SLAs -> Add holiday dates that recur each year (nor not)

[Matthew]

Hi Jamie, and thanks for answering.

Originally Posted by Jamie Edwards

Hi Matthew,

Weighing up the benefits of having this feature and the time needed to overhaul the current SLA system to include it, a lot of time would be wasted if we were to do that now, and then again for V4.

That may be so, but I would ask if the programming for v4 as regards SLA's is so much different from v3 that this would really be 'wasted' time. Could it not provide a very productive head start?

I would also suggest that we've read repeatedly on these forums that customers are more frustrated with long-standing bugs and (what are perceived to be) glaring omissions to current features which significantly impact their usability, than they are excited about the prospect of a new version with all of the inherent bug-bashing that will accompany that for many months after its release.

As one person stated elsewhere in these forums, without holiday schedules, practically any long-term report of SLA compliance, important in so many modern business environments, becomes meaningless. Do you dispute this assertion?

If it can't be disputed, and if there is a strong business case for delaying the implementation of such a feature, then perhaps it is a disservice to customers to assert that Kayako provides advanced SLA capabilities. Maybe it would be more genuine to not even mention SLA's in the main selling points, or to qualify these features as 'limited' rather than 'robust'.

Note to all concerned that I am not suggesting that Kayako does not offer many other fine features which can easily be argued as great value for the price of admission. That is not an issue. I am only arguing that an advertised feature should be made to work in the current version of the program, rather than in some future version with no announced release date.

[craigbrass]

V4 has been "branched" off from the current V3 so it would have to be implemented twice.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

V4 has been "branched" off from the current V3 so it would have to be implemented twice.

Branching does not mean it's a foregone conclusion that the work spent on making the SLA system 'robust' as advertised would be wasted, or that a holiday schedule system would have to be implemented twice without any duplication of the code base.

It could easily be a year or so before a v4 appears (some would estimate even longer), and only those who enjoy living on the edge are going to rush out and upgrade before another 3-12 months of bug-bashing has occurred. In the meantime, Kayako continues to claim a 'robust' SLA system. Yet, it is not particularly robust--unless maybe your help desk runs only on a 24/7/365 schedule. There are no holiday schedules, no SLA reports by department or user group (ack!), and a bug relating to private statuses not displaying in the client interface (for example) still persists unaddressed despite a promise 3 months ago that it would be 'fixed' in an 'upcoming' build.

(Jamie, my second ticket on the last issue continues to be ignored, by the way. Or perhaps it has been lost by Kayako's 'robust' SLA system?)

While acknowledging the complexities of programming, to the user SLAs in their current state are a simple system of expiration and escalation rules. The only thing that makes the system seem complex to the uninitiated is the horrid lack of explanation and examples in the official documentation.

Again, not knocking Kayako's many other excellent features, or overall value. But let's be honest here.

[craigbrass]

Well look at it this way, if Kayako implements it in V3, x amount of days will be taken away from V4 development delaying V4 even further.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

Well look at it this way, if Kayako implements it in V3, x amount of days will be taken away from V4 development delaying V4 even further.

Oh good lord Craig! How many people do you think are really concerned by that? Somebody take a poll of current Kayako customers! If the results show otherwise, I will happily stand down from this soapbox.

There is a larger issue at stake than my pet feature request. Ask how many people would prefer seeing the current system work as advertised, as opposed to how many are going to jump for joy when Kayako v4 is released in a usable build some 2 (?) years from now. I mean, aside from Kayako "Testers".

Kayako definitely has its followers, but it's also managed to collect a sizable number of vocal and articulate detractors. Over and over we read that bugs are taking too long to fix, support requests are 'lost', and certain key features are incompletely implemented, such that their usability is severely limited. SLA's and reporting are perhaps the most glaring of these.

This is a good product, but I would like to see it as a GREAT product, and have the sense that the company ethos was more loyal to the current customer base than to the future customers of v4. Then I could recommend it to my customers. Maintaining this kind of integrity is fully in Kayako's best interests, I'm sure they will agree.

Or maybe not, as Jamie has yet to respond.

[Jamie Edwards]

This request has been implemented and will be available in Version 4.

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by Jamie Edwards

This request has been implemented and will be available in Version 4.

Whoopee. We'll be looking forward to that in, what... 18 months?

Apologies for the sarcasm. Seriously, I'm sure it's a great piece of programming, like many things in Kayako. Nevertheless, some solution is needed for those of us stuck with v3 who really need those holidays.

Have any interim solutions (even kludgy ones) been considered by the developers? Maybe some kind of flat file, updated yearly, that would be checked whenever due times were updated?

If Kayako were unwilling to code this, at least the developers might give some insight into how it might be economically accomplished. So that perhaps some of us who really need this feature could band together and pay some php guru a modest sum to do it.

[craigbrass]

I doubt it will be that long. A lot of work has gone into it over the past 6-8 months...

[Matthew]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

I doubt it will be that long. A lot of work has gone into it over the past 6-8 months...

Then let's be more generous and say 12 months. Somebody please, help me contain my excitement.

And in the meantime, it would be great if someone in the know could try to answer the real questions. These one-liners are starting to get to me.

[Jamie Edwards]

Originally Posted by craigbrass

I doubt it will be that long. A lot of work has gone into it over the past 6-8 months...

Originally Posted by Matthew

Then let's be more generous and say 12 months. Somebody please, help me contain my excitement.

Please do not speculate; we really have no ETA for the delivery of Version 4 and won't for some time.

We are doing our best; we won't be rushing the end product, nor will we be taking so much time that V4 already becomes old before its time.

Thanks,

[joshuah]

good to see that this feature is going to be available in v4