Manage Tickets

The 'Tickets' tab allows staff (agents) to respond to tickets created by users.

Tickets can be submitted to Service Desk using the following interfaces:

Web portal - Registered users can login to the web portal at the help-desk URL and create a ticket. Guest users can also raise tickets at the portal if allowed by an administrator.

Email - Users can create tickets by sending a mail to the default 'System Email' for your help desk.

Staff Panel - Staff and admins can create tickets on behalf of end-users. This may be useful, for example, for requests that were made over the phone or by another out-of-band communication method. You can also create back-dated tickets for issues resolved in the past, but for which no ticket was created. Back-dated tickets are added with a 'Closed' status.

CD modules – Endpoint Manager can auto-submit tickets when certain conditions are met on a managed system. For example, create a ticket if the remaining disk space on an endpoint falls below a certain level.

Endpoint users can also submit tickets by right-clicking the EM icon in the system tray.

Such users are automatically added as guests in Service Desk if they are not already registered.

Custom applications - Customers can integrate their systems with Service Desk by using the service desk API. Those integrated systems can then submit tickets to Service Desk.

To open the 'Tickets' interface:

Click 'Tickets' on the left then click 'Open' (to see all open tickets)

Alternatively, select one of the other ticket categories:

My Tickets

Unassigned

Answered

Overdue

Closed

Scheduled

Paused

The 'Tickets' menu on the left contains the following filters and links:

New Ticket: Allows the currently logged-in staff member or admin to create a ticket on behalf of a user. See Create a new ticket on behalf of a user for more information.

Open: Tickets that are not yet resolved. Click the ticket number/subject to answer, transfer, reassign or schedule an open ticket.

'Assigned' and 'Answered' tickets are excluded from this view if configured in 'Admin Panel' > 'Settings' > 'Tickets' interface. See 'Ticket Settings and Options' in the Service Desk admin guide for more details.

My Tickets: Tickets that are assigned to the person that is currently logged-in. Click the ticket number/subject to answer, transfer, reassign, schedule or register time-spent on a ticket.

Unassigned: Tickets that have not yet been assigned. Admins can assign tickets to staff members by clicking the ticket number/subject then clicking the 'Assign' link at the top. See Assign tickets to a specific staff member for guidance on this.

Answered: Tickets for which there has been at least one reply. Answered tickets can be reviewed, reassigned, transferred and more by clicking the ticket number or subject.

Overdue: Tickets that are not closed within the stipulated period per the SLA plan.

Overdue tickets will be closed automatically if set in the 'Admin Panel' > 'Settings' > 'Tickets' interface. See 'Ticket Settings and Options' in the Service Desk admin guide for more details.

Closed: Tickets that are resolved and completed. Closed tickets can be reviewed, reopened, reassigned and more by clicking the ticket number or subject.

Scheduled: Tickets that have a fixed timetable. The schedule will be displayed in the staff member's calendar. Scheduled tickets can be answered, re-assigned, transferred, re-scheduled, and more by clicking the ticket number/subject.

Paused: Tickets that are not being worked on at the current time. Paused tickets can be resumed by the same staff member or an admin. A paused ticket can be resumed by clicking the ticket number then clicking the 'Resume' button.

Materials: View details of material costs and other expense items added to tickets by staff, with their approval status. See View Details of Materials/Expense Items added to Tickets for more details.

The columns in the ticket interface depend on the filter you have chosen. You can change the columns shown by clicking the 'Customize Columns' button. The following is a list of all possible columns:

Tickets - Table of Column Descriptions
Column Header	Description
Ticket	The number assigned to the ticket. Clicking the ticket number will open the 'Ticket Details' screen. - Tickets that were raised via the web portal. - Tickets that were raised via email. - Tickets that were raised by staff members on behalf of users.
Last Update Date	The date and time at which ticket was created, reopened, last updated or closed.
Subject	A brief description of the issue. In many cases, the subject will have been specified by the user or staff member who created the ticket. This is done in the 'Issue Summary' field of the 'New Ticket' interface. The subject of tickets that were created by another CD module will simply say which module spawned the ticket. For example, 'RMM Generated Ticket'. The icon in the subject column indicates that one or more collaborators have been added to the ticket CC list
From	The name of the user that raised the ticket.
Priority	The criticality of the ticket. Ticket priority depends on the settings in 'Ticket Category', 'Department' and 'Ticket Filters'. Tickets raised via email can have their priority set by the sender's mail client if enabled in 'Admin Panel' > 'Settings' > 'Emails' (see the 'Incoming Emails' section). If no custom settings apply, then tickets are given the default priority of 'Normal'.
Device Name	The label of the endpoint for which the ticket was generated. The device name is shown only for tickets created by Endpoint Manager. Click the device name to view the Device Summary interface for the device in Endpoint Manager. The 'Device Summary' interface contains general device information, including operating system details, hardware details, last activity, Comodo Client – Security (CCS) configuration, resource usage and more. See http://help.comodo.com/topic-399-1-786-10175-View-Summary-Information.html for more details of the information contained in this interface.
Assigned To	The name of the column header depends on the ticket status that you have selected. For example, for 'Unassigned' tickets the column header will be 'Department'. Assigned To: The name of the staff member to whom the ticket is assigned Department: The name of the department to which the ticket is assigned
Customer	The company of the user who raised the ticket
Source	The channel through which the ticket was created. Possible channels are: Phone Email Other Web API
Sub Category	Sub-categories are specific topics grouped under a main support topic. For example, 'My toaster keeps burning the toast' might be a sub-category of 'Toaster Help'. It is optional for you to create sub-categories of a support category. Sub-categories are selected by users when they submit their ticket.
Department	The department of your company to which the ticket is assigned.
Due Date	The date and time by which the ticket should be closed.
Closed By	Staff member who closed the ticket.
Status	Ticket progress. Possible values are: Open Answered Overdue Closed Paused
Ticket Category	Displays the help topic on which the user requested support. See ticket category for more details.
Overdue	Indicates whether the ticket was not closed on or before the due date.
Answered	Indicates whether a response has been given to the user for the reported issue.
Asset	The product, service, or item that the ticket concerns.
Category (Ticket Type)	The support category of the ticket. The possible values are: Alert Order Problem
Sub-Category	Specific issue type as chosen by the person who created the ticket. For example, 'Overheating' may be a sub-category of 'Problem'.
Scheduled Time	Date and time at which the ticket will be attended to.
First Reply	Date and time of the first response to the user.

Add and Remove Columns

The columns displayed by default depend on the ticket filter chosen on the left. You can add more columns if you want to view additional details and hide columns that you do not want to be displayed.

To add or remove columns, click the 'Customize Columns' button:

Use the check-boxes to enable or disable columns as required

Certain columns are mandatory for certain views

Click 'Save' to add/remove the selected columns to the list

The following sections explain more about managing tickets and creating a new ticket:

View a short summary of a ticket

Process a ticket

Schedule a ticket

View Materials/Expense items added to a ticket

Export tickets list to a CSV file

Assign tickets to a specific staff member

Create a new ticket on behalf of a user

Sorting and filtering options in the 'Tickets' interface

View a Short Summary of a Ticket

Place your mouse cursor over a ticket to view brief details:

The links at the bottom allow staff members to manage the ticket. See 'Ticket Details' for more details.

Process a ticket

The 'Process' feature allows you to quickly update ticket details. You can reassign ticket to a different staff/administrator, update items such as user information, ticket category, department, collaborators and more.

Alternatively, you can also edit individual tickets by opening the ticket and clicking the 'Edit' button.

This feature is available for all ticket categories except closed tickets.

Use the process option

Click 'Tickets' then a ticket type ('Open', 'Unassigned', 'Overdue', etc)

Select a ticket and click 'Process' at the top:

The 'Process Ticket' screen opens:

User Information

User name: The person who submitted the ticket or for whom the ticket was created. This is is pre-populated. Click 'Change' to select a different user.

Issue Summary: Brief description of the issue. Update if required.

Issue Description: Ticket description provided by the creator of the ticket. This is not editable.

Ticket Information

Ticket Source: The channel through which the ticket was created. The options available are 'Phone', 'Email', 'Web', 'API' and 'Other'. This is pre-populated and can be updated if required

Category: The help topic under which this ticket falls. This is pre-populated and can be updated if required.

Sub Category - Specific issue type as chosen by the person who created the ticket. For example, 'Overheating' may be a sub-category of 'Problem'.

Department: The department to which to the ticket is currently assigned. This is pre-populated and can be updated if required.

SLA Plan: The service level plan associated with the ticket. Use the drop-down menu to change the plan if required. The option chosen here will prevail even if the SLA plan for the 'Ticket Category' and 'Department' is different.

Time Spent: Cumulative time spent on the ticket by all contributing staff members. This total includes time recorded automatically during a session and time manually added by administrator/staff.

Due Date: The date and time by which the ticket should be closed. Change the date and time if required. This will override the date generated by default.

Resolution: A description of the fix/solution. This could also be a description of the steps taken so far, and those that remain, in order to bring about a fix. This is set by the staff member attending to the ticket. Change the resolution if required.

Assign the Ticket

Assignee: Person who is currently responsible for the ticket. You can change the assigned staff member if required.

Comments: Enter instructions for the assignee or reasons for the assignment.

Collaborators

Add people who also worked on the ticket as additional recipients for ticket updates.

Click 'Add New Collaborator' to associate new or existing users with the ticket.

To add an existing user/staff, type the first few letters of their username/email address in the 'Search' box at the top and select the user from the options

To add a new user, enter the email address, full name and other contact details

Click 'Add User'

Repeat the process to add more collaborators

Click the 'Process' button after you have made your changes. The ticket will be updated per the new details.

Schedule a Ticket

A scheduled ticket is useful for tasks that will be started at a set time in the future, like a site visit for example.

The schedule will be added to the calendar of the currently logged-in admin/staff.

The ticket will be assigned to the person who creates the schedule, even it it is currently assigned to someone else.

To create a schedule for a ticket

Open the 'Staff' panel (see last link on the left)

Click 'Tickets' then a ticket type ('Open', 'Unassigned', 'Overdue', etc)

Select a ticket and click 'Schedule' at the top:

The calendar for the currently logged-in admin/staff will open. The ticket details will be displayed on the title bar:

By default, the current week will be displayed. You can view the current week or day by clicking the respective button above the calendar

To move to next week/day, use the '>' buttons on the top

Double click on the cell that represents the time slot on which you wish to fix appointment for the ticket

Enter a short description for the task to be executed.

Click the tick mark to save the schedule

The appointment will be added to the calendar. You can view your calendar from the 'My Calendar' interface. See Manage Calendars for more details.

The ticket will be moved to the list to the 'Scheduled' category on the left.

View Materials/Expense Items added to a Ticket

The 'Tickets' section lets staff and admins view any costs added to a ticket. Admins must approve expense items in order for them to be billed to the customer company.

View the materials/expense items

Click 'Tickets' on the left then select 'Materials':

Column Headers

Material Name - The name of the material or the expense item

Ticket # - The number of the ticket to which the material or expense item was added. Click the ticket number to view or update the ticket. See Ticket Details for more details

Cost - Cost of the material/expense item as entered by the staff member

Date Added - The date and time at which the item was added to the ticket

Last Updated - The date and time at which the item details were last updated by the staff member

Status - Indicates whether the material/expense was approved by the administrator. The possible states are:

Awaiting - The expense item has been added to a ticket but has not yet been approved by an administrator.

Approved - The expense item has been added to a ticket and approved for billing by an administrator.

Rejected - The expense item has been rejected by an administrator.

Sorting and Filtering Options

Click a column header to sort items in ascending/descending order

You can search for items based on the date range within which the items were added and the tickets to which they were added.

To filter items based on their addition date range, enter the Start and End dates of the period by clicking the calendar icons beside the From and To fields

To filter the items based on the ticket to which they were added, enter the ticket identification number in the Ticket # field

You can use more than one filter option at a time.

Click 'Search'

To view the full list again, clear the search criteria or, simply click the respective 'Approval' link at the top.

The 'Show records' drop-down on the right allows you to select the number of entries to be displayed per page. The options range from 10 records per page up to 100. The default value can be set in the 'My Profile' interface. You can navigate to different pages by clicking 'Next' and 'Prev'.

Export tickets to a CSV file

You can save the list of tickets as a comma separated value (CSV) file for archiving and analysis purposes.

To save the list of tickets

Click 'Tickets' then a ticket type ('Open', 'Unassigned', 'Overdue', etc)

Click the 'Export' link at the top

The list will be downloaded as a .csv file. The file can be opened with spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc.

Assign Tickets to a Staff Member

Admins can assign/reassign individual or multiple tickets to a staff from the 'Tickets' interface.

The ticket will appear in the 'My Tickets' area of the person to whom it is assigned.

Assign tickets

Click 'Tickets' then a ticket type ('Open', 'Unassigned', 'Overdue', etc)

Select one or more tickets and click 'Assign' at the top

Assign to - Select the admin/staff member to whom you want to assign the ticket

Comments (Optional) - Enter a reason for assigning the ticket or other notes about the task. The comment will be added as an internal note to the ticket.

Click 'Save'.

Create a new ticket on behalf of a user

Staff and admins can create tickets on behalf of users from the 'Tickets' interface.

Staff can also create tickets for issues that they resolved, but which had no ticket. This is useful to record time spent/materials used and bill accordingly.

Select 'Work done in the past' to enable this option.

Tickets created for already completed tasks will have a status of 'Closed'.

For more details, see Ticket Details.

To create a new ticket

Click 'Tickets' then select 'New Ticket'

The 'Open New Ticket' page will open:

It contains the following sections:

User information - Details of the user on behalf of whom the ticket is created

Ticket information and options - Ticket parameters like category, SLA plan, due date, staff to whom the ticket is to be assigned and more.

Backdated ticket - Specify whether the work was done in the past and the period

Ticket details - Details like issue description, priority, asset type, ticket category and more

Response - Initial response to be sent to the user

Internal note – Notes regarding the issue for internal references

The following sections describe each ticket section in detail:

User Information

To create a ticket for an existing user:

Start typing the user name or email ID in the search field and choose the user from the suggestions.

The details like email address, username, phone number will be auto-populated.

To create a ticket for a new user

Enter the email address, full name and phone number of the user and notes about the user in the respective fields. The internal notes will be visible only to admins/staff.

Tip: New users will be added as a guests. You can associate new users with a customer in the 'User Directory' interface. See 'Add a user to an organization' in Manage Users for more details.

Ticket Notice - Enable to notify the user that the ticket has been created.

Ticket Information & Options

Ticket Source: Select the source through which you received the request for the ticket. The options are 'Phone', 'Email' and 'Other'.

Category: Select the help topic under which the ticket falls. Depending on the ticket category selected, more forms may be included in the ticket.

Schedule Time: Choose a specific time and date in the future to work on the ticket, if required.

It is optional to create a schedule. The schedule will be added to your calendar.

To set a schedule

Click the 'Schedule' button to open the calendar:

The current week is shown by default. You can view the current week or day by clicking the respective button above the calendar

To move to next week/day, use the '>' buttons on the top

Double-click on the time slot you wish to reserve for the ticket

Enter a short description of the task.

Click the tick mark to save the schedule

The schedule will be added and displayed:

The appointment will be added to the calendar after saving the ticket. You can view your calendar from the 'My Calendar' interface. See Manage Calendars for more details.

Department: Select the department to which the new ticket should be assigned. The option chosen here will prevail even if the 'Department' for the selected 'Ticket Category' is different. If required, staff can change the department while the ticket is in progress. See Ticket Details for more details.

SLA Plan: The service level plan associated with the ticket. Use the drop-down menu to change the plan if required. The option chosen here will prevail even if the SLA plan for the 'Ticket Category' and 'Department' is different. If required, staff can change the SLA while the ticket is in progress. See Ticket Details for more details.

Due Date: The date and time by which the ticket should be closed. A default due date will be auto-generated based on the Ticket Category, Department, SLA Plan and other parameters. You can change the date and time as required. This will override the date generated by default.

Assign To: Select the staff member to whom the ticket should be assigned. The option chosen here will prevail even if the 'Agent' for the selected 'Ticket Category' is different.

Backdated Ticket

Work done in the past - Select only if you are creating a ticket for a resolved issue that did not have a ticket originally. The ticket will be created with a status of 'Closed'.

After selecting this option, enter the start and end dates of the task using the the calendar icons. Make sure that the end date is before the due date entered in the 'Due Date' field.

Ticket Details

Issue Summary: Enter a brief description of the issue.

Issue Details: Enter a more detailed description of the issue in the text editor. Click the trash can icon above the editor to clear the field.

Priority Level: Ticket criticality.

The option chosen here will prevail even if the 'Priority' for the selected 'Ticket Category' is different.

Staff can change the priority while the ticket is in-progress. See Ticket Details for more details.

Asset Type: The type of item that the ticket concerns. For example, 'Workstation', 'Server', 'Printer', 'Mobile'.

Ticket Type: Select the type of category for the ticket. The options available are 'Alert', 'Order' and 'Problem'.

Ticket Sub Category: Type a specific sub-set if you wish to refine the 'Category' further. Sub-categories can be used to more details about the category. For example, 'Overheating' may be a sub-category of 'Problem'.

Response

It is optional to create a response. Type any response you wish to send to the user in the text field provided. Responses will be automatically sent to the user after you click 'Open'.

Canned Response: Select if you wish to want to send a pre-defined response to the ticket.

Any canned responses you select will be added to the 'Response' text field. You are free to edit and/or add text to complement the canned response.

You can add multiple canned responses to build a more complete answer. For example, you might add the following 3 canned responses to a single response - 'Acknowledgment', 'Ticket has been queued', 'Contact details'. Please enter a carriage return between each canned response for formatting reasons.

See Canned Responses for more details about creating canned responses.

Attachments: Click the 'Browse' button to add relevant attachments to the ticket. To remove the attachment, clear the checkbox next to the file and select 'OK' in the confirmation screen.

Ticket Status: If enabled, the ticket will be closed after creation if a response has been sent to the user. See the descriptions above for more about responses.

Resolution: Enabled - The answer/response that staff enter will be treated as the resolution statement.

OR click 'Add Resolution', if you want to specify a different resolution statement.

Signature: Options are 'None' or 'Dept. Signature'.

None - Means you can either send with no signature OR type a custom signature in the editor.

'Dept. Signature' can be created in the Admin Panel ('Admin Panel' > 'Staff' > 'Departments'). See 'Departments' in the Service Desk admin guide for more details about adding signatures.

Internal Note

Enter comments, reminders, notes to staff who might work on the ticket and more. The internal note will be visible only to the admins/staff who open the ticket and not to the user.

Click 'Open' to create the ticket on behalf of a user.

The ticket will be added to the 'Tickets' interface. You or the staff member to whom the ticket is assigned can view/update the ticket by clicking the subject or ticket number.

The 'Ticket Details' section covers additional actions you can complete on a ticket. For example, how to create a knowledgebase article out of a ticket.

Sorting and Filtering Options in the 'Tickets' Interface

Sorting items

Click a column header to sort items in ascending/descending order

Search Options

You can run a simple search or an advanced search on tickets.

Simple Search

The 'Search' field lets you filter tickets by the following criteria:

Ticket ID

User name

Customer

Device Name

Start typing your search term and tickets matching your criteria will be automatically displayed.

To display all tickets, clear the search field (or simply click the ticket category link on the left).

Advanced Search

'Advanced Search' lets you filter tickets based on preset criteria

Click the 'Advanced Search' button

Enter/select the parameters that you want to use as search criteria.

Click the 'Reset' button to clear the fields.

Click the 'Search' button after filling the required search parameters.

The number of tickets that matches the search parameters will be displayed at the top of the screen.

Click the 'view' link to see the list of tickets which match the search criteria

To view all tickets again, click the respective ticket category under 'Tickets' on the left.

Xcitium Platform

Service Desk - Staff Guide

English

Manage Tickets