Managing OTOBO Services

To optimize your service desk performance and ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction, it is essential that requests and issues are properly categorized and forwarded to the correct expert team. Without a clear assignment based on the affected service, your agents could be faced with requests that are outside their area of expertise or access rights. This could unnecessarily extend the resolution time and lead to dissatisfaction among your customers. OTOBO, a leading ticket system and service desk software, offers the ability to effectively manage services to overcome such challenges.

With OTOBO, you can easily add and manage all the services you offer to your customers. By linking these services to Service Level Agreements (SLAs), you can ensure a quick and effective solution for customer issues based on defined agreements. Configuring and managing your services in OTOBO is a crucial step to optimize your customer support system and increase your team's efficiency.

You can find the service management screen in the Services module within the Ticket Settings group. It is important to note that a fresh OTOBO installation does not include any services by default, so you should configure this area immediately after installation.

Before you begin, however, make sure that the Ticket::Service feature is enabled in the System Configurations under the Administration group. This setting is necessary so that services can be selected in the ticket screens. If you receive a warning message, you can navigate directly to the corresponding configuration setting via the link in this message.

Managing Services

Adding and managing services is a straightforward process. To add a new service, click the "Add Service" button in the left sidebar and fill in the required fields before clicking "Save".

Please note that services cannot be deleted from the system. Instead, they can be deactivated by setting the validity option to "invalid" or "temporarily invalid".

To edit an existing service, select it from the service list, change the corresponding fields, and then click "Save" or "Save and finish".

For more efficient management of your services, it is recommended to use the filter field to search for specific services. Simply enter the name of the service you are looking for to filter the results.

You should pay special attention to changing object names. Certain features like dashboard filters, Action Control Lists (ACLs), and processes can be affected by a name change. A thorough documentation of your setup is essential here to prevent potential difficulties.

Important Service Settings

When adding or editing a service, various setting options are available to you. Fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory.

• Service: The service name, which can contain any characters, including uppercase letters and spaces.
• Sub-service of: Allows assigning the service as a sub-service to an existing service.
• Validity: Determines if a service can be used in OTOBO. The service is only active if this option is set to "valid".
• Comment: Here you can add additional information that is also visible in the overview table.

Finally, it is important to mention that a service can only be selected in the ticket screens if it is assigned to the ticket's customer or set as a default service for all customers in the customer user services screen.

SLAs

Adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is of utmost importance for companies that want to offer efficient and customer-oriented services. SLAs define the standards for service quality, including response and resolution times, and are crucial for building trust and ensuring customer satisfaction. By managing service agreements, OTOBO, a comprehensive service desk and ticket system solution, provides the tools to consistently meet and exceed the expectations of your customers.

OTOBO's SLA management offering is particularly flexible and can scale with your business needs. It allows you to create numerous service agreements tailored to the specific requirements of your services and customers. Each SLA can cover various services and specify in detail which escalation times and availabilities apply.

It is important to note that using this feature requires that the Ticket::Service setting is enabled in the system configuration under the Administration group. This ensures that services and SLAs can be selected in the ticket screens. If you receive a warning message on this topic, you can navigate directly to the corresponding configuration setting via the link in the message.

Managing Service Level Agreements

Before you can add SLAs, it is necessary for services to already exist in the system. Therefore, make sure you create them first in the "Services" section.

To add a new SLA, follow these steps:

1. Click "Add SLA" in the left sidebar.
2. Fill in the required fields.
3. Confirm with "Save".

Please note that once created, service level agreements cannot be deleted. However, you have the option to deactivate them by setting their validity to "invalid" or "temporarily invalid".

To edit an existing service level agreement, select an SLA from the list, adjust the desired settings, and save your changes.

If you have a large number of SLAs in the system, you can use the filter field to search for specific service level agreements by name and edit them more quickly.

Service Level Agreement Settings

The following options are available when you add or edit a service level agreement. Fields with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.

• SLA*: The name of the service level agreement; any characters can be entered into the field, including uppercase letters and spaces.
• Service: Here you select one or more services to be covered by this SLA.
• Calendar: Set the calendar that defines the working hours for this service level agreement. Calendars can be defined in the System Configuration.

Escalation options include the First response time (minutes), which defines the maximum working time before an agent first contacts the customer, and the Update time (minutes), which sets the maximum permissible period between agent contacts. It should be noted that the first response time for an email ticket or a phone ticket created by an agent is not triggered.

With these comprehensive features, OTOBO ensures that your organization adheres to the terms of your service level agreements, thereby creating the foundation for a lasting customer relationship. Just as important as defining service level agreements themselves is implementing mechanisms that ensure these agreements are met. OTOBO offers detailed options for this, such as the early notification of agents before the agreed times expire and the definition of resolution times for tickets. These features enable your team to act proactively and avoid potential escalations, which ultimately leads to higher customer satisfaction.

To further increase the effectiveness of your SLAs, you can configure settings in OTOBO that help your agents adhere to the agreed service times:

• Notify by: This feature allows you to define percentages at which notifications are sent before the time limit for first responses, updates, or resolutions is reached. This early alert gives agents the opportunity to prioritize their tasks accordingly and act within the agreed deadlines.

• Escalation - Solution time (minutes): Here you define the maximum working time within which a ticket must be marked as solved. An important feature here is that the solution time of a ticket remains unchanged even after reopening. This consistency provides clarity and helps in adhering to defined SLAs.

• Validity *: As with all resources in OTOBO, you must also set the validity for SLAs. Only resources whose validity is set to "valid" can be used. The ability to temporarily or permanently deactivate resources by setting their validity to "invalid" or "temporarily invalid" offers flexibility in managing your service offerings.

• Comment: This field allows you to add additional information to a resource. A clear and complete description helps the entire support team to quickly grasp the purpose and relevance of a specific service level agreement. The comment is also displayed in the overview table and thus increases transparency.

• Dialog message: When a customer selects a specific SLA during ticket creation, a predefined message can be displayed in the external interface. This provides an opportunity to immediately inform the customer about important information regarding the selected SLA.

By carefully configuring these settings in OTOBO, you can ensure a high standard in fulfilling your service level agreements. This not only has a positive effect on the efficiency and responsiveness of your support team but also strengthens the trust and satisfaction of your customers.

Evaluating Services in Statistics

The service data can be evaluated in the Statistics. To do this, you need to create a new statistic and set the desired filters and display options. You can find more information here: OTOBO Statistics Management