Helpdesk & Support

What helpdesk features does BlueRockTEL include?

BlueRockTEL's helpdesk is a full-featured support management system deeply integrated with the rest of the platform. It includes:

• Ticket management — creation, assignment, prioritisation, and resolution tracking
• Email-to-ticket — inbound emails automatically create tickets
• SLA management — response and resolution time targets by customer tier
• Customer context — full account history visible in every ticket
• Billable time tracking — log time spent and convert to invoice items
• Internal collaboration — agent notes, internal escalation, multi-agent tickets
• SLA breach alerts — automated notifications when deadlines approach or are missed
• Reporting — support team performance metrics

How does automatic email-to-ticket conversion work?

You configure one or more support email addresses in BlueRockTEL. Every email received at those addresses is automatically converted into a support ticket:

• The sender's email is matched against the customer database
• If a match is found, the ticket is linked to the correct account
• The subject line becomes the ticket title
• The email body becomes the first message in the ticket thread
• All subsequent replies in the same thread are appended to the ticket

Your support team never has to copy-paste from their inbox into a ticketing system. The email thread and the ticket are synchronised automatically.

How are support tickets prioritized?

Tickets can be assigned a priority level (low, normal, high, critical) either manually by agents or automatically based on rules:

• Keywords in the subject line (e.g., "no dial tone", "down", "urgent") can trigger high priority
• Customers at certain service tiers can be assigned a minimum priority level
• Tickets that have been open without response for a defined period are escalated automatically

Your team can also manually adjust priority as they assess the impact of an issue.

How does SLA management work in BlueRockTEL?

SLAs (Service Level Agreements) define the response and resolution time targets for each ticket. In BlueRockTEL:

• You define SLA policies by customer tier, contract type, or service type
• Each policy sets target times for first response and for resolution
• The timer starts when the ticket is created and pauses when waiting for customer reply
• The ticket view shows how much time remains before the SLA deadline
• Automated alerts notify the responsible agent and their manager as the deadline approaches

Can agents see the full customer context (services, invoices, history) in a ticket?

Yes — this is one of the key differentiators of BlueRockTEL's helpdesk. When an agent opens a ticket, they see:

• The customer's active services (SIP trunks, broadband, hosted PBX)
• Their account balance and any overdue invoices
• Their recent ticket history
• Their deployment projects (active or completed installations)
• Their satisfaction survey responses

This full context means agents understand the customer's situation immediately, without needing to check a separate billing system or ask the customer to confirm what services they have.

Can I track billable vs. non-billable time per support ticket?

Yes. Agents can log time directly on any ticket, and mark each time entry as billable or non-billable. Billable time entries can be:

• Reviewed and approved by a manager
• Added to the customer's next invoice as a support time charge

This is particularly useful for operators who offer professional services or support contracts with time-and-materials components alongside their subscription services.

How do SLA breach alerts and notifications work?

When a ticket approaches its SLA deadline, BlueRockTEL sends automated alerts:

• A warning when X% of the SLA time has elapsed (configurable threshold)
• An alert when the deadline is imminent
• An escalation notification to the agent's manager if the ticket is not resolved by the deadline

These alerts can be sent by email and are also visible in the agent's dashboard as prominent indicators. No SLA breach goes unnoticed.

How does the BlueRockTEL helpdesk differ from a standalone ticketing tool?

The fundamental difference is integration. A standalone ticketing tool (like Zendesk or Freshdesk) manages tickets in isolation — agents need to check your billing system separately to understand what services a customer has, whether they have unpaid invoices, or whether they are in an active installation.

BlueRockTEL's helpdesk shares the same database as billing, CRM, and deployments. Every ticket is enriched with customer context automatically. This saves agents time, reduces errors, and enables faster, more informed responses.

Can multiple agents collaborate on the same support ticket?

Yes. Multiple agents can participate in a ticket:

• Any agent can add a public reply (visible to the customer) or an internal note (visible only to the team)
• Tickets can be reassigned between agents
• Agents can @mention colleagues in internal notes to request input
• All activity is logged chronologically in the ticket timeline

Does BlueRockTEL support internal ticket escalation workflows?

Yes. You can configure escalation paths: when a ticket meets certain criteria (age, priority, customer tier), it is automatically assigned to a specific team or senior agent. Managers can also manually escalate tickets. Escalated tickets are visually highlighted in the queue.

How do I measure and report on support team performance?

BlueRockTEL includes support reporting that covers:

• Ticket volume by period, by agent, by category
• Average response time and resolution time
• SLA compliance rate (% of tickets resolved within SLA)
• Billable hours logged per period

These reports help managers identify performance trends, training needs, and capacity planning requirements.

Can I set different SLA thresholds by customer tier or service level?

Yes. SLA policies in BlueRockTEL are defined per customer tier or contract type. A premium support customer can have a 2-hour response SLA, while a standard customer has an 8-hour response SLA. The correct SLA policy is applied automatically based on the customer's account settings, with no manual configuration needed per ticket.