Documentation forSolarWinds Service Desk

Queue management

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Introduction

SolarWinds Service Desk (SWSD) includes a Queue Management feature that allows you to manage and optimize queues to improve end-user wait times and team productivity.

Queues allow for an improved wait time for your customers. Using queues you can improve your customers' wait time experience.

A queue contains multiple tickets waiting to be assigned. As soon as an agent completes work on a ticket, that agent can proceed to the next ticket in the queue.

There are several benefits to working in this manner. For example, you can:

  • Reduce the response time needed to address tickets.
  • Have all the necessary information provided in the ticket before work begins on it.
  • Prioritize customer requests.
  • Ensure requests are routed efficiently.
  • Provide customers with simple self-help solutions.

See Queues for more information.

As you continue reading this page, you will gain a deeper understanding of:

  • The differences between Queues and Groups
  • How queues and groups affect the system
  • Best practices for implementing queues

Navigation

Setup > Users & Groups > Queues

Defining queues and groups

The following table defines queues and groups and provides use case examples to help you understand when your team should put a ticket in a queue or assign it to a group.

  Queue Group
Definition

Queues are a repository of tickets that are waiting to be assigned.

This allows the IT manager to review the incoming tickets and prioritize assignment to ensure their team is working most effectively.

Tickets in a queue are not yet assigned, therefore any issue within the ticket is not addressed until the ticket is assigned.

Groups are a way to assign shared ownership of a ticket to multiple people.
Use case
  • If you have a shared workload, tickets can be placed in a queue. The status of these tickets is automatically set to Pending Assignment.

  • If you have a situation where ticket assignment is not predetermined and depends on availability or acceptance, tickets can be placed in a queue. For example: Incidents queue, High Priority Changes queue, VIP queue, Network issues queue, or Escalations queue.

When you have more than one person (or a team of people) who need to be involved in addressing an individual ticket, a group can be used.

All tickets in a queue are unassigned, but the SLA counter begins the moment the ticket is in a queue. This can impact your ability to meet defined SLAs.

Queue vs group assignment

The following table reflects the impact of queues vs. groups and how they affect the system.

  Queues Groups
State Pending assignment Assigned
SLA

If an SLA rule target is Not Assigned, it can cause an SLA breach because the SLA clock is triggered as soon the ticket is created. Therefore, as long as an unassigned ticket remains in a queue, it can cause an SLA breach.

 Quick assignment of tickets can prevent an SLA breach.
Tasks

Tasks currently cannot be assigned to a queue. Work can only begin on a task after the ticket is manually assigned.

When a task is part of a service or change catalog item assigned to a queue, if the task is assigned to incident assignee it will remain untouched until it is assigned to a user or group.

 Tasks can be assigned to a group to begin the workflow process.

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