SAS 021 – Ticketing Systems

In today’s show I discuss what ticketing systems are and some of their primary features.

•  Overview
  
  
  
  • Ticketing systems allow us to collect, assign and report on specific tasks
  
  
  • I consider a basic ticketing  system a necessity for any IT team
  
  
  • Centralized Request Management
    
    
    
    • What happens if someone is  out sick or on vacation?
    
    
    • How do you check the status of an open request that you aren’t working on?
    
    
    • All requests should be centralized
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Support Contact Methods
    
    
    
    • Email
    
    
    • Call
    
    
    • Website
    
    
    • Chat
    
    
    • Walk-ups
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Team Workflow
    
    
    
    • Who reviews new requests  (triage)
    
    
    • Do you have specific people for specific applications, or support tiers based on complexity?
    
    
    • Do you need to work with other departments or vendors at times?
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Automation
    
    
    
    • Auto-Response for new requests to confirm receipt and set expectations
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Notifications
    
    
    
    • Emails/Text messages sent to requester & agents as needed
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Escalation
    
    
    
    • New request actions
    
    
    • Request due date actions
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Reporting & Metrics
    
    
    
    • Agent activity report
    
    
    • Most troublesome systems
    
    
    • Total support requests per week/month/year
      
      
      
      • This can show the need for more staff
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Use Cases
  
  
  
  • Internal IT team
  
  
  • Customer Support Team
  
  
  • Facilities Management Team
  
  
  • Procurement/Purchasing Team
  
  
  
  

• Final Thoughts
  
  
  
  • Any system you can put in that reduces the opportunity for mistakes is recommended
  
  
  • As with any technology or software it will only work as well as your processes.  It won’t replace the need for a well understood workflow.
  
  
  • Can be on-premises or cloud based
  
  
  • Free options are available including Spiceworks
  
  
  • Next week – Asset Management