Escalation Suspend

This feature not only makes OTRS an even better tool for solving problems quickly and shortening response times, it also provides greater precision when it comes to time accounting. If you need to pause an escalation, this feature will do the job perfectly. The feature allows you to configure one or more statuses that will put one or more escalations (SLAs) automatically on hold. For example, if you are waiting for a third party answer or for a process step to be carried out, this feature will give you more freedom by allowing you to stop the escalation countdown. Removing the state will then reactivate the escalation(s) automatically, and the time left to process the ticket will be displayed once again.

This configurable status is basically a pause function for escalations. The time that passes when the feature is active is not counted in the ticket’s resolution time. This provides greater time accounting precision.

To configure the states where the escalation is stopped:

1. Go to the System Configuration screen.

2. Search for the setting EscalationSuspendStates and enable it.

3. Review the states in the list.

4. If suspend escalation is needed for already escalated tickets, enable the SuspendEscalatedTickets setting.

When changing the state of the ticket to normal, the escalation will continue. In this case, it starts with the date when the status was changed, displaying the remaining time.

Therefore, the entire period when the ticket was not on a normal state is not counted for solution time. However, only periods when the ticket was in suspended states before first response is not counted for first response time.

There is a console command Maint::Ticket::RebuildEscalationIndexOnline handled by the OTRS daemon used for resetting the escalation times to the point it was suspended. This script is the one in charge to reset the escalation time to the point it was suspended.

To check if the script is running, execute the following command and find the RebuildEscalationIndexOnline task in the Recurrent cron tasks section.

otrs> /opt/otrs/bin/otrs.Console.pl Maint::Daemon::Summary

For this example escalations should be configured for at least one queue.

To test if the escalation suspend works as expected:

1. Go to one of the new ticket screens, and create a new ticket for one of the queues configured with escalation (for this example Escalation – first response time is OK).

2. Open the ticket detail view for the newly created ticket. Notice that the escalation is running.

3. Once the escalation is running, change the ticket state to one that has been configured in EscalationSuspendStates setting.

4. Go back to the ticket detail view for the suspended escalation ticket and verify that the escalation is not running.

5. Change the ticket state to one different from those configured on EscalationSuspendStates setting. The escalation continues.

There is a new filter Suspended Escalations for the ticket lists. Select the Remove tickets with suspended escalations checkbox to remove all tickets from the list that are in an escalation suspending state.

Several ticket list screens also provide a default filter preset called Escalation is not suspended, which applies the aforementioned filter.

A suspended escalation can be seen in the ticket list, if hovering on an entry within the column Escalation Time. In the ticket detail view of a suspended ticket, the suspension status is visible in a property card.