📑Request Properties

Requests on ClearFeed are queries from customers or internal users about a single topic that should be brought to closure.

• Put simply, every new thread on Slack channels from a requester is a new request on ClearFeed.

• Any new message that is part of the same thread is treated as a part of the same request.

In certain circumstances, we may group messages from new threads with previous requests. Expand this section to learn more.

• Messages by a user in rapid succession (Most common): We use a really small threshold (5 min) to club multiple messages by the same user into the same request.

  • Note: This is not applicable in cases where integrations with automatic ticketing are used.

• A message is a continuation of a previous one (e.g.: "absolutely!") that is merged into the previous request.

• A message that refers to a previous one (e.g.: "see above ^^") is merged into the previous request.

• A message is a reply to a previous one (e.g.: acknowledgments ("thanks!"), closures ("it's working now"), and answers ("Yes I have made that change") are merged into the previous request.

• Messages by different users in rapid succession where they have tagged each other (e.g.: U0: "Hi @u1"; U1: "Hi there!") are considered part of the same request

Request Properties

The following are the default properties of each request.

1. Author - The individual who initiates the Slack message is the author of the request.

2. Summary - AI-generated title summary for each request

3. Status - Each request can have one of six different statuses: Open, In Progress, Pending, On Hold, Solved, or Closed.

4. Assignee - Responders who have been assigned the request

5. Priority - Priority of the request.

6. Last Message Time - The timestamp of the last message was received on a request

7. Created Time - The timestamp of when the request was created

All these properties can be browsed and edited from the collection dashboard and views.

If a request is converted to a ClearFeed Ticket, the ticket shares the same request properties.

You can add more properties to a request by defining custom fields and linking them to a collection.

Request Statuses

ClearFeed supports six different statuses out of the box.

Status	Meaning
Open	Pending resonse from responders
In Progress	Has been responded by responders
Pending	Pending response from author
Solved	Resolved, but can be re-opened by requester msgs
Closed	Resolved and can't be re-opened by requester msgs
On Hold	Used when requests are converted to external tickets

There is no support for any custom statuses on ClearFeed yet.

Following are the automatic status transitions supported on ClearFeed.

1. Open:

   • When a new request is initiated by an author it has an Open status

   • A request stays in Open status until there is a response from the responder

   • If the request is in In-Progress, Pending, or Solve status, a reply from the requester or any non-responder on the same request moves the status to Open

     • Our AI can distinguish messages that signal "Thanks" or closure acknowledgments and doesn't move the status in those cases to Open

2. In Progress:

   • The request will move to In Progress status from Open status if there is a reply from the responder on the request

   • If the emoji rules are enabled for the collection and the responder adds an 👀 without any reply on the request thread, the status will move to In Progress

3. Pending:

   • Once a request is manually moved to Pending by a responder - any further response to the request from responders will keep the status as Pending.

4. On Hold:

   • If the request is converted to a Ticket using an integration (e.g. Zendesk), then the request will be moved to On Hold status

   • In case of On Hold status, any response from the responder will not move the ClearFeed status to Open

5. Solved:

   • If the emoji rules are enabled for the collection and if the responder adds a check-mark emoji on the request thread in Slack, then the request status will be moved to Solved

   • If a linked ticket to a request gets solved in the downstream system (e.g. Zendesk), ✅ is applied on the request thread and it will move the status of the request to Solved

6. Closed:

   • Once a request is moved to Closed , any message from the requester will not re-open the request and it will stay Closed

Each request on the Triage channel and web dashboard has a corresponding color associated with it based on the status.

Color associated with the status of the request.

Requests status can be manually changed on ClearFeed through a variety of methods:

• Using Emoji rules

• Using Edit button on the Triage channel

• From the ClearFeed Web app

Below is a short demonstration of how a request status is changed from the methods mentioned:

Updating Request statuses from ClearFeed web app and Slack

Request Priorities

ClearFeed Requests support four different priorities.

1. Urgent

2. High

3. Normal

4. Low

Request priority can be changed via the ClearFeed Web App or by using the Edit button on the Triage request message.

How does ClearFeed automatically assign priority to requests?

ClearFeed uses in-house AI systems to assign priority to requests, on the basis of keywords used. By default, all requests are classified as Normal priority.

If any request is created by end-customer containing any of the keywords below, used in a positive sense, the request priority will automatically be upgraded to High. The default keywords are:

• critical

• as soon as possible

• asap

• p0

• p1

• urgent

• blocker

• important

• immediate help

• priority

• hipri

• emergency

• immediate

• immediately

• urgency

Only if these keywords are used in a positive sense will this request be classified as a High priority. Please note that these keywords have to be used by a non-responder in any message in a request thread to automatically classify the request as High priority.

For Example: The request containing the text This is not an urgent bug will not be considered as High priority but, the request containing the text This is an urgent bug will be considered as a High priority.

These are the default keywords included, please contact us either via your Slack channel with ClearFeed or via [e-mail] to add keywords customized for your workflow.

FAQs

Why are my messages merged into a single request/ticket?

For external support use cases, we have a Collection level setting that merges consecutive direct messages on a channel by the same author if these messages are made within 5 minutes.

This is done to ensure unthreaded replies are also captured in the request. If you want to reduce this interval or turn it off (by setting it to 0) - you can do so by going to Advanced Collection Settings and changing the interval for the setting - CONSECUTIVE_MESSAGES_BY_SAME_AUTHOR_INTERVAL (set to 5 minutes by default for customer support use cases).

Why are multiple messages on a channel by the same author not being merged into a single ticket?

For Internal use cases, we treat each direct message on a channel as a new request - that in turn creates a fresh ticket. You can however merge these direct messages into a single ticket by specifying an interval in which these messages are sent.

If you want to increase this interval - you can do so by going to Advanced Collection Settings and changing the interval for the setting - CONSECUTIVE_MESSAGES_BY_SAME_AUTHOR_INTERVAL (set to 0 minutes by default for Internal support use cases).