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Can you explain New vs Pending vs Open?

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Michael

24 Oct, 2009 04:30 AM

And, while you are at it, how does an issue ever get "assigned"? This sounds like an issue can be assigned to a user, but I do not see how.

And what, really, is the In-box? Is this all New issues? I don't think so. All Pending issues?

And what happens when I "acknowledge an update"?

Sorry to be dense, but some key concepts in the interface are still escaping me.

Michael

1. 1 Posted by rick on 24 Oct, 2009 06:50 AM

   

   The basic workflow for a discussion looks like this: new => open => assigned => resolved. New discussions are created by users and have not been replied to by a support user. Open discussions have been replied to by a support user. Assigned is a weird state that we're talking about removing, actually. Assigned just means the discussion has an internal issue (Lighthouse ticket, for example) assigned to it.
   

   The pending queue shows all unresolved issues where the latest comment was not by the support team. This means a customer has asked a question or followed up with one of your responses, and you should check the issue. If you don't need to reply to the issue, but it's not resolved, then you can acknowledge it. A sample discussion where this might be used might look like:

   User: Hey, this feature is broken [New, Pending]
   Support: Okay, we're looking into it.  I'll post back with results.  [Open]
   User: Okay, thanks [Open, Pending]
   # This is where you might acknowledge the issue to get it out of your pending queue
   Support: We just fixed it.  [Open]
   User: Looks good, thanks.  [Open, Pending]
   # Resolve
   

   Does all that make sense?

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2. 2 Posted by Michael on 24 Oct, 2009 03:51 PM

   

   Yes, that makes sense -- thank you for the prompt explanation. Can I also conclude that the Inbox, by definition, includes all of, and only, the "pending" issues?

   Michael

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3. 3 Posted by Michael on 24 Oct, 2009 04:20 PM

   

   I think what I said above is not correct. You refer to the"pending queue" but there is nothing that I see called that in the UI. Is this what the UI calls the Inbox? (If so, it would be a big UI improvement to make this clear somehow.)

   And, if so, can I then conclude that the Inbox contains all of, and only, those issues whose last action came from the user and that have not yet been acknowledged?

   How can I tell, other than by its presence in the Inbox (if what I have said above is correct) if an issue has been acknowledged -- is this state visible somewhere?

   Thanks again for your help with this -- I am just trying to make sure I actually understand how this system works so that we do not lose support issues.

   Michael

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4. 4 Posted by rick on 24 Oct, 2009 05:01 PM

   

   The inbox is all pending stuff. Anything that's acknowledged won't
   show up in there.

   Thanks for asking this stuff, clearly we need to review our use of the
   states. We also definitely need to document them with tooltips and
   FAQs taken from my replies to this question :)

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5. 5 Posted by sherman on 28 Oct, 2009 03:05 AM

   

   I've typically associated a Pending state to a ticket that is pending an action by someone else, and Open for issues that are in my bucket.

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6. rick closed this discussion on 05 Nov, 2009 05:19 PM.