Ticket Overview

Give your staff and your clients one dashboard view of the tickets that need attention right now.

What it does

Without it, staff have to open the full support ticket list to see what is waiting on them, and clients have no reminder of their own open tickets until they go looking for the Support area themselves. Ticket Overview puts both views on the dashboard instead: staff see a widget listing the tickets waiting on them the moment they log in, and clients see their own recent tickets on their account dashboard. Staff can even pick up an unclaimed ticket straight from the widget, without opening it first.

Key features

• Staff Dashboard Ticket Widget: A widget on the staff dashboard lists the tickets waiting on you with their priority, who replied last and a preview of that reply, plus a button straight into the ticket.
• Status Tabs That Match Your Workflow: Choose between three plain tabs (Open, Available and Closed) or seven detailed ones covering Awaiting Staff Reply, Awaiting Client Reply, In Progress, On Hold, Closed and Trash, each showing a live count.
• Assign to Me in One Click: Unclaimed tickets carry an Assign to me button, so a staff member can pick up work off the dashboard without opening the ticket first.
• Keeps Itself Up to Date: The staff widget refreshes on its own about once a minute and pauses while the browser tab is in the background, so the queue on screen is the queue as it stands.
• Choose the Default Tab and Page Size: Set which tab the widget opens on and how many tickets it lists per page, so it opens on the queue your team actually works from.
• Restrict to Chosen Departments: Limit the widget to the departments that matter to your team, or leave every department included. Unclaimed tickets are always scoped to the departments the viewing staff member belongs to, the same way Blesta's own ticket list works.
• Client Ticket Widget: Clients get their own dashboard widget listing their recent tickets with the date of the last reply and a link through to their full ticket list.
• Per-Staff-Group Permissions: Each staff action it adds is a separate permission you grant per staff group, so each team gets exactly the access it needs and nothing more.

Installing Ticket Overview

Before you start

• Version 3.x requires Blesta 6.0 or later. On a Blesta 5 install, use version 2.x instead.
• If you are on the leased (subscription) licence, the Blesta Club Subscription Manager must be installed and your subscription active. The owned and owned-source licences have no such requirement.

1. Upload the files

Upload the extension folder into your Blesta installation so it lands under your Blesta directory at:

plugins/ticket_overview/

For example, on a typical install: /var/www/html/blesta/plugins/ticket_overview/

2. Install it in Blesta

1. Log in to your Blesta admin area with a staff account that has the Plugins permission under Settings in Manage Staff Groups.
2. Go to Settings > Company > Plugins and click the Available tab.
3. Find Ticket Overview in the list and click Install.

3. Grant staff permissions

Blesta registers a plugin's permissions switched off, and a plugin is not allowed to grant its own, so at first only your own staff group can see the widget. Every other staff group - including other administrator groups - needs it granted:

1. Go to Settings > System > Staff > Staff Groups.
2. Edit each staff group that should see the widget.
3. Under Ticket Overview Staff Widget, tick View the staff ticket overview widget so the group can see the dashboard widget, and Claim (assign to self) tickets from the staff widget so the group can use the Assign to me button.
4. Save.

4. Add the staff widget to the dashboard

The client widget appears automatically on the client dashboard. The staff widget does not - each staff member adds it to their own Home dashboard once:

1. Go to Home in the admin area.
2. Open Manage Widgets.
3. Click Ticket Overview so it is highlighted.
4. Close Manage Widgets.

You're ready to go - see the usage guide for a walkthrough of day-to-day use.

Ticket Overview - Update Guide

Keeping your Ticket Overview plugin up-to-date ensures you have the latest features and security improvements. Follow these steps to update your plugin:

Update Steps

1. Backup Existing Plugin Files:

   • It's always a good practice to backup your existing plugin files before making any updates.

2. Download the Latest Version:

   • Download the latest version of the Ticket Overview plugin files from the client area.

3. Upload New Plugin Files:

   • Upload the new plugin files to your Blesta plugins directory, overwriting the existing files:

     /var/www/html/blesta/plugins/ticket_overview/

4. Log in to Blesta Admin:

   • Log in to your Blesta admin account.

5. Navigate to Plugins:

   • Go to Settings > Company > Plugins.

6. Update the Plugin:

   • Find the Ticket Overview plugin and click the "Update" button.

Required action when updating to 1.1.0

Version 1.1.0 introduces staff permissions for the ticket overview widget. Blesta registers new permissions unchecked, so immediately after the update the staff widget will be hidden for every staff group - including administrators - until you grant it:

1. Go to Settings > System > Staff > Groups.
2. Edit each staff group that should see the widget.
3. Under the Ticket Overview plugin section, tick Ticket Overview Staff Widget.
4. Save.

This is a one-time step. Client-side ticket overview is unaffected.

Required action when updating to 1.2.0

Version 1.2.0 adds a one-click Assign to me button to the staff widget's Available (Unclaimed) tab, gated by a new Claim tickets permission. As with any new permission, Blesta registers it unchecked, so the button will not work for a staff group until you grant it:

1. Go to Settings > System > Staff > Groups.
2. Edit each staff group that should be able to claim tickets.
3. Under the Ticket Overview plugin section, tick Claim (assign to self) tickets from the staff widget.
4. Save.

Version 1.2.0 also adds staff widget settings (tickets per page, default tab and a restrict-to-departments filter) and automatic widget refreshing. These are configured under Settings > Company > Plugins > Ticket Overview (Manage) and need no permission changes.

Client widget access changes in 2.0.0

The client ticket widget now follows Blesta's own contact permissions. Where a client has given a billing or other contact their own portal login, that contact sees the account's tickets on the client dashboard only when both of these are ticked, because access is gated in two independent layers:

• Ticket Overview - this plugin's own checkbox. This is the route half only: it controls whether the contact may reach the widget, nothing more.
• Support - the core area that owns the ticket data. There is no "Ticket Overview" data area to grant; the tickets belong to Support, which is the same area Blesta's own support ticket widget on that dashboard already uses.

Both boxes are on the same screen: in the client area, My Information > Contacts, edit the contact, then the Authentication tab. Staff can do the same from the client's profile.

Ticking only one of the two is not enough, and it fails with exactly the same message as ticking neither - "You do not have permission to access that resource, please contact the primary account holder to request access"; on the dashboard that simply shows up as the widget not appearing. If you grant only Ticket Overview and the widget is still absent, that is the missing Support permission, not a fault in the plugin. The second layer is deliberate rather than duplicated: a contact may legitimately be allowed this plugin in general while still being kept away from the account's tickets, and Support is what decides that.

Previously this widget showed the account's tickets to every contact regardless. Primary account holders are not affected.

Staff widget Available tab now respects department membership in 2.0.0

The staff widget's Available (Unclaimed) tab, and its Assign to me button, now only show and allow tickets from support departments the logged-in staff member actually belongs to (edit the staff member under Support > Staff and set their departments there) - the same restriction Blesta's own ticket list already applies. Previously a staff member saw every unassigned ticket in the company regardless of department. A staff member assigned to no department will now see no unassigned tickets on this widget; assign them to the relevant department(s) if that is not what you want.

Updating to 3.0.0 (Blesta 6)

Version 3.0.0 requires Blesta 6.0 or later - upgrade Blesta first, then the plugin. Blesta 5 installs should stay on 2.x.

Your widget settings (More Categories, Tickets Per Page, Default Tab and Restrict To Departments) carry over unchanged, and no new permission is added, so staff groups that could see the widget and use Assign to me before the update still can. The staff widget and the settings screen simply take on the Blesta 6 admin theme, including dark mode. What you will notice:

• The tab counts are shown as badges, and the widget can be switched between column and full width like Blesta's own dashboard widgets.
• After Assign to me, the widget stays on the Available (Unclaimed) tab.

The client dashboard widget is unchanged.

Aside from the steps above, no additional changes are needed outside of updating the files. Any breaking changes will be communicated to clients.

Keep your Ticket Overview plugin up-to-date to ensure you have the latest features and improvements.

Using Ticket Overview

For your staff

The staff dashboard widget

Once installed and granted (see the install guide), the "Ticket Overview" widget shows on the staff Home dashboard. It lists tickets with their priority badge, subject, the date of the last reply, who replied last (client or staff) with a preview of that reply, and a "Go To Ticket" button that opens the full ticket.

By default the widget shows three tabs, each with a live count:

• Open - tickets assigned to you that are not closed.
• Available (Unclaimed) - tickets nobody has been assigned yet, from the support departments you belong to.
• Closed - tickets assigned to you that have been closed.

The widget refreshes itself about once a minute while the dashboard stays open (it pauses while the browser tab is in the background), so the list and counts stay current without you reloading the page.

Picking up a ticket with Assign to me

On the Available (Unclaimed) tab, every ticket carries an "Assign to me" button. Click it to take the ticket without opening it first - it is assigned to you immediately and the widget updates in place. Only tickets from departments you belong to show up here, and only staff with the Claim permission (see the install guide) can use the button.

Switching to detailed status tabs

The settings screen (below) can switch the widget from the three plain tabs to seven detailed ones: Available (Unclaimed), Awaiting Staff Reply, Awaiting Client Reply, In Progress, On Hold, Closed and Trash - each with its own live count, matching the ticket statuses in Support Manager.

Widget settings

Go to Settings > Company > Plugins, find Ticket Overview in the Installed list and open its settings. From here you can set:

• More Categories (Detailed Sorting) - switches the widget between the three plain tabs and the seven detailed ones described above.
• Tickets Per Page - how many tickets the widget lists on each page (a whole number greater than zero; defaults to 5).
• Default Tab - which tab the widget opens on when the dashboard loads.
• Restrict To Departments - limit the widget to specific support departments, or leave them all unselected to include every department. The Available (Unclaimed) tab is always further limited to the departments the viewing staff member belongs to, regardless of this setting.

Click Save changes to apply.

For your clients

The client dashboard widget

Clients see a "Ticket Overview" widget on their own account dashboard listing their most recent tickets - the ticket number, subject, status and the date of the last reply. Clicking a ticket opens it in Support. If there are more than five tickets, a "View All Tickets" link at the bottom opens the client's full ticket list.

Good to know

• A contact who is not the primary account holder only sees this widget if the account holder has given that contact both the "Ticket Overview" and "Support" permissions under their Authentication settings - see the update guide for details.
• The widget shows nothing if there are no tickets to list, with a short message in its place rather than an empty box.