I am exploring different ticketing systems and finding that one component we really need is not found in virtually any of them. I really like OTRS due to the mature communications structure, and wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions for whether OTRS is a good fit for what we need. We currently perform scheduled IT service for clients. At this point, OTRS fits perfectly, because it gives clients the ability to submit their own tickets, set their priority, and receive feedback on the service being done. There are 2 things I am seeking that I'm not 100% sure about with OTRS. The first can probably be done by someone with some SQL and reporting skills. I'd like to be able to put together a summary of a visit to a client, in order to put together their monthly bill. It would allow them to see what was done during a particular visit. As the work done in OTRS is timestamped, I assume we could build a report that would let them see what is done when. The other part, though, has me a little stumped in my searching about the Internet regarding OTRS. I'd also like to be able to track the visit itself as a time unit. This is different from time spent on a ticketed item itself, as any that are worked on during a visit don't really have a time applied to them. We might work on 5 different items during a visit, and trying to split time up between them becomes difficult. That is where we would like to just track time for the visit (arrived at.... left at....). I'm almost beginning to think we need to have a separate app developed that allows basic time tracking (time sheet?) in this manner, then tie together a MySQL query that will take the time of the visit from the "timesheet" app and find all the work done for the client during that time... Does anyone have any experience with using OTRS in this manner? Is it all doable inside OTRS itself, or am I looking at tying a few different systems together? If so, does anyone have a good suggestion for a "timesheet" app that would allow us to track time spent at a client location?
Aaron Spurlock wrote:
I'd also like to be able to track the visit itself as a time unit. This is different from time spent on a ticketed item itself, as any that are worked on during a visit don't really have a time applied to them. We might work on 5 different items during a visit, and trying to split time up between them becomes difficult. That is where we would like to just track time for the visit (arrived at.... left at....).
I'm almost beginning to think we need to have a separate app developed that allows basic time tracking (time sheet?) in this manner, then tie together a MySQL query that will take the time of the visit from the "timesheet" app and find all the work done for the client during that time...
Does anyone have any experience with using OTRS in this manner? Is it all doable inside OTRS itself, or am I looking at tying a few different systems together? If so, does anyone have a good suggestion for a "timesheet" app that would allow us to track time spent at a client location?
Time tracking software and trouble ticket systems are two different beasts. You could also use something for tracking time (a watch, a timer (soft- or hardware)) and enter the time worked into a ticket (for instance as a note), but that does require some discipline on doing that. If your bills are based on this data you probably can manage to not forget to track your time. Maybe you could export data from a time tracker and somehow convert them into emails to your ticket system. But OTRS is not really a billing system, so it's not going to be a natural fit I'm afraid and you may just be entering time tracking info into OTRS only to find that you have to get it out of OTRS into your billing system and then you might as well skip OTRS for this. There are lots of programs and websites that let you track time. I have used slimtimer.com in the past, but I don't know your exact needs (nor am I an expert on time tracking systems). Good luck on finding a setup that fits your requirements. Nils Breunese
participants (2)
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Aaron Spurlock -
Nils Breunese (Lemonbit)