Tickets -> Notes Tickets -> Notes -> Inline ticket notes

[Jamie Edwards]

Hi Giray,

3.5 may never see the light of day - development is moving so quickly on Version 4 that it has been removed (for now) from schedule, as the first alpha release of Version 4 is close enough (Update: This is no longer the case).

3.1 will be maintained with upcoming stable releases. However, there will not be many major feature changes added (albeit small functionality ones).

[Brent]

Ouch - so this Notes option will be availble possibly when?

This is a MASSIVE need item for us...

Also please add the ability to include attachments with those notes (that the end user cannot see) and the ability to send those notes to many staff members at once and I would be a very happy camper...

[Giray]

For me the biggest problem with Kayako has been the tease factor. It's great to communicate with the outside but offers just enough internal communications tools to make us want to use it as an internal project manager. And yet, those tools are simply insufficient. The inline notes issue is the main one. Another one I find would be great is the ability to attach progress notes to tasks. If you use the tasks, as we do, to track project progress, there is not convenient way for staff to add comments. Anyway, back to inline notes. Hope it does, indeed, happen sooner rather than later.

[mboehm]

casting my vote for this. JIRA currently offers a way to make ANY post/reply to a ticket as private (not visible to customer), public (everyone) or viewable to only a certain group.

[Giray]

Any updates on notes + 3.5 or 4.0 ? I would love confirmation that internal notes -- within the ticket thread as opposed to above it -- are still on the 3.5 or 4.0 roadmap.

Also, can one expect this to happen in Q3/2007, Q4/2007 or into 2008?

[russmichaels]

optional.

if the note is general about the customer, i would not want to appear inline withthe ticket, otherwise other staff will not see it unless they rea dthe whole ticket.

[Giray]

Originally Posted by russmichaels

optional.

if the note is general about the customer, i would not want to appear inline withthe ticket, otherwise other staff will not see it unless they rea dthe whole ticket.

Good point. Indeed, it would make total sense that user notes stay on top, always!

[PeteV]

Yes, the current Notes set-up is a major disadvantage for Kayako, since it is quite difficult to follow communication threads this way. Ouch.

It seems like Kayako is putting a bit too much in V4 perhaps, at the expense of V3? I am starting to get that impression. Users don't like to wait too long for fairly minor upgrades (like this one, as stated earlier by Kayako), just because a really major upgrade is in the far horizon. A balance between the smaller and the larger upgrades is important. Please do not wear the users' patience thin! Can't wait for V4, though!

[Jamie Edwards]

Hi Pete,

In-line tickets wouldn't be a minor feature addition; it would be a very major one (a completely new notes system). There is a lot of functionality we would like to look at adding to V3 before we looked at this (the notes system is functional, but for some users missing this in-line feature).

[Giray]

Originally Posted by Jamie Edwards

Hi Pete,

In-line tickets wouldn't be a minor feature addition; it would be a very major one (a completely new notes system). There is a lot of functionality we would like to look at adding to V3 before we looked at this (the notes system is functional, but for some users missing this in-line feature).

I guess it's a matter of analysis perspective. In my books, the ability to dialogue amongst ourselves (staff) as we tackle and external issue, is a major issue. Response to a problem is linear, one event following the next whilst simultaneously being horizontal inasmuch as it can involve more than two staff members. There is no way to handle this effectively in Kayako negating the very foundations of customer support. Translated into English, this is not a minor or extravagant ask, this is a major problem in day to day operations. We are regularly missing eachother's notes. To not do so, one would have to constantly read all the notes and see if any are in a relevant time frame. This is unworkable.

Anyway, if I read correctly, this feature is way off for now which, trust me, probably disappoints many of us. If you think about workflow, you'll quickly realise that keeping notes out of the linear flow is counterproductive. Shame.

[PeteV]

Jamie,

this is a quote from an earlier post to this thread:

>>>>>>>>>>
Added to TODO for v3.1, Its not that tough to do. We will have an option that will allow you to toggle how you want notes displayed.

Regards,

Varun Shoor
<<<<<<<<<<

I would not even begin to imagine how easy or difficult is would be to add inline notes. But was Varun talking about something else, or was he wrong at the time?

And yes, this is a major issue.

While some bugs/features are merely nice add-ons or conveniences, some are fundamental to handling customer support issues. This is another one, in our opinion anyway.

[Jamie Edwards]

Hi Pete and Giray,

I will run this by Varun again and see whether it can be realistically targeted for V3.

[PeteV]

Jamie,

thanks.

When you talk to Varun, perhaps explore two different avenues:

1) Modifying Notes, to make them inline and more like Replies (e.g., with attachments). That indeed sounds like an undertaking.

2) Modifying Replies, so that they have the option of being sent to Users & Staff, or only to Staff. This is how other customer support software handles this. This does not sound too difficult (to an outsider).

I hope that this works out for V3!

[Giray]

Originally Posted by Jamie Edwards

Hi Pete and Giray,

I will run this by Varun again and see whether it can be realistically targeted for V3.

Thank you for your efforts.

[PeteV]

See also Separate To: and CC: in e-mail for an idea that would potentially make this much easier to implement.