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About Service Requests and Trouble Tickets in Siebel Communications

Siebel Communications service requests and trouble tickets are primarily used by customer service representatives (CSRs), their managers, and network operations center (NOC) agents.

Service requests and trouble tickets are database records that are used to manage problems with equipment or general requests for service. This chapter is mostly about trouble tickets, but it also explains the differences between trouble tickets and service requests and tells you where you can find more information about service requests. The following information is included in this chapter:

• This chapter guides you in setting up features that help to automate trouble ticket management.
• This chapter describes procedures typically used by end users to create, monitor, and close trouble tickets.
• This chapter describes procedures that you can use for overall management of trouble tickets.

Service requests and trouble tickets perform similar functions. The main differences follow:

• Trouble tickets functionality supports parent-child relationships.
• Trouble tickets are typically used to record and track problems with the functioning of services and networks, while service requests are typically used to record and track general customer problems and requests. Examples of general problems and requests are billing problems, requests for new equipment, and requests for billing statements.

Service requests and trouble tickets are managed through the Service Requests and Trouble Tickets screens.

Initiation of Service Requests and Trouble Tickets

Service requests and trouble tickets can be initiated in the following ways:

• A customer calls the call center to report a problem with the phone line.
• A network communications management application that is integrated with Siebel Communications automatically creates a trouble ticket record in the Siebel Communications database.
• Agents can reassign service requests and trouble tickets to other groups or individuals for resolution. Alternatively, agents can break a service request or trouble ticket down into different activities, which can be assigned to different owners. In this case, the agent can monitor progress towards completion of the activities and close the service request or trouble ticket.

Creation of Service Requests and Trouble Tickets

Service requests and trouble tickets can be created within Siebel Communications or moved into Siebel Communications by the following methods:

• Customers using Oracle's Siebel eService.
• Customers and partners using an Automated Call Distributor (ACD).
• Call center agents responding to phone calls or email from customers.
• NOC agents responding to network problems.
• Automated network communications management applications that are integrated with Siebel Communications.

Trouble Ticket Referral

Trouble tickets can be referred from Siebel Communications to trading partner software through integration with an electronic bonding gateway, using Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (Siebel EAI).

Additional Information About Service Requests

The remainder of this chapter describes trouble ticket management. For more information about service requests, see Siebel Field Service Guide and Siebel Applications Administration Guide.