Implementing free ticketing systems to handle user support

Implementing free ticketing systems to handle user support Suzanne Mc. Cahan, Ph. D Nemours/Alfred I du. Pont Hospital for Children Bas de Veer, MS Institute of Translational Health Sciences University of Washington Taryn Stoffs, MS University of Florida

Suzanne Mc. Cahan, Ph. D Nemours/Alfred I du. Pont Hospital for Children • Nemours installation • Active users: 238 • Projects in production: 404 • Project types • • Without surveys: 256 With surveys: 540 Longitudinal: 145 Repeating instruments/events: 8 • Project purpose • • Research : 410 Operational Support: 140 Quality Improvement: 202 Other : 44 • ACCEL installation • Active users: 66 • Projects in production: 100 • Project types • • Without surveys: 20 With surveys: 163 Longitudinal: 15 Repeating instruments/events: 0 • Project purpose • • Research: 47 Operational Support: 59 Quality Improvement: 48 Other: 29

Request Tracker – a free ticketing system • Freely available – GNU General Public License • System has been in use by the Nemours Research systems administration since 2002 • Used to support users of Nemours Research file servers, email system, two installations of REDCap • Three staff members respond to requests • Thirteen queues • Requests to move REDCap projects to production are separate from other types of requests • Different queues for the Nemours and ACCEL REDCap installations

Request Tracker – system requirements • https: //bestpractical. com/ • Linux, Mac OS X, Free. BDS, Solaris or Unix-like operating system • Perl (at least version 5. 10. 1) • SQL database – (My. SQL, Postgres, Oracle or SQLite) • Web server that supports Fast. CGI (Apache, Lighttpd or nginx)

Request. Tracker functions that we use • Email request creates a ticket • Assign owner of ticket and re-assign owner of ticket • Tracking of all ticket actions • Record amount of time worked on a ticket (summed up automatically) • Reply to Email message to add correspondence about a ticket • Web pages • Send correspondence about a ticket • Reports • Search with filtering by numerous criteria

Request Tracker email • Receives email sent to defined email addresses • Each Request Tracker queue has a specific email address • Sends auto-replies unique for each queue • This uses customizable action scripts • ‘Watchers’ are emailed • Individuals can be set up for individual messages or all ticket correspondence for a specific queue • Ticket correspondence can be entered into web page and automatically emailed to the appropriate individuals • Tickets automatically created using requests from REDCap (move project to production, move drafted changes to production, Contact REDCap Administrator)

Request Tracker Home page • List of open tickets that admin who is logged in owns • List of queues and links to lists of tickets • New unowned tickets • Create a new ticket in any queue

Request Tracker Information about a single ticket • Total time worked on project • People involved in ticket • Dates • Created, started, updated, closed, etc • History • • • Correspondence with requestor Comments to RT administrators Status changes Owner changes Time worked

Request Tracker People associated with a ticket • Owner • Requestors • CC for email • Add new people to ticket

Request Tracker Search for tickets • Criteria • • Ticket ID Subject contents Queue Status Owner Dates Requestor Time Worked • Fields in report can be customized

Request Tracker Reports • Criteria • Always for a single queue • Resolved tickets • By owner • Resolved in a given date range • By owner • Created in a given date range

Bas de Veer MS Institute for Translational Health Sciences • Main production installation • Active users: 5. 908 • Projects in production: 2. 213 • Project types • • Without surveys: 781 With surveys: 1432 Longitudinal: 1. 144 Repeating instruments/events: 101 • Project purpose • • Research : 3. 075 Operational Support: 1. 309 Quality Improvement: 1. 275 Other : 364

os. Ticket– a free ticketing system • Freely available – GNU General Public License • Collaboration with UW Health Sciences Library (HSL) • Hosted by HSL since September 2016 • Seven librarians respond to first level requests/questions • Escalate tickets to second or third level (i. e. Bas) • Tickets are generated from emails sent to a general support email • Redundancy in case of server failure • Users were used getting help via email

os. Ticket– system requirements • http: //osticket. com/wiki/Installation • Linux (Cent. OS), Windows operating system • PHP (at least version 5. 3+) • SQL database – (My. SQL, 5+) • Web server that supports the basics (Apache etc)

os. Ticket functions that we use • Email request creates a ticket • Assign owner of ticket and re-assign owner of ticket • Automatic classification of standard requests • Tracking of all ticket actions • Easy handoff between agents • Dashboards/Metrics • Canned responses • Knowledgebase (once I get around to populating it)

os. Ticket Metrics TICKET BREAKDOWN • Over 7000 tickets processed so far (1 MONTH PERIOD) • About 125 to 150 tickets on average per week • 2/3 handled by the first line • • • API requests Create requests Copy requests Change requests General questions API 17% General 25% Change 22% Outside user 7% • Rest by 2 nd or 3 rd line • New outside user sponsorship • General questions Copy 7% Create 21%

os. Ticket Overview

os. Ticket Detail

os. Ticket Dashboard

Taryn Stoffs, M. S. Clinical & Translational Science - Informatics and Technology Group, University of Florida Production Instance • Active users: ~4, 500 • Total projects: ~2, 600 • Projects in production: ~1, 200 • Projects in development: ~1, 200 • Project types: • Without surveys: 59% • With surveys: 41% • Longitudinal: 27% • Repeating instruments/events: 2% • Project purposes: • Research: 65% • Operational Support: 12% • Quality Improvement: 18% • Other: 5% • Uses Shibboleth to manage accounts • Launching REDCap Mobile very soon! REDCap-Phone Instance • Launching in August 2017 • Used for projects needing Twilio services • Separate instance needed to clear security review due to firewall issues. • Stored PHI will be kept to a minimum. • Projects will be moved to production instance after data collection is complete. • Will use Shibboleth and User Whitelist to manage access and accounts. • Will require support staff to be more hands-on in projects (granting access, creating projects, etc. ). • $1, 000 flat fee per project. • User support will be on a for-fee basis only.

Using REDCap as a free ticketing system • When I came aboard, no ticketing system was in place - all requests came via • • email to my regular work email. I created a REDCap survey to use as a ticketing system, track help/meeting requests, cut down on the number of vague/important detail-lacking emails, and log the time spent on each request until a better solution came along. I used REDCap because it was what I knew, would be helpful with NIH reporting requirements, and thought it would be good to use our own product (advertising!) to show users its flexibility. I also had no IT/$$ support available at this time. All links within REDCap for support help direct users to this survey. I use Survey Notifications to know when a request has been submitted. As of October 2014, over 1, 300 tickets have been processed so far…

Survey Instructions

Help Request Survey

Help Response and Tracking form

REDTRAC$ – Using a modified REDCap as a free ticketing system • May of 2017, REDTRAC$ was born (still in development). • This became one of the Computer Engineering graduate student’s projects they worked on during the summer. • Kept the existing REDCap survey and continued to use REDCap as ticketing platform. • Automated, real-time data feedback for support staff to know how much free time a user has consumed. • REDCap system tells the requestor how much free time they’ve used so far in the survey confirmation email (piped in from another project). • Ability to run monthly reports to see who has gone over their limit for invoicing.

REDTRAC$ – Using a modified REDCap as a free ticketing system • Uses plug-ins, hooks, DETs and cron jobs. • 2 separate REDCap projects: 1) intake survey and 2) user data • DETs migrate data from intake survey into the user data project • System requirements: • • Standard REDCap installation. REDCap version that supports Repeating forms and events. REDCap project with a help request survey and a tracking form. Someone to install and maintain the plug-ins and hooks.

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