Welcome to What are ticketing systems? After watching this video, you will be able to: Indicate what a ticketing system is and what its used for, Describe how ticketing systems work, and Identify the use of ticketing systems by IT professionals. A support ticket is an electronic document used to record the interaction between a customer and a service representative. It contains a record of communications and resolution efforts for a particular problem and is useful to manage issues, questions, requests and problems your customers might have. A Ticket may also be referred to using terms like Issue, Case, or Incident A support ticket is managed using a ticketing system. These systems may also be called: Helpdesk software, Customer support software, Ticketing software, or app, and Case Management System or Customer Care Management System. What is a ticketing system? A ticketing system is software used to systematically document, Track, Manage, and Resolve customer issues. Functionally, a ticketing system facilitates the creation of tickets allowing support agents to: Manage, Collaborate, and Coordinate resolution efforts. A ticketing system contains a central data hub designed to streamline communications between: Agents, Team members, and Customers. Most ticketing systems, in addition to basic ticket management, also provide the following capabilities. Some automation, for example the routing of a web ticket to an appropriate resource. Collaboration, allowing all agents and resources to freely access information to increase efficiency. Easy integration with other or future IT management processes and applications. Multiple channels of customer access, such as by telephone or online forms. And reporting system performance of metrics such as: Response time, Volume, and Customer satisfaction. Here is a typical lifecycle of a ticket: The ticket is created when a customer walks in, calls an agent, enters relevant information in an online form, sends an email to a customer support email address, or posts on social media. The ticket is assigned to a customer support agent or a queue monitored by multiple agents. This agent categorizes the ticket and assesses priority and severity. The ticket is resolved by the resource, which may include validation, requests for further information, or escalation. And finally, once the issue is resolved, the ticket is closed by the agent or customer. However, if needed, the ticket can always be reopened. Tickets can be created from: The customer online or using an app (as shown here). The customer’s use of a text session, such as an SMS or email to contact the support agent. Or, link in social media to contact the support agent. Initially, tickets contain basic information such as: The customer’s name, The date of the request, The email address used to contact the customer, The category of the problem, And a brief description of the issue. Also maybe some additional relevant details such as a model number. The ticketing system may automatically assign a ticket to a specific agent based on some business rules or logic like the time of day, who the customer is, problem category, agent availability, etc. or may be placed in a queue from which available agents can pick a ticket and assign it to themselves. In some cases, a supervisor may assign the tickets in a queue to specific agents manually. As the agent receiving the request, you open the ticket. Note that if an online source is used, the provided information automatically appears in the ticket. In the case of a phone call, you would obtain and enter this information yourself. Also note that each ticket will be assigned a ticket number. This number will identify this ticket through its lifecycle. The agent working on the ticket communicates with the customer to resolve the issue. When reviewing the information provided, you in some cases may be allowed to re-assign or forward it to a specialist or a more appropriate queue. As part of this process, you may require additional details to troubleshoot the issue. For example, you may get into a live chat session with the customer. You verify the issue and instruct the customer how to resolve the problem. Once the issue is resolved, you close the ticket and change the status in the system. In this video, you learned that: A ticketing system is software used to systematically manage and resolve customer issues. The lifecycle of a ticket includes ticket creation, assigning and starting the ticket issue, resolving the ticket issue, and closing the ticket. And, IT support agents create tickets, start the ticket process, and resolve issues using a variety of communication methods.
