1. 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

2. 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

3. 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, 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

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

5. RequestTracker functions that we use
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 message to add correspondence about a ticket
Web pages
Send correspondence about a ticket
Reports
Search with filtering by numerous criteria

6. Request Tracker email Receives email sent to defined email addresses
Each Request Tracker queue has a specific address
Sends auto-replies unique for each queue
This uses customizable action scripts
‘Watchers’ are ed
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 ed to the appropriate individuals
Tickets automatically created using requests from REDCap (move project to production, move drafted changes to production, Contact REDCap Administrator)

7. 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

8. 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

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

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

11. 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

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

13. 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 s sent to a general support
Redundancy in case of server failure
Users were used getting help via

14. osTicket– system requirements
Linux (CentOS), Windows operating system
PHP (at least version 5.3+)
SQL database – (MySQL, 5+)
Web server that supports the basics (Apache etc)

15. osTicket functions that we use
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)

16. 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

17. osTicket Ticket Overview

18. osTicket Ticket Detail

19. osTicket Dashboard

20. 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.

21. Using REDCap as a free ticketing system
When I came aboard, no ticketing system was in place - all requests came via to my regular work .
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 s, 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…

22. Survey Instructions

23. Help Request Survey

24. Help Response and Tracking form

25. 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 (piped in from another project).
Ability to run monthly reports to see who has gone over their limit for invoicing.

26. 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.

29. Let’s Discuss!