Ticket Escalation

What Is Escalation?

Escalation is an automatic notification mechanism that ensures no helpdesk ticket goes unanswered. When a client submits a request and nobody responds within the designated time, the system automatically notifies the appropriate people.

Escalation runs in the background - it checks tickets every 5 minutes and reacts when the response time is exceeded.

How Does It Work?

The escalation mechanism consists of three elements:

1. Escalation policy - a set of rules (steps) defining who should be notified and when
2. Escalation steps - successive notification levels with increasing delays
3. Incidents - individual escalation cases on specific tickets

Example

A company creates a “Standard Escalation” policy with three steps:

Step	After how many minutes	Who to notify	Channel
1	10 min	Person responsible for the ticket	Notification
2	30 min	Team leader	Email
3	60 min	Customer Service Director	Email

When a client submits a ticket:

• After 10 minutes without a response - the responsible person gets an in-system notification
• After 30 minutes - the team leader gets an email
• After 60 minutes - the Customer Service Director gets an email

If someone responds to the ticket or closes it in the meantime, the escalation is automatically ended.

Creating an Escalation Policy

1. Go to Automation -> Escalation Policies
2. Click New Policy
3. Fill in the form:
   • Name - a descriptive policy name (e.g., “Standard SLA”, “Critical Escalation”)
   • Active - whether the policy should be active
   • Skip people on leave - optionally, don’t send notifications to people marked as on leave
4. Add escalation steps (at least one):
   • Delay (minutes) - how many minutes after the client’s last activity to trigger this step
   • Who to notify - the person responsible for the ticket, a specific user, or a group
   • Channel - in-system notification or email
5. Save the policy

Where to Assign an Escalation Policy

A policy can be assigned at three levels. The system checks them in order from most specific:

1. Ticket - a policy set directly on the ticket (highest priority)
2. Client - a policy set on the client in CRM
3. Desk - a policy set on the helpdesk desk (lowest priority)

If a ticket has its own policy - that one is used. If not, the system checks the client assigned to the ticket. If there’s none there either - it takes the policy from the desk.

This allows you to, e.g., set faster escalation for important clients while having a default policy at the desk level.

Assigning to a Desk

1. Go to Helpdesk -> Desks
2. Edit the selected desk
3. In the Escalation Policy field, select a policy
4. Save

All tickets in this desk will be monitored by this policy by default.

Assigning to a Client

1. Go to CRM -> Clients
2. Edit the selected client
3. In the Escalation Policy field, select a policy
4. Save

This client’s tickets will be monitored faster (or slower) than the desk settings would dictate.

Assigning to a Ticket

On the ticket page (detail view), in the side panel you’ll find the Escalation Policy field. The change takes effect immediately - just select a policy from the list.

Useful when a specific request needs special treatment, regardless of the client or desk settings.

Escalation Dashboard

You can find an overview of active escalations in Automation -> Dashboard (or at /automation/escalation).

The dashboard shows:

• Active escalations - tickets waiting for a response, with information about the current step
• Confirmed escalations - someone is handling it, but the ticket is still open
• Resolved today - number of closed escalations from today
• Active policies - how many policies are enabled

From the dashboard you can click on a ticket to go to its details, or confirm an escalation directly.

Acknowledging an Escalation

When a user receives an escalation notification, they can click the “I’m on it” button (available in the email notification, on the ticket page, or in the dashboard). Acknowledgment means:

• The escalation is stopped - subsequent steps will not be triggered
• The ticket remains open for resolution
• The system records who confirmed and when

Escalation Statuses

Status	Meaning
Active	Escalation is ongoing - the system is waiting for a response or proceeding to subsequent steps
Confirmed	Someone confirmed they’re handling the ticket - escalation stopped
Resolved	The ticket was closed - escalation automatically ended

When Does an Escalation End?

An escalation is automatically closed when:

• The ticket is closed (status “resolved”)
• Someone confirms the escalation (clicks “I’m on it”)

Tips

• Start with a simple policy - e.g., one step after 15 minutes. Expand later once you see how it works
• Adjust times to your team - if the average response time is 10 minutes, set escalation at 20 minutes
• Use different channels - first step as an in-system notification, subsequent ones as email
• One policy for multiple desks - the same policy can be assigned to multiple helpdesk desks
• Important clients - assign them a faster escalation policy in CRM so their requests get priority
• Exceptional tickets - if a specific request needs different escalation, set the policy directly on the ticket