In most service desk software, support ticket classification exists primarily to classify tickets and issues in order to provide initial support. Initial support means proper analysis, evaluation and assignment. The issues behind the actual classification itself may experience problems in a typical help desk workflow. Typical classification schemes are often too complicated, or there are too many classifications that when you make your report, none of them are significant. Eventually, the number one categorization becomes “other,” and the classification actually drops.

Help desk needs a scheme that works, and the first question that needs to be answered is: what you are really trying to accomplish with the classification and how do you plan to use this data?

Many help desk organizations use a simple Category / Type classification. The problem here and in any other classification is that technical staff do not perform classification and initial support, but relatively non-technical service desk agents and contact persons.

The initial classification does not need to establish root case or predict technical resolutions but rather to enable initial support. Support ticket classification and categorization necessarily becomes more refined as the ticket progresses and more is learned via the investigation or diagnosis activities.

When a ticket is initially recorded, the best that the analyst can typically do is to identify the service. In a further ticket processing, there should be an additional classification tag where the root cause can be documented and subsequently recorded and reported.

Using this approach, HelpDeskSAAS (Help Desk Software-as-a-Service) has established a support ticket Tags feature, which allow to record classification for initial support, as well as additional classification that determine the root cause. Both classification tags can be added to support ticket in any ticket state, and can be used for help desk reporting purposes.