Introduction
ServiceNow is the help desk/ticketing system used by CRE to handle tickets for incidents. It is supported and maintained by MIT/IS&T.
Ticketing systems are used to track issues over the course of the issue's lifespan. Information attached to the ticket can include interactions between the agent and client via phone calls, notes, attachments/documents, emails, private discussions between other agents, and more. These interactions are all stored in a single repository for the issue.
A simple example is someone submits an inquiry through our website asking about the MSRED program. That inquiry goes into the CRE General Information Queue and a ticket is generated, where it notifies the CRE Staff members on that queue. Staff can respond to the inquiry, view other staff member's responses, as well as any new responses from the client.
Advantages of Ticketing Systems over Email
Ticketing systems are superior to email because:
- Tickets are centered around a specific issue. If a user has a problem with their computer, the IT department can create a ticket for the incident and record the troubleshooting steps they have taken, as well as any interactions with the client. Especially when working in team environments where the ticket may pass through multiple agents, this can be helpful to ensure that the same troubleshooting action is not attempted multiple times.
- Tickets prevent incidents from falling through the cracks. A ticket can have a status of Open, In-Progress, or Closed. Keeping a ticket "open" ensures that you do not forget to follow up with someone, and that nothing falls through the cracks.
- Tickets provide continuity. If you run a lab or group where staff members are constantly coming and going, a ticketing system can allow anyone on the queue's staff list to review the history and interactions with a client regarding each issue.
- Tickets make escalations easy. You can easily reassign tasks to other departments, or automatically notify other staff members of the responses. This helps prevent staff from responding to a client's question more than once.
- Tickets provide greater insight into common problems. You can categorize problem types and assign tickets to them, which helps management understand where the organization needs more help. For example, you may have categories such as "IT - Desktop Support" and "IT - Printing" to see how frequently printer problems occur, and whether or not it makes sense to look at reducing the ways in which that will be problematic.
CRE's ServiceNow Queues
CRE has several queues within ServiceNow:
How to Request a Queue for Your Lab or Unit
Email cre-it@mit.edu.