Real-time ticketing is frequently hailed as the go-to solution for MSPs. After all, tickets are how you track issues and communicate with clients, so what better way to do that than in the moment?
Real-time ticketing software enhances ticket status transparency by providing real-time visibility into ongoing tasks, allowing dispatchers a better view of tech’s time, so tickets can be allocated accordingly, streamlining day-to-day operations.
With the transition to per-user pricing models, real-time tracking is imperative. The review of contract health relies heavily on accurately tracking the time your team dedicates to supporting each client’s contract. Inaccurate time tracking can significantly hinder the ability to calculate contract profitability.
While many owners are already on board with the benefits of real-time ticketing, many ways of tracking in real-time are too slow or inconvenient, causing techs to push back. Here are three best practices to improve working in real-time and how Nilear’s My Ticket Experience (MTX) tool can help optimize your ConnectWise PSA experience.
Work on One Ticket at a Time
The first way to begin working in real-time is to work on one ticket at a time. Working on multiple tickets at a time defeats the purpose of real-time ticketing since you can’t be working on more than one thing at a time. While you may think this is a slower way of working or does not accurately represent how you approach tickets, it is the only way to accurately capture time.
MTX provides an intuitive workflow with all the same features as ConnectWise PSA as well as additional features like a full ticket search and nicknames. MTX has two tracking methods: Classic and One Working Ticket.
In Classic Method, you can work on up to two tickets at the same time; however, the timer is paused on at least one of these tickets. This way you can “work” on two tickets but only track time against one, since you’re only working on one thing at a time. If you want to work on a third ticket, you will need to either wrap up or pause (using our PSR feature) one of the existing active tickets. PSR tickets remain docked in MTX. This allows you to switch effortlessly between two active tickets with no need to update ticket statuses in ConnectWise PSA.
The One Working Ticket Method tracks just one ticket in progress at a time, achieving true real-time ticketing. The timer will also run even if you’re not actively on the ticket tab, so you don’t have to worry about missed time tracking. To work on another ticket, you would have to wrap up the current ticket, PSR the current ticket, or let MTX automatically switch ticket statuses when you start work on a new ticket. This method allows for true real-time ticketing and clear reporting to others on which ticket you are actively working without more-than-necessary effort.
Working on one ticket at a time is the best way to achieve real-time ticket benefits. And it doesn’t have to be hard or inconvenient. MTX offers two ways to track time to give you the flexibility to track how you want. Prioritizing working on one ticket at a time is a fundamental practice for making real-time ticketing work for you.
Add Time at On-Sites
Another reason real-time ticketing fails is its inability to transfer to onsites. Websites aren’t optimized for mobile devices and tickets take forever to load. Because of this, techs often decide it’s easier to just wait until they’re back at their desk to update the ticket. The problem with this approach is that details get forgotten or new tasks pop up unexpectedly on-site and then never get added to the system. Updating tickets at the client location is crucial for transparency and time entry accuracy, ensuring that everyone is informed about current work.
The mobile version of MTX, My Tickets Mobile (MTM) gives techs going onsite an easier interface optimized for mobile and allows them to enter all their notes and time as they work, as opposed to waiting until they return to the office.
Additionally, MTM tracks mileage with just the push of a button and automates the expense report. We make real-time ticketing on-site quick and easy so that you can solve client issues with fewer delays.
Auto-Save Work
The inconvenience of working in real-time is often what drives people away. When every task takes forever to load and save, it can be easier to just input everything at the end of the day. Not to mention, if those changes don’t even take effect until you hit save, is it really real-time? That means a good chunk of time could go by while you update a time entry, where no one knows what updates are happening.
MTX auto-saves so you can work as fast as you can with our software slowing you down. We use a double queuing system as opposed to a direct save so you don’t have to worry about loading times and can move from ticket to ticket without any delay. We also cut down on the number of fields you have to fill in by auto-populating the time review fields from ConnectWise PSA so techs can just focus on adding time entries and moving on.
Working in real-time comes with numerous benefits but is too often accompanied by the headaches of slow loading time and anti-workflow design. MTX helps you work on one ticket at a time, optimizes on sites, and auto-saves so you don’t even have to think about real-time ticketing.