Process bundling

The process number

One or more mails belong to a process. All customer messages (and thus also the corresponding responses) are bundled in one process. This means that the course of correspondence between the customer and the service center can be traced quickly and easily and commented on internally (see chapter Memos).

All requests received by the novomind iAGENT system are assigned to an ID (also known as a ticket ID) for unique identification. All requests of a process receive the same process ID or process number for identification. If a process consists of a single request, the process number is identical to the ticket id. If a process consists of several requests, the number of the triggering request (i.e. the first of the process) is used as the process number. If a request belongs to a complex process, this is indicated by two dots after the process number in the list.

Operations can be managed manually, i.e. created (cf. chapter New Process), separated or duplicated. So-called ping-pong messages are automatically combined into one process. Ping-pong messages are messages that refer to each other via Reply to and go back and forth between the customer and the service center. Messages that do not refer to a previous message trigger new processes. By double-clicking on the process number of a complex process, all mails of the process are displayed in list form. The list entries are depth-linked, just like in the search.

By holding down the control key and clicking on the column heading Task, a search field opens, which can be used to search for a mail with a specific mail number. If the mail is contained in the respective folder, it is highlighted in the mail list.

Manage processes

It is possible to manage tasks manually: Mails can be combined or assigned to a task, tasks can be separated or duplicated. For this purpose, the functions Assign entries to, Join entries, Split entries and Clone process are available via context menu in the mailboxes or in the search results list.

In the mailboxes, mails can only be selected individually; in the search, several mails can be selected at once. Accordingly, the respective functions in the mailboxes can only be applied to individual mails; in the search, they can also be applied to mail groups.

Combining single requests into one process

Single requests can be manually assigned to an existing process or joined into a process. For this purpose, the funcitons Assign entries to and Join entries are available. To assign mails to an existing task using the Assign entries to function, the desired task number must be entered in the dialog that opens. To join several mails into a single process via Join entries, several mails need to be selected. This feature hence is only available in search.

If none of the selected mails already belong to a process, the mail-ID of the oldest selected mail will be selected as the process ID. If at least one of the selected mails is already part of a process, its process number is used for the other selected mails.

Usually, only tickets from the same tenant can be joined into the same process. This can be changed through the system parameters workflow.join.foreign.tenant=true (all tenants) or workflow.join.foreign.tenant=visible (only tenants that are visible for the agent).

Splitting processes

If a request is to be removed from a process, it is marked in the mailbox or in the search results list and removed from the respective task using the Split entries function. The original ticket ID of the request is then displayed in the Process column. The first request of a process cannot be separated from it.

Duplicate processes

The Clone process function creates a copy of the selected ticket. This copy (new task) receives its own ticket ID but is automatically assigned to the task of the original request. The copy of the request is placed in the personal inbox. In its history, the reference to the original request is included as a link.
Tip: By means of a copy it is possible to send one of the two processes to the customer as an interim response with the use of the release process, and at the same time keep the original request open (in process). The functionality Send as intermediate reply, which is hard-coded into the system, does not allow for release.