4.1 - Ticketing Systems

Question 1

Ticketing systems

Answer 1

• The best way to manage support requests
  – Document, assign, resolve, report
• Usually a responsibility of the help desk
  – Take the calls and triage
• Determine the best next step
  – Assign the ticket and monitor
• There are many different ticketing systems
  – They’re all very similar in function

Question 2

Managing a support ticket

Answer 2

• Information gathering
  – User and device information
  – Problem description
• Applying context
  – Categorization of the problem
  – Assign severity
  – Determine if escalation is required
• Clear and concise communication
  – Problem description, progress notes,
  resolution details

Question 3

User information

Answer 3

• You can’t address a person’s problem unless
  you know who has the issue
  – Add the name of the person reporting the problem
• Usually integrated into a name service
  – Active Directory or similar
• May be added automatically
  – Many issues arrive from a portal or email gateway
• Always confirm the contact information
  – The database may not be up to date

Question 4

Device and description

Answer 4

• Device information
  – Laptop, printer, conference room projector, etc.
• Description
  – One of the most important fields in the ticket
  – Make the description clear and concise
• The description determines the next step
  – Call back for more information
  – Associate with another event
  – Assign to another person

Question 5

Categorization and escalation

Answer 5

• Categories
  – Broad description
  – Change request, hardware request,
  problem investigation, hardware failure,
  onboarding/offboarding, etc.
• Severity
  – Often an established set of standards
  – Low, medium, high, critical
• Escalation levels
  – Difficult problems can be handled by a specialist
  – Escalate to a new tier or to a specific group

Question 6

Resolving the issue

Answer 6

• Progress notes
  – Many people may read and/or work on a single ticket
  – Keep the progress information concise
  – Document any changes or additional information
• Problem resolution
  – Document the solution
  – May be referenced later by others with the same problem
  – A “live” knowledgebase of issues and resolutions