Service Desk FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Service Desk.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Service Desk Overview.
Setup
Do I need to create support teams before tickets can be routed?
Yes, while team-based routing is on, and it is on by default. A new ticket that no team matches stays unassigned in the Available queue, and Service Desk admins are notified that it could not be routed. Either create at least one support team with active members before tickets arrive, or turn team-based routing off so tickets are assigned straight to agents by the Assignment Strategy.
What roles exist in Service Desk and what does each one see?
There are four roles, and each gets its own sidebar:
- Admin — a business admin, or anyone granted the Service Desk app-admin role. Sees the Dashboard, Tickets, My Requests, Knowledge Base, every enabled module, Analytics and Settings.
- Agent — an active member of a support team. Sees the Dashboard, their own Tickets workbench, My Requests, Knowledge Base and every enabled module.
- Manager — manages a support team but is not an agent. Sees Help, Knowledge Base, My Requests, their teams’ Tickets, Analytics, and the Changes, Grievances and Access Requests modules when those are on.
- Member — everyone else. Sees Help and My Requests, plus Changes, Grievances and Access Requests when each module is on. Members open the Knowledge Base from the Help page.
Which ITSM modules are on by default?
Problem Management, Change Management, CMDB and Automated Access Requests are on by default. Grievance Tracking is off and must be turned on in Settings → Advanced → Modules. Each module can be switched on or off independently, and its sidebar link appears or disappears with it.
Permissions and access
Why can’t an employee see a ticket they were told about?
Only people connected to the ticket can open it. That means the requester, the person who filed it on their behalf, the assignee, anyone it was escalated to, the requester’s own manager (unless it is a sensitive HR matter), the person approving it, the manager of its department, the manager of the support team it is routed to, and its followers. Admins can open any ticket, and agents any ticket outside a private department that is not theirs. A grievance is the exception: only the person who raised it, its assigned handler and your grievance handlers can open it. Anyone else needs to be added as a follower from the ticket page.
Who can see every ticket in the organization?
Service Desk app admins and business admins can always see every ticket, and agents every ticket outside a private department that is not theirs. A department’s manager also sees that department’s tickets, and a support team’s manager the tickets routed to their team. Grievances stay with the person who raised them, the assigned handler and your grievance handlers. Everyone else sees only the tickets they are involved in. To widen that, change Who can see every ticket in the organization? in Settings → Features → General. It can be set to all managers or to specific people.
Can I hide the assignee or priority from the person who submitted a ticket?
Yes. Turn on Hide Assignee from Requester or Hide Priority from Requester in Settings → Features → General. Both are off by default. Once on, agents, admins, people allowed to see every ticket, and the assignee still see the field; the requester does not. With priority hidden, tickets filed by requesters get your Global Default Priority, and any priority they choose is ignored.
Who can create a ticket on behalf of another employee?
The “Requesting For” Field Visibility setting in Settings → Features → General decides this. The default is Agents & Admins. You can change it to Admins Only or All Users.
Day-to-day
How does auto-assignment decide who gets a ticket?
With team-based routing on (the default), your routing rules pick the team first, and then an agent within that team. Without teams, the Assignment Strategy in Settings → Routing → Assignment picks the agent. The options are Round Robin (the default), Workload Based, Expertise Based and Location Based. That strategy honours Max Concurrent Tickets per Agent (default 5, 1–20): while someone is below it, agents at it are passed over, and when everyone is at it the ticket still goes to someone. Under team-based routing, the routed team’s best-scoring eligible member gets the ticket — the score favours members with room against their Individual Capacity (set per member in Teams & Agents), a matching skill and tier — and agents on approved leave are skipped.
What happens when a ticket breaches its SLA?
The ticket is flagged as breached, and the assignee and the relevant managers are notified. The default SLA targets are Critical 4 hours, High 8 hours, Medium 24 hours and Low 72 hours, set in Settings → Routing → Priorities & SLA. A breach does not change the assignee. If the ticket is still open when the Escalation Timeout (24 hours by default) has passed since the breach, it is escalated once, to the person Escalate To names, unless someone escalated or de-escalated it since the breach. Both are in Settings → Routing → Assignment, and Escalate To chooses between the submitter’s manager (the default) and Service Desk admins. Turn Enable Escalation off to stop automatic escalation. An agent or admin can also escalate an open ticket by hand with Escalate. Grievances are never escalated this way. While Auto-flag overdue grievance stages for escalation is on (the default), an overdue grievance stage is flagged to the person who owns that stage.
How does auto-close work for resolved tickets?
A ticket left in Resolved is closed automatically after 5 days by default. Enable Auto-Close is on by default and is found in Settings → Features → Workflow. Close After (days) accepts 1–60. The requester gets a reminder 2 days before the ticket closes, adjustable from 0 to 30 days. Once a ticket has closed, the requester, the assignee or an admin can reopen it.
Can I require approval before a ticket is worked?
Yes. In Settings → Features → Workflow, choose which request types need approval. You can also set a Budget Approval Threshold ($), which defaults to $500. Any ticket with an estimated cost above that amount needs approval too. By default the requester’s own reporting-line manager approves; you can change this to Service Desk admins or specific people. Service Desk app admins and business admins can always approve.
How do recurring tickets work?
A recurring ticket creates a new ticket on a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly schedule, at a set time of day and timezone. You can stop it after a number of tickets (Max Tickets) or on an end date. Skip if previous ticket is still open holds back the next ticket while the last one is unresolved. Only Service Desk app admins and business admins can create, edit or pause recurring tickets; agents can view them. Each rule files its tickets as one person (Filed as); an admin can change that person in Edit.
Why can’t I submit my change request for review?
A change request needs its plans filled in before Submit for Review will go through. Every change needs an Implementation Plan. Normal and Emergency changes also need a Rollback Plan, while a Standard change does not. If a plan is missing, the change page names it and links to Edit so you can add it before you click Submit.
Why did my emergency change go to review instead of being approved straight away?
Only agents, admins and the chair of the change’s review board can fast-track an Emergency change on submit. When anyone else submits one, it goes through normal review with its priority and emergency justification intact. An Emergency change always needs an Emergency Justification.
I filed a grievance — where can I see how it’s going?
Open Grievances in the Service Desk sidebar. The link appears for everyone while Grievance Tracking is on. It lists your own grievances with each one’s stage and deadline. Only you, the assigned handler and your grievance handlers can see it. Your own manager cannot see it just by being your manager.
Who handles grievances?
By default, Service Desk app admins and business admins read and work every grievance. Most organisations change Who can read and work grievances? to specific people and name their HR or employee-relations group. Set it in the grievance settings, which appear under Settings → Advanced → Modules once Grievance Tracking is on. The person who filed a grievance and its assigned handler always keep access to it.
When something looks wrong
“I resolved a ticket but the requester says they can’t close it”
Feedback Required for Closure (Settings → Features → Workflow) is probably on. It is off by default. While it is on, requesters must give a satisfaction rating from 1 to 5 before they can close their own ticket. Agents and admins closing the ticket are not affected, so ask the requester to rate it first, or close it yourself.
“An agent filed a ticket for themselves and now they can’t work it”
Prevent Self-Service on Own Tickets (Settings → Features → General) is on. It stops admins and agents from starting, resolving or closing a ticket they submitted themselves, so another agent has to handle it. Ordinary employees are never blocked from their own tickets. Turn the setting off, or reassign the ticket.
“Tickets are arriving by email but they’re all categorised as General”
AI triage is off. Inbound email is only categorised automatically when Let AI triage requests as they arrive is on (it is off by default) and Auto-classify request type is checked. Both are in Settings → Advanced → AI. Without them, email tickets land as General for your team to triage. A category picked on the request form still applies either way.
“A manager says they can’t see the Problems or CMDB tab”
Problem Management and CMDB are open only to agents and admins. A manager who is not an agent does not get either one. Add the manager to a support team, or give them the Service Desk app-admin role.
“Internal notes are visible to the requester”
They should not be. Internal notes are visible only to agents, admins and the ticket’s assignee. If a requester can see a note, it was most likely posted as a normal reply rather than marked internal. A public reply cannot be turned into an internal note afterwards.
Licensing and limits
Does Service Desk require a licence?
Yes. Service Desk requires a licence, and an admin turns it on for your organisation from Admin → Apps → All Apps. It is off until an admin enables it.
Are there limits I should know about?
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Ticket title | 3–255 characters |
| Ticket description | at least 10 characters, when the description is required |
| Comment | up to 20,000 characters |
| Attachments | 5 on a request and 5 on each reply by default (adjustable 1–20) |
| Attachment size, email channel | 25 MB by default |
| Satisfaction rating | 1–5 |
| Max concurrent tickets per agent | 5 by default (adjustable 1–20) |
| Support team tier levels | 1–5 |
| Time logged per entry | up to 1,440 minutes (24 hours) |
| Knowledge Base bulk-import file | 10 MB |
| Ticket CSV import file | 10 MB |
| Saved reply | up to 10,000 characters |
| Auto-close window | 5 days by default (adjustable 1–60) |
| Ticket retention | off by default; when on, closed, cancelled and rejected tickets are deleted after 12 months by default, never less than 3 months |
| Custom field types | Text, Text Area, Number, Email, URL, Dropdown, Multi-Select, Radio Buttons, Checkbox, Date, Info Block |
| Access request targets | Location, Workspace, Site, Support Team, App, Equipment |
| Access request roles | Member, Manager, Co Manager |
More help
- Service Desk Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Service Desk questions from these articles.