This document outlines the process for managing existing support tickets or internal requests, which, due to business-critical situations, require a resolution faster than what is defined by our normal Support response times.
Support Ticket Attention Requests (STAR) are the mechanism by which GitLab Team Members can request additional attention be placed on tickets. Feel free to pronounce the acronym STAR, and use it as a verb (I starred this ticket because of a request from the customer) or a noun (I put a star on this ticket to make sure an engineer with the right expertise is assigned).
The following two types of tickets can have additional attention requested using this process:
Please use the STAR process instead of posting in Slack channels. Requesting eyes on, asking for an immediate opinion on, or requesting additional attention for a ticket, in any Support-related Slack channel, creates unnecessary stress on Support Engineers who may be working on other priority tickets.
Once submitted, an issue is created in the Support Ticket Attention Request issue tracker. The issue is automatically assigned to the Support Manager on-call.
When you STAR a ticket, a thread is created in the #support_ticket-attention-requests Slack channel.
#support_gitlab-com or #support_self-managed.IMPORTANT: Please be available in Slack after submitting a STAR request, in case the Support Manager has questions for you.
Check that the ticket meets basic eligibility for STAR treatment:
Note: You cannot use the Internal Request Form without a Zendesk account. If you do not have Zendesk access, please request a Light Agent account to obtain it.
#support_operations Slack channel.#support_operations Slack channel.The STAR form is available only during our Global Support Hours; outside of these hours the form is disabled.
The following instructions apply to both customer tickets and Internal Requests.
WARNING: When starring a US Federal case, do not fill in the customer's name, instead populate the
Customerfield with a link to the organization in SFDC.
There are two ways of STAR'ing a ticket:
Submit Support Ticket Attention Request.STAR appTo access, click on the Apps button located in the top right of the page (underneath your profile icon). When you click on it, it will expand to show the STAR form within Zendesk.
When you use this method, the app automatically acquires most of the required information directly from the ticket. That's a lot less work for you, and you can be assured that the data will already be validated before it is sent to the Support Managers for evaluation.
You will only need to provide:
Here is how the form will appar in the Zendesk App:
The Zendesk STAR App will automatically validate the following before submiting the request:
NOTE: These definitions determine how the STAR request is handled; they do not refer to the Impact / Urgency / Severity of the underlying problem described in the ticket itself.
| Urgency Level | Definition |
|---|---|
| Not Urgent | We need increased visibility on the ticket/issue and a response from Support within the next 2 hours. This request for attention is not urgent, and the overall impact is low. |
| Timely | We need to address potential or existing customer dissatisfaction on the ticket/issue with a response from Support within the next 1 hour. This escalation has a certain level of urgency, and the overall impact is medium. |
| Urgent | The ticket/issue may become an emergency if no follow-up is provided within the next 30 minutes and may lead to customer dissatisfaction. This escalation is urgent, and the overall impact is high. |
Once submitted, an issue is created in the Support Ticket Attention Request issue tracker. The issue is automatically assigned to the Support Manager on-call and logs the ticket attention request.
Depending on the request, the Support Manager on-call may decide that a STAR is without merit. Please be aware that we take into consideration the current state of the entirety of the ticket queue, and already existing STARs, when determining the appropriate prioritization for your STAR request.
When unstarring a ticket, the manager must set expectations with the requester by documenting the following in the STAR Issue:
Every STAR that is unstarred must include the unstarred label on the corresponding Issue.
If a STAR request is posted in the wrong Slack channel, add the :support-ticket-attention-request: emoji as a reaction to the post. The user will be advised of the proper way to request a Support Ticket Attention Request via a Slack Workflow.