Ticket time tracking

Admin › Tickets › Time Tracking controls whether agents log the time they spend on tickets. The settings apply to your whole account.

You need Manage helpdesk settings to open it.

Change the settings, then select Save changes.

• Enable time tracking. On by default. Shows the Time tab on tickets, where agents start and stop a timer or add time by hand. Turn it off if nobody reports on time, so the tab doesn't distract. The other settings only apply while this is on.
• Billable time. Off by default. Adds a billable switch when agents log time, and totals billable minutes separately. Turn it on if you charge time back to schools or departments.
• Require time before closing. Off by default. A ticket can't be solved or closed until someone has logged time on it. See below.
• Default minutes on close. 0 (off) by default. When a ticket is solved or closed with no time logged, schoolOS logs this many minutes for you. See below.

When time tracking is on, every ticket shows the Time tab.

Time when a ticket closes#

These two settings apply whenever a ticket moves to a Solved or Closed status and has no time logged yet. A ticket that already has time logged closes as usual.

• Default minutes on close is set. schoolOS logs that many minutes on the ticket for whoever closed it, with the note "Logged automatically on close (account default)". It shows on the Time tab and the timeline like any other entry, and can be removed there. With a default set, Require time before closing never stops anyone, because the default counts as time logged.
• Require time before closing is on and there's no default. The ticket stays as it was, and Log time to close this ticket opens. Enter the Minutes and an optional Note, then select Log time and update as the status you picked. The time is logged and the ticket closes in one step.
• Both off. Tickets close with no time logged.

Closing several tickets at once from the list follows the same rules. Tickets that need time first are left open, and the message afterwards names them by number, so you can log time and close them one by one.

Tickets that close on their own never wait for time: a Solved ticket closed when its reopen window ends, a Pending ticket closed after the waiting period, and a requester confirming their ticket is resolved. When Default minutes on close is set, those minutes are logged for the ticket's assignee.

Both settings do nothing while Enable time tracking is off.

Which should I choose?#

| Setup | What you get | Choose it when | | --- | --- | --- | | Both off | Time is logged only when agents choose to. | Time is a rough guide, not something you report on. | | Require time before closing, no default | Every closed ticket has real minutes, entered by the agent. One extra step on every close. | You bill time back to schools or grants, or report hours by school, and need the numbers to be real. | | Default minutes on close | Every closed ticket has at least the default, with no extra step. Tickets nobody timed all show the same number. | You want a total that's never zero, and a typical ticket takes about the same time, like a 15-minute password reset or Chromebook swap. |

For example, a district that charges Facilities labor back to each school turns on Billable time and Require time before closing, and leaves the default at 0. A custodian closing a work order is asked for the minutes, and the school's total is built from real entries. A district IT team that only wants a rough "hours per month" figure sets Default minutes on close to 15 instead, knowing a two-day network outage closed without a timer also shows 15 minutes.