Do It Yourself

What Is a Support Ticketing System?

If I am carrying on a conversation over e-mail that is important enough that I need to keep a copy of all correspondence, there are a few different ways to accomplish this task, but ultimately, the best way I have found, and the cleanest way is by using a support ticketing system.

Threaded E-mail

Most e-mail clients, depending on your user settings, will quote an original message in your reply so the recipient will be able to remember what the original message was.  Then, when they reply to your reply, the same thing happens, creating a very long thread of messages within an individual e-mail.

Problem:  If you reply to a message, then you reply to the same message again (assuming you may have left something out), you now have two sent messages with different replies.  The recipient, when he or she replies to your reply, will only quote one of your original replies, breaking the thread permanently.  This broken heirarchy can grow exponentially as time passes, messages change hands, and recipients grow.

E-mail Space Requirements

Keeping every message that ever comes into your inbox is inefficient in more ways than just taking up space on your laptop or computer, or server for that matter (that’s a whole different topic.)  Not only does it eat up space, it also eats up your time because you end up with a mountain of e-mail, and unless you have a clear system by which you read and sort your e-mail, and an effective plan to ensure your messages are permanently archives OFF SITE, meaning not on your laptop or computer, then you’re asking for hours of wasted time and frustration.  Storing your e-mail in folders is one solution, but it doesn’t remove you from the same risks and problems associated with having it all in one spot.

Keeping your e-mail on your mail provider’s server also poses a problem, because eventually it will cause your mail quota to be exceeded, and this ends up costing you time and energy, and sometimes added fees from your service provider if you don’t clear it out from time to time.  Clearing it out means eliminating it.

Support Ticketing System

The computing world is run on databases.  What better use of a database than to capture all of your important communications that you may have to refer to later?

A support ticketing system is a middle-man that automatically archives every message sent through the system and offers easy access to that system for future reference.  There are many flavors of ticketing systems out there, but I use one that I have found to be far superior to the rest.  The reason this is the case is because it takes on one feature that many other ticketing systems do not.  It allows the end user (the person who initially contacts you) to start a new ticket simply by sending you an e-mail.  It also has a zillion other fancy bells and whistles, and it runs on your own server, or a hosted server, so you have complete control over it.

How does it work?  Easy.  The support ticketing system is setup to monitor a single e-mail address (or multiple addresses if configured to do so.)  When someone sends an e-mail to this address, it sits on the server waiting for the ticketing system to check for the e-mail much like you would if you were using Outlook Express or another mail program.  If the system finds a message waiting in the wings, it “parses” the message.  In other words, it looks at the subject line to determine if there is an existing ticket number in the subject line or if it’s a new message.  If the message is new, the ticketing system assigns to it a new ticket number, records the message in the database, and forwards a notification along with the message to me, or the designated operator, at a different e-mail account.  If the message has a ticket number in it already, it adds the message to the last message that came through with the same ticket number, thereby recording the conversation permanently, and at the same time, notifies me, or the currently assigned operator.

When I get a new message with a new ticket number and reply to it, it goes to the same address that the ticketing system is monitoring.  In this case, when someone sends a new e-mail to whatever@realscottsdaleliving.com, my reply will also go to whatever@realscottsdaleliving.com.  The address is always Whatever@realscottsdaleliving.com, and every message involved in the conversation will bounce off of this address, leaving a copy of each subsequent message in the database.

Because I have this system in place, I know that every message that has a ticket number on it can be deleted from my mail client immediately after I’ve read and replied to it because all of the messages are safely stored on the server, permanently, including all attachments.  I no longer need to stack up messages in my in-box.

Researching tickets simply involves visiting a public website that allows me to search by many different methods to locate the information.

In the ticketing system, I am referred to as a Support Operator, and I am assigned to a specific Department within the ticketing organization.  Ticketing systems allow you to create multiple departments with multiple operators for each department, each with their own custom automated responses, knowledge base articles, and independent e-mail addresses.

The amount of customization you can do within your ticketing system is off the charts.

Right now, if you are a REALTOR and you inquire about one of my properties through the ARMLS system, the message goes to whatever@realscottsdaleliving.com and creates a ticket number.  All replies are tracked in my own system.  It gives me complete control and ownership of the messages that I communicate throughout the course of a day’s business.

Even if you aren’t a REALTOR, and you happen to send me a message at whatever@realscottsdaleliving.com, you will be assigned a new ticket and our conversation will begin.  Since most people don’t manage their e-mail in-boxes effectively, I can count on you keeping that message in your in-box so that if you reply to it at a later date, the ticket number will have remained in the subject line and your response will be added to the system.

One of the other nice features of a ticketing system is the ability to assign the issue to other Operators in other Departments that have been defined in the system.  Since the system is based on the internet, there is a web interface that allows anyone on your team to become part of the support system.  Moving issues and conversations between people within your organization while maintaining a consistent record of an entire conversation becomes very simple.  Imagine how difficult it would be for more than two people to monitor the conversation thread if all you had was individual e-mail accounts where messages were downloaded to different computers.

Nightmare.

Ticketing systems are a perfect solution to help your business create an identity that will never change.  Imagine Judy working the front desk for 5 years.  For her entire time of employment, she sends mail out to the agents in her office and the agents get used to sending mail directly to her using her e-mail address.  But what happens if Judy moves on?  Now you would have to notify all of the agents that Judy’s e-mail address is no longer the point of contact.  Rather, James has taken over.  So now everyone updates their contact list and a ton of uneccessary work is required from a whole lot of people who don’t need to be spending time doing that work.

Wouldn’t it be easier to give your office administrator position an e-mail address, then assign Judy, or James to that position as an operator in the ticketing system?  The agents wouldn’t know the difference, and they’d never have to change anything.  They would always send their requests to admin@company.com, or support@company.com, or accounting@company.com.  Whomever is assigned to each department would receive the requests.  If that person moved departments, or left the company, the IT director would simply remove them from the department and add the new person.

How To Series: Replacing Malibu Landscape Lighting

Malibu lighting, or landscape lighting, is one of those jobs that fits in the “simple fixes that you can do rather quickly” category, as long as you know how to hold a screwdriver on the right end.

Around the house there were about 9 lights that had quit working.  I wasn’t sure why, but they weren’t on, ever.  So, I hauled on over to The Home Depot to see what lights would cost.  The quality of lighting is completely up to you, but there was a wide variety ranging in price from $5.95 per light up to $99.00 per light.  The home that these are being installed on does not require high end lighting.  In fact, since I just needed the job to be done, I went for bargain basement pricing and picked up a number of the cheapo lights for $5.95 each as pictured in Figure 1 above.

As I write this, I am reminding myself that choosing a plastic light might not be the best decision for next summer, as they will probably need to be replaced much sooner than a metal light, but for the cost and quick repair time (we’ll be entertaining on Christmas night) I think these will do.

Knowing What You Have

Before you try upgrading, repairing, or adding to your lighting system, make sure you check the main transformer and write down all of the information that’s written on the label.  You’ll need to know if the system is a high or low voltage system.  Mine happened to be a low voltage system.

Another thing you’ll need to know is that each light eats up a percentage of the wattage delivered by the transformer.  So, if you have a 100W power supply, you’ll be able to add about 80 watts worth of draw.  In other words, 20 4-watt lights, or 4 20-watt lights, etc.  Don’t max out the system.  It would be an epic fail to add 120 watts worth of lights on a system that’s only rated for 100 watts.

 

Lights connect to main loop without needing to splice wire

The Basic Layout

 

Landscape lighting is an extremely simple concept.  There’s a transformer, and a really long electric weatherproof wire that snakes its way through your yards under about 6 inches of dirt.  Each light has a wire extending from it and that wire is connected to the main wire using weather proof clips that have a sort of sharp spade that penetrates each side of the main loop wire into the actual wire itself.  This is how it can be protected from the elements.

Anatomy of the Light

 

Package Contents

The light that I chose was a small 4 watt plastic light which can be assembled, wired up, and utilized literally within minutes.  The following parts were in the package:

 

 

• Stake to mount the light assembly
• Lamp housing
• Reflector
• Diffuser
• Bulb
• Bulb Socket
• Wiring Harness with Clips

 

The putty knife was used to show contrast so you could see the smaller parts.

Removing the Old

In my case, I had a light in the way.  There was no time to worry about finding an old bulb to replace in the housing that was already installed, so I opted to rip it out.  At first, I wasn’t sure what the assembly was made of.  After all it had been there since the house was built back in the 80’s.  Who knows what the design was like and I had no idea how far down they were in the soil.  It turned out that they weren’t buried very deep at all and only required a few kicks to break loose.

Pull the old light out of the ground in order to locate the main wire loop.  The light’s wire is attached to it, so gently tugging on it will bring it into view.  Position the wire near where you think you’ll stick your new light.

Assemble and Install the New Light

 

1. Remove everything from the package and keep it clean and protected.  It’s usually better not to touch the bulb at all with your oily fingers.  Rather, use a clean cheesecloth.  This is a halogen bulb precaution as halogen bulbs will fail if you touch them.  This particular light does not have a halogen lamp. 
2. Set the silver light reflector in the light housing, lining up the notch on the bottom with the hole in the bottom of the housing.
3. Feed the copper connector ends of the wire assembly through the bottom of the lamp housing.
    
4. Insert the copper tips of the wires that you fed through the housing into the bulb socket.  Make sure you don’t do this step before feeding the wire through the housing or you’ll be sorry.
    
5. Mount the bulb socket with attached wires to the diffuser (that’s the clear part that the light shines through.)  On this light, the bulb attaches to this part and the top of the bulb points into the silver reflector.
    
6. Slide the bulb and diffuser into the housing.  There are four slots that you can line up prior to gently turning the diffuser clockwise about 3/4″.
    
7. Attach the entire light assembly to the stake and set the angle that you want the light to shine at.
    
8. Stick it where you want to stick it, making sure the clips on the end of the wire are able to reach the main loop.
9. Wrap the clips around the loop and squeeze them together.  The sharp metal points will penetrate the main loop making contact with the wire inside the insulation.    
    
10. Snip the old light wire feed off.
     
11. Test the system.  If you see no light, keep your day job.    

 

That’s it.  There’s not a lot to it.  I installed 5 lights in about 30 minutes, the first one taking about 10 minutes to learn.  Well, that’s it for my how to article.  I hope you have a beautiful yard when you’re finished!  Of course, you could always hire it out if you don’t have the handy hands that we DIY guys have.