Tickets

Administrators will use this section to adjust ticket settings, including those related to service quality, signatures, balancing the workload, quality control and more.

To access this section, log into the management interface with an administrator account. Select Settings icon. In the Configuration area of the navigation pane, click on Tickets. The settings will load in the content pane and the following tabs will be available:

Options

Use this tab to edit the following settings:

Auto Save Frequency - This sets how often drafts are automatically saved as drafts when agents are typing up replies to tickets.
Default Reply Option - This determines whether the Reply or Reply All action is the default selection while viewing tickets. (Agents can use the reply button dropdown menu to manually select Reply or Reply All, regardless of this setting.)
Max Messages in Replies - The number of previous messages automatically included in the text of a ticket response. By default, ticket replies include the most recent previous message only. All replies to tickets are stored by SmarterTrack, but not all replies necessarily need to be included in each ticket response.
Show Agents When Transferring - To specify whether an agent can select a specific agent when transferring tickets, select the appropriate option from the list. By default, this is set to Always.
Stop Idle Events After - Idle Events that are created, either by Agents or Administrators, run on tickets that sit, without activity, for a certain amount of time. However, these types of Events can tax SmarterTrack if there isn't an upper limit set that stops them from firing after a certain amount of time. This is especially true if more than one Idle Event is configured. Therefore, it's wise to set the number of days after which idle waiting tickets no longer trigger Event actions.

Timing

Timing settings are a good way to set up service quality levels for Departments. For example, if tickets need to be replied to within a given amount of time, or if there is a limit set on how long a ticket remains open before it's resolved.

Idle Warning After - The amount of time an agent has not responded to a ticket. After this threshold has been reached, the agent will receive a warning notification.
Idle Critical After - The amount of time an agent has not responded to a ticket before the ticket becomes critical. After this threshold has been reached, the agent will receive a critical notification.
Duration Warning After - The amount of time a ticket remains open before its duration sets off a warning.
Duration Critical After - The amount of time a ticket remains open before its duration sets off a critical alert.

Signatures

To ensure consistency among all Departments and Groups within the company, system administrators can create custom signatures that agents will use on all ticket correspondence. A single signature can be created that's used by all agents, in all groups and departments, or different signatures can be created for each group and/or each department, as the needs arise.

Signatures can also include custom images, such as agent photos, icons and logos, that are different from the agent avatar that set. The editor within SmarterTrack makes it very easy to create rich, detailed signatures through the use of a rich HTML markup as well as system variables that will automatically fill information like an agent's name, their department and more.

To view a specific signature, select the signature and click on the Edit button or simply double-click the signature. To create a new signature, click New in the content pane toolbar. A signature window will load and the following options will be available:

Brand - To assign the signature to a specific brand, select it from the list.
Department - To assign the signature to a specific Department, select it from the list.
Group - To assign the signature to a specific Group, select it from the list

When creating new signatures, the HTML editor can be used to set font types, set colors, add links and more. In addition, variables can be used to pull information from the system to customize the signature based upon how users, Department, Groups, etc. are set up. The following variables are available:

Survey Name - SmarterTrack allows user signatures to include links to any survey that is available for the Brand and Department. Any survey created that is specific to a Department can be added to the signature created. In the signature itself, the text display will match whatever was added for the "Survey Link Text" created when the survey was initially created. For more information, see Surveys.
Agent Avatar [#agentavatar#] - The avatar information for each Employee.
Email Address [#useremail] - The email address of the Agent.
Current Brand [#companyname#] - The brand that the agent is part of.
Department Name [#departmentname#] - The Department the Agent belongs to.
Display Name [#userdisplayname#] - The "friendly" name of the Agent.
Username [#username#] - The username assigned to the Agent.

Rebalance Rules

To ensure an even workload is assigned to agents, administrators can set rebalance rules. Rebalance rules allow the system to automatically redistribute tickets among the available agents based on the parameters set by the administrator. For example, a support department with two active agents may receive a high volume of tickets that are evenly distributed among both agents. Later that day, a third agent may log in and the rebalancing rule can be set to automatically redistribute any unanswered active tickets among all three agents at that time.

Note: Rebalance rules are NOT meant to be a way to redistribute tickets on an hourly basis. Instead, they are intended to run twice or three times a day. For example, rebalancing tickets during shift changes or for periodic redistribution if agents are taken out of the rotation. In addition, any tickets that have been viewed by agents either by opening the ticket in a new window or by previewing the ticket in the preview pane, and therefore "held" by those agents, as well as any pinned tickets, are NOT redistributed when the rebalance rules take effect.

To view a specific rebalance rule, simply double-click the rule. To create a new rule, click New in the content pane toolbar. The rebalance rule will load in a pop-up window and the following options will be available:

Rule Name - The name of the rebalance rule.
Group - The Group to which the rebalance rule applies.
Agents - Check the agent(s) to which the rebalance rule applies.
Hold After Compose - The time frame after which a submitted ticket can be reassigned to another agent. By default, this option is set to 30 minutes.
Hold After Read - The time frame after which a ticket that has been read can be reassigned to another agent. By default, this option is set to 10 minutes.
Hold After Assigned - The time frame after which a ticket that has been assigned to an agent can be reassigned to another agent. By default, this option is set to 20 minutes.
Rebalance Pinned After - The time frame after which pinned tickets can be reassigned to another agent. By default, this option is set to 2 hours.

Enabled - Check this box to reassign pinned tickets to another agent. By default, this setting is disabled.

Execute on Interval - The time frame after which the rebalancing rule will be applied to tickets in the system. By default, this option is set to 1 hour.

Enabled - Check this box to reassign tickets at a specific interval.

Execute on Schedule - The times at which the rebalancing rule is applied mto tickets in the system. A maximum of three times per day can be scheduled.

Enabled - Check this box to reassign tickets at a certain time each day.

Execute when an agent starts receiving tickets - Check this box to reassign tickets when an agent logs in and actively accepts tickets for this Group.
Execute when an agent stops receiving tickets - Check this box to reassign tickets when an agent logs out of the system and/or stops receiving tickets for this Group.

Quality Control

SmarterTrack's quality control feature provides a method to ensure agents provide the required level of service to customers by allowing managers to review ticket responses as the response is sent to the customer. A practical use for this feature is when it is combined with a structured training program for new agents. Managers can review a high percentage of responses by new agents to ensure that the new agent is replying to the entire issue rather than a select subset of issues, that the spelling and grammar used are up to company standards, and more. Of course, quality control can just as easily be used as part of a company's regular quality control measures. More seasoned agents may not require the same oversight as trainees, but oversight can still be administered to ensure the highest levels of customer service possible.

To view the quality control settings for a specific agent, select the agent and click the Edit button or simply double-click the agent. To create a new quality control rule, click New in the content pane toolbar. The following quality control settings will be available:

Agent - The agent being monitored.
Forward To - The agent's ticket responses are copied to the address in this field.
Frequency - The frequency with which ticket replies are copied to the manager(s). The number of copied replies is based on a ratio in which the formula is 1 ticket for every X replies where X is the number entered in this field. For example, if 5 is entered in the frequency field, 1 out of every 5 ticket replies will be copied to a manager. If 1 is entered, every ticket reply is copied.