TDX Incident: Mitigate Bouncing Tickets

This article shows the process to reduce the occurrence of bouncing tickets. A bouncing ticket is one that is "moved between teams excessively" or "bounced" between teams four or more times.

• If fewer than four technicians have directly messaged the user in the ticket, then the ticket may not need to be treated as a bouncing ticket.
  • If necessary, the technician should consult with the responsible team lead to evaluate if the ticket history warrants applying this process.

In this article:

• T2/Desktop Support Staff Role
• Team Lead Role
• Manager Role
• Optimal User Support Ticket Workflow (Image)

Tier 2/Desktop Support Staff Role

When you receive a ticket from another team:

You Believe You Can Resolve the Ticket

• Communicate to the customer in an appropriate manner that you are now responsible for the ticket if you do not have an immediate solution, or resolve the ticket with an appropriate solution and closing message to the customer.
• Ensure the best possible knowledge base article is being applied to the ticket in TeamDynamix. 
• Provide specific feedback on KB articles if they were unhelpful.

You Believe You Are the Wrong Team for the Ticket

• Before you reassign the ticket, check how many times the ticket has moved between teams:
  1. A move is an escalation to a higher tier or a reassignment to another team of the same or lower tier.
  2. A common-sense approach is preferred over spending more than five minutes counting the number of technicians or teams in the history of the ticket.
     • If the ticket has a short history OR if only a few technicians have messaged the user directly, the ticket is not a bouncing ticket.
     • If the ticket has a long history OR more than four technicians have sent a direct message to the user, treat the ticket as a bouncing ticket.
• If the ticket is not a bouncing ticket:
  1. As you reassign the ticket, you must Include notes that briefly explain the reasoning behind the reassignment (use language like "according to previous notes…" or "according to this knowledge base article…" or "according to technician X on team Y" and so on).
     • Never reassign a ticket before you check with the destination team when you are unsure where the ticket should go.
• If the ticket is a bouncing ticket, inform your team lead immediately and identify the team most likely to be able to resolve the issue. 
  1. All communication and ticket work standards apply, with the addition of the following steps.
  2. Use Slack, email, Zoom, or another expedient manner to connect with the team that may be able to resolve the ticket.
  3. Do not reassign the ticket until after that team has confirmed they will be able to resolve the issue.
  4. Edit the Tags field of the ticket and add the bouncing-ticket tag.
     
     • NOTE: Do not remove any existing tags because those are utilized by the Fulfillment team.
     • The Tags filter can be added to a TDX report to easily return tickets that have bounced.
       
  5. If you are able to quickly provide feedback to previous technicians who may have mis-assigned a ticket, and you are comfortable with that conversation, inform them of the steps that should have been taken.
     • Add work notes to the ticket about what feedback was given and who received the feedback.
  6. If the feedback will be very complex due to the specific situation, or if you are not comfortable providing direct feedback, work with your lead to make sure feedback is relayed to the previous technician.
  7. Provide specific feedback on KB articles if they were unhelpful.

Team Lead Role

Identifying Bouncing Tickets

• Run this TDX report on a regular weekly schedule (team leads have discretion to set the schedule) and document the tickets that have bounced for the team.
  • TDX can only count the total number of groups and technicians to which a ticket has been assigned; the recommended starting number to filter your tickets is six assignment counts.
  • Each team lead should focus only on the tickets for which their team is responsible.
  • This report can be used proactively if you filter by open tickets that have not been assigned to a technician.
  • This report can aid in the QA process if you filter by resolved tickets.
  • You have discretion to modify the TDX report by making a copy of it as long as the metrics reported to the responsible manager are reliable.
  • If a technician has not already tagged a bouncing ticket, edit the Tags field of the ticket and add the bouncing-ticket tag.
    
    • NOTE: Do not remove any existing tags because those are utilized by the Fulfillment team.
    • The Tags filter can be added to a TDX report to easily return tickets that have bounced.
      

Review with Leads

• Collaborate with other team leads when necessary to identify resolutions for tickets that have bounced.
• Ensure solutions are in place in an expedient manner (tickets can remain open while work is still being done as long as the solution is in place).
• When appropriate, share feedback for technicians on other teams with the team leads of those teams.

Review with Team

• Bring proposed solutions to team meetings and determine the responsible technician for each bouncing ticket.
• Review feedback from technicians regarding KBs or team processes to make the necessary improvements to prevent mis-assignments in the future.

Report to Manager

• Team leads are expected to submit a weekly report to their manager and should prioritize the review of bouncing tickets based on their current workload and urgency of issues:
  1. Create a spreadsheet with the following data points:
     • Number of open bouncing tickets for which the team is responsible. 
     • Number of resolved bouncing tickets in the past week for the team.
     • Brief summary of the action taken to resolve each ticket.
     • Names of technicians in ticket who might benefit from feedback.
  2. Submit the week's report results to the responsible manager on a schedule determined by the team lead and manager.
  3. Consult with the responsible manager to determine the most appropriate method to provide feedback to the technicians.

Manager Role

• Review the team lead's report for the previous week.
  • For each ticket that bounced, consult with the team lead to identify:
    • What broke down in the process, or what was the root cause.
    • Documentation (KBs or team documents) that can be revised to reduce or eliminate mis-assignments.
    • Training opportunities for technicians and the best method to deliver feedback.
• Assist the team lead in ensuring that suggestions for process improvements are sound and are put into action expediently.

Optimal User Support Ticket Workflow

The workflow diagram below represents a high level process map for the procedures to mitigate bounced tickets as described above.