Creating Tickets

Tickets can be created by clients through the portal or by internal team members on behalf of clients or for internal escalations.

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Who can create tickets

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Clients

Through the client portal:

• Submit support requests
• Ask questions
• View and track their tickets
• Add comments and attachments

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Internal team members

All team members can create:

• Support tickets (on behalf of clients)
• Internal escalations
• Questions (on behalf of clients)

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Creating internal tickets

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Starting a new ticket

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Ticket type selection

Choose the appropriate type: Support:

• Technical issues
• Bugs or problems
• Something broken
• Need a fix

Escalation:

• Client relationship concerns
• Delivery issues
• Quality problems
• Service complaints

Question:

• Information requests
• How-to questions
• Clarification needed
• No work required

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Support ticket fields

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Required fields

All support tickets need:

• Client - Which client this affects
• Title - Brief, clear description
• Priority - P1 through P4 based on impact

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Recommended fields

For better context:

• Description - Full details of the issue
• Stores affected - Which client sites/stores impacted
• Desired outcome - What resolution looks like

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Optional fields

Additional information:

• Attachments - Screenshots, logs, references
• Contact users - Specific client contacts to involve

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Priority guidelines

Choose priority based on impact:

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Escalation ticket fields

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Purpose

Internal escalations flag concerns:

• Scope creep
• Delivery delays
• Quality issues
• Service complaints

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Required fields

All escalations need:

• Client - Which client this concerns
• Title - Brief summary of concern
• Escalation type - Select one or more types
• Priority - Severity of concern
• Description - Full context
• Action taken - Steps already attempted

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Escalation types

Select all that apply: Scope Creep:

• Client requesting work beyond retainer
• Unclear boundaries
• Expanding requirements

Delivery Delay:

• Work falling behind schedule
• Missed commitments
• Unrealistic expectations

Quality Issue:

• Work not meeting standards
• Repeated bugs
• Client dissatisfaction with output

Service Complaint:

• Communication problems
• Relationship concerns
• Client expressing frustration

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Question ticket fields

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Purpose

Simple information requests:

• How does X feature work?
• Where can I find Y?
• What is the status of Z?
• Can you clarify something?

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Required fields

All questions need:

• Client - Who is asking
• Title - The question
• Priority - Urgency of answer

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Recommended fields

For context:

• Description - Additional details
• Contact users - Who to respond to

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Quick workflow

Questions have a simplified workflow:

• New → Accepted → Resolved
• No scheduling or assignment needed
• Answer provided directly
• Resolution summary contains the answer

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Client portal submission

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How clients submit

Through the client portal:

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Client ticket fields

Clients provide:

• Title (required)
• Description (optional but recommended)
• Priority (required, P1-P4)
• Stores affected (optional)
• Desired outcome (optional)
• Attachments (optional)

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After submission

When client submits:

• Ticket created with “New” status
• Origin marked as “client”
• CSM for that client notified
• Managers notified
• Appears in Help Desk list

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AI Time Suggestions

When a support ticket is created, Alan automatically generates a time estimate suggestion based on:

• Ticket content: Title and description analysis
• Client history: Similar tickets and their actual completion times
• Help desk score: Whether this client’s tickets typically take longer or shorter than estimated

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How It Works

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Viewing Suggestions

On the ticket detail page, PMs see:

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Confidence Levels

• High: Clear ticket scope with good historical data
• Medium: Reasonable information available
• Low: Limited data - use as a starting point only

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Using Suggestions

PMs can:

1. Accept by entering the suggested time when scheduling
2. Adjust based on their judgment and additional context
3. Override completely if they disagree with the suggestion

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When Suggestions Are Generated

AI suggestions are generated for:

• ✅ Support tickets (technical issues, bugs, fixes)

AI suggestions are not generated for:

• ❌ Questions (no work required)
• ❌ Escalations (internal management, no scheduled work)

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Notifications

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Who gets notified

New client ticket:

• CSM assigned to client
• Managers
• On-call PM (if configured)

New internal ticket:

• Depends on type and priority
• High priority → broader notification
• Escalations → management team

Ticket assigned:

• Assigned team member
• PM who assigned it

Ticket resolved:

• Client (if client-submitted)
• Relevant team members

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Notification channels

Notifications sent via:

• Email
• In-app notifications
• Visible in notifications panel

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Best practices

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Common mistakes

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Mistake 1: Wrong ticket type

Problem: Creating support ticket for a question Impact:

• Goes through full workflow unnecessarily
• Takes longer to get answer
• Wastes scheduling capacity

Solution: Use Question type for information requests

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Mistake 2: P1 for everything

Problem: Marking all tickets as P1 Impact:

• Teams ignore priority
• Real emergencies not recognized
• Boy-who-cried-wolf effect

Solution: Reserve P1 for true emergencies only

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Mistake 3: Insufficient detail

Problem: Title only, no description Impact:

• PM can’t understand issue
• Back-and-forth in comments
• Delays resolution

Solution: Provide context upfront in description

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Mistake 4: Creating task instead

Problem: Creating ticket for planned work Impact:

• Loses scheduling benefits of tasks
• Not integrated with roadmap
• Harder to track against quotes

Solution: Use tickets for reactive support, tasks for proactive work

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Troubleshooting

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Next steps