Working the ticket queue
For the helpdesk teamWorking the ticket queue
Section titled “Working the ticket queue”The ticket queue is your inbox. It defaults to tickets in your department, assigned to anyone, status Open — sorted newest-first by last-updated.
The triage discipline
Section titled “The triage discipline”Every morning, work the queue in this order:
- Anything red (already breached SLA) — these need a holding reply immediately, even if you can’t fix them yet
- Anything amber (about to breach) — same, holding reply if you can’t fix in the window
- Unassigned tickets — claim what you can; reassign what you can’t to the right person
- Your own tickets in “Waiting on me” — the requester replied; you owe them an answer
- New tickets — sweep through; assign or escalate as needed
The goal is never to leave a ticket in an unactioned state at the end of the day. A ticket with no response in 24h frustrates the requester even when the underlying issue is benign.
Filters
Section titled “Filters”The filter bar at the top of the queue lets you slice by:
- Assignee — Mine, Unassigned, All, specific person
- Status — Open only (default), Resolved, Closed (via per-column filter)
- Priority — Urgent, High, Medium, Low (via per-column filter)
- Department — your own (default via your dept assignment) or any
- School — any academy in the trust (via per-column filter)
- Search — full-text across subject and ticket ID
Filter combinations are composable; the result count updates live.
Saved views
Section titled “Saved views”Five preset views appear as numbered chips at the top of the queue:
| # | View | Filter |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | My open | Assignee = Me, Status = Open |
| 02 | Unassigned | Assignee = Unassigned, Status = Open |
| 03 | Urgent | Priority = Urgent, Status = Open |
| 04 | All open | All assignees, Status = Open |
| 05 | Resolved | All assignees, Status = Resolved |
These views are fixed. You can additionally combine the per-column filters for one-off slices.
Claiming vs reassigning
Section titled “Claiming vs reassigning”Claim = take a ticket. Reassign = give it to someone else. Both are one-click from the queue or from the ticket worktop.
If you reassign a ticket, the system auto-posts an internal note saying “reassigned by X to Y”. Add a sentence below explaining why — saves the next agent reading two pages of conversation to figure out what happened.
The “stuck” pile
Section titled “The “stuck” pile”Tickets that have sat in your queue for > 14 days deserve a look. Either:
- Genuinely stuck — needs an escalation conversation in your morning standup
- Forgotten — close it with a note (“closed — no further activity”), reopens automatically if the requester comes back
Long-stuck tickets corrode confidence in the helpdesk. The audit log captures everything, so closing isn’t losing.