In this case I'd recommend to go with different queues for internal requests. You might want the internal inquirers to get informed about progression of their tasks and maybe even have them use the customer interface - but maybe not for the external customers. The 'move back in just one queue' is possible with a ticket ACL in the config.pm. If not a simple work instruction perhaps gets you further than a system restriction. Depending on how many people work in 2nd level, it could be done by just telling them not to send emails to external customers?! Greets Daniel Von: otrs-bounces@otrs.org [mailto:otrs-bounces@otrs.org] Im Auftrag von Christian Weiß Gesendet: Freitag, 16. Januar 2009 10:05 An: 'User questions and discussions about OTRS.' Betreff: Re: [otrs] how to handle internal tickets? 2nd level may not communicate with end customers? Hello, Thank you very much for this tip! Unfortunately, I think that's not an option. We also have a workflow wherein internal employees (which are not otrs agents) can send emails directly to the 2nd level queue, so we need the "answers"-possibility. I could add a queue "Websites::From Helpdesk" wherein I remove the "answers", but that seems a little bit weird for me too, because I need to create another queue for every 2nd level main queue. And I also have to restrict this queues in a way that they can only move the tickets back to the 1st level queue and not to any other queue, where we again have the "answers" problem. Isn't my scenario a common workflow? I really like OTRS in terms of end user communication, but we are some experiencing problems in terms of internal communications. (this scenario, internal tickets from agents, ...) Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance, Christian Von: otrs-bounces@otrs.org [mailto:otrs-bounces@otrs.org] Im Auftrag von Obee, Daniel Gesendet: Freitag, 16. Jänner 2009 09:38 An: User questions and discussions about OTRS. Betreff: Re: [otrs] how to handle internal tickets? 2nd level may not communicate with end customers? If you don't want to have the agents answer out of a queue, simply remove the empty answer off that queue. No answer - no mail. You could as well fiddle around with ACLs and stuff, but I guess this would be the simplest opion. Move them into 2nd level queues and back when solved. I had a system running where we used the split option. This was practical for a scenario where the customer never had to be informed about the outcome of a 2nd level task. 1st level took care about the customer - 2nd level solved the reported bug/error. Greets Daniel Von: otrs-bounces@otrs.org [mailto:otrs-bounces@otrs.org] Im Auftrag von Christian Weiß Gesendet: Freitag, 16. Januar 2009 09:13 An: otrs@otrs.org Betreff: [otrs] how to handle internal tickets? 2nd level may not communicate with end customers? Hello, we are using OTRS for the communication with our end customers (Helpdesk = 1st Level Support) as well as for our internal communications ("Accounting", "Websites", ... = 2nd Level Support). Consider the following scenario: - An end customer sends a request to our "Helpdesk". (Example: "I get an error XYZ on the web page") - The helpdesk agent cannot answer this request and has to pass this problem to the 2nd Level Queue "Websites". - The "Websites" agent is not allowed to communicate directly to the end customer! He may only answer back to the "Helpdesk" agent. - So the "Websites" agent reports to the helpdesk agent when the problem is marked as solved - The helpdesk agent sends an info to the end customer So this is my question: How can I setup the OTRS system in a way, that only 1st level support agents are allowed to communicate with end customers. If there's a need for escalation to 2nd level support, the agent from this queue must not communicate directly with the end customer. He may only communicate with the 1st level support agent. I tried following approaches: 1.) Move tickets ========================= The helpdesk agent "moves" the ticket to the 2nd level queue and attaches a note with additional infos. The 2nd level agent answers to the 1st level by moving the ticket back to the 1st level queue and attaching a note. Positive: all the communication is in one ticket. Negative: if the 2nd level agent (unintentionally) clicks on "Answer", he communicates with the end customer. But this must not happen! Also, you can't clearly see in the ticket, which notes were written by 1st level and which by 2nd level. 2.) Split tickets ========================= The helpdesk agent "splits" the ticket and sets his own personal email address as "sender". he selects the 2nd level queue as target queue and modifies the body. The 2nd level now gets a new ticket and communicate only with the helpdesk agent. Positive: 2nd level is not able to communicate with end customers. Negative: The 1st level agent sees the ticket as a child ticket in his 1st level ticket. But he is not allowed to see the details of the ticket, unless I give the helpdesk complete read access to the 2nd level. The 1st level agent has to communicate with the 2nd level through his mail client because he set his own email address as sender. So the helpdesk has to use two different systems (otrs and personal mail account) 1st level agent has to manually change the sender-address in the "split ticket view". If he forgets this, the end customer is set as the sender of the new ticket. And some other annoying problems. I'm not happy with both approaches. (neither is my boss *g*) How do you handle this scenario? Thanks for any hints and tricks! With best regards, Christian Weiss