If Life Was Simple Autotask Default Would Work Fine
If all the Tech needed to know was to work on critical Tickets 1st, and High Priority 2nd, then life would be simple and Queue Views and Priority Fields would do the trick – of making sure the Tech knows what to work on next.
The problem is Life is not simple, and Autotask Default Configurations do not meet our needs of making sure THE TECH KNOWS WHAT TO WORK ON NEXT.
For a Tech to know what to work on next, they need:
A worklist prioritized by the Next SLA Event Due which takes into consideration
Urgency and Impact for Incidents and Client Reasonable Expectations for Service Requests
Takes into consideration the Relationship with the Client
Where on the journey from “New” to “Complete” the request is at
When they are scheduled to work directly with the Client
The last time a “Waiting …” ticket in their name was touched
In other words, they need a Dashboard, not a Queue View!
If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you know we’ve been writing about the benefits of Autotask dashboards forever. But recently, I was explaining to a Tech why they should move beyond Queue Views and leverage the Dashboard View instead.
Then it hit me.
In a Queue view, you are looking at one set of tickets ordered in one way. Now, wouldn’t it be great if our MSP lives were so simple?
But they are not that simple, and we know it. We feel it every day when the world is swirling around us, demanding our attention on everything but what we are working on – and in some cases the Customer is demanding a long overdue update.
The Goals of the Technician dashboard are to…
Organize their day so they know what to work on next.
Create awareness of everything they are responsible for in one glance.
Make life easy and more enjoyable between 8 and 5 (or 6-4, or 7a to 10P, or around the clock).
The Goals of the Service Coordinator dashboard are to…
Give the ability to manage all open tickets.
Show which tickets need attention.
Make life easy and more enjoyable between 8 and 5.
The key here is that a dashboard can be sorted with up to 12 different lists of tickets - adding sub-widgets increases that to 72. This is the equivalent of looking at 72 Queues in 12 different sort orders; in a single glance.
With Customer Requests being segmented into four engagement workflows by priorities and then further segmenting the tickets based on Ticket Life-Cycle using Statuses, the chaos that reigns suddenly becomes ordered. Nirvana is reached in a new Zen Environment (Ahhh…).
Widget Arrangement for Techs
Not only can the dashboard now provide a highly organized view of all tickets the Support Team member is responsible for, but it can also be organized from the most important to the least.
Here’s an example: The Techs’ widgets can be arranged from Top Left to Bottom Right in this order:
Ready to Be Resolved – in other words, engage at will.
Scheduled – Service Call dates and times that the Customer is expecting you.
Waiting – paused engagements that could become the most important at any moment.
Scheduled Tickets – the list of tickets that have Service Calls.
Triage Tickets – for when a Tech needs to cover the Service Coordinator (Lunch, long Customer call, planning meeting, etc.).
Team Hours Worked This Week – I know all your time is in, but it helps you hold your Teammates accountable.
Who is Off this Week – Saves the Tech from chasing someone who is not available.
My Open Tickets – The Customer Responded Sub-Widget can be very powerful. In one quick click, you can find the ticket the Customer just responded to without surfing thru the Ready to Be Resolved widget.
Assigned vs Completed – Ever wonder how much work you actually do? Now you can know the month before last, last month, and how you are trending this month (including what it’s going to take to improve and beat last month).
SLA – Tech Engagement – this is a heads-up that a ticket in the Ready to Be Resolved queue is coming up on SLA. If for some reason you are not going to get to it, reach out to the Service Coordinator to see if they can find someone who is able to update the Customer.
SLA – Completion – see SLA Tech Engagement.
My Aged Tickets – another nice to know item.
Widget Arrangements for Service Coordinators
For the Service Coordinator, the story is very different, but the same:
Triage – new tickets that are waiting for intake processing (Triage) or to be returned to the Service Coordinator for reassignment / rescheduling.
Next SLA Summary – all tickets coming up on SLA due dates so they can take a look and see if everything is OK, if they need to be reassigned, or if the Customer needs an update.
All Waiting Status Tickets – have any of these been sitting 3 days with no activity? If so, does the Customer, Vendor, or shipping even know we are waiting?
All Open Tickets – Once again, in general, this is a nice to know item. However, the Customer Responded or Service Coordinator Help Needed Sub-Widgets are very powerful. In one click, you can check to make sure the Tech the Customer responded to is working, or what help they may need.
All On-Hold tickets – only because someone should be watching these, and if the due date is in the past, the WFR is not going to work – details, details, details.
All Service Calls Scheduled – lets the Service Coordinator know who is scheduled at the moment and who’s not available.
Team Hours Worked this Week – for most Techs, nice to know; but in the case of new Techs, the Service Coordinator can help them develop good Real-Time Time Entry habits.
Scheduled Tickets – Nice to know; where they can find tickets quickly should they need to be rescheduled.
Out of the Office this week – see Tech list.
Billing Ready to be Reviewed – who knows better than the Service Coordinator if the ‘just completed’ ticket is coded correctly, all time entries are in, and are coded properly.
Contracts Expiring – or Expired. The Service Coordinator is in the best position to help. Help the Account Managers by scheduling the Contract review and remembering to draft and send a renewal proposal to the Customer. Help the Customer understand the value of the Contracts, remind them they are expiring in 30 days, and to please sign the contract, old man.
WOW, it seems that if Techs and Service Coordinators would use their dashboards rather than queues, they would be looking at one thing and their day would be organized one way – GOAL MET, WE ARE DONE!
Need help making this a reality at your MSP? Help is one easy call or click away! Reach us anytime.
