Benefits to Using "Resolution" Field?
Hi all,
I just accidentally deleted my entire post! I had a really nice, detailed post created but I accidentally just clicked backspace while clicked on the webpage itself which brought my browser back one page, and when I clicked forward everything was empty!
Anyways, I will make this shorter and sweeter this time.
First off, hello everyone! I recently have been employed by a company in their IT department, which uses the KACE K1000 software for their ticketing. I was hired about a month ago, and have been learning LOTS about KACE since then. One of the biggest resources I've used so far is this website/forum. I've already learned a lot of cool things! Thank you for making the learning process so much easier!
Now, onto my question:
At my organization, when we create and reply to tickets, we do the entire thing in the "Comments" area of the ticket. When an end-user emails into the IT department, KACE automatically creates a ticket with their email in the "Comments" area. All subsequent replies to the email from us (and from the end-user, and so on) are appended onto the ticket as a Comment again. The entire email dialogue between IT department (us) and end-user (them) is logged in that ticket under the "Comments" field. When a resolution is obtained, we just go into KACE, make sure all of the information (such at the category, the technician, priority, etc) is correct, and we close the ticket. We never add anything into the "Resolution" field. Since the entire dialogue is logged in the ticket as "Comments", we figure there is no need to add a "Resolution" (since it is basically right there in the Comments area).
My question is simple: Is this the best way to do things? Is there some kind of benefit to adding, say, the last comment on the ticket (which 9 times out of 10 contains the final resolution used) into the "Resolution" area/field? I'd imagine there may be some kind of organizational benefit to doing this, but I can't seem to see it. So, I'm asking this great community!
I look forward to hearing everyone's opinions! Enjoy the remainder of your day!
Regards,
Marcus Marchetti
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Answers (2)
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Posted by:
chucksteel
6 years ago
Top Answer
In your environment it doesn't sound like there is a need for the resolution field, it's really a process question. In my environment we do not include all of the email conversation in the ticket and the user gets emailed the resolution when the ticket it closed. In some instances, the only emails that the user receives are from the Helpdesk when the ticket is assigned and then when it is closed, because there is no need for further communication, e.g. "please do this", "okay, it's done" types of requests.
The other benefit to a resolution field is that it makes it easier for a future technician to quickly find out how a ticket was resolved, without looking through the entire comment thread. But again, this is more of a process question and the K1000 provides the flexibility to fit your process.
Bonus tip: If you aren't using the resolution field, you can hide it in Service Desk, Configuration, Queues, select the appropriate queue, Customize Fields and Layout.
Comments:
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Thank you for the reply! This is what I was thinking but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some shiny benefits I was missing out on!
It is actually quite easy for future technicians to find out how the ticket was resolved, believe it or not. This is because the last email in the chain (the last thing said in regards to a ticket) is always something like "[End-user name], we have fixed your issue by doing x, y, and z. Please let us know if you have further issues." So, the resolution is always the comment on the very top.
However, I am a big fan of consistency. Upon thinking about this more, I'm going to start using the Resolution field in my own tickets. Like I said, I love consistency and efficiency. I think we would all benefit from having the resolution in one spot. I think of it as sort of an absolute definitive answer. While, like I said above, 99% of the time the last comment is the one that contains the resolution, that 1% keeps me up at night! And this will get rid of that 1%.
Thank you, Chuck! I look forward to working more with the community in the future!
Enjoy your day. - GFC_ 6 years ago
Posted by:
greg.baughman@800plateau.com
6 years ago
I am in a similar situation, although I've been here for a year and a half.
Over that amount of time, I've managed to do some pretty cool things with KACE... including:
Stacked Categories....
So, for example, if they select "Hardware", they are presented with "Computer, Printer, Monitor" etc... but if they select "Software", they're presented with "Word, Outlook" etc.
Another thing that we started using KACE for is change management...
By creating different status than the normal "Open, Close, Need more info", and creating status like "New Request, Request Reviewed, Request Approved, Request Rejected, Request in Process, Security Review, Request Completed" we have a change management system. :D With the automatic logging in KACE, we know who received it, who reviewed it, who approved it, who worked on it, and so forth.
Stacked Categories....
So, for example, if they select "Hardware", they are presented with "Computer, Printer, Monitor" etc... but if they select "Software", they're presented with "Word, Outlook" etc.
Another thing that we started using KACE for is change management...
By creating different status than the normal "Open, Close, Need more info", and creating status like "New Request, Request Reviewed, Request Approved, Request Rejected, Request in Process, Security Review, Request Completed" we have a change management system. :D With the automatic logging in KACE, we know who received it, who reviewed it, who approved it, who worked on it, and so forth.
I had an interesting situation where group managers wanted to know when one of their subordinates put in a help desk ticket, so they could be aware that one of their employees was having a problem. By having the supervisors defined in Active Directory, we were able to accomplish this as well (through some creative SQL)
Once you really get using KACE, there are lots of things that you can do.
Comments:
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We also have stacked categories implemented. It really is a useful thing to have, especially when you have a lot of very specific categories. I work for a bank, and there are dozens upon dozens of specific software that all can (and do) have issues, and stacked categories allows us to really define what that is well.
I actually just recently created a pretty interesting tool that I think I am going to make a thread on. Basically, it is an Outlook macro coded with VBA that makes defining ticket variables via email VERY simple. Like I said, I will make a thread now regarding that to show it off, and maybe get some tips on how to improve it. - GFC_ 6 years ago