Sub-tasks for other teams and root-cause links
When a job needs a second trade, give that part to another team as a sub-task with its own technician and response target. The main ticket shows how many are open and cannot be solved until they are done. Tickets that come from one underlying fault point to it as their root cause.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- The electrician finds that the cupboard around the unit needs a carpenter, and the request for the carpenter goes by phone and is forgotten.
- The customer's ticket is closed while another team's part of the job is still open.
- Twenty tickets about the same failed switch are worked one by one, and nobody sees they share one cause.
- Nobody can say how many hours the whole job took across teams.
How it works
- On the main ticket, open the Links and Dates tab and press New Sub-task for Another Team.
- The sub-task opens with the same requester, customer, site, area, equipment and contract. Choose its team and describe the work.
- The sub-task has its own technician, stages and response target. The main ticket shows Sub-tasks Open, for example 1 / 2, and lists each sub-task with its team, technician and stage.
- Each time a sub-task is solved, closed or cancelled, a note is written on the main ticket. When the last one is done, the main ticket's technician gets a to-do to finish the job.
- The main ticket can be solved only after its sub-tasks are done.
- For tickets that come from one fault, set Root Cause Ticket on each to point at the ticket of that fault.
Everything it does
Sub-tasks
- Made from the main ticket; the channel is Staff
- Copied from the main ticket: requester, customer, site and area, equipment and contract (the last three with Growth)
- Own team, technician, priority, stages and response target
- Sub-tasks of sub-tasks are allowed; the whole job counts every level
- Solve check on the main ticket: Finish the sub-tasks first, with their numbers
Seeing the whole job
- Sub-tasks Open button with open / total
- Warning on the main ticket when a sub-task has missed its response target
- Hours with Sub-tasks, and for team leads Labour Cost with Sub-tasks and Material Cost with Sub-tasks
- With Scale: revenue and margin with sub-tasks on the Quote and Billing tab
Links between tickets
- Parent Ticket: the main ticket of a sub-task
- Root Cause Ticket: the ticket of the underlying fault
- Follows Ticket: set on a follow-up ticket made from a closed one
- Merged Into: set on a duplicate that was merged
Who uses it
Technician / AgentMakes a sub-task when part of the job belongs to another trade.
Other team's technicianWorks the sub-task as any ticket of their own.
Team LeadLinks tickets to a root cause and follows the whole job.
Where you use it
- Web: the ticket's Links and Dates tab, and the Sub-tasks Open button
- The SmartMy Desk app: sub-tasks show as tickets in the other team's Queue (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not in the app: making a sub-task; use the web
- Not on the portal: the customer sees the main ticket; sub-tasks are for your teams
What you control
Settings
- None of its own: a sub-task follows the stages and response targets of the team it goes to
Notifications
- Sub-tasks Done: to the main ticket's technician when the last sub-task is finished, in the app's Inbox, with a to-do on the ticket. App push is built and not switched on yet
Questions
Does the customer get a separate ticket for each team?
No. The customer follows the main ticket. Sub-tasks are made by your team for your teams.Can we close the main ticket while the carpenter is still working?
No. The main ticket cannot be solved while a sub-task is open. The system names the open sub-tasks.Does fixing the root cause close the linked tickets?
No. The link shows which tickets share a cause. Each linked ticket is still solved and confirmed on its own.Are sub-tasks in the Starter plan?
Yes. Sub-tasks, their own response targets, the to-do when they are done and root-cause links are in every plan.Related features
RAISING A TICKETDuplicates, merge and splitBefore a new ticket is made, the portal and the app show matching open tickets. They are on the same unit, or the same site and kind of issue. Yes, me too lets the person follow that ticket instead. Team leads merge duplicates that got through, and anyone working a ticket can split off a second problem into its own ticket.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.RESPONSE TIMESResponse and resolution targets in working hoursResponse-time policies set how fast your team must reply and solve, per priority, for chosen teams, kinds of issue, customers and tags. Targets count in working hours and holidays or round the clock, pause while a ticket waits, and are never typed by hand.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.REPORTSProfit by customer, contract and kind of issueSee what each job, customer, contract and kind of issue earned against what it cost you in labour and parts. For an AMC, see the fees invoiced plus the work billed on its tickets, less the cost to serve it.
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.