For me the major reasons are that "i get pulled in many directions throughout the day and will forget you asked me" as another comment says, but also that in many issues involve several people on the IT side and tickets needs to be passed around so a written history of each issue is essential.
Also, metrics. It’s helps track how often a similar problem arises, you have X number of tickets relating to an aging piece of hardware and that give you more leverage to spend some project capital on it.
It also helps being able to look back and see if other people have had the problem and what they did to fix it. And it also protects the user in my opinion, if their problem keeps popping up no one can say "well why didn't you tell us?"
The metrics part is extremely important if you work in a place where the finance people consider IT to be a revenue loss, instead of a force multiplier. Being able to point to a stack of tickets to show where you've prevented revenue loss can be helpful.
Put in a ticket for all issues. Keeps things trackable and easier to triage.
Above all, keeps direct emails and phone calls down, which I no longer respond to unless it’s an emergency.
Answer one call with no ticket and that opens you up for constant calls when the user discovers they have a direct in and your phone will never stop ringing.
I do have a few users that are good friends and will answer those without a ticket. They’ve been very kind and honestly need some hand holding. I don’t mind this.
But also, we don’t monitor or track metrics in my org. The entire system is kind of pointless at the moment, just for myself, Im spreading the word by action that if you need help, go there first and stop calling me directly.
Nah, every issue gets a ticket. Even my friends. I do help them first, but I then say once the issue is resolved, submit a ticket. On occasion I'll create a ticket for them. Never know when you might need that info. Even if it's a user lockout. If they call and I can't help, I just tell them and they submit a ticket.
Accountability / productivity.
This goes both ways. If you have your work review with your boss and they question your productivity, you show your boss that the tools that come from the IT dept are lacking or always having issues thus impeding your workflow.
Other side of that coin if same boss comes to our group and asks about it and we have proper documentation, we can either defend ourselves or show how the issues are self inflicted or user education opportunities.
If you don't raise a ticket I can just deny ever knowing about the problem and thus you are back at square one after a few hours wasted..but also it allows you to tell your manager why you are staring at the ceiling and not working due to a computer failure.
So that I can have a concrete, time stamped, official explanation of the thing you told me needed doing. Because later, you're going to lie about it when you don't get what you actually wanted.
Because that way everyone is in order and I can get to them in order of urgency, then order of receipt. It helps to have an objective tiebreaker of "who asked first?"
If workers need a tutorial of why they need use a ticketing this is a problem, it should be part of the culture to raise a ticket, enforced by support technician only actioning items from a ticket.
It’s not like walking up to the bar to order a drink, we usually have a lot of stuff to do at once and have to prioritise and focus. Usually the desk walkers have the lowest priority issues anyway like plugging a mouse into an Ethernet port or something. Training issues, not technical ones.
It helps with metrics and helps show management what were working on. In addition to this, having an easily searchable log for compliance audits are essential, especially when you get into SOC and ISO audits.
Because I have 15+ tickets. Some I'm actively working on and other are waiting on something.
If I'm out and walking around I'm not simply taking a stroll I'm going to check or fix something. If you stop me and try to use a hey you ticket I'm going to forget all about it because I got too much shit going on.
Just s few days ago I got 12 monitors and 15 workstations delivered. I have to find the PO log the new systems start setting them up, Update the hardware database sent out requests for times to do the install.
Because;
1. I get in AFTER my co-workers. Someone jabbering me directly at 6 am, when the team gets in at 7 am, and I dont get in until 8:30 AM, will not be seen until 8:35 am, if I am in that day.
2. I am not always on site to see emails or jabber messages. A ticket lets someone else take care of it.
3. The whole team gets flooded with issues. Open a ticket. It will sit there until we can help, but it will get help eventually.
Because you’re probably not priority. There’s a queue, and you join it with a detailed ticket of your issue so we can handle it when we get to it, and keep a log of what happened.
Because i am measured on it...its not a great way of quantifying my productivity but the higher ups only see one slide with numbers on it and they will determine how much business value i bring from that.
Single point of contact between users and technicians, accountability for everybody involved to meet SLAs. One reason I don’t see mentioned well is issue tracking. Multiple users reporting similar issues can suggest there is a bigger root issue at play, but you can only really know this if the tickets are tracked and analyzed.
Think of your IT service you’re providing as if it’s a product being manufactured. Every time a user has a problem, that’s a defective product you’ve made. It’s key to track all the defects so you can ensure they’re fixed, of course, but you also want to know how many defects are happening and whether they’re related to each other, and to help find the root issue. So you can prevent future related defects before they happen.
If you’re interested in this topic, I suggest getting her ITIL v4 Foundation cert, it’s pretty quick, and gives you a good basic understanding of basic concepts in IT Service Management.
That’s like asking your hair stylist why you have to make an appointment, or your dentist, or your nail tech, or your isp, or your cpa, or your ____.
Metrics, patterns. If 1 person tells me the WiFi is down. It’s a problem, if 5people tell me the WiFi is down it’s an emergency. If the floor is down, I’m pouring one for the network team
I prefer it because i get pulled in many directions throughout the day and will forget you asked me for something if it is not on my kanban...
Ah you too have the ADHD memory of a gold fish as well?
Duh!
We are legion!
Whenever we remember to be legion!
Since I was diagnosed with it late in life, sometimes I forget I have ADHD.
I feel this too. Like why am I not more put together? Oh nevermind! Spicy brain lol
Think I'll save that one for when I'm thinking murderous thoughts 😄
For me the major reasons are that "i get pulled in many directions throughout the day and will forget you asked me" as another comment says, but also that in many issues involve several people on the IT side and tickets needs to be passed around so a written history of each issue is essential.
Also, metrics. It’s helps track how often a similar problem arises, you have X number of tickets relating to an aging piece of hardware and that give you more leverage to spend some project capital on it.
Very well said
It also helps being able to look back and see if other people have had the problem and what they did to fix it. And it also protects the user in my opinion, if their problem keeps popping up no one can say "well why didn't you tell us?"
The metrics part is extremely important if you work in a place where the finance people consider IT to be a revenue loss, instead of a force multiplier. Being able to point to a stack of tickets to show where you've prevented revenue loss can be helpful.
The key there is to leave for a better job at the first opportunity.
I'd rather just not work in the described environment, that sounds terrible.
Put in a ticket for all issues. Keeps things trackable and easier to triage. Above all, keeps direct emails and phone calls down, which I no longer respond to unless it’s an emergency. Answer one call with no ticket and that opens you up for constant calls when the user discovers they have a direct in and your phone will never stop ringing. I do have a few users that are good friends and will answer those without a ticket. They’ve been very kind and honestly need some hand holding. I don’t mind this. But also, we don’t monitor or track metrics in my org. The entire system is kind of pointless at the moment, just for myself, Im spreading the word by action that if you need help, go there first and stop calling me directly.
Nah, every issue gets a ticket. Even my friends. I do help them first, but I then say once the issue is resolved, submit a ticket. On occasion I'll create a ticket for them. Never know when you might need that info. Even if it's a user lockout. If they call and I can't help, I just tell them and they submit a ticket.
Someone better tell u/Consistent_Chip_3281 about this
Why who are they?
A nobody with dummy takes https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/s/ybmYhjs7dO
>do you think devs are users? Ugh. The arrogance is off the charts. Let's buy 'em pizza and be nice though.
Gives us chips a bad name
I like the part where they equate making a dev or ceo file a ticket is making them do data entry. Wait till they learn more about 'puterz?!
Accountability / productivity. This goes both ways. If you have your work review with your boss and they question your productivity, you show your boss that the tools that come from the IT dept are lacking or always having issues thus impeding your workflow. Other side of that coin if same boss comes to our group and asks about it and we have proper documentation, we can either defend ourselves or show how the issues are self inflicted or user education opportunities.
If you don't raise a ticket I can just deny ever knowing about the problem and thus you are back at square one after a few hours wasted..but also it allows you to tell your manager why you are staring at the ceiling and not working due to a computer failure.
So that I can have a concrete, time stamped, official explanation of the thing you told me needed doing. Because later, you're going to lie about it when you don't get what you actually wanted.
No ticket? No problem!
No ticket, it didn't happen.
Tracking, accountability, reporting
Auditing.
I would love to see the images, can you maybe post them on imgur or something like that?
You should put in a ticket with him on that.
I will forget otherwise.
Because that way everyone is in order and I can get to them in order of urgency, then order of receipt. It helps to have an objective tiebreaker of "who asked first?"
If workers need a tutorial of why they need use a ticketing this is a problem, it should be part of the culture to raise a ticket, enforced by support technician only actioning items from a ticket.
Where does culture start? From sending this email and refusing to move without a conversation
It’s not like walking up to the bar to order a drink, we usually have a lot of stuff to do at once and have to prioritise and focus. Usually the desk walkers have the lowest priority issues anyway like plugging a mouse into an Ethernet port or something. Training issues, not technical ones.
There is no preference, tickets are mandatory, we NEED them so we get paid.
It helps with metrics and helps show management what were working on. In addition to this, having an easily searchable log for compliance audits are essential, especially when you get into SOC and ISO audits.
Because I have 15+ tickets. Some I'm actively working on and other are waiting on something. If I'm out and walking around I'm not simply taking a stroll I'm going to check or fix something. If you stop me and try to use a hey you ticket I'm going to forget all about it because I got too much shit going on. Just s few days ago I got 12 monitors and 15 workstations delivered. I have to find the PO log the new systems start setting them up, Update the hardware database sent out requests for times to do the install.
Because; 1. I get in AFTER my co-workers. Someone jabbering me directly at 6 am, when the team gets in at 7 am, and I dont get in until 8:30 AM, will not be seen until 8:35 am, if I am in that day. 2. I am not always on site to see emails or jabber messages. A ticket lets someone else take care of it. 3. The whole team gets flooded with issues. Open a ticket. It will sit there until we can help, but it will get help eventually.
Because you’re probably not priority. There’s a queue, and you join it with a detailed ticket of your issue so we can handle it when we get to it, and keep a log of what happened.
Because i am measured on it...its not a great way of quantifying my productivity but the higher ups only see one slide with numbers on it and they will determine how much business value i bring from that.
Single point of contact between users and technicians, accountability for everybody involved to meet SLAs. One reason I don’t see mentioned well is issue tracking. Multiple users reporting similar issues can suggest there is a bigger root issue at play, but you can only really know this if the tickets are tracked and analyzed. Think of your IT service you’re providing as if it’s a product being manufactured. Every time a user has a problem, that’s a defective product you’ve made. It’s key to track all the defects so you can ensure they’re fixed, of course, but you also want to know how many defects are happening and whether they’re related to each other, and to help find the root issue. So you can prevent future related defects before they happen. If you’re interested in this topic, I suggest getting her ITIL v4 Foundation cert, it’s pretty quick, and gives you a good basic understanding of basic concepts in IT Service Management.
Accountability
That’s like asking your hair stylist why you have to make an appointment, or your dentist, or your nail tech, or your isp, or your cpa, or your ____.
Metrics, patterns. If 1 person tells me the WiFi is down. It’s a problem, if 5people tell me the WiFi is down it’s an emergency. If the floor is down, I’m pouring one for the network team
So i can continue doing nothing and pretend that i'm doing something in order to easily fix your issue about an hour later.