Ticketing Systems

What are ticketing systems?

• A support ticket records the interaction between a customer and a service representative
• Documents issues and their progress/resolution
• Ticket also called Issue, Case, Incident, etc.
• Support tickets are managed by a ticketing system
• These systems may also be called:
  • Helpdesk software
  • Customer support software
  • Ticketing software/app
  • Case Management System or Customer Care Management System

What is a ticketing system?

• Software used to systematically document, track, manage, and resolve customer issues.
• Creation of tickets
• Central data hub

What a ticketing system provides

• Automation
• Collaboration
• Integration
• Channels
• Reporting

Lifecycle of a ticket

• Create a ticket
• Assign and Start ticket issue
• Resolve issue
• Close ticket

Features and Benefits of Ticketing Systems

Common features

• Omnichannel support
  • Email
  • Social media
  • Live chat
  • Phone
• Ticket routing
• Ticket categorization and tagging
  • Categorization
  • Tagging
  • Routing
  • Ticket status
• Tracking and measurement
  • Tracking
  • Analytics
• Knowledge base management
• Automation
  • Helps get to the right person at the right time
  • Automation:
    • Assigning tickets
    • Sending responses
    • Escalate issues
    • Pulling customer data
  • Reduce time spent on repetitive tasks
  • Help make agents more engaged and productive

Popular Ticketing Systems

What to look for

• Agent productivity
• Customer interactions
• Metrics
• Continuous improvement
• Collaboration

Types of ticketing systems

• Cloud based
• Self hosted
• Open source
• Enterprise

Cloud based systems

Benefits

• Easier to set up and maintain
• Scalable
• Availability

Concerns

• Vendor must resolve issues
• Internet connection always required
• Limited customization

Self-hosted systems

Benefits

• Complete control of data and security
• More customizable

Concerns

• Initial investment
• Server maintenance
• Updates and fixes
• Backups

Open-source systems

Benefits

• Free or mostly free
• Highly customizable
• Developer community

Concerns

• Knowledgeable developers
• Long installation timeline
• In house updating and maintenance

Enterprise systems

Benefits

• Asset management and reporting
• Support 24 hours a day
• Highly customizable

Concerns

• Expensive
• Higher level of training

Popular ticketing systems

• Zendesk
• Jira Service Desk
• Freshdesk
• LiveAgent
• ServiceNow

Common features

• Omnichannel support
• Automation
• Collaboration
• Knowledge Base
• Subscription Based
• Free trials

Zendesk

• Cloud based
• Pre-built Integrations
• Collaboration
• Knowledge base
• Live chat/chatbots
• Macros
• Expensive

Jira Service Desk

• Cloud or self-hosted
• Built on Jira
• Expandable
• External knowledge base
• Limited chat
• Automation

Freshdesk

• Cloud based
• Custom ticket views
• AI powered chatbots
• Freshworks academy
• Moderate pricing

LiveAgent

• Cloud based
• Emphasized live chat
• Advanced integration
• Chat widget
• Unlimited email addresses
• Moderate pricing

ServiceNow

• Cloud based
• ITSM Approach
• Repeatable workflow
• Advanced integration
• Integrated mobile
• Request quote

Troubleshooting

CompTIA troubleshooting model steps

1. Identify the problem
   • Gather information
   • Question users
   • Identify symptoms
   • Determine if anything has changed
   • Duplicate the problem
   • Approach multiple problems individually
2. Research the knowledge base/Internet
   • Knowledge base
   • Internet
3. Establish a theory of probable cause
   • Question the obvious (Is the printer turned on?)
   • Consider more than one approach
4. Test the theory to determine the cause
   • Are you successful?
   • More research and testing may be required
5. Establish a plan of action
   • Some fixes may require reboots or downtime
   • May require downloading software or patches
   • Test in staging environment if available
   • Back up data
   • May require approval
6. Implement the solution or escalate
   • Run scripts
   • Update systems or software
   • Update configuration files
   • Change firewall settings
7. Verify full system functionality and implement preventive measures
   • Ask users to test functionality
   • Consider other servers or devices
8. Document findings/lessons, actions, and outcomes
   • Full document your research, theories, changes, and updates
   • Add information to knowledge base
   • Useful if unintended consequences appear

Tech Support Methodologies and Frameworks

What is ITSM?

• IT Service Management
• Processes, activities, technologies, and people

• Strategy for IT services

  

Implementing ITSM

• Predefined frameworks
• Guides with formalized structure
• Standards, processes, and best practices

Popular ITSM frameworks have these features:

• Strategy
• Design
• Management
• Operation
• Improvement

ITSM Frameworks

• ITIL
• COBIT
• Lean IT
  • MOF
  • ISO/IEC 20000

ITIL

• Information technology infrastructure library
• Standardized set of detailed practices and processes
  • Service strategy
  • Service Design
  • Service Transition
  • Service Operation
  • Continual Service Improvement

COBIT and Lean IT frameworks

COBIT

• For governance and management of IT
• Uses processes contained in ITIL

Lean IT

• Framework for applying lean principles to the delivery of IT services
• Designed to cut out waste that doesn’t add value

MOF and ISO/IEC 20000 frameworks

Microsoft Operations Framework

• Guidance for IT lifecycle
  • Plan phase
  • Deliver phase
  • Operate phase
  • Manage phase

ISO/IEC 20000

• International standard for ITSM
• Guidelines to establish, implement, operate and maintain

ITSM metrics

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores
• First-contact resolution
• First-level resolution
• Cost per ticket
• Mean time to resolution

Benefits of ITSM processes

• Consistency
• Efficiency
• Management
• Risk and downtime
• Operational costs
• Standardization and accountability
• Higher quality of service
• Improved customer satisfaction
• More agility

ITSM frameworks and technical support

• People are part of ITSM
• Processes based on service
• Standards for managing IT services
• IT solutions and knowledge
• Technical support feedback

Effective Documentation and Communication

Communicating in technical support

• Interest in technology
• Ability to write clearly
• Skills to Communicate

Effective communication

• Informative communication
• Clear explanations
• Faster resolutions

Notes and communication

• Notes
• Word processing
• Spreadsheets

Keep your audience in mind while taking notes or writing documentation and technical abilities and knowledge.

Order of steps

• List what you have tried
• State them chronologically
• State them from most to least important
• Use a clear order

Analysis of the problem

• State what is or is not the problem
• Show how you have worked through the problem
• Include what led to the issue
• Describe what worked in the past but did not this time

Communication tools

• Keep it simple
• Ask clear questions
• Model others

Cheat sheet for Logging a Ticket

• You noted the customer’s name and contact information.
• You included the ticket or issue number and the date the ticket was created.
• You documented the complete details of the problem or issue.
• You noted the priority and urgency of the customer and the issue.
• You logged the issue category, the department, and agent the issue is assigned to.
• You included closing notes.