Escalate a Request
Escalations as part of your overall SLM strategy can also occur. Each of these escalations has a different purpose, and trigger. It is important to understand why and when the various escalations happen.
Escalation Types
Physical Escalation
Physical escalation refers to the process of physically moving the ticket to a higher level of technical expertise. This usually happens when the current team or individual handling the ticket does not possess the necessary skills or resources to resolve the issue.
We may also physically escalate a ticket as part of the Customer Satisfaction process. For example, if a customer has inquired a set number of times and still has not received a resolution, the ticket can be physically escalated to a higher authority. In the past, this may have been accomplished by artificially raising the priority, but this practice has negative implications across Service Level Management and can increase the likelihood of a waterfall effect of poor service to other customers waiting in the queue. A physical escalation process whereby the priority is maintained at what it actually is is a better solution to the problem of getting immediate assistance for an unhappy customer or a sensitive issue.
SLA-Based Escalation
SLA-based escalation occurs when a ticket's response or resolution times approach or exceed the agreed-upon Service Level Agreements (SLAs). This type of escalation ensures that the service provider meets contractual obligations and maintains customer satisfaction.
For more information on SLA based escalation, please see Service Level Management.
Changing Priority Is Not the Right Approach
Changing the priority of a ticket, instead of escalating, can lead to several issues:
Missed SLA Deadlines: Prioritizing does not necessarily engage the appropriate resources needed to address the issue quickly or efficiently, risking breaches in SLA commitments.
Resource Misallocation: Increasing a ticket's priority without proper escalation can cause resources to be allocated based on an arbitrary sense of urgency rather than the actual need for specialized skills or rapid response, leading to inefficiencies and delays in resolving other tickets.
Lack of Visibility: Escalation pathways often include notifications and involvement of higher-level management or specialized teams. Simply changing a ticket's priority lacks this visibility, potentially keeping critical issues off the radar of those who could expedite resolution.
Manually Escalate a Request
You must have Request Escalation in your Workflow Management Security Role to be able to escalate Requests.
For any request you wish to escalate, Click the Red icon for Escalate in the top-most menu bar:
When you click the Escalate Icon, a new ticket will load based on the Call Template configured for escalations.
Complete the details
Best Practice
While the triggering ticket will appear in the Escalated Call Ref/Escalated Request Ref fields, you should take the extra step to link the triggering/escalated ticket to the Escalation Call as a parent or Child (depending on how your organization desires).
Linking as a child allows updates to be made to both tickets at the same time.
Linking as a parent illustrates cause/effect.
Assign the ticket to the recipient of the escalation
Click Save
If there are IPK Workflow Rules against this type of Ticket, they will automatically execute when you save the details. You can override or allow them to run.
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