MSP Evolution: Bringing Order to Chaos
Essential Dashboard Widgets for Service Coordinators
"To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions."
Greetings Autotask Gladiators! Welcome back to Mr. Buyze’s Neighborhood, where we discuss all things Autotask and how you can use PSAutomation to grow your MSP.
Yes, I know many of you are still recovering from Kaseya Connect. And Star Wars Day. And Cinco de Mayo (no, this is not a holiday about lost mayonnaise). But in the MSP world, there is always something going on that can be an excuse to not execute. And one of the recurring themes from Kaseya Connect (other than driving costs out of the business) was to develop your plan and execute. So, what’s your excuse?
Execution, as mentioned, requires the plan. And a properly trained team. And the right tools. And someone to hold it all together.
In the fast-paced world of IT service delivery, the Service Coordinator (SC), sometimes referred to as a Dispatcher, is the linchpin that holds everything together. Often called the "Hub of the Company" and "Customer Advocate," the SC is tasked with bringing order to the chaos of the constant flow of incoming requests and ensuring technicians can work efficiently. While traditional queue views offer a limited perspective, well-designed dashboards, particularly within platforms like Autotask, are presented as the key to mastering service delivery and making the SC's life easier and more enjoyable.
Dashboards provide real-time information and organize tickets in dynamic lists that update as the situation changes, far surpassing the static view of a single queue. For a Service Coordinator, having the right widgets at their fingertips is crucial for managing all open tickets, showing which tickets need attention, and ultimately freeing up Techs from deciding what to work on next.
Based on best practices, here are some essential dashboard widgets for every Service Coordinator:
The Triage Widget
Tickets Requiring Scheduling
SLA Summary Widget
All Waiting Status Tickets
All On-Hold Ticket
Team Hours Worked This Week
Other Helpful Widgets:
Billing Ready to Be Reviewed
Contracts Expiring
All Open Tickets
Out of Office
1. The All-Important Triage Widget
This is arguably the most important widget for the Service Coordinator (SC)/Dispatcher, as it is the highest priority and should be continuously watched. It's where new tickets first arrive for intake processing. Maintaining coverage of this position, especially from early morning (6 or 7 am), is recommended, as the SC sets the day for the Techs and is better at triaging the early morning rush. The goal is to have this widget empty.
When triaging, the SC's goals include processing the request into the proper workflow (Incident, M/A/Cs, Installs, Projects, Recurring Service), cleaning up or requesting necessary information for the Tech, and coding the ticket properly. Monitoring alerts, specifically offline tickets for critical devices, also first go to a monitoring queue for evaluation before being sent to the triage queue for the SC to assign to the right Tech.
Filtering for statuses to "New" and "Return to Triage" sets the SC up for success. Investing in a great intake Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is highlighted as significantly reducing Service Delivery issues, emphasizing the importance of getting the initial triage right.
2. Tickets Requiring Scheduling
A fundamental decision in managing Service Delivery is whether a ticket should be scheduled or simply assigned to a Ready to Engage worklist. Certain ticket types need to be scheduled without question, including Major Service Requests, Installations, Projects, and Recurring Scheduled tickets. Additionally, any Move, Add, or Change (MAC) estimated to take more than 4 hours of work should be scheduled. Tickets requiring the customer to be available during the engagement also need to be scheduled. A widget showing tickets that should be scheduled but lack a service call is important. The "All Service Calls Scheduled" widget lets the SC know who is scheduled at any given moment, indicating their unavailability for other tasks.
3. SLA Summary Widget
This widget is described as the third most important set of tickets needing attention. The SLA Summary widget is proactive, indicating when intervention is needed before an SLA is missed. It shows tickets approaching their Next SLA Event Due Date, whether for Tech Engagement or Completion. By reviewing this widget, along with Tech availability (via PTO and Service Call widgets) and workload dashboards, the SC can determine if a Tech will meet expectations or if intervention is required – all without contacting the Tech directly initially.
If intervention is needed, the SC can assess if another Tech is available, if the assigned Tech's workload can be adjusted, consult the Service Manager, or contact the customer to provide an update.
While this widget is on the Service Coordinator Open Ticket Management dashboard, it is here for monitoring and alerting purposes only. The widget is actually leveraged and worked on the Service Coordinator Workload Rebalancing dashboard.
4. Waiting Status Tickets
These tickets represent paused engagements. The SC should watch this widget to ensure tickets aren't sitting with no activity for too long, specifically more than 2 days. A non-technical person can call the client, vendor, or distributor to check on needed information.
When a customer responds to a "Waiting" ticket, the status changes to "Customer Note Added," which triggers a recalculation of the Next SLA Due Date, returns the ticket to the Ready to Engage widget, and alerts the Team in the Cient Responded sub-widgets. Due to its age, it usually also brings the ticket to the top of relevant lists with a visual indicator. There are even sub-widgets to specifically alert the SC when a customer has responded.
5. On-Hold Tickets
The On-Hold widget acts as a fail-safe, removing tickets from a Tech's Ready to Engage list until a specified due date. The SC needs to monitor these tickets, ensuring the due date is not in the past, as tickets with a past due date will not automatically return to the Tech's view. If the due date is in the past, the SC simply needs to set it to a future date.
6. Team Hours Worked This Week Widget
It is not the SC’s responsibility to monitor the Team Hours Worked This Week (shout to Kim Drumm who designed the widget). However, the "Team Hours Worked This Week" is on the Service Coordinators main dashboard to help the Owner with real-time time entry habits.
7. Other Helpful Widgets
Billing Ready to Be Reviewed: The SC is in a prime position to check if completed tickets are coded correctly and if time entries are accurate before they go to billing.
Contracts Expiring: Monitoring expiring or expired contracts helps the SC support Account Managers and proactively communicate with customers about renewals.
All Open Tickets: While not crucial for the daily flow of work queue management, knowing the total count provides context about the overall health of service delivery. A benchmark of 15-20 open tickets per Tech is suggested as normal, with numbers significantly higher indicating a need for proactive mitigation steps. Similarly, while overdue tickets are generally seen negatively, tracking their count (ideally zero) and volume (less than 5 per Tech allows the Team to recover; more than 5 requires management intervention) provides useful context.
Out of Office: The "Who is Off this Week" or "PTO" widget is essential for knowing which Techs are unavailable.
Service Calls Scheduled: This is a nice to know widget helping the Service Coordinator stay aware of where all the Techs are at any one time. Like the SLA Summary widget, the widget is actually leveraged and worked on the Service Coordinator Workload Rebalancing dashboard.
Beyond the Numbers
These widgets, when properly configured and used, turn a static dashboard into a dynamic tool. They organize information, prioritize work based on SLA due dates and workflows, and allow the SC to manage the complex process of IT service delivery effectively. By leveraging these essential dashboard widgets, SCs can gain control, reduce chaos, and ensure both Techs and Customers have a smoother, more predictable experience.
Wrap-up
I hope that made sense for you. If it didn’t, don’t stress – we get questions at info@agmspcoaching.com every week from MSPs asking for help implementing and understanding our strategies. We see you. And we’re here for you.
Please make sure to tune in next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel.
Steve & Co
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