Need help setting up a workflow to request customer approval

[E_B_]

Hi there,

We are using JSM for customer support.
In numerous cases, what starts as a support ticket ends up as billable/consulting work.

The goal is to somehow transition the same ticket into a "work order", where at that point the customer (requester) would have to agree to terms and approve it before we proceed or somehow generate (and link) a second ticket representing the work order where again, the customer approval would be required.

At the end we want to ensure customers agree and approve any billable work before it starts and also be able to report on these as a different type of request since they are not technical support.

Any help or ideas would be really appreciated!

[Esteban Diaz]

Hi,

Maybe you can

- Create a workflow for the support ticket with an Approval Step

- and set the customer as the approver for this step.

- Once the ticket reaches the approval step, automatically add a comment with a link to the terms and conditions and ask the customer to read them, and then accept or reject.

If the request ticket is accepted:

- Use an automation to create a new ticket (work order),

- Link the new work order to the support ticket, and add the customer as the reporter of this new ticket so they can follow up on progress.

Once the work order is closed,

- notify the customer and close de linked support ticket too.

Does it make sense? 

Cheers, 

Esteban

[E_B_]

That sounds interesting, is this the idea?

• "Normal" support tickets follow the normal flow
• If the support ticket ends up being consultant work, we would describe the scope of work plus cost in the support ticket itself and manually shift it to an approval path in the workflow (and set manually set the customer as the approver).
• If approved, it automatically creates the work order (new ticket) and copy the scope of work from the previous one, it also links both tickets.

This sounds good - assuming all of the above is possible.
The downside is the approval would not be in the actual work order but the linked ticket instead, something we can live with.

[Esteban Diaz]

Hi @E_B_ , 

Yes, that's all possible. Furthermore, you can automatically add the customer who created the support ticket as the approver and create the work order automatically, with no manual actions required. You can keep the entire lifecycle in 2 tickets or keep it all in a single ticket if you prefer.

Sometimes my Clients receive support tickets in JSM (of course), but the execution of the work orders takes place in a different project/space, such as Jira Software, because the executors of these work orders belong to a different team.

Cheers, 

Esteban 

[Marc -Devoteam-]

Hi @E_B_ 

This can be done in a workflow.

But its not a best practice to ask a customer to approve for the same twice.

From my experience its best to have the part of the terms in your process, not in the flow.

Your customers should be made aware that work outside the agreed terms is billable work.

Best is to provide the customer with the order and related cost and let the approve or decline this offer.

https://support.atlassian.com/jira-service-management-cloud/docs/set-up-approvals/ 

[E_B_]

Thanks, you are correct, the idea is to present the work order and let the customer approve it. The doc you provided says "an approval step to a workflow means that specific team members must approve work items before they move" but I'm assuming I can just enter a customer as the approver.

The way I see it I need a different ticket type for work orders, which would have this approval flow. When creating this "work order", is there a way to reference to the original support ticket and bring its properties? E.g.: requester, pre-populate the approver field and so on, to avoid the agent from missing important steps?

[Marc -Devoteam-]

Hi @E_B_ 

Yes any customer can be the approver as well.

Yes this can be done, use an automation rule to create a new work item based on a transition or setting of a specific field of the main issue.

You can then in the create issue action copy the reporter pre-populate the approver, etc...