We are often asked what’s the difference between a good ticket and a bad ticket. A good ticket lets us know the urgency of the issue, what the problem is, and what troubleshooting has already been done. Here are a few examples:
BAD
Subject: help!
Message: computer broke
BETTER
Subject: need 2022Final.xlsx restored
Message: I need a file called 2022Budget.xlsx restored from the most recent backup.
BEST
Subject: excel won’t print
Message: I can’t print from Excel to the Front-Copier. I restarted my computer. I can print to the Back-Printer, but when I print to the Front-Copier, I get the error message “margins do not fit page size.” Samantha tried to print it to the Front-Copier from her computer and gets the same error message. The file is p:\budget\2022Final.xlsx Other Excel files print fine. My computer name is: desktop2022b This is not urgent since I was able to print to the Front-Copier. I’ll be at my desk this afternoon and all day tomorrow if you want to connect and check it out.
SUMMARY
In the BAD example, we don’t have any information to even assign the right tech. It could be for unknown reasons your keyboard is sticky and smells like coffee, or you can’t get zoom to launch for a meeting starting in 10 minutes. The subject makes it look urgent, but you may have just left for a 3 day conference and we have no way of getting ahold of you.
In the BETTER example, we at least know which tech to assign and have an idea how long it might take us, but don’t know where the file is so we can’t do anything without reaching out. We also don’t know how urgent the issue is.
In the BEST example, we know where the file is and can reproduce the problem without you. We also know when we can get in touch with you.
Creating better tickets from the start doesn’t take much more time on your part, but greatly increases our efficiency by reducing the back and forth via phone/email which translates in to a quicker resolution of the issue for you.
