Ticket Resolutions

[aaspeer]

Hello,

I am wondering if there is an automatic way to have a labor charge appear as a resolution. We currently have to copy and paste what we type in the labor charge for a ticket into the Resolution field of the ticket.

If there is currently no automatic way to do this, may I suggest adding a checkbox to the charge form that says something like 'Resolution?' which, if clicked, would copy the notes for the charge into the ticket resolution?

Thanks,

Austin Speer
Onward Incorporated

[rkniffin]

I second this request. It would save a lot of time and blank ticket resolutions.

[vsouthmayd]

This would be very useful, and seems to make sense.

Vernon Southmayd
Creative Computing

[tcsrvcs]

I also would appreciate this feature.

[Easy I.T.]

great idea - add me to the list :)

[Support Team]

Hi all!

As always - thanks for your feedback - now, we need more information on this -

Should the text of any type of charge Labor/Parts/Expense be added to the linked Ticket' Resolution field?

Should the Charge description be added at the beginning of the resolution field (pushing the existing text down)? the end (after existing text), Do you want that blank lines will be added automatically between the charges text copied to the resolution field?

What if you entered a resolution text manually and do not want that new charge records will modify it (like ones entered by other technicians)

The current way the system work makes you "think" before adding texts to the resolution field - you usually write a summary of the events, something like "I plugged the printer to a different port and replaced the toner", automatically adding texts from Charges will fill the resolution field with lots of details that you wouldn't write there in case you would have entered the resolution manually... messing your database - What do you think?

I can think of different solutions for each of the cases listed above, however, we need to find solutions that keep the system easy to use...

Let us know your thoughts.

Neta

[aaspeer]

I come from autotask, which used the charges as resolutions. Logically, I think that as you enter charges, if you kept clicking on the ‘Resolution?’ check box that it would add it to the top of the resolutions field with a date & time stamp. There should be at least one blank line between entries.

I think that only a labor charge should be a resolution, but other users may think that any charge type should be allowed to be part of the resolution.

If a resolution is already entered, CommitCRM would ask if you wanted to replace or append when you go to save a labor charge marked as a resolution.

As long as there is a checkbox similar to the Billable check box, for resolutions I think that this addition would work quite well.

Austin Speer
Onward Incorporated

[vsouthmayd]

All of my tickets are closed as the result of an labor charge item. 90% of time I cut and paste the charge description into the resolution. When I forget the resolution and close the ticket, I end up having to deal with the blank resolution prompt since I forgot to enter the resolution. The option to check the resolution box, and have the current labor description posted as the resolution would save the cut/paste and close the ticket in one step. Normally my last labor charge is the actual resolution of the ticket. You always would have the option to not check the box and handle it manually.

I do not have any personal examples where a part or expense item have closed a ticket. If the ticket is for a new product, it must be installed and needs labor even if it is non-billable. If the ticket is to handle an RMA we still need to handle/return the repaired item to the client, so again labor closes the ticket.

Others may have may have different opinions. We are primarily service billing.

Vernon Southmayd
Creative Computing
http:/twitter.com/VernonSouthmayd

[novacomputersolutions]

Actually, this could be something as simple as a check-box that says use charge notes as resolution. When the item is saves, the contents of that field is copied in the resolution field. Much the same way addresses are handled when the bill-to and ship-to are the same.

[Support Team]

Interesting points. Thanks.

After thinking about it for a while, it looks like there are still a few more items we need to be clear about so we'll have a good understanding how this should work.

Should the name of the employee, selected for the charge, also be added to the Resolution?
and what about the Charge' Date / From-to times, the selected Item?

What if several days (or minutes) after the description was copied to the Ticket Resolution, a user modifies the Charge description? (it's probably not easy to somehow link to a specific area in the resolution field).

Now, what if the charge is deleted?

And it gets more complex - let's say that your technicians only have privileges to see their own charges (i.e. cannot see "Other Employees Charges"). Currently they cannot see what charges were logged by other employees, however, if the charge description is copied automatically to the ticket resolution field, they will now be able to see the content of other employees charges... as they do have privileges to see all tickets. I know this might not be a problem in most cases, however, we need to think of all options and how each feature affects all users.

Any thoughts?

Neta

[aaspeer]

I dont think it would be an issue if an employee that can only see his/her charges can see the resolution. I also dont think that anything other than the description should be copied over into the resolution field, maybe a date/time of entry but thats it.

If the charge is marked as the resolution, but gets deleted, it still should stay in the resolution field. Just because a charge is deemed obsolete dosent mean that it is not still the resolution.

I think for sanity sake that the resolution field should not be linked to the copied charge, I think that once copied, it should be treated as a different entity. If a user modifies or adds another charge and checks the box to add it as the resolution when one already exists, CommitCRM should prompt and ask if it should delete the existing resolution or append to it.

Thanks,

Austin Speer
Onward Incorporated

[rkniffin]

I would agree with the way Austin described it.

[Support Team]

Great feedback! Thanks.

Neta

[g2computersolutions]

I second the way Austin said it. The two areas maintain their own integrity without any real linking. Just add a check-box like the billing option that allows the description to be copied over.

There could also be a simple option where the user simply checks a box that says this charge is the FINAL charge to the ticket and that the ticket should have the charge description copied to the resolution area and marked as 'completed'

[Support Team]

Thanks g2computersolutions for the additional feedback.

[jhensle]

We just started using CommitCRM and I wanted to know if anything was every done to copy the labor to the resolution in some way, outside of the manual copy and paste.

Thanks
J

[Support Team]

Hi J,

Thanks for posting this.
We haven't gotten around to this feature yet (we're hard at work on RangerMSP 5.3). I'll add your vote to this request as well, and mark this thread to be reviewed by the product management team.

Thanks for the feedback.

Regards,
Rinat

[natrat]

+1 for me too.

[dtsdata]

You got my vote too, to simplify the charge vs resolution....

[jim@dsolutionsgroup.com]

+1 for me also!

[BryanP]

What is the actual purpose of the Resolution field. If it's just a place to duplicate what's already in Charges, why is it necessary at all? It must have an intended purpose, other than this. Right?

[Support Team]

BryanP,

Consider the Ticket Resolution field as the place the write a short summary of what exactly resolved the issue.

Charges are used by technicians to log every step of the resolution - what they did, what is being charged, how much time was spent, how long the travel to the customer tool, etc.

In some cases there are several Charge records for a single Ticket.
Depending on the way the notes are written it may take some time to find the main step that resolved the issue. For example, you log Charges for the travel, for parts used, time spent, etc. while the main resolution was (for example) "Configured the router to allow traffic on port 80" - so this is what you'll probably want to write under the Ticket Resolution, and not all of the other stuff (which is important for billing and tracking purposes).

So to sum this up - the Resolution is where you should write a short summary of what resolved the issue.

Hope this helps.
Doron

[natrat]

many of us don't use Charges to record the job in detail. I use the Resolution field as the full details of the job, as its the only way to get a neat job sheet print out with the full info and its far easier when looking back over work than having to open every charge field to see what work was done.

i'm not 100% happy with the way the Charges and Resolution work in relation to creating Quickbooks invoices and the limitations in creatin custom reports that use data from both sections but we get by.

cheers
nathan

[Support Team]

Nathan,

You said:
"...having to open every charge field to see what work was done"

Please note that the Ticket Resolution/History tab in Rich View mode (our recommended view) does show the content of the Charge records without you having to open each to see what has been written.

Besides, some reports, like "Technician Service Forms including Charges" do mix between the Tickets details and the related Charge records nicely and you can use those to customize your own (these are found under the Charges Reports Category).

In any case, your feedback is noted.

Thanks,
Doron

[natrat]

yeah it does show it but its awkward still if you have several charges - some of our big jobs might go over a week or more.