5 easy ways to optimize complex ITSM requests management in Jira Service Management

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Request forms are one of the best ways of direct communication between an organization and its customers. In order to get all the necessary information from clients, companies tend to create complex, long forms that include the maximum number of possible questions. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the intentions are good, such lengthy request forms become hard to read and unintuitive. It results in a waste of time for both sides: the Support team and the client. What's more, the necessity of reading and filling multiple fields, which often aren't even related to the case, doesn't exactly encourage people to get in touch with a company.

Sounds familiar?

Luckily, Jira Service Management gives companies multiple options to optimize their request forms. This is why we would like to talk about an important issue today: what can be done to optimize requests in Jira Service Management and, as a consequence, get more feedback from customers. 

In order to start a discussion, we've prepared a list of 5 solutions that all types of organizations can implement into their processes to see immediate results. Do you have this one friend that has an app for everything? Today, we're that friend. We have apps that do the work for us and we're going to recommend them to you. 

Define the right questions

The common problem with complex request forms is too much information. It affects resolution time and we all know that the sooner we answer the customer, the better. Whilst creating requests, think about what we really need to know to resolve a ticket. For example, whilst there is a bug that concerns the logging-in feature, we shouldn't expect reporting people to share their experience with the design of the app. This is why the perfect request forms adjust questions to the problem and make it possible to always get the correct answers. Determining the specifics also prevents the risk of mistakes and lack of information. Thanks to this, customers and the support team don't have to go back and forth with their issues. 

But how to make sure we include the correct questions in our requests? Surprisingly, it can be effortless. The key is to set up flexible custom fields in Jira that will display only the information you need in a specific case. Thanks to our app, Extension for Jira Service Management, and one of its key features Dynamic Forms, you'll be able to map custom fields visible on the form based on the values set up in other, related fields. Conditional display upon the previous selection allows seeing only context-related information on your tasks. Avoid communication oversights and optimize information flow inside and across the teams by being specific and transparent.

Keep in mind, that if you have similar goals regarding your team's tasks in Jira, then we also have separate Dynamic Forms for Jira application. 

Take care of transparency

When we have our questions defined, it's time for transparency. It's about what we show our customers and how we do it. Ordering context-related questions speed up filling up requests and analyzing them later on by the Support team. If you want to improve the way your request forms look, once again our Extension for Jira Service Management is what you need.

The app's Bundled Fields feature lets you display multiple pieces of information in a single section on a request form. The custom layout of sub-fields makes the requests more user-friendly, intuitive, and efficient. This way, you can minimize the manual work for your Support agents and save their time so they could take care of more demanding cases.

Also, the app lets you customize your Request Details View by displaying more read-only fields on the Customer Portal, such as SLAs or attachments. It allows you to include everything that's really important and make the screen more informative for your customers.

Prioritize your requests

The support team should be able to manage requests efficiently, as their work is crucial for building an organization's image from the customers' point of view. Keeping tickets in order supports resolving them faster. It's essential to make it possible for your agents to categorize requests, filter, and sort them by date, priority, assigned person, etc. For this, they need the right tools. 

Our Queues for Jira Service Management app enables managing issues from multiple projects on a single screen. Provide your Support team with the possibility of creating folders for better task management. Hide rarely visited queues to increase focus and use filters to narrow down the number of displayed tickets. It comes in handy especially when your agents have to deal with multiple projects at once. What's more, the Queues app helps watch data security; whilst building a queue, you can decide which groups of users should see it. 

Ensure availability for all customers (even when they don't use Jira)

When you have your requests perfectly adjusted and the Support team well-prepared, it's time to start communicating. All customers' feedback is priceless and helps build better products as well as deliver services on a top-notch level, no matter the industry. Don't assume all your clients have Jira and know how to use it. It's a smart idea to improve the accessibility of your Customer Portal for each person eager to share their opinion or report bugs, no matter what tools they use. With My Requests Extension for Jira Service Management, you can truly make the customer experience of reaching your company outstanding. 

With the extension, you can choose which fields customers can add as columns, use as criteria, and globally limit their visibility for selected user groups. It allows for securing sensitive data. Your agents can also organize users, groups, and organizations which match the same preferences into many reusable presets.

Keep everyone up-to-date 

Last but not least, make sure each team member knows what's going on with requests. The best way of doing this is by implementing automated notifications to your Jira. The risk of omitting something important is reduced when information about some change or update is popping out on your screen. 

IT process automation is inevitable in developing companies and we support it in our Issue Templates for Jira app. In >>this article on our blog<<, you can read about how the plugin helps automate manual processes and how to set it up properly. Your customers and Support team will surely appreciate the advantages of immediate information. What's more, the app allows automated issue creation, and provides your team with Jira templates and autocomplete features. With this solution, you're not only optimizing the management of your requests but also the whole project. But we'll talk about it more in the next articles of the series! 

As you can see, Jira Service Management makes it possible to introduce significant form optimizations without the necessity of complex changes or additional employee training. If your company already uses JSM, there's no better way to make communication with your customers simple and even more pleasant than by using Marketplace apps. We've created our portfolio always minding the evolving needs of modern companies. Thanks to this, we can proudly say, that our bestselling products complement each other and help organizations get the best possible results in no time. 

How do you deal with complex requests management at your company? Do you have your favorite for the purpose? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments! 

Cheers, 

Kasia from Deviniti