I know most of you are using ServiceDesk Plus in the right way, however in few of our customer environments I found certain features are used improperly. So I have started a series of tips & tricks blogs to use ServiceDesk Plus features efficiently. Here’s one example where tickets were merged in place of implementing Problem Management.
When to merge a ticket?
The purpose of merging tickets is to avoid duplicate entries. When a requester raises a request twice for the same incident, the two tickets can be merged.
Here’s a scenario: A requester, say Bob, sends an email to the help desk for
his laptop problem. He then calls the help desk to reconfirm the logging
of this incident and the help desk creates another ticket for the same issue. The duplicate tickets fall under these conditions,
- Same Requester
- Same Incident
- Duplicate entry
When the above condition occurs, the tickets can be merged and the rest of the tickets/conversation will be continued as a conversation thread under one ticket.
What not to merge?
In the same scenario, if multiple requesters report the same issue, do not merge them. If tickets from many requesters are merged, then only one requester will be emailed and the records will be tied only to the parent request. These multiple incidents can be analyzed and moved to Problem Management, if necessary.
“The primary goal of Problem Management is to reduce adverse impacts caused by incidents and to avoid the recurrence of problems related to these incidents.”
Consider a scenario where a “wi-fi not connecting” incident is reported. The technician suggests basic troubleshooting tips to resolve the issue. However, over a period of time, the incident occurs again and again. To eliminate this issue permanently, the root cause of the incident is to be found and resolved. A problem involving a group of incidents should be created for this purpose and assigned to an appropriate technician.?
Rules of engagement for Problem Management:
- Root cause is unknown.
- Multiple incidents involving the same issue.
- Common Symptoms.
- Known Error with a possible workaround.
Add your doubts/ interested modules in which you are looking for more tips & best practices, so we can blog more about these tips & tricks of ServiceDesk Plus.
Use ServiceDesk Plus efficiently and help us help you.
Arvind
You Can Learn More About the ManageEngine Product Line By Going to manageengine.optrics.com
The original article/video can be found at Help Desk Tips & Tricks – When to merge tickets & when to engage Problem Management.