Kinds of issue with their own raise form
Kinds of issue form a tree, such as AC > Not cooling. Each kind decides its team, skills, priority and who may raise it. It also sets the questions on the raise form and whether a photo, site or unit is required.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Every request arrives as free text, so the desk phones the customer back to ask what, where and which unit.
- A plumbing leak and a forgotten password wait in the same queue at the same priority.
- Technicians reach the site without a photo and without the model number, and make a second trip.
- Employees can raise the kinds of work meant only for paying customers, or the other way round.
How it works
- A Helpdesk Administrator opens Helpdesk > Configuration > Tickets > Issue Types. Seven come ready: Electrical Issue, Network Issue, AC Issue, Plumbing Issue, Carpentry Issue, IT Issue and General Request.
- Add sub-types with Parent Type, for example AC Issue > Not cooling. A sub-type without its own team uses its parent's.
- Under Routing choose the Team, the Skills Needed and the Default Priority.
- Under Required on the Ticket tick Photo Required (and from Growth, Site Required or Equipment Required) and choose Who May Raise.
- In Raise Form Questions add the questions this kind needs: text, a number, yes or no, or a choice. Mark the ones that must be answered.
- Requesters choose the kind under What is the problem about. The form asks only the questions of that kind and refuses to send until the required ones are answered.
Everything it does
Routing and priority
- Parent Type: any depth; the full name shows the path, such as AC Issue / Not cooling
- Team: the team that gets these tickets when no routing rule, site team or customer team decides first
- Skills Needed: used by the assign method By Skill, then Least Open. The six ready skills are Electrician, HVAC / AC Technician, Network Engineer, Plumber, Carpenter and IT Support
- Default Priority: Low, Normal (the default), High or Urgent. Equipment marked High or Critical raises it (Growth)
- Entity: empty means every Entity
Who may raise it
- Customers and Internal Requesters (the default), Customers, Internal Requesters, or Staff Only
- Staff Only kinds are not offered on the portal or in the app
- Internal requesters are employees, students, parents, residents and others from the other SmartMy products
Raise form questions
- Kinds: Text, Number, Yes / No, Choice (options separated by commas)
- Required questions block the form until answered; a choice must be one of the options
- Answers are kept on the ticket with the question, and shown in its Description tab
- Photo Required: the form is refused without a photo
From the Growth plan
- Site Required: on to start with, for customers. Equipment Required: off to start with. Internal requesters are never asked
- Needs a Visit: on to start with; the ticket then gets an on-site arrival target
- Checklist and Default Work Type
- Billable by Default: on (outside a contract, time and materials are billed)
- Quote Before Work: Never (the default), Always, or Above an Amount; and Markup on Bought Materials (%)
- Equipment Types list the kinds of issue offered for that equipment
Closing rules
- Closure Proof: Nothing (the default), Customer's Signature, Happy Code (a 4-digit code) or After-photo
- Auto-close After (days): 3 to start with
- Reopen Window (days): 7 to start with
Who uses it
Helpdesk AdministratorBuilds the tree, the questions and the rules of each kind.
RequesterPicks the kind and answers its questions on the portal or in the app.
Technician / AgentReads the answers on the ticket before going out, and can change the kind if the requester chose wrong.
Where you use it
- Web: Helpdesk > Configuration > Tickets > Issue Types
- Customer portal: What is the problem about, then the kind's questions on the New ticket form
- The SmartMy Desk app: the same form under New ticket (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
What you control
Settings
- Default Priority: Normal
- Who May Raise: Customers and Internal Requesters
- Photo Required: off
- Site Required: on; Equipment Required: off (Growth)
- Needs a Visit: on; Billable by Default: on; Quote Before Work: Never (Growth)
- Closure Proof: Nothing; Auto-close After: 3 days; Reopen Window: 7 days
Works with
SmartMy HRMS, Campus, Hostel and othersKinds open to Internal Requesters are offered to employees, students, parents and residents when those products are installed.
Questions
How deep can the tree go?
As deep as you need. A sub-type can have its own sub-types. Response-time policies, escalation rules and contracts that name a kind also apply to the kinds below it.Can we hide some kinds from customers?
Yes. Set Who May Raise to Staff Only, and only your team can choose it. You can also keep kinds for customers only or for internal requesters only.Does ticking It is urgent change the priority?
No. The ticket shows that the customer asked for urgent, and an agent confirms it by raising the priority.Do the skill levels change who gets the ticket?
No. Assignment by skill checks that the technician has every skill the kind needs. The level is recorded for your reference.Can a customer raise a ticket without choosing a site?
From Growth, Site Required is on for every kind to start with, so a customer must pick one of their sites. Untick it for kinds that are not about a place, such as a password reset.Related features
SET-UPTeams, working hours and stagesEach service team has its members, a lead, its own working hours and holidays, and its own email address. Tickets move through stages you name, and a waiting stage stops the response-time clock while you wait on the customer, parts or a quote.RAISING A TICKETRaise a ticket from the portal, the app or the officeCustomers and internal requesters raise tickets on the portal or in the phone app, and your office enters one for a caller or a walk-in. The form asks for the kind of issue, the place, photos, a time that suits, and whether it is urgent.WORKING A TICKETRouting and assignment by turn, load or skillRouting rules send each new ticket to the right team by issue type, customer and site. The team then gives it to a technician: by hand, in turn, to the least loaded member, or by skill.SET-UPTechnician skills, saved replies and tagsRecord which technician has which skill and at what level, so tickets can go to someone who can do the job. Answer common questions with saved replies typed in two keystrokes, and sort tickets with coloured tags that can also set response times.WORKING A TICKETChecklists with readings and before and after photosEach kind of issue or type of equipment can carry a checklist: yes or no, numbers, readings with their unit, text and photos. It opens on the visit when the technician checks in, and required questions must be answered before the ticket can be solved.CLOSINGClosing proof and the service reportA ticket is solved only with a resolution note and the proof its kind of issue asks for. The proof is the customer's signature, a four-digit happy code from the requester, or an after-photo. The requester then gets the solved email with a service report as a PDF.
See one of your own jobs run through it.
Tell us how a complaint reaches you today and what you bill for. We will show you the same job in SmartMy Desk.