Configuring Escalations and Chase

The Escalation and Chase features are designed to work both reactively and proactively, without disruption

Overview

The Escalation and Chase features are designed to work both reactively and proactively, giving users and analysts a structured, non-disruptive way to surface concerns and ensure tickets get the right visibility at the right time.

In Alemba Service Manager (ASM), Escalations and User Chase are closely related mechanisms that work in tandem to provide enhanced visibility, accountability, and responsiveness within the support process. Though functionally separate, they share a unified escalation mechanism.

User Chase and Escalations are inextricably tied to one another while still being essentially separate capabilities. When you configure User Chase, users are able to chase ticket based on predefined parameters and these chases can automatically trigger an escalation, if escalation is enabled. These escalations make use of call templates to create a new call and assign the new call to the escalation authority. The triggering call or request is written to the ESCALATED_CALL_REF or ESCALATED_REQUEST_REF field as appropriate, but it is not linked to the newly created Escalated Ticket through Call Linking.

Analysts can also escalate a ticket regardless of user chases, if they feel it is necessary. The same capability is then triggered as if a Chase has reached its Count of Chases threshold. A new ticket is logged using the configured call template and it is sent to the escalation authority.

Best Practices

• Configure thresholds carefully to avoid over-escalation.

• Keep call templates distinct and clearly labeled for escalation use.

• Educate analysts on when and how to use manual escalation.

• Monitor escalation volumes as a KPI for ticket quality and team responsiveness.

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User Chase

• Allows users to "chase" or follow up on an outstanding ticket.

• Chases can be initiated through the Self Service Portal or email.

• Configurable thresholds determine how many times a user must chase a ticket before it triggers an escalation.

• When the threshold is reached, an escalation ticket is automatically logged.

Key Purpose: Provides a structured method for users to request updates, escalating the issue only if repeated chases indicate insufficient response.

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Analyst-Initiated Escalations

• Analysts can manually escalate a ticket without user chase activity.

• Triggers the same escalation process used by the User Chase mechanism.

Key Purpose: Enables proactive escalations when the analyst determines an issue needs managerial or specialized attention.

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Escalation Process Flow

1. A new ticket is created using a predefined Call Template.

2. The new ticket is assigned to an Escalation Authority (typically a management queue).

3. The original ticket is not modified or reassigned.

4. Instead, it is referenced via the ESCALATED_CALL_REF or ESCALATED_REQUEST_REF fields.

5. There is no call linking between the two tickets.

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Why Not Link the Tickets?

Escalation tickets are intentionally not linked to preserve clarity and independence.

Benefits of Separate Escalation Tickets:

• Visibility Without Disruption: Original ticket continues to be worked without interference.

• Parallel Tracking: Management can track escalations separately.

• Accountability: Escalations provide measurable data points for internal reviews.

• Flexible Reporting: Escalations can be independently reported and analyzed.

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Design Intent

This design differentiates between:

• SLA Escalations (based on timing, handled elsewhere)

• Visibility Escalations (driven by concern, user behavior, or analyst discretion)

Escalation tickets are purpose-built to provide visibility into tickets needing attention—without modifying, reassigning, or compromising the original record.

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System Behavior Summary

User Chases a ticket repeatedly	New escalation ticket is logged using template
Analyst escalates manually	Same template-based escalation process is used
Escalation Ticket Assignment	Sent to Escalation Authority queue
Link Between Tickets	Stored as reference (ESCALATED_CALL_REF for calls, and as ESCALATED_REQUEST_REF for Requests), not linked
Escalation Impact	Visibility only; original ticket remains active and unchanged

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Use Case Examples

• A user chases their support request 3 times over 5 days → new ticket escalated to Support Manager.

• An analyst sees a critical delay and manually escalates → template creates a new record in DevOps queue.

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Configuration/Implementation

Audience: System Administrators

For System Administrators wishing to configure Escalations and Chase, the details of specific configurations can be found in the relevant System Administration Sections:

1. IPK Settings (Partitioned)

2. Workflow Management Settings

3. IPK Security Roles

4. Workflow Management Security Roles

5. Self Service Portal Settings (Partitioned)

6. Self Service Portal Security Roles

7. Call Templates (Optionally)

8. Screen Designer (Optionally)

9. System>Message Types (Optionally)

When a Call or Request escalates, the following happens:

1. A new ticket is created using the specified Call template. The triggering Call or Request is written to either the Escalated Call Ref or Escalated Request Ref fields. You can find these fields in Screen Designer.

2. The user will receive an email notification that a new ticket has been created using the template defined in your auto-notify rules in IPK Workflow Rules.

To setup Escalations and by extension Chase, you will need to perform the following actions:

Prerequisite: Requirements Gathering

Meet with stakeholders and define the following:

• Can customers Chase? If not, there may be no reason to setup Chase.

  • If yes, how many chase attempts (Max Chases) can a customer make from the portal before the ticket automatically escalates?

  • Should it be unlimited (a Zero) or a fixed number?

• Will Analysts be able to manually escalate?

  • If yes, will it be all analysts or a select group?

  • If No, there is no reason to configure escalations unless you want chases to trigger them automatically.

• Will Calls and Requests be escalated, or only one or the other?

• If you are escalating requests and calls, will they use the same Call Template or different templates and therefore, screens?

• How long between chase attempts must a customer wait (Min. Minutes)?

  • An Hour, 2 hours, a day, or more?

• Where will the escalated ticket that is created be sent (Call Template Assignment)?

  • Who should be notified by email or SMS (Recipients)?

• How will you identify tickets that have been chased?

  • You can place text on the screen and/or set a call status title that indicates the ticket has been chased.

• What should the screen for the Escalated tickets look like?

  • Once configured, link it to your call template.

  • You will at a minimum need to add the Escalated Call Ref and Escalated Request Ref fields to the ticket.

Step 1-Configure Call Templates

Create a call template for escalations - Consider if you will create a separate screen set. This has both advantages and disadvantages. For example, creating a separate screen set, stream, and/or status gives you more flexibility with partitions, assignment, and message templates. This means, for example that you can customize the auto-reply message so that it is more apparent the ticket that has been logged is not a new issue, but rather an escalation. The main disadvantage is of course, you will need to build the screens and all related messaging and branding.

You may need 2 Screen Sets. In order to show what Call or Request resulted in or triggered the escalation, you need to put the ESCALATED_CALL_REF and ESCALATED_REQUEST_REF on the screen you are using for your call template. These fields are not available to the Rules Builder.

This means you cannot show or hide, or place any other rules against these fields or the values inside of them. If you want to be able to show relevant information depending on the data contained within these fields (entity-specific details), you will need to create 2 screen sets.

Example of 2 Screen Set Configuration

Step 2 - Enable Escalations in IPK Settings (Partitioned)

Step 3 - Enable Escalations in Workflow Management Settings

If You Are Using 2 Screen Sets

If you created separate screen sets for each entity, you will need to configure escalations to go to the correct screen set/Call Template in:

1. IPK Management

2. Workflow Management

Step 4 - Configure IPK and Workflow Security Roles for escalations

1. Ensure the Managers have access to the escalated ticket queue and are members

2. Ensure Analysts that should be able to escalate have the permission granted in their Workflow and IPK Management Security Roles

Step 5 - Meet with stakeholders and define the following in Self Service Portal Settings (Partitioned):

Refer back to your Requirements Gathering checklist to see the decisions that were made, and conform with your stakeholders this is what they intended.

• Can customers Chase? If so, how many chase attempts (Max Chases) can a customer make from the portal before the ticket automatically escalates? Should it be unlimited (a Zero) or a fixed number?

• Will Calls and Requests be escalated, or only one or the other?

• If you are escalating requests and calls, will they use the same Call Template or different templates and therefore, screens? If you created separate screen sets for each entity, you will need to configure escalations to go to the correct screen set/Call Template

• How long between chase attempts must a customer wait (Min. Minutes)? An Hour, 2 hours, a day, or more?

• Where will the escalated ticket that is created be sent (Call Template Assignment)? Who should be notified (Recipients)?

• What should the screen for the Escalated tickets look like? Once configured, link it to your call template. You will at a minimum need to add the Escalated Call Ref and Escalated Request Ref fields to the ticket. Here is an example:

Example Single Screen Configuration

1. Configure Self Service Portal Security Roles for Chase (if you are enabling Chase)

Custom Email Template for Escalated Tickets

If you want a new email message template to be used, rather than the default, you will need to

• Setup a new screen set for Escalations

• Link it to the Call Template(s) for Escalations

• Configure a message template for the new Screen Set

• Assign the new template and Subject Line in Message Type Maps for message type 12000 - IPK Workflow Notification.

• Create an IPK Notification Workflow Rule to send your email template on escalations.

• Reconfigure your existing IPK Workflow notification rule to exclude escalations.

If You Are Using 2 Screen Sets

If you created separate screen sets for each entity, you will need to configure additionally:

1. Configure 2 call templates (If Link Stream and Status to Call Screen Set is enabled, you will need a stream to support Escalations for Call and Service Request. Link Calls to Call and Requests to Service Request.)

2. Configure 2 Email Templates to support both screens

3. Configure IPK Workflow Notifications to support both Screens

4. Configure Message Types in IPK Workflow Notifications to support both notifications