Support Desk

Overview

Organizes helpdesk tickets with categorization, SLAs, and accountability so customer issues never slip.

Key concepts

Key terms, statuses, and records that appear in Support Desk in XFatora.

Setup & prerequisites

Connect required settings, templates, and defaults for Support Desk in XFatora.

Roles & permissions

Assign role-based access, approvals, and visibility for Support Desk in XFatora.

Main workflows

Support Desk module

helps you deliver excellent customer service by organizing and tracking all customer issues and inquiries (commonly in the form of support tickets). It serves as a central help desk where your team can manage customer problems, questions, or requests from initiation to resolution. With this module, youll ensure no customer query falls through the cracks, response times are timely, and your support process is efficient and transparent.

Ticket Submission Channels

Customer Portal:

Clients can create new support tickets through the dedicated client portal (if you have it enabled). On the portals Support section, a customer fills out a form for their issue entering a subject, description, and optionally attaching screenshots or documents. Upon submission, a ticket is created in the system and assigned a unique ID.

Email to Ticket:

The Support Desk can convert incoming support emails into tickets. You can set up a specific support email (e.g. support@yourcompany.com) that is connected to the system. Emails sent to that address will automatically generate tickets, with the email subject as the ticket title and the body as the description. Any attachments in the email become ticket attachments. This is convenient for customers who prefer email they dont need portal access to get help.

Manual Entry (Phone Calls):

If a customer calls with an issue, your agent can create a ticket on their behalf. Go to

Support > New Ticket

in the admin interface and fill in the details as provided by the caller. This ensures even phone inquiries are logged as tickets.

Via CRM:

If a sales or account rep hears about an issue, they too can quickly open a support ticket (either from the Support module or possibly directly from the clients CRM profile using a shortcut like "Create Ticket" if available).

Ticket Fields and Classification

Priority and Severity:

When tickets are created, they can be tagged with a Priority level (e.g.

Low

,

Medium

,

High

,

Urgent

). Encourage customers or the team to set this based on impact. For example, a general question might be Low, a service outage might be Urgent. This helps the support team triage work.

Department Assignment:

If your support organization has multiple departments (say

Technical Support

,

Billing Support

, etc.), the ticket form can have a Department field. Tickets will route to the selected departments queue. Make sure customers know which to pick (or configure certain inquiry types to default to certain departments).

Help Topic or Type:

Some setups include a field for the type of issue (e.g.

Question

,

Incident

,

Feature Request

). Classifying tickets by type can help with later analysis and also trigger specific workflows (for instance, a

Feature Request

might be forwarded to the product team).

Auto-Acknowledgement:

As soon as a ticket is submitted, the system can send an automatic email to the customer acknowledging receipt and providing the ticket number. This reassures the customer that their request is logged and under review.

Ticket Assignment and Workflow

Agent Assignment:

Once a ticket is in the system, it needs to be taken up by a support agent. Tickets can be assigned manually by a support manager or self-assigned by team members. Alternatively, you can set up an automatic assignment (round-robin or based on department) if your workflow is high-volume. The assigned agents name will show on the ticket, and they will be responsible for resolving it.

Ticket View:

Support agents will work from the ticket list and detail view. The

ticket list

shows all open tickets with key info: ID, client name, subject, priority, status, department, and last update time. Agents can filter this list (e.g. Show me my assigned tickets or Show all open High priority tickets). The

ticket detail page

displays the entire conversation thread, from the customers initial message to all responses. It also shows ticket properties (status, priority, etc.) and allows the agent to change these or reassign if needed.

Internal Notes:

On the ticket detail, there are two ways to respond: a

Public Reply

(visible to the customer) or an

Internal Note

(visible only to your team). Agents should use internal notes to log any behind-the-scenes work or information (for instance,

"Discussed with engineering, bug fix underway"

). Internal notes keep a record for team members without alerting the customer or cluttering the customer-facing thread.

Collaboration:

If an issue requires expertise from another team, agents can @mention colleagues within a tickets internal notes (if the Smart Mentions module is active) to loop them in quickly. Alternatively, they might reassign the ticket to a different department or add a follower/watcher so multiple people can see updates. The Support Desk fosters teamwork by making ticket status transparent and enabling multi-agent involvement when necessary.

Responding to Tickets

Public Replies:

When replying to the customer, the agent types a response in the

Reply

box and sends it. The system will email the response to the customer (and update the portal view of the ticket). This keeps the customer in the loop via their preferred channel. Agents can format replies (with bold text, bullet points, etc.) to make it clear and include links if needed (for example, linking to a knowledge base article that might help).

Attachments:

Agents and customers can attach files in their replies. For instance, a customer might attach an error screenshot; the agent might attach a guide PDF or a patch file. All attachments are logged and accessible in the ticket thread. Always open and scan customer attachments safely to understand their issue better.

Canned Responses:

To save time on common questions, the module allows

canned responses

(pre-written reply templates). For example, if many users ask

How do I reset my password?

, you can create a canned response with the steps. Agents can insert that with a click, possibly tweaking it slightly to personalize. This drastically speeds up handling repetitive inquiries.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs):

If you have SLAs (like responding within 4 hours for High priority), configure the systems escalation rules. The Support Desk can highlight or alert when a ticket is near breaching an SLA. For example, an

Urgent

ticket might turn red or send a notification if unanswered for 1 hour. This helps your team stay on top of time-sensitive issues.

Ticket Status and Lifecycle

Open/Pending/Resolved:

The module uses statuses to track progress. By default, a new ticket is

Open

. After the agent responds and is waiting on customer feedback, they might mark it

Pending

or

On Hold

. Once the issue is solved to the customers satisfaction, mark the ticket as

Resolved

or

Closed

. Closed tickets drop out of the active queue but remain searchable for reference.

Reopening Tickets:

If a customer replies to a closed ticket (e.g.

Actually the issue is back

), the system can automatically reopen it. This way, the conversation continuity is preserved. The ticket status flips back to Open and gets back on the radar. As a best practice, if a significant time has passed or its a new issue, the support team might choose to open a fresh ticket and link it, but otherwise re-opening keeps context together.

Ticket Merging:

Sometimes a customer might accidentally create multiple tickets for the same issue (via email and portal, for example). The Support Desk allows you to merge tickets. Merging will combine the threads and updates under one ticket (usually the earliest one), and close the duplicates. This prevents parallel work and confusion.

Escalation:

If a ticket is not resolved within a certain time, or the customer is unhappy, have an escalation procedure. This might involve assigning the ticket to a senior technician or a manager. The module can support this by either manual reassignment or automation (like if Priority High ticket is still open after 48 hours, auto-assign to Support Manager). Document your escalation rules so agents know when to use them.

Utilizing the Knowledge Base and FAQ (if available)

(Note: The Support Desk module often pairs with a Knowledge Base module.)

Knowledge Base Integration:

If you maintain a knowledge base of help articles, encourage agents to use and reference it. For common issues, instead of writing a long explanation in the ticket, an agent can send the customer a link to the relevant article (with a summary or reassurance). This not only resolves the current ticket but empowers the customer to self-serve in the future.

Creating Articles from Tickets:

A great practice is to turn solved tickets into knowledge base articles if they revealed a new solution or question. The Support Desk may have a feature to create KB article from a ticket, which copies the problem and solution, for an agent to then polish into a public article. Over time, this reduces repetitive questions as customers find answers on their own.

FAQ for Portal:

In the client portal, you can display frequently asked questions or top knowledge base topics. Before customers submit a ticket, they might be prompted with

Did you check our Help Center?

this can deflect simple queries. Ensure your KB is well-organized (categories, search function) to maximize its use.

Customer Communication and Satisfaction

Notifications:

Customers receive an email each time theres a response to their ticket. They can simply reply to that email to send a response (which the system logs). This two-way email integration means even less tech-savvy clients find it easy they dont have to log in to the portal if they prefer email. Ensure your email templates are branded and clear (e.g. including the ticket ID in subject).

Status Updates:

If a ticket is taking longer to resolve (maybe awaiting a bug fix from engineering), its good practice to send periodic updates. A quick note like

Hi, just letting you know we havent forgotten the issue is still being worked on. Next update in 2 days.

can greatly improve customer satisfaction. You might set yourself reminders in the ticket or use the modules SLA rules to prompt you.

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT):

The Support Desk can optionally send a satisfaction survey on ticket closure. This might be a simple 1-5 star rating or a question like

How satisfied are you with the support you received?

. If enabled, when a ticket is marked closed, the customer gets a survey link. Collecting this feedback helps identify areas for improvement or star performers on your team. Monitor these results in reports.

Reopen Handling:

When a customer replies with follow-up questions after resolution, dont treat it as annoyance its an opportunity to further assist. The system reopens the ticket; the assigned agent should address the new info promptly. Sometimes customers say

Its still not working.

In such cases, apologize for the inconvenience, gather more details, and escalate if needed. A warm, attentive approach will turn even initially unhappy customers around.

Managing and Analyzing Support Performance

Support Dashboard:

The modules dashboard (for support managers) will show key metrics like number of open tickets, tickets per priority, average response time, and average resolution time. Keep an eye on these. For example, if average first response creeps up beyond your target (say its 10 hours and you aim for 4), you may need to adjust staffing or workflows.

Agent Performance:

Reports are available per agent how many tickets each agent resolved, their average customer rating, etc. Use these to recognize top performers and to coach those who might be slower or getting lower satisfaction. Perhaps an agent consistently handles more complex issues that context matters in evaluating raw numbers.

Volume Trends:

Look at incoming ticket trends over time. Are Mondays especially heavy? Does volume spike after a product update (meaning maybe more bugs or confusion happened)? Use this insight to schedule adequate coverage and to inform other teams. E.g., if a specific feature is generating many tickets, let product development know maybe the feature needs improvement or clearer documentation.

Knowledge Gaps:

Analyze ticket categories. If you see a lot of How do I? type questions, thats a cue to improve user guides or training materials for customers. The support module might let you tag tickets by issue type, which is useful for generating a breakdown of root causes.

By systematically using the Support Desk module, you ensure every customer inquiry is logged, addressed, and resolved in a professional manner. The clear audit trail of communications builds trust with customers (they can see youre responding and caring), and the internal tools empower your support team to work efficiently. Over time, leveraging knowledge base integration and analyzing support data will help reduce workload (as customers become more informed) and improve the quality of your products and services through feedback loops.

Screens & fields reference

Use these screens and fields to complete tasks inside Support Desk in XFatora.

Automations & notifications

Review automation rules and notifications available in Support Desk in XFatora.

Reports & dashboards

Track KPIs and dashboards powered by Support Desk in XFatora.

Common mistakes

• Skipping required configuration before the first workflow.
• Not assigning the correct permissions for team roles.
• Forgetting to review automation or notification settings.

FAQs

Troubleshooting

Related modules