Reviewing a reply

When the agent finishes a ticket, it drafts a reply and puts it in the Queue. Nothing reaches the requester until a person approves it, unless you've turned on automatic replies.

Open a reply from the Queue: click Review on a Needs review row. This opens the ticket's page. The reply waits at the top, in Now, as Approve the reply to Eugene, with its first words under the title. For how the whole page is laid out, see The ticket page.

A reply you open from the Overview opens on a page of its own instead. See A reply on its own page.

Before you decide#

Read the agent's work in What happened, under Now. The agent's line, for example Agent looked into it, gives its findings in a few sentences. Small grey facts under it say how long it took, how many files it read, how sure it is (from 0% to 100%), and what it cost.

The links under it open more:

The agent looks again each time the requester writes or you talk to it. Each look is its own line in the story, so you can see how its findings changed.

If the agent has questions, Now (or Can wait) lists them. When its reply depends on the answers, they come first: Answer the agent's question first. Otherwise they come last, as The agent's question, when you have a moment, and the reply doesn't wait for them. Click Answer, write your answers, and click Send to the agent. See Talking to the agent.

Your decision#

Click Read it on the reply's line in Now. The reply opens right there, ready to edit, with its buttons under it. Not now folds it again.

What the line says depends on whether the platform has a ticket system:

A reply is decided on its own. When the agent also proposes a fix, the reply is marked any time: it doesn't wait for the fix, and sending it doesn't change the fix. When the requester has written again, or the agent wrote a newer reply, the older one is set aside: the new one says Replaces the agent's earlier reply, not sent.

Send as it is#

1. 1

   Click Read it and read the reply.

2. 2

   Click Send (or Agree).

Edit, then send#

1. 1

   Change the text in the box. You'll see Edited: your version is what goes.

2. 2

   Click Send. Your version is sent, not the agent's.

In What happened, the approval shows the text that went, marked Edited before sending. The agent's own version stays under The agent's draft, before edits.

You can't send an empty reply.

Skip#

Skip a reply when it shouldn't be sent.

1. 1

   Click Read it, then Skip.

Nothing is sent, and nothing else on the ticket changes: a fix or change still waits for you. If no other reply has gone to the requester since they last wrote, the ticket shows as Needs a person, on the Queue and in the phone app, because the requester is still waiting for an answer. Now then says Eugene is still waiting for an answer, with two buttons:

• Write to Eugene takes you to the Write box, ready to write your own reply. See below.
• Ask the agent to look again asks the agent for a new reply.

On a platform with no ticket system, the line says Nobody has dealt with this yet, and only Ask the agent to look again is offered. When it's all sorted, close the ticket with Close ticket….

If the requester writes again after you skip, the agent looks at the ticket again with the new message.

When the agent proposes closing#

When the requester says the problem is solved, Now shows Close the ticket, with the agent's reason. Review it opens the closing message with Send and close, Close without a message and Skip. See Closing tickets.

Write your own reply#

You can answer the requester yourself on any open ticket, whether or not the agent drafted something.

1. 1

   Go to Write, at the bottom of the ticket.

2. 2

   Choose To Eugene, through your ticket system, for example To Eugene, through Halo.

3. 3

   Type your reply, and click Send to Eugene.

It goes to your ticket system like an approved reply, and the ticket stays open. Anything the agent drafted is set aside, and work waiting to start stops. While a fix is being made, you can't send one: the box says A fix is under way. Write once it's done.

What you type is kept if the page redraws itself, so you can carry on later. You can do the same in the phone app. This choice shows only on a platform with a ticket system.

What happens after you approve#

1. The reply's line leaves Now, and the ticket's status changes to Replied.
2. What happened shows that you approved the reply, with the text, and Sending… while it's on its way.
3. When your ticket system takes it, a line says so, for example Sent to Halo the reply to Eugene, by email. Your ticket system shows it to the requester the way it shows any reply.

If your ticket system doesn't accept the reply, it's tried again automatically, for about 24 hours. If it still fails, or the address is refused outright, Now says The reply to Eugene didn't arrive, with the reason. In What happened, the ticket system's line says it didn't take the reply, in red. Fix the problem (often in your ticket system), then click Try again.

Was the analysis right?#

In the Ticket box at the side, click 👍 or 👎 next to Was the analysis right? to say whether the agent got the cause right. You can do this before or after deciding, and change your mind later. Each person has one vote per reply, and the counts show next to the buttons.

Your votes feed the Root cause confirmed right figure on the Metrics page. See Metrics and feedback.

A reply on its own page#

A reply you open from the Overview has a page of its own. It shows, one under the other:

• The decision first: a card titled Reply to Eugene, marked Needs your review, with "Edit it if you need to. Nothing is sent until you approve." The buttons are the same as above. On a platform with no ticket system, the card is titled The agent's conclusion.
• What they asked: the request and any follow-ups, with their files.
• What the agent found: two pills (how sure it is, and the kind of problem: Bug, How-to question, Data problem, Setup, Account or Other), the summary, Questions for you, Why it happened, What it assumed, and Show the evidence (N). At the bottom, Was the analysis right?.
• Pull request and Proposed fix, when there are some.
• What the agent looked at: click Show the steps.

At the side, the Requester card has a link, Open the whole ticket.

Every status of a reply#

The reply's own page shows its status at the top:

After a decision, the page shows who decided and when, the reason (when skipped), and the final text. A reply sent by automatic replies says Sent automatically (Settings › Automatic replies).