Best practices for writing tickets

Who cares?

Tickets are the best way for staff to communicate IT related issues with the entire Tech Team.  Additionally, the ticket platform allows the Tech Team to establish a history of what has been done to remediate tickets.  For that purpose, it is very important to be detailed in your ticket submissions.  When the Tech Team is left to guess about details of the ticket, or needs to reach out to clarify information, it will significantly slow the processing of your ticket and WILL delay actions.

General rule of thumb, assume the Tech Team knows NOTHING about what you are trying to do!

Select the proper priority level!

This is a critical step!  Tickets will all be processed with care, but more critical levels of importance will warrant a more rapid response.

Please go here for more information: Ticket severity level definitions

What to put in tickets?

The more information you can provide in a ticket, the better.  Here is a list of example information that should be included:

• What kind of device you are working on (PC, Mac, Tablet, Phone, etc.)
• What software/platform are you working with (Google, Microsoft, Windows, etc.)
• What were you attempting to do when you encountered an error (be specific)
• What is the expected result of what you were doing.
• Have you encountered the issue before?  If so, when was the last time?

What NOT to put in tickets:

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
  • SSN
• Passwords
• Important documents

General ticket writing guidelines:

• Eliminate filler words if possible
• Remember that a different tech person may look back at the ticket a year from now, looking for details.
• The more detail you give, the quicker we can help!
• Be specific and to the point.