How to add help desk to your YouTrack tracker
On Habré several months ago it was discussed that there is no ideal tracker - such that it fits well both to the developer and the customer. In particular, it was mentioned that the tracker needs help desk . In YouTrack from version 5.1 it is, and today we will tell you how to configure it.
Before answering the question “how” it is helpful to understand why. A typical scenario for choosing YouTrack is that you decide which bug tracker to take for a new project, or whether it is easy to include the required functionality in an existing one. Then the opportunity to add help desk to the tracker in five minutes will tilt the balance in favor of YouTrack, if the project involves the communication of users with customer support.
First of all, the help desk should have a familiar interface. No, wehave not ( yet ) taught YouTrack to answer phone calls with a beautiful voice. However, your users have no need to get used to the web interface: YouTrack can simply write letters. Is it written on your site that you need to write in support at support@your-brilliant-app.com ? Great, YouTrack can take out letters from this mailbox and make out of them applications visible to your developers.
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Although YouTrack is not a free solution, you can save. The fact is that the license for YouTrack is bought for a certain number of developers (up to 10 - for free). Developers work with YouTrack using a web interface.
Registered users have access via the web interface, and it is not necessary to register in the help desk and receive answers. So, your developers will be registered in YouTrack, and users of your application will be able to report problems without registration, completely free of charge for you.
Answers of developers, which they will write in the comments to the application in YouTrack, will automatically come to users, including those that are put in a copy of the letter.
For the test, I made myself a copy of YouTrack in the cloud. If the project does not need to register more than 10 developers, then you can take the free option.
You can start creating your cozy YouTrack from here: account.jetbrains.com/youtrackincloud/signup
If after registration you choose Russian, YouTrack will speak in Russian. The language setting is per server, not per project, so if you have Russian-language projects and international ones, you will have to create several copies of YouTrack for multilingual projects.
All the examples in this post will be in Russian, and anyone who wants to look at the screenshots in English can read the article on the same topic in English .
We are waiting for all five simple actions.
In the upper right corner of the screen there is a characteristic gear, hinting that youTrack settings are hidden behind it.
We go there, in the section “Email. mail ”write the settings of your SMTP server. Since I ordered YouTrack in the cloud, I don’t need to change anything here except for the return address. The address, of course, will be my own. Please note: if you send emails to users on behalf of an account on gmail, the address “from” must be the same as the one to which users are writing. This setting can be per project, but only if your SMTP server does not mind. If you need to ensure that users of each project receive mail from their project-related address, either do not use gmail, or make your YouTrack for each project.
First, you need to properly plan what you want to see in the description of each problem (issue). You can modify the project later, but it’s convenient to make all settings related to time tracking right away. Therefore, before creating a project in YouTrack, it is worth agreeing with colleagues what fields in the tasks will be needed, what rules you will work with them.
Click "Create a project" (see the first screenshot), and then do not forget to specify who will be responsible for the tasks in this project. If your developers are not registered yet, register them, and then add them to the list of artists. You can manually register them in the "Users" section, or you can ask everyone to register on their own.
The term workflow in YouTrack, as you probably know, means not only the motion of an application on the state graph (from submitted to fixed, for example), but also sets of scripts that are triggered when certain conditions appear. In the Russian-language interface, the workflow is called “workflow”. The simplest workflow is to perform short actions on a timer ("at 9:00 the day before deadlin'a send an e-mail to the project manager with a reminder") or to change the application ("if the status has changed to" in progress ", put an observer for Lead Developer Ivanov’s process ”).
To change or create a new workflow, you need to use a separate program - Workflow Editor, it is written in Java, and will work in any operating system. The program is free, downloadable from www.jetbrains.com/youtrack/download/get_youtrack.html (Download Workflow Editor button).
However, to set up help desk'a it is not necessary to change the workflow, it is enough to connect with our project already ready, which comes bundled with YouTrack. Please note: this workflow is available starting from version 5.2, not before! By default, it is not associated with every project, since not every project in YouTrack must have help desk functionality.
The required workflow is notifyMultipleUnregisteredUsers. It is needed in order to notify the user who sent the letter that the request generated by the letter has changed (for example, the support engineer has added a clarifying question or comment).
You can attach a workflow to a project in the project settings by selecting the “Workflow” tab.
The dialog box reminds us that the fields Not related emails and Last message related emails in our project do not exist, YouTrack offers to add them for us. To do this, click "Apply Quick Fix."
There is another way to attach a workflow to a project, it will be needed if we need to attach the same workflow to several projects at the same time: go to Settings | Projects and in the lower left corner select "Workflow".
The number 1 shows the set of rules we need in the general workflow list, and the number 2 shows what to click in order to attach this set to our projects. Click "Attach" - and then mark the names of projects from the list. It is done.
If YouTrack emphasizes the rules and the bookmark in red, this may mean that you have not yet applied quick fix (“quick fix”) or it has not yet been applied (sometimes it takes time, especially if you make changes in a project with a lot of created tasks).
You can add a mailbox in the “Email integration” settings. by mail. " Click "add box", specify the parameters of the incoming mail server, from where you will pick up mail.
Now click on “Add rule” - this is the rule by which YouTrack will turn incoming messages into issues.
It is important MUST go to the tab “Author of the task” and set the user on whose behalf all the tasks from the incoming letters will be created. If you do not do this, YouTrack will register the authors of all letters as users, and this, as we remember, requires a license for a large number of them.
On the Post-Processing tab, enter what you should do when creating the task:
This command is needed to temporarily save information from the letter and is used by the notifyMultipleUnregisteredUsers process. You need to specify it in two places: for use when creating a task and when adding a comment.
Setup is completed, it remains to polish the settings if the project requires it.
There are cases when the created rules for processing letters must be supplemented. For example, if you collect letters sent to different aliases in one mailbox, you need to tweak something to send notifications correctly.
See: suppose you collect letters to support of different applications in the general technical support box of your company: app1-support@company.com and app2-support@company.com . Messages arriving on both aliases are collected in the mailbox with the address support@company.com . Then, in order not to produce cyclical mailings, it is necessary to remove the addresses app1-support@company.com and app2-support@company.com from the headers of the letters collected by YouTrack from this box.
To do this, you need to create a new workflow and attach it to the project. To do this, you need to download and install Workflow Editor (if you have not done this before) and create a new rule:
By default, the notification that the help desk received a letter from the user is turned off. We believe that users do not like spam. However, if your users do not see such emails as spam, then you can modify the rule 'Collect inside emails inside workflow notifyMultipleUnregisteredUsers.
Before line
You need to insert a notification sending:
Now your YouTrack is completely ready to be not just a tracker, but also a help desk.
If you haven't tried YouTrack yet, try it in the cloud . You can start with the version that is installed locally .
In JetBrains, the help desk of one project has already been placed on YouTrack. It would be great if in the comments you share your experience: is it convenient to combine the bug tracker with the help desk, which help desk you prefer, that you attach to the trackers.
Before answering the question “how” it is helpful to understand why. A typical scenario for choosing YouTrack is that you decide which bug tracker to take for a new project, or whether it is easy to include the required functionality in an existing one. Then the opportunity to add help desk to the tracker in five minutes will tilt the balance in favor of YouTrack, if the project involves the communication of users with customer support.
First of all, the help desk should have a familiar interface. No, we
')
Although YouTrack is not a free solution, you can save. The fact is that the license for YouTrack is bought for a certain number of developers (up to 10 - for free). Developers work with YouTrack using a web interface.
Registered users have access via the web interface, and it is not necessary to register in the help desk and receive answers. So, your developers will be registered in YouTrack, and users of your application will be able to report problems without registration, completely free of charge for you.
Answers of developers, which they will write in the comments to the application in YouTrack, will automatically come to users, including those that are put in a copy of the letter.
Making Your YouTrack
For the test, I made myself a copy of YouTrack in the cloud. If the project does not need to register more than 10 developers, then you can take the free option.
You can start creating your cozy YouTrack from here: account.jetbrains.com/youtrackincloud/signup
If after registration you choose Russian, YouTrack will speak in Russian. The language setting is per server, not per project, so if you have Russian-language projects and international ones, you will have to create several copies of YouTrack for multilingual projects.
All the examples in this post will be in Russian, and anyone who wants to look at the screenshots in English can read the article on the same topic in English .
How to set up help desk
We are waiting for all five simple actions.
- Specify SMTP server
- Create project
- Attach a proper workflow to the project
- Teach YouTrack to pull letters out of the box.
- Polish settings (if necessary).
Specify SMTP server
In the upper right corner of the screen there is a characteristic gear, hinting that youTrack settings are hidden behind it.
We go there, in the section “Email. mail ”write the settings of your SMTP server. Since I ordered YouTrack in the cloud, I don’t need to change anything here except for the return address. The address, of course, will be my own. Please note: if you send emails to users on behalf of an account on gmail, the address “from” must be the same as the one to which users are writing. This setting can be per project, but only if your SMTP server does not mind. If you need to ensure that users of each project receive mail from their project-related address, either do not use gmail, or make your YouTrack for each project.
Create project
First, you need to properly plan what you want to see in the description of each problem (issue). You can modify the project later, but it’s convenient to make all settings related to time tracking right away. Therefore, before creating a project in YouTrack, it is worth agreeing with colleagues what fields in the tasks will be needed, what rules you will work with them.
Click "Create a project" (see the first screenshot), and then do not forget to specify who will be responsible for the tasks in this project. If your developers are not registered yet, register them, and then add them to the list of artists. You can manually register them in the "Users" section, or you can ask everyone to register on their own.
Attach a proper workflow to the project
The term workflow in YouTrack, as you probably know, means not only the motion of an application on the state graph (from submitted to fixed, for example), but also sets of scripts that are triggered when certain conditions appear. In the Russian-language interface, the workflow is called “workflow”. The simplest workflow is to perform short actions on a timer ("at 9:00 the day before deadlin'a send an e-mail to the project manager with a reminder") or to change the application ("if the status has changed to" in progress ", put an observer for Lead Developer Ivanov’s process ”).
To change or create a new workflow, you need to use a separate program - Workflow Editor, it is written in Java, and will work in any operating system. The program is free, downloadable from www.jetbrains.com/youtrack/download/get_youtrack.html (Download Workflow Editor button).
However, to set up help desk'a it is not necessary to change the workflow, it is enough to connect with our project already ready, which comes bundled with YouTrack. Please note: this workflow is available starting from version 5.2, not before! By default, it is not associated with every project, since not every project in YouTrack must have help desk functionality.
The required workflow is notifyMultipleUnregisteredUsers. It is needed in order to notify the user who sent the letter that the request generated by the letter has changed (for example, the support engineer has added a clarifying question or comment).
You can attach a workflow to a project in the project settings by selecting the “Workflow” tab.
The dialog box reminds us that the fields Not related emails and Last message related emails in our project do not exist, YouTrack offers to add them for us. To do this, click "Apply Quick Fix."
There is another way to attach a workflow to a project, it will be needed if we need to attach the same workflow to several projects at the same time: go to Settings | Projects and in the lower left corner select "Workflow".
The number 1 shows the set of rules we need in the general workflow list, and the number 2 shows what to click in order to attach this set to our projects. Click "Attach" - and then mark the names of projects from the list. It is done.
If YouTrack emphasizes the rules and the bookmark in red, this may mean that you have not yet applied quick fix (“quick fix”) or it has not yet been applied (sometimes it takes time, especially if you make changes in a project with a lot of created tasks).
Teach YouTrack to pull letters out of the box.
You can add a mailbox in the “Email integration” settings. by mail. " Click "add box", specify the parameters of the incoming mail server, from where you will pick up mail.
Now click on “Add rule” - this is the rule by which YouTrack will turn incoming messages into issues.
It is important MUST go to the tab “Author of the task” and set the user on whose behalf all the tasks from the incoming letters will be created. If you do not do this, YouTrack will register the authors of all letters as users, and this, as we remember, requires a license for a large number of them.
On the Post-Processing tab, enter what you should do when creating the task:
Last message related emails ${from} ${to} ${cc}This command is needed to temporarily save information from the letter and is used by the notifyMultipleUnregisteredUsers process. You need to specify it in two places: for use when creating a task and when adding a comment.
Setup is completed, it remains to polish the settings if the project requires it.
Polish settings
Change e-mail list for sending notifications
There are cases when the created rules for processing letters must be supplemented. For example, if you collect letters sent to different aliases in one mailbox, you need to tweak something to send notifications correctly.
See: suppose you collect letters to support of different applications in the general technical support box of your company: app1-support@company.com and app2-support@company.com . Messages arriving on both aliases are collected in the mailbox with the address support@company.com . Then, in order not to produce cyclical mailings, it is necessary to remove the addresses app1-support@company.com and app2-support@company.com from the headers of the letters collected by YouTrack from this box.
To do this, you need to create a new workflow and attach it to the project. To do this, you need to download and install Workflow Editor (if you have not done this before) and create a new rule:
rule Remove additional feedback emails from email related emails
when Related related emails.changed {
All related emails = All related emails.replace (
"app1-support@company.com", "");
All related emails = All related emails.replace (
"app2-support@company.com", "");
}
Notify users of the request
By default, the notification that the help desk received a letter from the user is turned off. We believe that users do not like spam. However, if your users do not see such emails as spam, then you can modify the rule 'Collect inside emails inside workflow notifyMultipleUnregisteredUsers.
Before line
Last message related emails=nullYou need to insert a notification sending:
var reporterEmail = Last message related emails.split ( "", preserveAllTokens) .first sendMail (reporterEmail, “Your subject”, “Your email body”)
Now your YouTrack is completely ready to be not just a tracker, but also a help desk.
If you haven't tried YouTrack yet, try it in the cloud . You can start with the version that is installed locally .
In JetBrains, the help desk of one project has already been placed on YouTrack. It would be great if in the comments you share your experience: is it convenient to combine the bug tracker with the help desk, which help desk you prefer, that you attach to the trackers.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/222673/
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