Odoo 13 - Helpdesk Module
A ticket system for excellent customer service
2 July, 2020 by
Odoo 13 - Helpdesk Module
manaTec GmbH, Tom Pohling
 

Especially companies in the service sector with a high degree of customer orientation are faced with the challenge of processing a large number of customer inquiries. For this purpose, the use of an ERP system is ideal, with which these companies can manage the receipt, confirmation, specification and processing of customer inquiries. Ideally, the ERP system also offers interfaces to other company divisions in order to optimize collaboration between the various departments.

In today's blog, we will deal with the Customer Service module of the Odoo ERP system. The Customer Service module represents a ticket system in which we define so-called helpdesks or helpdesk teams, for example by customer or customer project. Similar to the other Odoo modules, this module comes with two different rights groups, user and administrator. The user has read and write access to the helpdesks and the tickets. The administrator additionally has access to the reporting and the configuration of the module.

If we open the Customer Service module from the Odoo dashboard, we get to the overview of the helpdesk teams with various statistics. Here we get to the tickets of the individual helpdesks and their configuration. The statistics provide an overview of the open tickets of the respective user, his average processing time and an evaluation of the Service Level Agreements (SLA's), which can be defined individually for each helpdesk. Additionally, Odoo shows us the number of closed tickets of the user with his success rate related to the SLA's.

The overview in the Helpdesk module.
The overview in the Helpdesk module.

Within the configuration of a helpdesk, we have various options to simplify the internal processes and optimize the performance towards our customers. For example, we can define which internal users can be assigned a ticket from this help desk. There are three different assignment methods available to us. We can assign the tickets manually or have Odoo assign them automatically. In the latter case, we have the choice between random and balanced assignment of tickets. If we choose the random variant, each user will be assigned the same number of tickets. If we choose the balanced variant, the tickets will be assigned to the user who is currently working on the smallest number of open tickets.

In the helpdesk we can create tickets manually. In addition to that, we have several ways that our customers can create their tickets themselves in our system. The first option is a defined email alias. If a customer sends an email to this alias, Odoo automatically creates a ticket in the corresponding helpdesk. The subject of the email becomes the name of the ticket, the text of the email is logged as a note in the ticket's chatter, and from the sender's address Odoo pulls the contact for future communication in the ticket. Furthermore, our customers can create their tickets directly on our website, either via a separate contact form or via the live chat.

Furthermore, we can define that we can record our time bookings within the tickets and invoice them via a selected project. The definition of SLA's is also optional and can be done in the configuration of a helpdesk.

The configuration of a helpdesk.
The configuration of a helpdesk.

If we navigate to a helpdesk, we get to the overview of all tickets. Similar to the project management module, we define the stages in the helpdesk that correspond to our process flow. In doing so, we define the name of the stage and can determine whether the respective stage is collapsed by default in the project board. We also have the option to assign an email template to the project stages. When a ticket reaches the stage, Odoo automatically sends an email to the respective customer. This increases our effectiveness by avoiding manual efforts and at the same time creates the highest transparency regarding the processing status towards our customers.

Within the overview of the tickets, Odoo also shows us the priority of the individual tickets, the activities created per ticket, as well as the internal user who is processing the tickets, in addition to the tickets in the individual project stages.

The overview of all tickets within a helpdesk.
The overview of all tickets within a helpdesk.

A ticket itself consists of a title, the assigned user, a ticket type, the priority, the keywords, the assigned company in a multi-company environment, the customer's contact details If we have the time tracking option enabled in the tickets, we can track the time bookings per ticket.

Via "Action" we can archive, delete or duplicate the ticket. Finally, in the ticket's chatter, we find the functions we are used to from Odoo for internal and external communication (notes, messages) as well as activity planning.

The creation and specification of a ticket in the helpdesk.
The creation and specification of a ticket in the helpdesk.

A particularly helpful tool for our customers is the customer portal. We create so-called portal users for the relevant contact persons of our customers, which enable access for the customers to our customer portal. The customer portal provides an overview of all customer inquiries and tickets and creates the greatest possible transparency with regard to the processing status and communication of the individual tickets.

In the customer portal, the customer thus has access to all his tickets and, in addition to the status of the tickets, also sees the internal contact person and the description of the ticket. Also, the customer sees the entire communication of a ticket and can add further comments and attachments.

The ticket view in the customer portal.
The ticket view in the customer portal.

Another major advantage of the Customer Service module, is, as is generally the case in Odoo, the link to other modules, such as contacts, Customer Relationship Management, Website und project management. The latter is primarily used for billing the time bookings from the tickets via the projects or sales orders.

If the time bookings of the tickets are billed to a customer via a project or via a project task, Odoo does not show by default from which ticket the respective time booking originates. This means that the customer cannot see which time bookings are billed from which tickets.

Therefore, our development team has created a module that allows the ticket number to be automatically appended to the description of the time booking as soon as a time entry is created, "Ticket Number on Timesheet". This way, the ticket number is automatically displayed in the time entries of the project task as well as in the report of the time entries in the Project module, making the billing traceable and transparent for the customer.

The ticket number is automatically added to the description of the time entry.
The ticket number is automatically added to the description of the time entry.

With the Customer Service module, Odoo offers us a very helpful tool for processing our customer inquiries in a structured manner and presenting them transparently to our customers at all times. The implementation of automatisms as well as the linking to adjacent modules facilitates our internal processes. The customer portal offers the perfect opportunity for our customers to find out about the current processing status at any time and to contact us.

Do you have any questions about the Customer Service module or our Ticket Number on Timesheet module extension? Then contact us now and we will be at your side as a reliable Odoo partner!


Sources: www.odoo.com

 
Odoo 13 - Module Project Management
Planning, steering and controlling of projects