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Description
The Support Manager is a support plugin included with Blesta. It may be installed under [Settings] > [Company] > [Plugins], but is not installed by default. It integrates a ticket system and knowledgebase to allow for clients to request support.
MailParse
The Support Manager requires the MailParse and Iconv PHP extensions in order to parse tickets sent in through email. If tickets will be accepted via email, these PHP extensions must be installed. MailParse can typically be installed via root SSH access by running "pecl install mailparse". If using cPanel/WHM, PECL extensions can be installed through WHM, see https://documentation.cpanel.net/display/ALD/PHP+PECL
Tie-Ins
The support plugin ties into the following areas.
- Staff Area
- New "Support" primary navigation tab.
- Client Profile page, new "Actions" box link "Open Ticket".
- Client Profile page, new "Tickets" widget.
- Company Settings, Automation, new "Download Tickets" task.
- New option "Ticket Search" in primary search box.
- Client Area
- New "Support" navigation link.
Support Emails
Support related email templates can be found under [Settings] > [Company] > [Emails] > Email Templates, in the section labeled "Plugin Templates".
Ticket Bounce
The ticket bounce email template does not support any tags.
Ticket Received
The ticket received email template allows for the following tags:
Tags | Description | Notes | Since |
---|---|---|---|
{ticket_hash_code} | A hash code for validating ticket replies | Required to be in the subject line to allow for tickets to be replied to by email | |
{ticket.id} | The system-level ticket ID | ||
{ticket.code} | The ticket number | e.g. "1821914" | |
{ticket.department_id} | The system-level department ID of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member assigned to this ticket | May be empty | |
{ticket.service_id} | The system-level service ID of the service this ticket is in relation to | May be empty | |
{ticket.client_id} | The system-level client ID of the client this ticket is assigned to | ||
{ticket.email} | The email address the ticket was emailed in from | Only set when the email address is piped in and unrecognized | |
{ticket.summary} | A brief ticket summary | ||
{ticket.priority} | The system-level ticket priority | e.g. "critical", "high", "medium", etc. | |
{ticket.priority_language} | The language for the translated ticket priority | e.g. "Critical", "High", "Medium", etc. | |
{ticket.status} | The system-level ticket status | e.g. "open", "awaiting_reply", "closed", etc. | |
{ticket.status_language} | The language for the translated ticket status | e.g. "Open", "Awaiting Reply", "Closed", etc. | |
{ticket.date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of ticket creation | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.date_closed} | The UTC datetime stamp the ticket was closed | May be empty. Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.reply_id} | The system-level reply ID attached to this ticket | ||
{ticket.reply_staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member that sent this reply | ||
{ticket.reply_type} | The system-level type of reply | i.e. "reply", "note", "log". Emails are only sent when the type is "reply" | |
{ticket.reply_has_attachments} | Whether or not this specific reply has any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.has_attachments} | Whether or not any replies to this ticket have any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.details} | The ticket reply details in plain text | ||
{ticket.details_html} | The ticket reply details in HTML | ||
{ticket.reply_date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of the reply | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.company_id} | The system-level company ID this ticket was created under | ||
{ticket.department_name} | The name of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.department_email} | The email address of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.override_from_email} | Whether or not the email template's from address has been replaced with the department email | i.e. "1" or "0" | v1.6.0 |
{ticket.reply_by} | The system-level type indicating where the ticket reply came from | i.e. "staff", "client", or "email" |
Ticket Updated
The ticket updated email template alows for the following tags:
Tags | Description | Notes | Since |
---|---|---|---|
{update_ticket_url} | The URL for a client to visit to reply to this ticket | ||
{ticket_hash_code} | A hash code for validating ticket replies | Required to be in the subject line to allow for tickets to be replied to by email | |
{ticket.id} | The system-level ticket ID | ||
{ticket.code} | The ticket number | e.g. "1821914" | |
{ticket.department_id} | The system-level department ID of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member assigned to this ticket | May be empty | |
{ticket.service_id} | The system-level service ID of the service this ticket is in relation to | May be empty | |
{ticket.client_id} | The system-level client ID of the client this ticket is assigned to | ||
{ticket.email} | The email address the ticket was emailed in from | Only set when the email address is piped in and unrecognized | |
{ticket.summary} | A brief ticket summary | ||
{ticket.priority} | The system-level ticket priority | e.g. "critical", "high", "medium", etc. | |
{ticket.priority_language} | The language for the translated ticket priority | e.g. "Critical", "High", "Medium", etc. | |
{ticket.status} | The system-level ticket status | e.g. "open", "awaiting_reply", "closed", etc. | |
{ticket.status_language} | The language for the translated ticket status | e.g. "Open", "Awaiting Reply", "Closed", etc. | |
{ticket.date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of ticket creation | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.date_closed} | The UTC datetime stamp the ticket was closed | May be empty. Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.reply_id} | The system-level reply ID attached to this ticket | ||
{ticket.reply_staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member that sent this reply | ||
{ticket.reply_type} | The system-level type of reply | i.e. "reply", "note", "log". Emails are only sent when the type is "reply" | |
{ticket.reply_has_attachments} | Whether or not this specific reply has any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.has_attachments} | Whether or not any replies to this ticket have any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.details} | The ticket reply details in plain text | ||
{ticket.details_html} | The ticket reply details in HTML | ||
{ticket.reply_date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of the reply | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.company_id} | The system-level company ID this ticket was created under | ||
{ticket.department_name} | The name of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.department_email} | The email address of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.override_from_email} | Whether or not the email template's from address has been replaced with the department email | i.e. "1" or "0" | v1.6.0 |
{ticket.reply_by} | The system-level type indicating where the ticket reply came from | i.e. "staff", "client", or "email" |
Staff Ticket Assigned
This email is sent to a staff member when a ticket has been assigned to them. This email template was made available in v2.6.0 of the plugin. The following tags are supported:
Tags | Description | Notes | Since |
---|---|---|---|
{ticket.id} | The system-level ticket ID | ||
{ticket.code} | The ticket number | e.g. "1821914" | |
{ticket.department_id} | The system-level department ID of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member assigned to this ticket | May be empty | |
{ticket.service_id} | The system-level service ID of the service this ticket is in relation to | May be empty | |
{ticket.client_id} | The system-level client ID of the client this ticket is assigned to | ||
{ticket.email} | The email address the ticket was emailed in from | Only set when the email address is piped in and unrecognized | |
{ticket.summary} | A brief ticket summary | ||
{ticket.priority} | The system-level ticket priority | e.g. "critical", "high", "medium", etc. | |
{ticket.priority_language} | The language for the translated ticket priority | e.g. "Critical", "High", "Medium", etc. | |
{ticket.status} | The system-level ticket status | e.g. "open", "awaiting_reply", "closed", etc. | |
{ticket.status_language} | The language for the translated ticket status | e.g. "Open", "Awaiting Reply", "Closed", etc. | |
{ticket.date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of ticket creation | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.date_closed} | The UTC datetime stamp the ticket was closed | May be empty. Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.last_reply_date} | The UTC datetime stamp of the last ticket reply | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.last_reply_staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member from the last reply | May be empty. Only set when {ticket.last_reply_by} is 'staff' | |
{ticket.department_name} | The name of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.company_id} | The system-level company ID this ticket was created under | ||
{ticket.assigned_staff_first_name} | The first name of the staff member assigned to this ticket | ||
{ticket.assigned_staff_last_name} | The last name of the staff member assigned to this ticket | ||
{ticket.last_reply_by} | The system-level type indicating where the ticket reply came from | i.e. "staff", "client", or "email" | |
{ticket.last_reply_first_name} | The first name of the user that last replied to the ticket | May be a client or staff user | |
{ticket.last_reply_last_name} | The last name of the user that last replied to the ticket | May be a client or staff user | |
{ticket.last_reply_email} | The email address the last reply came from | Only set when {ticket.last_reply_by} is 'email' | |
{staff.id} | The system-level ID of the staff member this ticket is now assigned to | ||
{staff.first_name} | The first name of the staff member assigned to this ticket | ||
{staff.last_name} | The last name of the staff member assigned to this ticket |
Staff Ticket Updated
The ticket received email template allows for the following tags:
Tags | Description | Notes | Since |
---|---|---|---|
{ticket_hash_code} | A hash code for validating ticket replies | Required to be in the subject line to allow for tickets to be replied to by email | |
{ticket.id} | The system-level ticket ID | ||
{ticket.code} | The ticket number | e.g. "1821914" | |
{ticket.department_id} | The system-level department ID of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member assigned to this ticket | May be empty | |
{ticket.service_id} | The system-level service ID of the service this ticket is in relation to | May be empty | |
{ticket.client_id} | The system-level client ID of the client this ticket is assigned to | ||
{ticket.email} | The email address the ticket was emailed in from | Only set when the email address is piped in and unrecognized | |
{ticket.summary} | A brief ticket summary | ||
{ticket.priority} | The system-level ticket priority | e.g. "critical", "high", "medium", etc. | |
{ticket.priority_language} | The language for the translated ticket priority | e.g. "Critical", "High", "Medium", etc. | |
{ticket.status} | The system-level ticket status | e.g. "open", "awaiting_reply", "closed", etc. | |
{ticket.status_language} | The language for the translated ticket status | e.g. "Open", "Awaiting Reply", "Closed", etc. | |
{ticket.date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of ticket creation | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.date_closed} | The UTC datetime stamp the ticket was closed | May be empty. Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.reply_id} | The system-level reply ID attached to this ticket | ||
{ticket.reply_staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member that sent this reply | ||
{ticket.reply_type} | The system-level type of reply | i.e. "reply", "note", "log". Emails are only sent when the type is "reply" | |
{ticket.reply_has_attachments} | Whether or not this specific reply has any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.has_attachments} | Whether or not any replies to this ticket have any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.details} | The ticket reply details in plain text | ||
{ticket.details_html} | The ticket reply details in HTML | ||
{ticket.reply_date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of the reply | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.company_id} | The system-level company ID this ticket was created under | ||
{ticket.department_name} | The name of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.department_email} | The email address of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.override_from_email} | Whether or not the email template's from address has been replaced with the department email | i.e. "1" or "0" | v1.6.0 |
{ticket.reply_by} | The system-level type indicating where the ticket reply came from | i.e. "staff", "client", or "email" |
Staff Ticket Updated (Mobile)
The ticket received (mobile) email template allows for the following tags:
Tags | Description | Notes | Since |
---|---|---|---|
{ticket_hash_code} | A hash code for validating ticket replies | Required to be in the subject line to allow for tickets to be replied to by email | |
{ticket.id} | The system-level ticket ID | ||
{ticket.code} | The ticket number | e.g. "1821914" | |
{ticket.department_id} | The system-level department ID of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member assigned to this ticket | May be empty | |
{ticket.service_id} | The system-level service ID of the service this ticket is in relation to | May be empty | |
{ticket.client_id} | The system-level client ID of the client this ticket is assigned to | ||
{ticket.email} | The email address the ticket was emailed in from | Only set when the email address is piped in and unrecognized | |
{ticket.summary} | A brief ticket summary | ||
{ticket.priority} | The system-level ticket priority | e.g. "critical", "high", "medium", etc. | |
{ticket.priority_language} | The language for the translated ticket priority | e.g. "Critical", "High", "Medium", etc. | |
{ticket.status} | The system-level ticket status | e.g. "open", "awaiting_reply", "closed", etc. | |
{ticket.status_language} | The language for the translated ticket status | e.g. "Open", "Awaiting Reply", "Closed", etc. | |
{ticket.date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of ticket creation | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.date_closed} | The UTC datetime stamp the ticket was closed | May be empty. Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.reply_id} | The system-level reply ID attached to this ticket | ||
{ticket.reply_staff_id} | The system-level staff ID of the staff member that sent this reply | ||
{ticket.reply_type} | The system-level type of reply | i.e. "reply", "note", "log". Emails are only sent when the type is "reply" | |
{ticket.reply_has_attachments} | Whether or not this specific reply has any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.has_attachments} | Whether or not any replies to this ticket have any attachments | v2.3.0 | |
{ticket.details} | The ticket reply details in plain text | ||
{ticket.details_html} | The ticket reply details in HTML | ||
{ticket.reply_date_added} | The UTC datetime stamp of the reply | Formatted as "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" | |
{ticket.company_id} | The system-level company ID this ticket was created under | ||
{ticket.department_name} | The name of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.department_email} | The email address of the department this ticket belongs to | ||
{ticket.override_from_email} | Whether or not the email template's from address has been replaced with the department email | i.e. "1" or "0" | v1.6.0 |
{ticket.reply_by} | The system-level type indicating where the ticket reply came from | i.e. "staff", "client", or "email" |
Departments
POP/IMAP Settings
When selecting POP or IMAP for email handling, be sure to select the proper Security option for the port you are using. None, TLS, or SSL may be required depending upon the port number you are connecting to. See http://www.arclab.com/en/amlc/list-of-smtp-and-pop3-servers-mailserver-list.html for a list of common configurations.
Creating a Department
A support department may be created under [Support] -> [Departments] -> [Add Department].
Options
Option | Description | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | The department name is shown throughout the interface to reference the department a ticket may be assigned to. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Description | The department description is shown on client-facing pages. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Allow only clients to open or reply to tickets | Checking this option will only allow tickets to be assigned to this department from a known client. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A unique department email address should be set for email handling. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Override the from address set in email templates with the email address set for this department | Checking this option will set the From address in support ticket emails to this department's email. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Default Priority | Tickets created without a priority set (e.g. from email) will be created using the default priority status. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Email Handling | Email Handling will allow for additional configuration for automatic ticket retrieval via email through POP/IMAP or piping. Configuring departments for ticket piping will allow tickets to be retrieved and processed into Blesta immediately.
Configuring departments for POP/IMAP ticket retrieval is dependent on the automation task "Download Tickets". Ticket emails will be retrieved at the interval set for that cron task.
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Automatically Close Tickets | After the selected number of days have passed, any tickets belonging to the department will be automatically closed if the following conditions are met:
Tickets are closed by cron, and are so dependent on the "Close Tickets" automation task. A pre-defined response may be defined, and any tickets that are auto-closed will be updated with the set response. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Status | The department status may be Hidden or Visible. This indicates whether a client may view and create a ticket in this department from the client interface. Note that tickets may still be created if emailed into this department. |
Email Piping
If your department is set up to receive tickets via email piping, your server must be configured to pipe those messages into the support manager.
Email should be piped to "/plugins/support_manager/pipe.php".
Addon Companies
If you have any addon companies, you will need to copy pipe.php to something like pipe2.php, and edit the $company_id variable in the top of the file to reference the proper company ID that email should be piped to. The primary company is 1, a second company would be 2, etc. Go to [Settings] > [System Settings] > Companies, and you can determine the company ID by the "Edit" link. A link with a URL of "/admin/settings/system/companies/edit/2/" has a company ID of 2.
In your /etc/aliases file, it might look something like this..
support: "|/usr/bin/php /home/user/public_html/plugins/support_manager/pipe.php"
If you experience any trouble with that, you can alternatively pipe mail to "index.php plugin/support_manager/ticket_pipe/index/1" assuming "1" in the company ID.
support: "|/usr/bin/php /home/user/public_html/index.php plugin/support_manager/ticket_pipe/index/1"
Hashbang
The first line of the file should begin with the hashbang, for example:
#!/usr/bin/php -q
#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
On some systems you may need to create a symlink to php and pipe.php in /etc/smrsh..
cd /etc/smrsh ln -s /usr/bin/php ln -s /home/user/public_html/plugins/support_manager/pipe.php
Testing Piping
If you are having trouble with piping, it may be useful to try piping a sample email manually via SSH. This will bypass your mail server and help determine where the issue exists.
Step 1: Enable Error Reporting and Debugging
To enable error reporting, edit /config/blesta.php and change Configure::errorReporting(0); to Configure::errorReporting(-1); You may also wish to enable System Debug (Version 4.0+). To do so, change Configure::set("System.debug", false); to Configure::set("System.debug", true);
It's a good idea to change these settings back when you are done.
Step 2: Create a Sample Text Email
Copy the following content into a text file called email.txt, changing the all instances of support@domain.com to your department email. You may also need to update the from address customer@domain.com to a valid customer email if your department only allows customers to create tickets. Then upload to your web server at ~/plugins/support_manager/
From - Thu Jun 1 10:15:17 2017 Return-Path: <customer@domain.com> Delivered-To: support@domain.com Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by mail.blesta.com (iRedMail) with ESMTP id 2E05935C4CC for <support@domain.com>; Thu, 1 Jun 2017 13:14:48 -0400 (EDT) To: Support Department <support@domain.com> From: Test Testerson <customer@domain.com> Subject: Test Ticket Subject Message-ID: <59304B86.2080303@domain.com> X-ASG-Orig-Subj: Test Ticket Subject Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2017 10:14:46 -0700 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.8.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Test ticket body. Please disregard.
Step 3: Direct the Output of the Text File to Blesta
Via SSH, change directories to ~/plugins/support_manager/ i.e cd /path/to/plugins/support_manager/
Run the following command:
./pipe.php < email.txt
Did that work? Did you get any errors?
Formatting, Styling, and Adding Links to Replies
The Markdown syntax is supported for ticket replies. Adding links, making text bold, italic and more can be all be done by using Markdown. See https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet to learn more.
Tickets
Tickets may be created by admins, clients, or emailed in to the system depending on the support department settings. As of version 2.5.0 of the Support Plugin, client contact's may also create and reply to tickets on behalf of the client, and will be included in any email correspondence for tickets they are directly involved in.
Knowledge Base
The Knowledge Base was added in version 2.6.0, and included in Blesta v3.4.0. It allows for the creation of a directory structure and articles to supplement client support. The public-facing knowledge base pages are viewable from your Blesta installation at "/client/plugin/support_manager/knowledgebase/" (e.g. If Blesta is installed under the "billing" directory on your domain, the URL to the knowledge base would be http://yourdomain.com/billing/client/plugin/support_manager/knowledgebase/).