Hi fellow HelpMasters!

I have a quick tip for you all that gives you an instant visual of where your bottlenecks are at any given time, without having to run a report!

Here's how:

1. Create a new saved search called "All open jobs" or something similar, selecting the "All non-closed statuses" Job status in the job finder
2. From the field chooser screen, enable the "Issues" field to display under the "Jobs" entity
3. Then, in your work group explorer, select your "All open jobs" saved search
4. Expand the column nice and wide, then click the column header to sort by issue type
5. By scrolling down this list of open jobs, you will see in groups what your issues are

Why is this helpful?

If you see a large clump of jobs under the one issue, a few reasons why may cross your mind:

• You haven't configured your issue hierarchy, so all jobs are being categorised in a ham-fisted way, or it hasn't been configured finely enough
• There might be a single cause or problem that is creating all these incidents/jobs
• A knowledge base article might need to be published and distributed to prevent these jobs originating (stop fire-fighting)
• The people contacting your desk might need some training to prevent these errors/failures
• You need to invest in some consultation and on-site training to help your staff be more efficient and less prone to breaking stuff

If you try this out, please let us all know how successful and useful you found it. Also, if you have any other great little tips like this, make sure you spread the word!

Scott