Implementing free ticketing systems to handle user support Suzanne McCahan, PhD Nemours/Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children Bas de Veer, MS Institute of Translational Health Sciences University of Washington Taryn Stoffs, MS University of Florida

Suzanne McCahan, PhD Nemours/Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children Nemours installation Active users: 238 Projects in production: 404 Project types Without surveys: 256 With surveys: 540 Longitudinal: 145 Repeating instruments/events: 8 Project purpose Research : 410 Operational Support: 140 Quality Improvement: 202 Other : 44 ACCEL installation Active users: 66 Projects in production: 100 Project types Without surveys: 20 With surveys: 163 Longitudinal: 15 Repeating instruments/events: 0 Project purpose Research: 47 Operational Support: 59 Quality Improvement: 48 Other: 29

Request Tracker – a free ticketing system Freely available – GNU General Public License System has been in use by the Nemours Research systems administration since 2002 Used to support users of Nemours Research file servers, email system, two installations of REDCap Three staff members respond to requests Thirteen queues Requests to move REDCap projects to production are separate from other types of requests Different queues for the Nemours and ACCEL REDCap installations

Request Tracker – system requirements https://bestpractical.com/ Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBDS, Solaris or Unix-like operating system Perl (at least version 5.10.1) SQL database – (MySQL, Postgres, Oracle or SQLite) Web server that supports FastCGI (Apache, Lighttpd or nginx)

RequestTracker functions that we use Email request creates a ticket Assign owner of ticket and re-assign owner of ticket Tracking of all ticket actions Record amount of time worked on a ticket (summed up automatically) Reply to Email message to add correspondence about a ticket Web pages Send correspondence about a ticket Reports Search with filtering by numerous criteria

Request Tracker email Receives email sent to defined email addresses Each Request Tracker queue has a specific email address Sends auto-replies unique for each queue This uses customizable action scripts ‘Watchers’ are emailed Individuals can be set up for individual messages or all ticket correspondence for a specific queue Ticket correspondence can be entered into web page and automatically emailed to the appropriate individuals Tickets automatically created using requests from REDCap (move project to production, move drafted changes to production, Contact REDCap Administrator)

Request Tracker Home page List of open tickets that admin who is logged in owns List of queues and links to lists of tickets New unowned tickets Create a new ticket in any queue

Request Tracker Information about a single ticket Total time worked on project People involved in ticket Dates Created, started, updated, closed, etc History Correspondence with requestor Comments to RT administrators Status changes Owner changes Time worked

Request Tracker People associated with a ticket Owner Requestors CC for email Add new people to ticket

Request Tracker Search for tickets Criteria Ticket ID Subject contents Queue Status Owner Dates Requestor Time Worked Fields in report can be customized

Request Tracker Reports Criteria Always for a single queue Resolved tickets By owner Resolved in a given date range Created in a given date range

Bas de Veer MS Institute for Translational Health Sciences Main production installation Active users: 5.908 Projects in production: 2.213 Project types Without surveys: 781 With surveys: 1432 Longitudinal: 1.144 Repeating instruments/events: 101 Project purpose Research : 3.075 Operational Support: 1.309 Quality Improvement: 1.275 Other : 364

osTicket– a free ticketing system Freely available – GNU General Public License Collaboration with UW Health Sciences Library (HSL) Hosted by HSL since September 2016 Seven librarians respond to first level requests/questions Escalate tickets to second or third level (i.e. Bas) Tickets are generated from emails sent to a general support email Redundancy in case of server failure Users were used getting help via email

osTicket– system requirements http://osticket.com/wiki/Installation Linux (CentOS), Windows operating system PHP (at least version 5.3+) SQL database – (MySQL, 5+) Web server that supports the basics (Apache etc)

osTicket functions that we use Email request creates a ticket Assign owner of ticket and re-assign owner of ticket Automatic classification of standard requests Tracking of all ticket actions Easy handoff between agents Dashboards/Metrics Canned responses Knowledgebase (once I get around to populating it)

osTicket Metrics Over 7000 tickets processed so far About 125 to 150 tickets on average per week 2/3 handled by the first line API requests Create requests Copy requests Change requests General questions Rest by 2nd or 3rd line New outside user sponsorship

osTicket Ticket Overview

osTicket Ticket Detail

osTicket Dashboard

REDCap-Phone Instance Taryn Stoffs, M.S. Clinical & Translational Science - Informatics and Technology Group, University of Florida Production Instance REDCap-Phone Instance Active users: ~4,500 Total projects: ~2,600 Projects in production: ~1,200 Projects in development: ~1,200 Project types: Without surveys: 59% With surveys: 41% Longitudinal: 27% Repeating instruments/events: 2% Project purposes: Research: 65% Operational Support: 12% Quality Improvement: 18% Other: 5% Uses Shibboleth to manage accounts Launching REDCap Mobile very soon! Launching in August 2017 Used for projects needing Twilio services Separate instance needed to clear security review due to firewall issues. Stored PHI will be kept to a minimum. Projects will be moved to production instance after data collection is complete. Will use Shibboleth and User Whitelist to manage access and accounts. Will require support staff to be more hands-on in projects (granting access, creating projects, etc.). $1,000 flat fee per project. User support will be on a for-fee basis only.

Using REDCap as a free ticketing system When I came aboard, no ticketing system was in place - all requests came via email to my regular work email. I created a REDCap survey to use as a ticketing system, track help/meeting requests, cut down on the number of vague/important detail-lacking emails, and log the time spent on each request until a better solution came along. I used REDCap because it was what I knew, would be helpful with NIH reporting requirements, and thought it would be good to use our own product (advertising!) to show users its flexibility. I also had no IT/$$ support available at this time. All links within REDCap for support help direct users to this survey. I use Survey Notifications to know when a request has been submitted. As of October 2014, over 1,300 tickets have been processed so far…

Survey Instructions

Help Request Survey

Help Response and Tracking form

REDTRAC$ – Using a modified REDCap as a free ticketing system May of 2017, REDTRAC$ was born (still in development). This became one of the Computer Engineering graduate student’s projects they worked on during the summer. Kept the existing REDCap survey and continued to use REDCap as ticketing platform. Automated, real-time data feedback for support staff to know how much free time a user has consumed. REDCap system tells the requestor how much free time they’ve used so far in the survey confirmation email (piped in from another project). Ability to run monthly reports to see who has gone over their limit for invoicing.

REDTRAC$ – Using a modified REDCap as a free ticketing system Uses plug-ins, hooks, DETs and cron jobs. 2 separate REDCap projects: 1) intake survey and 2) user data DETs migrate data from intake survey into the user data project System requirements: Standard REDCap installation. REDCap version that supports Repeating forms and events. REDCap project with a help request survey and a tracking form. Someone to install and maintain the plug-ins and hooks.

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