SteadyPoint Helpdesk helps your organization automate business processes by creating workflows that are related to your operations, products, and services.
Workflow streamlines daily operations by forming a stronger alignment between IT and the business, it keeps your work managed to quickly deliver your services with visibility of costs and assets. Hence, if you have well-defined and automated workflows then you will get the following benefits:
- Time Optimization: Reduce delays and enhance productivity by ensuring tasks are completed promptly.
- Task Management: Keep track of tasks and ensure accountability within your team.
SteadyPoint Helpdesk has default workflow that you can use without needing to make any changes, or you can start fresh and create your own.
In this blog, we will delve into three main elements of workflows.
Table of Contents
Main Components of Workflows
The workflow defines how a piece of work moves between stages, and consists of the following main components:
- Stages
- Task Assignees
- Email Notifications
1. Stages
Each workflow has an initial stage (Starting Stage) that can be assigned to one or more people who has the responsibility to choose the next stage, and a (Final Stage) without outcomes or transition to other stages.
When designing the workflow, it is important to know the stage category and its implications:
- Fixing Stage: This stage is characterized by knowing the resolution and finalizing by closing the ticket. It then forms the time for solving the ticket. This stage is also characterized by the “handled by” field being populated. For instance, if the category of the Open stage is “Fixing” it implies that the assignee in the Open stage is the person responsible for handling the ticket.
- Transition Stage: This stage serves as a connecting point where no critical actions to resolve the issue are taken (e.g., Re-assign, Escalate, Postpone, …etc.).
- Closure Stage: This stage marks the closing stage. This is beneficial for populating the “closed by” field. For example, in the default workflow, if assignee X changes the stage from “Open” or “In Progress” to Closed, where the last is considered a Closure category, this indicates that X is the person who closed the ticket.
2. Tasks
Regardless the stage, there should be an assignee (user or group) at any time of the request lifecycle who is responsible for moving the current stage to the next stage.
Admins can select the assignee for each stage from a range of options that include:
- Leaving the ticket unassigned.
- Automatic routing: The system automatically assigns tickets based on predefined rules. This can involve assigning tickets to a specific team for each site or, if not specified, assigning tickets to the default assignee of the department.
- Request author.
- Request owner.
- Request handled by: The person who has already handled the request becomes the assignee.
- Request owner’s manager.
- User or group: A specific user or group is assigned to handle the request.
Upon assignment, the system creates an internal task for assignee. It is crucial to verify and select the appropriate assignee at each stage of the workflow.
3. Email Notifications
You have the option to create custom email notifications to be sent to the assignee upon stage assignment or utilize the default notifications provided by the helpdesk.
If you prefer not to send any email notifications, there is also an option to disable them.