Automatically escalate Jobs

How Jobs are escalated is determined by the Priority assigned to them. On the Priority Window you may specify the number of hours overdue that a Job with a particular Priority will be escalated to the next highest Priority in the sequence.

For example, let's say you have the following Priorities:

Name: High
Sequence: 1
Hours Overdue: 5

Name: Medium
Sequence: 2
Hours Overdue: 2

Name: Low
Sequence: 3
Hours Overdue: 1

In this example, if a particular Job is created with Low priority. When it becomes 1 or more hours overdue, its Priority will change to Medium. When it becomes 2 hours overdue, its priority will be changed to High. It is now at the highest priority, so even when it becomes overdue by 5 hours, its priority will not change.

The system will check at the interval specified in the Escalation window. Only jobs with a Status of 'Open' will be escalated.

Customize e-mails sent by the helpdesk

The content and subject of each of these message types is read from a template text file, which you are free to modify. They are:

Templates for emails sent to the operator and contact when a Job is actioned:

email_job_closed_contact.txt
email_job_closed_operator.txt
email_job_hold_contact.txt
email_job_hold_operator.txt
email_job_open_contact.txt
email_job_open_operator.txt

Templates for emails sent to the operator and and the manager when a Job is escalated:

email_job_escalate_manager.txt
email_job_escalate_operator.txt

Templates for Overdue Jobs Notification emails sent to the manager and operator:

email_job_overdue_manager.txt
email_job_overdue_operator.txt

These files must be placed in the same folder as you installed and run the helpdesk from. If you delete them, a default subject and message body will be used.

You may edit these files using Notepad or similar text editor only. Here is an example of one:

'JOB EMAIL TEMPLATE - JOB STATUS = OPEN
'SENT TO - CONTACT
'
'Please see the helpfile for information on using/modifying this file
#SUBJECT=Helpdesk Job #JOB_ID
Your helpdesk job has been updated/created:
#HISTORY

Please note:

• In this particular example, this file only applies if the jobs status is OPEN. It is only sent to the Customer Contact, another template is used for the email sent to the Operator and for different Job statuses
• Any line starting with an apostrophe is ignored and will not form part of the email.
• If you put a new line character in, this will be included in the email.
• Special keywords (see list below), all start with the # character and will be replaced with the appropriate information from the Job.
• The email subject will be determined by the line containing #SUBJECT=This is the subject (note the lack of spaces before the = sign)

Special Keywords

#BCC=email1@yourdomain.com;email2@yourdomain.com - ; separated list of addresses that will receive a blind carbon copy of this message
#JOB_ID - the job id
#PARENT_ID - the job id of any parent job
#CREATED - the date time the job was created.
#LAST_ACTIONED - the date time the job was actioned (same as CREATED if this is the first action).
#ACTIONED_BY - the name of the operator that actioned the job
#TO_COMPLETE_BY - the target completion date.
#COMPLETED_ON - date the job was actually completed.
#JOB_STATUS - the current job status,
#HOURS_OVERDUE - how many hours overdue (negative if not)
#DAYS_OVERDUE - how many days overdue (negative if not)
#ELAPSED_HOURS - number of hours elapsed since first created (ignoring office hours).
#ELAPSED_DAYS - number of days elapsed since first created (ignoring office hours).
#PROBLEM - Problem description
#TO_DO - To Do description
#SOLUTION - Solution description
#HISTORY - the complete job history
#PASSED_TO - the operator this job was passed on to
#CURRENTLY_OPENED_BY - who has the job open at the moment (if anyone)
#EMAIL_PASSED_TO - the email address of the operator it was passed to
#TIME_SPENT - the amount of time logged against this action ONLY
#MONEY_SPENT - the amount of money logged against this action ONLY
#TOTAL_TIME_SPENT - the amount of time spent so far
#TOTAL_MONEY_SPENT - the amount of money spent so far
#NOTES - the notes of the last action
#CATEGORY - Current job category
#PRIORITY - Current job priority
#JOB_CUSTOM1 - Job Custom1 field value
#JOB_CUSTOM2 - Job Custom2 field value
#JOB_CUSTOM3 - Job Custom3 field value
#JOB_CUSTOM4 - Job Custom4 field value
#ASSET_NUMBER - Asset information (if relevant)
#ASSET_DESCRIPTION
#ASSET_MANUFACTURER
#ASSET_MODEL_NUMBER
#ASSET_SERIAL_NUMBER
#ASSET_PURCHASE_DATE
#ASSET_COMMENT
#ASSET_DISPOSAL_DATE
#ASSET_PURCHASE_ORDER
#ASSET_INVOICE_NUMBER
#ASSET_PURCHASE_PRICE
#ASSET_VENDOR
#ASSET_TYPE_DESCRIPTION
#CONTACT_TITLE - customer contact information:
#CONTACT_FORENAME
#CONTACT_SURNAME
#CONTACT_JOB_TITLE
#CONTACT_TELEPHONE
#CONTACT_FAX
#CONTACT_MOBILE
#CONTACT_EMAIL
#DEPARTMENT_NAME
#DEPARTMENT_LOCATION
#CUSTOMER_NAME
#CUSTOMER_REFERENCE
#CUSTOMER_CUSTOM1
#CUSTOMER_CUSTOM2
#CONTRACT_EXPIRY
#JOB_ALLOWANCE

The following tags only apply to the overdue Jobs notification in the desktop helpdesk only:

#OVERDUE_WARNING_HOURS - as specified in Tools, System Options, Escalation, "Overdue Jobs e-mail notification"
#OVERDUE_JOBS_LIST - comma separate list of jobs included in the overdue notification to the manager

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