When looking at places that manage large numbers of IT devices (such as schools and businesses) it is becoming increasingly important to have some sort of way to create and track people needing help with their devices. I have seen everything from using Excel or Google spreadsheets, a Google form, written reports, emails, or custom helpdesk software solutions. Depending upon the size of the fleet that you are trying to manage, each could have its benefits. This could be cost, amount of information provided, being able to open a ticket anywhere, or many other reasons. Let's take a look at if you could benefit from combining multiple forms of ticket creation in one solution.
Creation of Tickets inside of the system
When using a helpdesk solution, you generally have the option for everyone or a select group of people to create helpdesk tickets. To do this, there can be different ways of performing the action. In general, the information that is needed is the person who is creating the ticket and an identifier for the device. This normally requires the user to log into the system that is being used as the helpdesk solution to enter the information. Having the ability to create helpdesk tickets inside of the solution, allows for the tickets to be directly assigned to the helpdesk agents that manage repairs. Having the ability to auto-assign tickets can help reduce the amount of time that assets are down, and improve the workflow. The downside to creating tickets inside of a helpdesk solution is that if additional information is needed, the technician has to wait for the user who submitted the ticket to enter additional information in the comment section once they log back in.
Creation of Tickets by email
This option can either be linked to a helpdesk solution or is used as a stand-alone way to manage tickets. There is normally a dedicated email account is used so that the emails being sent in do not get mixed in with other emails. The benefit of using emails to create helpdesk tickets is that you limit the number of systems that the users in your domain have to log into. Using emails allows for faster communication if additional information is needed to determine what issue is occurring. The downside to using strictly emails to submit tickets lies in the ability to have the tickets assigned to someone. Generally, these have to be manually assigned to the technician who will be working on the repair. This can cause an increase in the time that it takes for the tickets to be completed.
Can both be used?
The answer to the proposed question above is yes. This all depends upon the solution that is chosen by the respective IT departments. There are a few different ways that using both can be integrated. The first is to have a system that has both options built into the solution. This gives the user the benefits of both, which can help to mitigate the limits of either option. Having both options will allow users to not have to log in to a system to create the tickets that they need, but also give a solution that allows the technicians to easily manage the tickets, and get fast feedback from the creator of the tickets. In addition, the tickets should be set up to be assigned to the technicians no matter which way they are created.
Secondly, using webhooks or API access through another third-party provider can allow you access to perform both options. This depends upon what your main provider allows to be connected to their system.
Now how you and your IT team decide how they want to have this information entered for their use, will decide which way or ways is best for your organization. As with all workflow processes, it takes an understanding of what you want, along with coming up with the most efficient way for you and your team.
For more information to help manage your IT fleet, check out our blog.