- Microsoft Azure (Virtual Machines/Compute)
- Remote Desktop
- Internet Information Services (IIS)
- Windows 10 (21H2)
- Intake
- Assignment and Communication
- Working the Issue
- Resolution
Now that we have finished configuring osTicket from the last tutorial we will now be demonstrating the ticket lifecycle from creation to resolution by creating new tickets through osTicket and resolving them using the agents we configured in the last tutorial. Right now we currently do not have any tickets open and so our first step will be to create our first three new tickets.
In order to create your first ticket head over to http://localhost/osTicket/. Once on the page click " Open a New Ticket". Then on the ticket creation page you will want to enter in the email address of one of the users you created in the previous configuration tutorial along with their name. Next choose a help topic and fill out the ticket details sections. Once you are done hit "create ticket" and you will have created your first ticket in osTicket. Repeat these steps to create your second and third ticket and then we will move on to the next step.
Now login as one of the agents that you created in the previous tutorial using their username and password. Once logged in you should see your open tickets as it appears above. If you are not seeing any open tickets then you will need to logout and login as an admin and check your agent's permissions to make sure they were added to the Support Department. Once the agent has been added to the support department with full access( no restrictions) then logout of your admin account and login in under your agent profile to proceed.
Let's start by addressing our first ticket. Open one of the tickets and it should look similiar to the picture shown above. Next we will start "working" the ticket. Based on the information sent to us by the user we will first evaluate if we need to make a change to the priority level. You can change the priority level by clicking on "Normal" next it and a window should pop up with different priority options.
In my example, given that the online banking system is down, I changed the priority from Normal to emergency given the situation. After updating the priority the next step would be to assign the ticket to an agent. You can do this by clicking the space next to "assigned to" and selecting one the agents from the list. In this example we decided to use the same agent (Jane), that we are already logged in as. Next we will determine the SLA Plan, and for this example we would choosed SEV-A given the priority of this ticket. You can assign the SLA by clicking "Default SLA" and then choosing from the options that you created in the prior tutorial.
After assigning the SLA we would then move on to determining which department would be best suited to handle this issue. In our ticket we decided that the Support department may not be best equipped and so we changed the department to System Adminstrators which Jane is already a member of. To change departments click on the current department and select a different option. Also be sure that you have agents assigned to the new department that you decide to switch the ticket to or you will have to go back to your admin account and add them to the new department so that they can access the ticket.
Now that we have adjusted the priority, department and SLA, we can post a reply to the user letting them know that we are working on their ticket or if the incident was simple we can send them a message saying that the issue has been resolved and briefly explaining what was done. In my ticket I sent a short message saying that I was coordinating with the Sys Admin Team to address the issue. If the issue is still open then leave the ticket status as open or if you resolved your ticket then change it to resolved to close out the ticket and then hit "post reply".
If your first ticket is still open you can head back to the main ticket page as shown above and see the priority level and agent information that has been updated next to the ticket. We do want to resolve this emergency ticket swiftly so in our example we go back into the ticket and inform the user that the issue has been resolved by another member of our team and select resolve to close out the ticket. Once I hit "post reply" this ticket will no longer show up on the open tickets page but still can be found via the Closed tab under Tickets.
Now that the first ticket has been resolved lets head over to our next ticket. Click any of the tickets that you have left available and start working the tickey by reviewing the priority, SLA Plan and department. In our example we changed the priority from normal to high due to the issue being department wide and we changed the SLA from default to SEV-B. We kept the department the same because the issue seems like something the support team can handle. For this particular ticket try assigning it to a different agent. In our example we ended up assigning it from Jane to John and then sent the user a message that their ticket was being assigned to John. After you reassign the ticket and message the user you will then need to login under the agent that you reassigned the ticket to, to ultimately resolve and close the ticket.
Because we reassigned the ticket to John, we are now logged in under John's account so that we can finish up our second ticket. When you open up the ticket again you can notice all of the updates Jane Doe made prior to the ticket being transferred. Because the priority level and SLA was already updated by Jane, the only thing left for John to do is to resolve the issue. In our example to resolve the issue, John decided to rollback the version of adobe reader to allow the accounting to use the software again. You can of course come up with your own unique resolution for the assigned agent. Once you enter your reply to the user, change the status to resolved and post reply and you will be officially done working your second ticket.
So now that our second ticket has been resolved we can head to our third and final ticket. Once in the ticket repeat the same general process that was used in the prior two tickets by reviewing the priority level, department and SLA Plan. In our example the user is just asking a question about a hardware refresh and so we changed the priority from Normal to Low and the SLA Plan from default to SEV-C. We assigned the ticket to John because we are already logined into his agent account. For a simple ticket like this, we were able to resolve it very quickly by simply answering the customer's question and hitting "post reply" with a resolved ticket status.
Congratulations, we have now finished working all of our tickets! We went through each step of the ticket lifecycle process from intake (ticket creation by the user), assignment and communication ( when we are logged in as the agent and are assigning the ticket to ourselves or others and sending the initial response to the user), working the issue( when we do behind the scenes research to solve the issue that they are facing) and resolution (when we send them a message telling them how we briefly resolved their problem and let them know everything is fixed). After going through all three tutorials I hope that you have a better understanding of how osTicket works and how you can potentially use it in your organization.