
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Journal Statuses
Journal Status: Name of the status that will appear in status lists and on Tickets.
Journal Class: Set to Trouble Ticket
Ticket State: Select the Ticket state that the status maps to.
Step #8 Creating Categories
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Trouble Categories
A Ticket Category need to be added to the Trouble Categories screen once before it can be used to specify available Category combinations for each Ticket Type.
Warning
Please Note: To determine what Categories need to be added to this screen you should review all of your planned combinations of Category and Subcategories. Each unique value only needs to be created once even if it is repeated in different Ticket Type or Category/Subcategory combinations.
Description: The category name that will be displayed in Category lists when creating or adding Tickets and when viewing the Ticket.
Categories should be added before utilizing the Ticket Category Configuration screen.
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Ticket Categories provide classification for the request in order to aid initial support and ensure that the Ticket is properly routed through the organization. They also provide a quick way for users to understand the issue/request without needing to read the details of the description or journals.
Note
Ticket Categories are optional when creating a Ticket and no Categories are provided by default.
Classification schemes and their strategies for establishing types and categories will vary from organization to organization. However, they share some common goals:
They should direct further analysis, evaluation and routing, not attempt to diagnose root cause.
They should be as simple and easy to use as possible.
They should view things from a user perspective, not from a service provider or technology viewpoint.
The IDI platform allows up to three levels of Category classifications to be assigned to a Ticket.
Typical classification schemes start with the type of service or product that the Ticket is in reference to, then identify the general nature of the issue/request and finally classify the specific issue or request.
For example, Categories for a Ticket Type of Incident may look like:
Dedicated Circuit > Connectivity Issue > Unable to connect
Dedicated Circuit > Connectivity Issue > Degraded performance
Dedicated Circuit > Connectivity Issue > Intermittent disconnects
The Tickets module allows administrators to specify what combinations of categories and subcategories are available for each Ticket type.
Each category combination allows the administrator to define Escalation paths, end-subscriber visibility, as well as default values for properties such as Assigned To, Title, Description, Impact Urgency, and Priority.
These configuration options apply to each Ticket Type that you are making available in the system.
Step #9 Creating Custom Ticket Types
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Journal Types
Journal Type: Name for the new Ticket Type that will be displayed to users
Journal Group: Set to Customer Management
Journal Class: Set to Trouble Ticket
Escalation Group (Optional)
Escalation Hours (Optional)
Base Attribute (Optional): Set an attribute definition that will be added to the ticket when this type is selected.
Auto-Assign Group: Display only. Managed in Ticket Category Configuration.
Start Date: Starting date that the new type will be visible to users. Unselected = visible immediately.
End Date: Ending date that the new type will be visible to users.
Use in OnlineBill: Check to allow Tickets of this type to be viewable to end-subscribers in OnlineBill (or any other end-subscriber facing application).
When checked, Tickets created with this type will default to publicly viewable but this can be over-ridden by the user on a ticket by ticket basis.
When unchecked, Tickets created with this type will default to Internal only and users will not be able to over-ride this.
More
Journals entries allow users to record additional information, notes, communications and another other information that is relevant to a Ticket.
Journal Types allow organizations to provide classifications of the Journals that are being added.
Classification makes it easier to filter and search for particular types of Journal entries and also gives users an at-a-glance indication of the nature of a Journal without needing to read the details.
An example of a typical Journal Type classification scheme may look like this:
Customer Communication
Customer Status Update
Information Request
Internal Note
Internal Status Update
Vendor Communication
Vendor Status Update
Administrators indicate for each Journal Type whether or not the Journals of that classification will be viewable externally (i.e., viewable to the customer via the OnlineBill subscriber portal).
Journal Types set to external viewing defaults the Journal to customer viewable however the user has the option to override this on an individual Journal basis.
Journal Types set to internal viewing do not allow users to set the viewable status and the Journal will automatically be set to internal only.
Type is required when adding a Journal and the following Journal Types are provided by default:
Internal Note (Internal Viewing Only)
Public Note (External Viewing by default)
Step #10 Creating Priority Impact/Urgency Matrixes
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Tickets >Ticket Priority Configuration
Ticket Type: Select from the list of configured Ticket Types. Each Ticket Type maintains separate configuration for Impact/Urgency to Priority mappings.
Ticket Impact: Select from the list of configured Ticket Impacts.
Ticket Urgency: Select from the list of configured Ticket Urgencies.
Ticket Priority: Select from the list of configured Priorities what Priority the system will automatically set when the configured Impact and Urgency values are selected by the user.
More
Priority is used to identify the relative importance of a Ticket and is often used as the main guidance to an organization of how quickly a Ticket should be resolved.
Specifying a Priority is required when creating a Ticket and the following Priorities are provided by default:
1 - High
2 - Medium
3 - Low
Each Priority must be mapped to a color indicator.
The color indicator is used by the IDI platform when displaying the Priority in order to give users a quick visual cue as to the importance of the Ticket.
Available color indicators are:
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Purple
Black
White
Priorities also allow administrators to set a default Commit Date by specifying that the date will be x Hours from when the Ticket is opened.
Step # 11 Configuring Type / Category Combinations
AdminConsole > Data Management > Journals > Tickets > Ticket Category Configuration
Add a Ticket Type
Right click in the left hand side of the screen and select ‘New Root Type’.
Ticket Type: Select the Type that you want to configure
Default Ticket Impact/Urgency: Set the Impact/Urgency that will automatically be set when a user creates a Ticket and specifies this Ticket Type
Default Ticket Priority: If not utilizing Impact and Urgency this will set the Priority that will automatically be set.
Auto Assign User Group: Select a group that the Ticket will default being assigned to.
Default Ticket Title: Define the Title of the Ticket to use.
Default Ticket Description Define the Ticket Description to use.
Warning
Default values are only used when creating Tickets, not during editing existing.
Warning
Each Type/Category classification has to have default values explicitly defined in order for them to be used. Default values do not inherit down to lower-level classifications from high-level ones. The configured default values (or blank values) will be used only from the lowest level of classification that the user selects.
Warning
Example:
A configured default Title for a classification of Incident will not be used if the user selects a classification of Incident >Network Outage. This holds true even if there are no default values configured for Incident > Network Outage.
Add Categories to a Ticket Type
In the right hand side of the screen right-click on a Ticket Type.
Select New Child Category to configure a single category or to add multiple entries at the same child level select ‘Add Bulk Categories’.
Ticket Type: Predetermined based on the Type you are adding Categories to.
Category: Select from the list of configured Categories one you wish to make available for users when creating a Ticket of the specified Type.
Default Ticket Impact/Urgency: Set the Impact/Urgency that will automatically be set when a user creates a Ticket and specifies this Category
Default Ticket Priority: If not utilizing Impact and Urgency this will set the Priority that will automatically be set.
Auto Assign User Group: Select a group that the Ticket will default being assigned to.
Default Ticket Title: Define the Title of the Ticket to use.
Default Ticket Description Define the Ticket Description to use.
Add Subcategories to a Ticket Type/Category Combination
In the right hand side of the screen right-click on a row that has a Type/Category combination configured. Select New Child Category to configure a single subcategory or to add multiple entries at the same child level select ‘Add Bulk Categories’.
Ticket Type: Predetermined based on the Type/Category you are adding Subcategories to.
Category: Predetermined based on the Type/Category you are adding Subcategories to.
Subcategory 1/Subcategory 2: Select from the list of configured Categories the Subcategory you wish to make available for users when creating a Ticket with the specified Ticket/Category combination. If you are adding a Subcategory 2 then Subcategory 1 will already be predetermined based on your previous selection.
Default Ticket Impact/Urgency: Set the Impact/Urgency that will automatically be set when a user creates a Ticket and specifies this Category
Default Ticket Priority: If not utilizing Impact and Urgency this will set the Priority that will automatically be set.
Auto Assign User Group: Select a group that the Ticket will default being assigned to.
Default Ticket Title: Define the Title of the Ticket to use.
Default Ticket Description Define the Ticket Description to use.
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Ticket Type provides a top-level classification for Tickets so that they can be grouped together based on the business purpose that they are serving.
It captures the nature of the ticket as opposed to the specific issue/request that needs to be addressed.
Note
Specifying a Ticket type is required when creating a Ticket.
The following types are provided by default:
Incident
Question
Work Request
OnlineBill
Specifying different Ticket types is useful when organizations have different process flows or responsible groups depending on the nature of the ticket.
The Ticket type acts as an indicator to the customer so they know what response they can expect from the organization.
The Tickets module allows administrators to specify what categories are available for each type (i.e., escalation path, end-subscriber visibility, as well as default values for properties such as Assigned To, Title, Description, and Impact Urgency and Priority).