Do you have estimated times on your tickets?

No, it’s not a trick question where I lead you into a lengthy article on how to configure some massively complex features of Autotask. This week, I’m keeping it short and sweet with a quick and easy tip to improve your Service Delivery with a great return on investment.  

So, does your Ticket Triage Process involve putting an estimated time into the Estimated Hours field of Autotask? Many MSPs never bother to use this often-ignored field, but they should.  

Without the Estimated Hours field populated: 

1. Techs do not have a reference on how they are progressing 

2. Managers are unaware of engagements going sideways 

3. It’s hard for a manager to know who on the team is struggling 

4. There is not an early alert that an engagement is going long 

Populating the Estimated Hours field in Autotask tickets can be easily automated.  As a matter of fact, it is more of a mechanism than automation.   

Here are the steps: 

1. Pull a historical completed ticket search for the last month or, better yet, six months 

2. Sort the list by Issue/Sub-Issue 

3. Average Total Worked Hours for each Sub-Issue 

4. Group the Sub-Issues by Average Total Worked Hours in 15-minute increments 

5. Create a Workflow Rule for each group 

6. Condition: Sub-Issue in list (list the sub-issues in the group) 

7. Update: Estimated hours by the 15-minute increment  

Voila, the estimated field in the ticket is now populated automatically.  But we’re not quite done. To properly leverage this information and gain all that value, you need to: 

1. Add the Estimated vs. Actual Hours insight to the ticket category 

2. Coach the Techs when they are halfway thru the estimated hours to pause… 

3. If they have a resolution plan, then continue on 

4. If they are lost, ask for help 

5. If they ignore looking, no worries, you have a plan B 

6. Add a widget to the Service Coordinator and Service Manager’s dashboard 

7. It is the Service Manager’s responsibility to look into ticket engagements going long 

8. It is the Service Coordinator’s responsibility to hold the Service Manager accountable 

9. Run an Autotask Live Report showing which techs are taking longer than average on each Sub-Issue 

10. Meet with them one-on-one to find out if they are indeed struggling 

11. Develop a game plan to shorten their engagement time 

Note: Be prepared for your #1 Tech to be flagged a lot, only to hear that Jr. Tech is hanging on to a ticket too long and not giving the Sr. Tech an opportunity to complete the engagement within expectations. 

This mechanism is part of Advanced Global’s Service Delivery Foundational Improvement program and is very much an asset to your Service Delivery Team and Management.   

If you need more information on how to build or leverage the mechanism at your MSP, please reach out – free of charge – a complimentary 30-minute Coaching call should do the trick. 

The elephant in the room:  

Who is Advanced Global, and why should we listen to them

Recently someone we’ve communicated with since DattoCon 2018, who was faithfully reading our articles, commented that up until a few months ago, “I really did not know what Advanced Global does.” So, here are a few bullet points to let anyone interested know who we are and what we do: 

1. We Are – the Autotask Global Service Delivery Authority 

2. We Help – MSPs thrive 

3. We Solve – Service Delivery issues, inefficiencies, and challenges by making sure: 

   1. techs know what to work on next 

   2. someone is managing all open tickets and driving them to completion 

   3. the staffing levels are correct, and the workload is balanced  

   4. Real-Time Time Entry is a cultural habit 

   5. the Client has a great client experience 

   6. profit is maximized 

   7. Autotask is being fully leveraged 

   8. the historical data that is in the Autotask software is accessible to benchmark, track & USE effectively 

   9. the Service Delivery operations can scale 

   10. projects are completed On-Time and On-Budget 

   11. the company can grow 

   12. MSPs know what they don’t know 

4. Our Tools:  

   1. Autotask “Best in Class” standard build 

   2. Our MSP robust Service Delivery SOP library 

   3. Advanced Autotask Live Reports 

   4. Expertise in providing a transformational educational experience 

Note: We are not philosophers; we are doers with 31+ years of Service Delivery experience, bringing real Service Delivery Improvement change, profitability, and Best in Class performance. 

We start by offering a FREE No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation.  

Until next time – stay profitable, my friends. 

Steve & Co