Any Ideas How to Use Outlook as a Ticketing System and Export to Other DB (Excel Probably)

cplan079 · #1 11-04-2016, 08:35 AM

Hi There,

I'm looking to see if anybody has any ideas about an hugely inefficient process I'm currently using at work but can't seem to find my way out of. Sorry - I know it's long but want you all to have all the info.

The Current Situation:

1. A small team of 7 receives work requests via email (through a group email in MS Outlook 2013).

2. Each request is "assigned" to one particular member of the group so that they can complete the request.

3. I log the date, time, type, and requestor, name (think case files on people) in an Excel 2010 Spreadsheet.

4. I write the information on a sheet of paper *cringe* and the team member takes the sheet, lets me know verbally which case they have and starts working on it. I record who I assigned the case to in my spreadsheet.

5. After the team member finishes their case they reply to the requestor via email and on the sheet of paper they took when they were assigned the case they fill in the case number they created, completion time, and two different stats (Y/N) answers.

6. The team member gives me the sheet back and takes another one, beginning steps 5 and 6 all over again.

7. I track the information the team member provided in the spreadsheet to ensure every request is completed. For reference we do about 100 requests per day.

The Problems:

Where to start…

Writing those slips of paper takes so much time and then when I get them back they pile up and then it takes another good chunk of time to track them. We are in a time sensitive environment so we don't have the option of leaving certain cases till tomorrow, etc… so we need to be as fast as possible.

Recording the "case" information in the spreadsheet is also extremely time consuming but I have to run stats on the types of cases, the efficiency of my team, trends, etc… so I have to put all that information in there somehow.

I'm losing my mind reading everyone's writing and all the tiny numbers - I worry not all the numbers I'm transcribing are 100% accurate.

The Positive Parts:

I hate having to write out the information on slips of paper but it ensures that the workflow stays consistent if I have to leave my desk or delegate assignment to other team members.

Things to Work Around:

· I am not (and never will be) an administrator on my work network and the likliehood of being able to install external software is nearly non-existent.

· I do not have access to (haha) MS Access which I believe could solve a lot of my issues. I've requested access to the program but it sounds like IT will not be willing to give it to me - sad.

· The case information my team works with is extremely confidential so I must keep everything safe and secure on our network (once again, I thought Google Sheets could help because many people can edit at the same time but IT will not support client names on Google Sheets and fair enough!)

· My Excel sheet is Formatted as a Table so that I can run stats on the table rather than individual cells). I'm open to changing that if there's a way to get similar functionality but for now it seems the best option even though I believe it means I can't "share" the sheet with others.

My Vision:

· A shared document edited in real-time that is easily and simultaneously accessible to members of my team and hard to "break" (they kill my conditional formatting daily…

· Ability for my team members to assign cases to themselves and input their completed case numbers and relevant statistical info into the spreadsheet themselves

· I need to be able to run simple statistics on the information I collect (IE: How many cases did Sarah do in February vs how many did Bob do, How many ____ type requests did we get in February and is it more or less than January… etc…) nothing super complicated but still need to be able to manipulate the data. Also I secretly timestamp the time when I assign the case to someone and the time they finish it to identify potential performance issues (I feel guilty about it but it's a must) so if there was a way to silently keep track of assignment time and completion time that would be excellent.

· If there was a way to automatically export emails from Outlook into the database (whatever it is - doesn't have to be Excel) that would be AMAZING. I know I can do this with Access :-(

· Side note - I do have access to Lotus notes but I'm finding it a bit confusing to work with - if it's a good option please let me know and I'll get up to speed

· Another side note - basically what I'm looking to do is implement a ticketing system without installing a ticketing system. I know there is external software that could easily do this (Spiceworks, etc…) but I won't get the approval to implement that as I'm actually just an Administrative Team Lead not a manager, etc…

Thanks for the ideas and I know I sound a little bit like a flake but I'm not so even if your idea is complicated please let me know and I promise I'll be so grateful. I'm not precise in my language / terminology but am able to absorb new information and computer related concepts quickly so just bring it on and I'll make it work. Please let me know if there are any questions and I'll be happy to answer them.

Thanks so much!

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