Response times
Promise clear response times, and see whether you keep them
“We reply within four working hours and close within three days.” In kDesk that sentence becomes a deadline written on every ticket as soon as it arrives, calculated on your hours and your closing days. The list shows how much time is left; once it’s done, whether the promise was kept.
A promise only counts if it is measured the same way for everyone
Without a shared reference, “we reply the same day” depends on who opens the mailbox and what time it is. kDesk puts the clock on the support team’s side: an email that arrived on Friday at 18:01 is not late on Monday morning, because the clock only runs while you are open. And the deadline is fixed the moment the ticket is created, so it does not shift if someone edits the policy tomorrow.
How it works
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Write down what you promise
A policy says two things: first reply within, close within. If an urgent ticket deserves tighter times, you set them for that priority only. One policy is the default, the others are tied to categories: “Billing” can have different times from “Technical fault”.
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Say when you are open
Working hours, split if needed (9–13, 14–18), time zone and closing days. If you use Klokka, “Take from Klokka” fills everything in with the hours, holidays and closures you already set there, and you can adjust them: support may keep different hours from the office.
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Every ticket is born with its deadlines
As soon as a request arrives, kDesk writes on the ticket when the first reply is due and when it should be closed. In the list, the Deadline column shows the time left; when the reply goes out or the ticket is resolved, the countdown is replaced by the outcome: Met or Missed.
A promise written on the ticket, measured on your hours.
What you can do
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First reply and closure
Two separate times, because they are two different promises: letting the customer know someone is on it, and actually solving it. They are set in minutes, hours or days, and on the ticket they appear as “First reply by” and “Close by”, with date and time.
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Different times per priority
Low, Normal, High, Urgent: within the same policy you only fill in the exceptions. A system outage at Rossi & Partner marked Urgent gets its tight deadline, while a question about the price list stays on normal times.
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The clock follows your hours
With “Count working hours only”, time runs during the slots when you are open, in your time zone and accounting for daylight saving; nights, weekends and closing days do not count. For teams that guarantee round-the-clock service, the same policy can count all the time.
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Hours and closures from Klokka
“Take from Klokka” copies working hours, public holidays, the patron saint’s day and company closures in one click. With “Keep Klokka’s closing days in sync”, the December bridge day added in Klokka also applies to ticket deadlines without pressing anything again; closures written by hand in kDesk stay and are added on top.
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Deadlines that don’t change after the fact
The deadline is written when the ticket is created and stays as it is. If you change a policy, or delete it, it applies to new tickets: those already open keep the promise they were given. That way every ticket’s outcome is measured against the rules of the day it arrived.
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Time left, at a glance
The Deadline column shows the promise still in play: first the reply, then the closure. “2 h” or “45 min” turn amber under two hours and red with “overdue” once time is up. After that the outcome remains, Met or Missed, written once and never changed.
Frequently asked questions
Does kDesk alert me when a ticket is about to expire?
No, kDesk does not send alerts or hand the ticket to a manager when time runs out. The deadline is visible in the list and inside the ticket: amber under two hours, red once it has passed, then the outcome Met or Missed. Whoever plans the work in the morning looks at that column; for a ticket you care about in particular you can set a personal reminder.
Does the clock stop while we wait for the customer?
No. Deadlines are calculated when the ticket is created and do not depend on its later status: the only thing that stretches them is the time you are closed, if the policy counts working hours only. It is deliberate: the promise stays readable and the same for everyone, with no need to work out how many hours the ticket sat waiting.
When is a ticket marked “Met”?
The first reply is met if an agent’s first message to the customer goes out before the deadline; the closure, if the ticket moves to Resolved or Closed in time. The outcome is written only once: a second message does not change it, nor does the automatic closure that archives the ticket days later.
Do we have to use SLAs?
No. With no policy, tickets are created without deadlines and the Deadline column does not even appear in the list. You can also start with a single category, faults for instance, and leave the rest without promised times.
The other kDesk features
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Alex