FreshDesk for managing Digital queries
Introduction
If a rebel has a technical query, problem or suggestion, they can ask in the Mattermost channel Tech Reception.
If you don't use Mattermost send an email to tech@rebellion.earth. This generates a ticket on Freshdesk and an agent will deal with the enquiry. Freshdesk is also used by people outside of XR with queries, problems or suggestions. Some queries first raised in Tech Reception, e.g. for GDPR are passed on to Freshdesk.
For a general, non technical enquiry, instead send an email to enquiries@extinctionrebellion.uk which will also generate a Freshdesk ticket which is dealt with by the Reactive team.
Freshdesk is a help desk customer support system supplied by Freshworks and described by them as “a cloud-based customer support software that is both feature-rich and easy to use. With multiple support channels available, including live chat, email, phone, and social media, you can help customers through their preferred communication method”.
XR has the free version with only basic functionality.
The product owner of all instances of Freshdesk is still to be agreed, likely to be a Digital IC.
There are other instances (separately installed copies of the software) of Freshdesk not covered here used by the Reactive team and the Pathways team. The Reactive team may pass on tickets to Digital if they believe they are best managed here.
Tickets created in Freshdesk can only be managed by Freshdesk agents, one of whom should own a ticket until it is closed. There are 4 levels of access for agents and this guide only covers the lowest.
1 agent should act as triage to read and assign each new ticket to an agent with appropriate skills but they may in turn reassign it if agreed. An agent may seek help from a non agent, i.e. someone else in XR if they have the skills to resolve it.
Source of tickets
Rebels use Digital's instance of Freshdesk by sending an email to tech@rebellion.earth (where is this email address published and what does it invite the user to do?) Website? Facebook?.
Krystal (is this software embedded in the mail server?) redirects this to xrsupport@freshdesk.com which creates a ticket on Digital's FreshDesk instance xruk.freshdesk.com with the email message.
Does an Unsubscribe generate a ticket? if not, how does the ticket get created?
Freshdesk cannot distinguish between email traffic and feeds to Freshdesk via the link email address support@xruk.freshdesk.com. (Please explain. Are there simply 2 email addresses linking to Freshdesk?)
Anyone anywhere may send emails to tech@rebellion.earth. A Google search reveals this email address is on the BBC website and many other news websites. We don't seem to get many from those sources, if at all.
The email address of the originator of the query is passed through this process such that when an Agent replies to the FreshDesk ticket the reply is sent to the originator, not back to tech@rebellion.earth.
Our FreshDesk instance allows us to track responses to these queries and provide feedback to both the original enquiring rebel and the various support functions within XR UK.
When an email is received, it triggers an automatic reply back to the requester :
Dear "Requestor",
Thank you for your email. We have received your request and a ticket has been created (**explain what is a ticket?**).
We are staffed by part time volunteers, so please be patient with us - we will get to your request as soon as possible.
There is growing collection of useful articles on our knowledge base - this is limited at the moment but we aim to grow it as quickly as possible. Have a look and see if it helps.
To view the status of the ticket or add comments, please visit https://xruk.freshdesk.com/helpdesk/tickets/123456789
Love and rage, XR Tech
The above Knowledge Base link takes the requester to links telling them how to use Action Network, Freshdesk etc. There is little there which should be removed and a link created to Rebel Toolkit, as our single surce of knowledge.
Levels of access by agents
There are 4 agent roles below in increasing order of privileges.
(This is best shown n a matrix).
(who can create / change other agents' access?)
(Only the agent role is described here and someone with higher access should describe their functions.)
Agent
Can view, respond to and assign tickets, as well as modify ticket properties.
Supervisor
As Agent and can also enable automatic ticket assignment of the member groups under the Admin tab.
Admin
As Supervisor and can edit configurations under the Admin tab, Can update the dropdowns in the Group and Type properties.
Account Admin
As Admin and can edit billing and account management.
How to use Views
Triage process
At any time, there must be 1 agent nominated as the triage who decides to whom a new ticket is assigned.
They access FreshDesk daily.
Analyse content of a new ticket
- Technical problem or query - TTA responds or passes to the relevant agent (simplist is Tech Reception).
- Unsubscribe request : Send PN to a member of the DDAT team (Tech Receptio?), who will find them up on the Hub and remove as necessary. Reply to requestor when UnSubscribe completed.
- Requests for removal of user information : (is un-subscribe different from data erasure?) these tickets should be owned by an agent from the GDPR team and resolution must comply with GDPR. Other Digital teams help with the data erasure
- Subscribe Request - "add me to the Hub" Send PN to a member of DDAT (Tech Reception) who will work out what sort of Hub Invite to send.(where does the ticket originate?)
- Action Network : email database and Data Team enquiries. Send PN to Action Network Data Team Reception.
- General Tech Problem
If you know the answer, then reply directly.
If not, establish which team is most likely to resolve the issue and contact them or Tech Reception if a Digital team. If it looks like the team is not in Digital, find their MM Reception. - Website query on content or design
Send it to the reception channel for the XR team owning website content - Media & Messaging. - Volunteers Website
Send the query to Pathways Reception. - Foundation Programme
Send the query to Pathways Reception. - XR email address requests or issues
Send email to Adrian P at Action Network Data team at adrian.xrsl@protonmail.com (is it better to use AN Data Team Reception?) - Spam : If it looks like spam, there is a drop down menu from More (3 vertical dots) on the Ticket screen that allows you to mark that individual ticket as spam. When you do you get the option to mark everything from that address as Spam. Freshdesk does not appear to have any native spam filter. For any egregious "unblockable" spam, go to the linked email account and set up a filter there.
- Other if issue not covered by above, Agent can ask for more info from Requestor and/or research within XR to find potential resolution. The TTA should, therefore, have a reasonable working knowledge of the XR organisation, both UK and Global, or know whom to ask.
How an agent works on tickets
This is the dashboard
View all tickets and then use a filter to find those you wish to work on
New Queries are flagged (none in above screenshot). You then select a Query to see original request and any replies.
A typical query thread:
Resolving Tickets
Use the Status property when working a ticket to track its progress :
Open : initial value
Pending : help or advice is being sought by the agent. Set back to Open when response received.
Resolved : useful for problem resolution, but not needed.
Closed : after whatever action was needed has been taken and the requester has said it is ok.
The requester may never respond, especially for a data erasure. Allow a reasonable time before closing. If there is a late response, the ticket can be re-opened.
Actions on a ticket
Reply to the requester giving further info or if questions needed. They will have had an inital email acknowledging the ticket.
Add note
Allows you to pass the query on to another FreshDesk Agent. In addition, you can forward the email thread to non Agents using their own email. This is useful when responding to rebel's requests for support outside Digital e.g. Local Group Coordinators.
The Notes thread acts as an audit trail defining how the request is handled. If any TTAs go down a path likely to be repeated, or answer a question likely to be asked again, then they should contribute to more notes for other TTAs (destination for note / knowledge base yet to be determined) or they update info (FAQs?) on Rebel Toolkit if the information can be shared publicly.
Forward to another agent (same as Add note?)
Close sets Status
Merge ?
Delete
Properties of a ticket
To the right of the email thread are properties of the ticket.
Status : current status
Tags ?
Type : a drop list of types of query. Not sure if or how it is used.
Status : can be changed, see Resolving Tickets above.
Priority : seldom used
Group : only ever set to "Tech & infrastructure. (It could be used to show the team helping to resolve the ticket, if ever needed.)
Agent : (how does this work? Drop down is blank.
Requests from groups or teams to use Freshdesk
To start using FreshDesk for your XR Subgroup, you must have the following :
An email address that you are currently using to take on feedback/requests/tasks
A group of people (agents) who are willing to share out the tasks in the emails amongst them
Please send an email to support@xruk.freshdesk.com with the following information:
- The subgroup your team is a part of
- A list of agents emails you wish to initially onboard to that group and the workload
- The email address you'll be forwarding from while using FreshDesk
END OF INSTRUCTIONS
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