Helpdesk · Setup & configuration · 8 min read

Set up escalation chains, types, categories and skills

Define who a ticket escalates to, and maintain the types, categories, subcategories and skills tickets use.

Before you begin

Teams must exist. Decide the ladder of levels for each team: L1, L2, L3, Manager, Vendor and Executive.

Escalation chains

A chain is the ladder used when a ticket escalates. It decides the team, person, SLA percentage and mode of each rung.

1. Open Helpdesk > Configuration > Escalation Chains and press New.
2. Enter the Code and Name.
3. Choose either For team (the chain used when the ticket has no chain of its own) or Or for category (overrides the team's).
4. Press Save, then Levels.
5. Press Add level for each rung. Choose the Level, the Team and Person to bring in, At SLA % and the Mode: Collaborate, Transfer or Notify.
6. Press Save.

Rungs must climb: 'Each rung sits above the one before it.' Every rung needs a level: 'Choose a level for every rung.' At SLA % is 1 to 500, or blank if the rung is used by hand only: 'An SLA percentage between 1 and 500.'

The automatic escalation at 100% of the SLA window goes to the first rung whose percentage has been reached. The chain used is the subcategory's, then the category's, then the team's.

Example

IT chain: L2 is the IT-L2 team, Collaborate. L3 is Field Service, Transfer, at 100%. Manager is the IT manager, Notify, at 120%. The first manual escalation puts IT-L2 on the ticket as a collaborator. The next moves the ticket to Field Service.

Helpdesk types

1. Open Helpdesk > Configuration > Helpdesk Types and press New.
2. Enter Code, Name and optionally Arabic name.
3. Choose Raised by (Anybody, Customers, Employees). It is saved but not used on the ticket form yet.
4. Press Save.

An inactive type is not offered on new tickets.

Categories and subcategories

1. Open Helpdesk > Configuration > Categories and press New.
2. Enter Code, Name and the Helpdesk type. The ticket form offers categories of the chosen type, or with no type.
3. To make a subcategory, choose Under category. A category is not its own parent: 'A category is not its own parent.'
4. Choose Skill needed if skill-based teams should pick agents with that skill.
5. Press Save.

Skills

1. Open Helpdesk > Configuration > Skills and press New.
2. Enter a Code and Name such as PRINTERS and Printer repair.
3. Press Save.

The Skills menu is hidden when the feature "Skills and workload routing" is off.

What happens next

New tickets offer the active types, categories and subcategories. Escalations follow the chain.

Good to know

• Codes are unique per company and stored in capitals.
• Deactivate rather than delete. Existing tickets keep their type, category or policy.