The Closing of the Year: Reflection and Ticket Rescheduling Quick Hit
Greetings Autotask Warriors! And Merry Christmas to our readers who celebrate.
Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:
An end-of-year reflection
How to become one of the industry’s elite 13%
Bringing you hope for 2024
Here’s a Chaos-Killing Quick Hit
Run this Advanced Live Report, then…
Schedule more time for the Tech
Other options to consider
Summary & next steps
I am so glad that we can be together for another discussion on how to improve your MSP, especially as the closing of the year is already upon us.
The “closing of the year.” Wow. It seems like just the other day I was introducing our goal of eliminating the Chaos and increasing profit in your MSP.
So, how did we do?
For some, it’s been a great year: you’ve read all our great articles, put in the work, and perhaps even hired Advanced Global for a Service Delivery Improvement program. You are looking at a bright & prosperous 2024.
For others, it’s a different story: maybe you were too busy, too focused on all that Chaos, and/or you put these articles in a folder marked “next week.” And now you are staring down the barrel of 2024 without much to show for it.
FYI: A recent HDI survey found that 87% of the Operational Improvement projects of 2022/23 FAILED.
Ooof…
If this has been your experience, please reach out to Info@AGMSPCoaching.com NOW!
Advanced Global’s Past Clients all belong to the elite 13% who succeeded.
Why? Because they had a Plan/Roadmap, Clear Success Criteria KPIs, and Advanced Global held them accountable to complete the program on time and on budget. Our Clients not only enjoyed success, but saw a 6-10X return on their investment.
For those of you rocking it, I am so proud of you. My mission has always been to grow and raise the MSP industry as a whole and put professional IT Service firms on the same respect (and pay) level as doctors, lawyers, and accountants.
For the rest of you, Wendy & Lisa’s lyrics from “The Closing of the Year” in the most excellent 1992 Robin Williams’ movie “Toys” comes to mind:
“If I cannot bring you comfort
Then at least I bring you hope
For nothing is more precious
Than the time we have, and so
We all must learn from small misfortune
Count the blessings that are real
Let the bells ring out for Christmas
At the closing of the year”
I may not be able to comfort you on 2023, but I can bring you hope for 2024. And we can count blessings: one being that you are still here and haven’t given up. Take heart…If you’re still breathing, there IS still time to work on the MSP.
Nothing is more precious than the time we have here and now - so waiting until the New Year or even tomorrow to work on the MSP isn’t a viable strategy.
Change Starts With This Chaos-Killing Quick Hit
We’re going to start RIGHT NOW with a Chaos-killing Quick Hit you can implement quickly: Scheduling Service Tickets with no future service calls.
We are well aware that Techs keeping Tickets in their back pocket, hoping to get to them someday, is a black hole heading for the Ticket’s 1st Birthday.
To prevent this from happening, Advanced Global recommends scheduling a “Scheduled Tickets with no Future Service Calls” Advanced Live Report to run on Thursday mornings and be sent to the Service Coordinator.
Every week it is expected that the Service Coordinator will review the tickets in the list and make a determination as to what to do with these tickets sitting in a black hole:
Schedule more time for the Tech
Send the Tech a note
Put the ticket back in the Tech’s Ready to Engage widget
Schedule more time for the Tech
The goal here is just to schedule more time for the Tech to complete the assignment. This is the preferred “How To” step and can be used across the board each and every time.
Even if the Service Coordinator suspects that all the Tech needs to do is add the documentation, time entry, and update the Client before closing out the ticket, scheduling an hour or less of time sends the message that:
This should have been done originally.
They would not have rework if they had disengaged properly the first time.
The Client is aware of the unprofessional disengagement…
If based on the notes in the ticket, it sounds like more time is needed and it seems the Tech is halfway through the engagement, schedule the same amount of time again.
If it is unknown how much more time is needed, schedule 2 hours with the following note in the service call:
“This ticket was not completed as expected, so more time is being scheduled to complete the assignment. If this is still not enough time to complete the assignment, please set the status to "Return to Triage” with a note indicating how much more time is needed to complete the assignment.”
Of course, there may be a special case in which the ticket needs to be escalated to a Tech with more general or specific knowledge. Once again, instead of taking a proactive approach by setting the status to “Return to Triage” and adding a note as to needing escalation, the Tech just sat on it.
So, the next best solution is to pick the Tech’s back pocket, lift the ticket out of the black hole heading for its 1st birthday, and schedule some time for the Tech to have a 2nd chance to partner with the Service Coordinator.
Bottom line: scheduling more time to complete the assignment is the preferred way to handle “Scheduled Tickets with No Future Service Calls.”
Send the Tech a note
The note - either as a note in the ticket or an email to the Tech - is asking them to add their time, documentation, and Client Update; followed by closing the ticket or to let the Service Coordinator know how much more time is needed.
The reason this is not the preferred way is because:
As long as it has a Service Call in the Past, there is no visibility that the ticket is sitting in a black hole.
It is disrupting, first to the Tech if they are expected to respond immediately, and second to the Service Coordinator when the Tech does respond.
It delays action that may go unnoticed sitting in an overflowing inbox.
Bottom line: Techs holding tickets cause delay and rework before the ticket stuck in a black hole is visible and moving forward again.
Put the Ticket in the Tech’s Ready to Engage widget:
To add this ticket to the Ready to Engage widget, all Service Calls need to be removed and the status changed to “Ready to Engage.’
The reason this is not the preferred process is that it is sideways movement and does not drive the ticket from New to Complete. There was a reason the request was scheduled in the first place. Maybe that reason is no longer applicable, but in most cases, it still is.
If it still needs to be scheduled, then the Tech will change the status to “Return to Triage,” with a note as to how much more time is needed. At which time the Service Coordinator will proceed to schedule the ticket as suggested in the first recommendation, and the rework time becomes lost in the journey from New to Complete.
Another reason this is not preferred is because the historical data of when the request was scheduled for (and how many times it was scheduled or rescheduled) is lost without the service calls remaining intact.
Bottom Line: You can clear Service Calls and add to the RTG widget, but you’ll pay a penalty.
Quick Takeaway Summary:
Schedule the Advanced “Scheduled Tickets with No Future Service Calls” Live Report to come to the Service Coordinator on Thursday morning.
Every week on Thursday morning, the Service Coordinator is to review the list and schedule more time on the Tech to complete the assignment.
Reschedule the Tickets on the Tech for Thursday or Friday afternoon, which is normally the quietest time of the week.
For those of you rocking it, I can’t wait to talk to you next week. I’ve got some exciting things for 2024 to talk about, plus some quick win strategies for 2023.
For the rest of you: It’s not too late for a couple quick wins in 2023 - and to make your 2024 the year you went from being stressed all the time, hating life, and wishing you’d never even heard of an MSP…to a much more fulfilling place in the MSP world.
We can do this together. I declare 2024 to be the year of hope. Just type ‘hope’ in an email and send to: info@agmspcoaching.com.
Every week on Thursday morning, the Service Coordinator is to review the list and schedule more time on the Tech to complete the assignment.
And hey…
"If I cannot bring you comfort
Then at least I bring you hope”
See you next week, you Autotask Warriors.
The elephant in the room:
How do we know what we know? Because we are not philosophers! We are hands-on “How To” coaches that everyday guide MSPs on how to thrive by:
Fully leveraging the Autotask software
Providing the “Best in Class” Standard Operating Procedures
Leveraging Autotask Live Reports to hold everyone accountable
We are Thinkers and Doers with 49+ years of working for MSPs, bringing real Bottom-Line Improvements, change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
Here are a few bullet points to let anyone interested know who we are and what we do:
We Are – the Autotask Global Service Delivery Authority
We Help – MSPs thrive
We Solve – Service Delivery issues, inefficiencies, and challenges by making sure that:
MSPs know what they don’t know
Techs know what to work on next
Someone is managing all open tickets and driving them to completion
The Client has a great client experience
Real-Time Time Entry is a cultural habit
Projects are completed On-Time and On-Budget
Profit is maximized
Autotask is being fully leveraged
The staffing levels are correct, and the workload is balanced
The historical data that is in the Autotask software is accessible to benchmark, track & USE effectively
The Service Delivery operations can scale
The Company can grow
4. Our Tools:
Autotask “Best in Class” standard build
Our MSP robust Service Delivery SOP library
Advanced Live Reports
Expertise in providing a transformational experience
Note: We are not philosophers; we are doers with 49+ years of Service Delivery experience, bringing real Service Delivery Improvement change, profitability, and Best in Class performance.
We start by offering a No-Obligation PSA Configuration Evaluation.