Knowing when a Resolved ticket gets a notification reply

[RIchard Horton]

I think that the default behaviour in SM is that after a ticket is Resolved, if a reply from the customer is then received the following happens :  the ticket is updated, the last updated field changes from the analyst who resolved it to System and it goes to the top of the request list, the idea being that if you are managing the queue this would highlight to you the need for action. 

Automatic reopening has been requested by one team. I get that there is a downside to this (if someone replies to say thank you then the ticket is reopened) but it's clearer that it needs action. I've seen a workaround suggesting a sub-status for a pending resolution but that sounds as though it's forcing the concept of resolution. 

Assuming that I'm right, that it is not straightforward to set HSM to do this, then the workaround seems to be making it clear to analysts that there is something they need to attend to. Any notifications issued seem to me to go to the person who resolved the ticket but what is to say they aren't now on holiday ? 

So, can we set HSM/the workflow so that notifications of emailed updates to resolved tickets go to the team responsible, not the individual ? And what notification setting ensures that such updates are notified in the first place, even if only to the person who resolved the ticket. 

The team in question want to work with open tickets ignoring resolved tickets, so need a way of being clear when resolved tickets need attention. I will have another go at talking them through the default behaviour, but are there other options I can add in line with my suggestions ? 

[RIchard Horton]

PS this is before a ticket is closed that I am talking about

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @RIchard Horton

There are an unlimited number of ways to approach resolution and closure and I like to think that the Hornbill workflow allows each unique organization to automate and manage tickets in a way that is best suited for their business.

I can speak from my personal experience and how I would like to see things work. 
 

On 5/27/2022 at 3:50 AM, RIchard Horton said:

Automatic reopening has been requested by one team

In my opinion, having a re-opened ticket is a negative thing.  I would be looking to have a report to show tickets that have been reopened to determine why.  Is there not enough investigation or testing done? Are staff rushing a resolution to meet the response targets? There is some built-in automation when a ticket is resolved.  The customer will receive an email with a link to the ticket where they are prompted to select Yes or No to the resolution working.  Selecting no will automatically set the ticket back to Open. Selecting Yes will close the ticket. 

A useful Hornbill Automation to use when a ticket has been put into a Resolved state is a Suspend and Wait for Status Change.  Basically you are monitoring if the ticket is re-opened or Closed and they you can use a decision node to decide what to do in each case.  If the status was changed from Resolved to Open, then you may want to send that email to the entire team letting them know about the re-opened ticket.  You can also use an Expiry option on the Suspend and Wait for Status Change so that if the customer doesn't come back with a response within a reasonable time, you can automatically set to Closed.

Let me know if you would like some more information on how this could be set up.

[RIchard Horton]

Thanks James. I agree on your comments on reopened tickets in general. I like your approach that you outline with the email yes/no but I think it relies on people having an account for the ticket link to work ? Most customers for our tickets are external and only set up as Contacts and don't log in at all to the customer portal (many of them will only have one ticket in a year). My understanding is that the Yes/No voting won't work for them. Am I right ? 

Suspend, along with Wait for Status Change is what we are doing at the moment. But this relies on someone manually changing the status, which relies on them needing to know that a reply has been received. See above ! 

You are correct that if the ticket is reopened then it is more relevant to be emailing the team than the individual. Actually for us at the moment, given that we haven't managed to automate re-opening, the challenge is doing that for the reply notification, so that someone knows to reopen the ticket. What happens now is that there is a "Request SR00038877 has been updated via email" email generated by the system from a no-reply email, but this only goes to the person who resolved the ticket rather than to the whole team. As you say, the whole team would be more relevant. It would also be helpful to know which notification setting triggers this email as we have someone who isn't getting it and says they have turned notifications on. 

If you have thoughts on how we can improve this, that would be appreciated

[James Ainsworth]

3 minutes ago, RIchard Horton said:

My understanding is that the Yes/No voting won't work for them. Am I right ? 

This should work for both users and contacts alike. 

[RIchard Horton]

OK, we'll give it a go then ! 

[RIchard Horton]

@James AinsworthI thought I had seen how to do a voting button on email template and picking up response in workflow, but a quick search hasn't found it. Can you point me to the right place ?

Also, can you offer any wisdom on the notifications question ? May become redundant if I get the voting buttons working but useful to be more aware how this works. 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Richard,

Sorry, I think we are crossing our thoughts on the feature in discussion.  There are no voting options on an email for resolution for either user or contact.  Voting options in an email only apply to authorisations.  When I mentioned about the customer having an option to say if the resolution worked or not, this Yes/No option is displayed when viewing the ticket in the portal.  From your last post, I now understand that these are contacts that seldom raise tickets and may only communicate by email.  I'll have a think about some options for you, and see what I can come up with.