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How Employees Ask for Help: Channels

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • What a channel is
  • The channels SNWR offers
  • Which record each channel creates
  • How the Contact type field records the channel

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Service Operations Workspace Tour. You learned the parts of Service Operations Workspace: the home page, lists, the record page and the side panel.

1 “How do I even ask?”

Before One Front Door, every SNWR employee asked for help a different way.

  • Some emailed. Some phoned. Some walked over to the IT desk.
  • Nobody tracked the calls and walk-ups.
  • So IT had no idea how much work it really did.

🎯 The problem: When channels aren’t planned, work comes in untracked, and reports show only part of the picture.

👉 The fix: choose the channels SNWR offers, and make sure every one creates a record.

2 Words to know

Key term: Channel

A way to ask for help, like the portal, email or phone.

Key term: Contact type

A field on the ticket that records which channel was used.

Key term: Interaction

A record of a conversation, like a phone call or chat, before it becomes a ticket.

3 SNWR’s channels

SNWR's help channels and the record each creates. Employee Center: Sam reports an issue or orders an item, creating an incident or a request. Email to it-help@snwr.com: creates an incident automatically. Phone: Abel logs an interaction, then an incident. Chat and Virtual Agent: starts as an interaction, and can create an incident. Walk-up: a queue at the IT bar that creates a record for each visit.
Figure 1. Every channel ends in a record.

💡 Good to know: Need a refresher? See Fundamentals › System Events › Inbound Email Actions.

📦 Entitlement check: Walk-up comes with the ITSM Advanced package, which SNWR has.

4 The Contact type field

Every incident has a Contact type field, such as Self-service, Email, Phone, Chat or Walk-in. It’s filled in for you when the channel is automatic.

Channel Contact type
Employee Center Self-service
Email Email
Phone Phone
Chat or Virtual Agent Chat or Virtual Agent
Walk-up Walk-in

💡 Good to know: Daniel wants more people to use Employee Center. A report by Contact type shows if that’s working.

5 SNWR’s channel plan

  • Employee Center is the main door. Most asks start here.
  • Email stays for now, so nobody gets stuck.
  • Phone is for urgent issues.
  • Chat and walk-up are added for quick questions.

⭐ Remember: Any channel is fine, as long as it ends in a record.

6 Quick recap

  • A channel is a way to ask for help
  • SNWR offers Employee Center, email, phone, chat and walk-up
  • Every channel creates a record: incident, request or interaction
  • Contact type shows which channel was used
  • Employee Center is SNWR’s main front door

7 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Sam emails [email protected]. What gets created? Show answer

An incident, created automatically.

2 Abel takes a phone call. What does he log first? Show answer

An interaction. Then he can create an incident or request from it.

3 Which field shows the channel on an incident? Show answer

Contact type.

4 Which channel is SNWR’s main front door? Show answer

Employee Center.

Nice work! You know every way into SNWR’s front door. 🎉
Next up: Incident Architecture: Tables and Key Fields

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