Hi All…
I’m looking for a trouble tracking system that will allow problem reportsd
and help requests to come in either by email, by a user completing a web
form, or by phone. I expect most of my support staff will be taking phone
calls.
I have been looking at the RT web site and have read the docs. I have not
installed it, because my database infrastructure is PostgreSQL, not mSQL.
I was wondering how well RT works in an environment where most of the
support requests come to the support staff by phone.
Also, can I create different status entries, like “escelated to level 2
support” if I need to? I expect my first line staff will, at least for a
while, be escelating many items to the technical staff and I would like to
be able to follow a request through that escelation to closure.
Thanks!!
Jim
I was wondering how well RT works in an environment where most of the
support requests come to the support staff by phone.
RT is made for emails, not for phone requests. But it might work, just
use “comment” to put in details about the phonecall, and update the told
whenever a phonecall has occurred. I know there are commercial packages
out there that, at least according to the salesmen, should be perfectly
capable for handling phone-calls.
In RT2, it’s possible to put in attachments. Maybe audio attachments
would be an option? 
Also, can I create different status entries, like “escelated to level 2
support” if I need to?
The best thing would be to have a separate queue for level 2 support. In
RT1, you just move the thing to the right queue. Another option is to set
the owner to somebody working at 2nd support.
The bad thing about moving it to another queue is that there will not be
sent mail about it (in RT1, at least - actually I don’t think we’re
supporting queue moving in RT2 for the time beeing? I think we should
Spell checkers are for wimps
(please send feedback on all typos)
Thanks, Tobias.
If I understand the RT docs correctly, RT receives an email for an initial
contact and generates an entry in a database from that entry. Maybe I’m
wrong on this?
Reguarding phone support, what I was thinking was not that RT would answer
the phone and take a message, but that a human support person would answer
the call and use something like a web interface to make an entry into the
database directly, without having received the email from the customer. So
I guess I could code up such a program (if it does not exist) or I could
just have the support staff send an email.
Also, is there any way a customer can use a web interface to check the
status of their support request?
Thanks again!
Jim–On Saturday, July 22, 2000 3:44 PM +0200 Tobias Brox tobiasb@tobiasb.funcom.com wrote:
I was wondering how well RT works in an environment where most of the
support requests come to the support staff by phone.
RT is made for emails, not for phone requests. But it might work, just
use “comment” to put in details about the phonecall, and update the told
whenever a phonecall has occurred. I know there are commercial packages
out there that, at least according to the salesmen, should be perfectly
capable for handling phone-calls.
In RT2, it’s possible to put in attachments. Maybe audio attachments
would be an option?
Also, can I create different status entries, like “escelated to level 2
support” if I need to?
The best thing would be to have a separate queue for level 2 support. In
RT1, you just move the thing to the right queue. Another option is to set
the owner to somebody working at 2nd support.
The bad thing about moving it to another queue is that there will not be
sent mail about it (in RT1, at least - actually I don’t think we’re
supporting queue moving in RT2 for the time beeing? I think we should
–
Spell checkers are for wimps
(please send feedback on all typos)
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rt-users@lists.fsck.com
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If I understand the RT docs correctly, RT receives an email for an initial
contact and generates an entry in a database from that entry. Maybe I’m
wrong on this?
RT initiates a request (or a “ticket”) in the database upon either
- an incoming email
- somebody entering a ticket through the web pages
- somebody entering a ticket through the command line tools
I guess it might be difficult making a ticket without issuing an email
address, as the requestors are identified by email addresses rather than
phonenums.
In RT2 (sorry, I don’t have a clue about when RT 2.0 will be ready) each
requestor will also have an entry in the user table, so it will be
possible to attach more information to them, like phonenum, comments, etc.
Reguarding phone support, what I was thinking was not that RT would answer
the phone and take a message, but that a human support person would answer
the call and use something like a web interface to make an entry into the
database directly, without having received the email from the customer.
That’s how I also understood it. Though maybe in RT 4.5 (due to summer
2015), we should also have a built-in automatical telephone answering
system in RT … if telephones still are beeing used in 2015 ;))
Also, is there any way a customer can use a web interface to check the
status of their support request?
In RT1, this is not possible (except if you hack in some hooks for it).
It is one of the promised features for RT 2.0.
Spell checkers are for wimps
(please send feedback on all typos)
OK, thanks again, Tobias.
It looks as though 2.0 will have some stuff I need, including the
requester’s web interface, support for requesters without email addresses
and support for PostgreSQL (I read that on the web site).
Thanks!
Jim–On Saturday, July 22, 2000 6:47 PM +0200 Tobias Brox tobiasb@tobiasb.funcom.com wrote:
If I understand the RT docs correctly, RT receives an email for an
initial contact and generates an entry in a database from that entry.
Maybe I’m wrong on this?
RT initiates a request (or a “ticket”) in the database upon either
- an incoming email
- somebody entering a ticket through the web pages
- somebody entering a ticket through the command line tools
I guess it might be difficult making a ticket without issuing an email
address, as the requestors are identified by email addresses rather than
phonenums.
In RT2 (sorry, I don’t have a clue about when RT 2.0 will be ready) each
requestor will also have an entry in the user table, so it will be
possible to attach more information to them, like phonenum, comments, etc.
Reguarding phone support, what I was thinking was not that RT would
answer the phone and take a message, but that a human support person
would answer the call and use something like a web interface to make an
entry into the database directly, without having received the email
from the customer.
That’s how I also understood it. Though maybe in RT 4.5 (due to summer
2015), we should also have a built-in automatical telephone answering
system in RT … if telephones still are beeing used in 2015 ;))
Also, is there any way a customer can use a web interface to check the
status of their support request?
In RT1, this is not possible (except if you hack in some hooks for it).
It is one of the promised features for RT 2.0.
–
Spell checkers are for wimps
(please send feedback on all typos)
It looks as though 2.0 will have some stuff I need, including the
requester’s web interface, support for requesters without email addresses
and support for PostgreSQL (I read that on the web site).
RT2 is officially not ready for beeing used yet, it misses some cruical
things like access control and changing queues, and the installation
process is probably missing some pieces … but still, I would recommend
those that are interessted (and are prepared to spend some time fighting
with it) to having a look at it. Actually we do use the RT2 that is in
the CVS today (tag rt-1-1 of historical reasons) in the production here,
just with some slight modifications in config.pm and rtmux.pl.
However, the CVS version is expected to destabilize and restabilize a bit
before we’re getting closer to beta release.
Spell checkers are for wimps
(please send feedback on all typos)