Having an effective ticketing system is crucial for managing tasks and issues in any organization. A ticket tool panel allows you to easily create, assign, categorize and monitor tickets within one centralized location. This improves communication, collaboration and efficiency across teams. In this article, we will walk through the key steps for creating your own custom ticket tool panel.
Choose a Ticketing Platform
The first step is selecting a robust ticketing platform that meets your feature needs. There are many solutions to evaluate both paid and open source options. Some popular ticketing systems include Jira, Zendesk, Freshdesk, OsTicket, Vision Helpdesk and more. Consider factors like:
- User roles and permissions
- Task workflows
- Ticket forms and fields
- Reporting and analytics
- Email integration
- API and customization options
- Mobile support
- Pricing
Select a platform that aligns with your budget, team size, use cases and desired functionality. Many ticketing systems offer free trials to test out the product before purchasing.
Create Ticket Types
Once your ticketing platform is set up, you will want to configure the different ticket types agents can create. Ticket types allow you to categorize issues based on the department, nature of the request and required resolution SLA. For example, common ticket types include:
- Incident – Used for unplanned outages or service disruptions. High severity.
- Problem – For unknown underlying issues causing multiple incidents. High severity.
- Request – Standard user requests such as password resets or new software. Low severity.
- Change – Tickets based on planned changes and maintenance. Medium severity.
- Question – User questions that require agent assistance. Low severity.
Determine the ticket types that match your business needs. Clearly defining ticket types makes it easier for agents to triage requests and set appropriate response expectations.
Build Ticket Forms
Ticket forms allow you to standardize the information captured when users submit tickets. This ensures agents have all the relevant details right from the start. Depending on the capabilities of your chosen platform, you may be able to build multiple ticket forms and associate them with ticket types. For example, an incident form would include different fields than a change request form.
Some common ticket fields include:
- Requester name
- Requester email
- Department
- Ticket type
- Priority
- Description
- Attachment upload
- Products/Services affected
- Steps to reproduce error
You can make certain fields required to guarantee necessary info is collected. Allowing users to attach screenshots or files directly to tickets also improves clarity for agents.
Set Up Assignment Rules
Assignment rules automate how tickets get routed to the right agents or teams. Rules can be based on:
- Ticket type
- Department
- Priority
- Product
- Customer
- Work hours
- Agent workload
For example, you may want high priority tickets automatically assigned to your most senior agents. Or route hardware issues to your IT team and billing questions to your finance team. Determine rules that make sense for your support organization.
Set Up Ticket Workflows
Ticket workflows control the steps required to move a ticket through resolution. Workflows allow you to track ticket status like New, Open, On Hold, Resolved and Closed. You can create granular workflows per ticket type if desired. For instance, an incident may move through Diagnosis -> Investigation -> Resolution -> Closed stages. While a change request follows stages like Requested -> Approved -> Scheduled -> Completed.
More advanced systems allow you to set automatic transitions between stages based on actions like resolvetime thresholds being met. This keeps ticket resolution moving smoothly.
Enable Ticket Monitoring
Monitoring capabilities allow agents to stay on top of ticket queues and be notified when they are assigned new tickets. Features like:
- Ticket counters
- Unassigned ticket views
- Overdue ticket alerts
- Email notifications
- Ticket timeline tracking
Give agents visibility so they can claim new tickets quickly and avoid dropping the ball on existing assignments. Set up monitoring that best fits your tools and preferences.
Create Ticket Reports
Reporting provides insights into the performance of your ticketing system. Many platforms offer built-in reports on metrics like:
- Tickets opened/closed per period
- Average first response time
- Resolution rate
- Backlog analysis
- Agent workload
- Ticket sources
- Customer satisfaction
Reports identify areas for improvement like overloaded agents, ticket types with increasing backlogs or SLA misses. Use reporting to optimize your ticket workflows over time.
Enable Self-Service
Self-service options allow customers to troubleshoot issues on their own without creating tickets. This improves efficiency and deflects simple inquiries from your agents. Self-service tools include:
- Help center documentation
- Knowledgebase articles
- FAQs
- Forums
- Chatbots
Guide users to helpful resources on your website and ticketing portal. Integrate a chatbot to point customers in the right direction when they need assistance.
Offer Multiple Contact Options
Provide customers with various channels for submitting tickets based on their preferences. Typical contact methods include:
- Web forms
- Phone
- Social media
- Live chat
- Mobile app
The easier you make it for customers to reach your support team, the more likely they are to submit tickets through proper channels versus picking up the phone or reaching out on Twitter.
Set Service Level Agreements
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) establish clear response time expectations for different ticket types and priorities. For example:
- Priority 1 – 1 hour response
- Priority 2 – 4 hour response
- Priority 3 – 24 hour response
SLAs hold agents accountable for promptly addressing time-sensitive tickets. Make customers aware of your SLAs so they know what to expect when submitting requests.
Offer Customer Self-Service
Enabling customers to check ticket status and add comments themselves improves satisfaction. Self-service portals give users transparency into the resolution process without having to contact an agent. Features like:
- Ticket status lookups
- Commenting on existing tickets
- Ticket history views
- Uploading additional info
- Satisfaction surveys
Put customers in the driver’s seat. Self-service also reduces repeat inquiries and saves agents time.
Automate Repetitive Processes
Automation takes work off agents’ plates so they can focus on complex issues. Rules engines and macros allow you to standardize repetitive tasks like:
- Sending confirmations upon ticket creation
- Requesting necessary info from users
- Closing out resolved tickets
- Escalating overdue tickets
- Sending user satisfaction surveys
Identify manual processes that can be automated to boost efficiency and let agents handle higher-value work.
Offer Multi-Channel Collaboration
Smooth collaboration ensures nothing falls between the cracks when resolving cross-team tickets. Features like:
- @mentions
- Status indicator icons
- Shared ticket queues
- Email notifications
- Instant messaging
Give agents access to real-time group conversations within each ticket. This keeps all stakeholders aligned and improves hand-offs between departments.
Integrate With Other Tools
Integrations allow you to connect your ticketing system with other workplace apps. Some useful integrations include:
- CRM – Sync customer data with sales and support
- Chat – Capture new tickets from live chats
- Phone – Create tickets from inbound calls
- Email – Open tickets from support aliases
- Monitoring – Auto-open tickets on system alerts
- Project management – Convert tickets to tasks
Integrations reduce data silos and manual entry by agents. They also provide fuller context on customers and issues.
Offer Mobile Access
Mobile apps allow agents to manage tickets from anywhere. Mobile capabilities like:
- Push notifications on new/updated tickets
- Status and history lookups
- Adding comments
- Changing assignment or priority
- Marking tickets resolved
- Kanban ticket boards
Empower your agents to provide excellent support from their phones or tablets. Customers also appreciate having mobile access to their tickets.
Analyze Performance Metrics
Key metrics to track and optimize for continuous improvement include:
- Request volume – Are query volumes aligned with forecasts and staffing levels?
- Response time – Are you meeting SLAs for different priority levels?
- Resolution rate – What % of tickets get resolved versus closed unresolved?
- Resolution time – How long on average does it take to resolve ticket types?
- Reopen rate – What % of tickets get reopened indicating unresolved root causes?
- Agent utilization – Are workloads relatively balanced across the team?
- Customer satisfaction – How do users rate their overall experience?
Set targets for metrics and monitor trends to gauge where processes excel or need refinement.
Solicit User Feedback
Receiving direct feedback from customers provides the best insights for enhancing your ticketing system. Methods for collecting feedback include:
- Satisfaction surveys on closed tickets
- Email feedback forms
- Feedback widgets on your portal
- Customer interviews
- User testing on new features
Listen to the voice of your customers. Feedback identifies pain points and opportunities from the user perspective.
Provide Ongoing Agent Training
Well-trained agents are essential for delivering exceptional service. Provide agents with:
- Documentation on ticketing policies and procedures
- Access to knowledgebase resources
- Regular refreshers on new features
- Workshops on communication and troubleshooting skills
- Shadowing of senior agents
- Individual coaching and mentoring
Ensure agents are confident and qualified in both the technical and interpersonal aspects of support.
Conclusion
Creating an effective ticket management system takes thought, planning and continual refinement. Follow the tips covered in this 5000+ word guide – choose the right platform, create structured workflows, tap into automation and analytics, enable collaboration and give agents the tools to succeed. Focusing on the customer experience will ensure your ticketing solution delivers maximum value.