Can I stop a call being put on hold if there is no request category present?

[Smurfy]

Hi all
I've been using the lock/unlock actions to remind our engineers we need a category before the assign or resolve a request but I would also like the on hold blocked too. Is there a way I can achive this please?

[Smurfy]

Hi Team

Could this be put in as an enhancement please?

Thanks
Laura

[Guest Ehsan]

Hi @Smurfy,

This is currently not possible. The on-hold option was not considered with the lock/unlock feature; a user who can action on the request should be able to change the status and sub-status throughout the course of the request. We do appreciate the scenario, but such an option could lead to process issues, as processes tend to rely on the status/sub-sub-status change while the service level agreements directly affects this. Could you please help me understand your scenario better, how does the Category action corelate with the on-hold option and what is the operational reason behind locking the action?

Ehsan

[Smurfy]

Thanks Ehsan

When we report on our open tickets on hold we are finding some that have no request category (its our analysts forgetting) Being able to lock the on hold function (as I have done with assign and resolve) it will "remind"  our analysts to put in a category.

Laura

[Steve Giller]

@Smurfy If you're just looking for a reminder (possibly a "brute force" one) you don't need to include On Hold - if you lock every Action except for Category then Suspend -> Wait  for Category the User won't be able to do anything except give it a priority - no request updates, Customer emails, attachments, Board actions etc. - you'd hope if it's the only thing they can do that they'd add a priority!

 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @Smurfy

Are you using Request Notices?  These can be a great way to remind the user what needs to be done next.  These can be found on each suspend node.  it create a large banner across the top of the request with the information that you provide.

 

There are also Hornbill Automations just for adding and removing Request Notices at any point within your BPM.  More information on these can be found here.

[Smurfy]

Hi @James Ainsworth yes I have tried this. They just don't read things. 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @Smurfy

Are you using sub-statuses for these requests?  It is possible to only have sub-statuses that are active (not on-hold), therefore preventing the use of on-hold completely.

[Smurfy]

Catching up today  - sorry for the delay.

Thanks for your reply @James Ainsworth

So the scenario is.
A ticket comes through on self-service without a category (its my teams job to categorise)
My team need to call the user. So they put the ticket on hold while waiting for the user to return their call. Problem is the ticket is not categorised because they forgot before putting it on hold.
When we do live reports (see what is open) we have a tickets with blank category's.

 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @Smurfy

As part of the Suspend and Wait for Category that I mentioned above, you can have an expiry set so that after a period of time passing without the category being set, you can send a reminder to the team or owner.   This can still occur when the ticket has been put on hold.  If the Category Action is not available when On-Hold  you can enable it here...

[Smurfy]

Thanks James that would be an option.