Question
When making Explore queries I've noticed that there are multiple different metrics about tickets that are solved. What is the difference between solved tickets and tickets solved? Will these metrics show the same numbers or not?
Answer
Solved tickets
The solved tickets metric can be found in the Tickets dataset. This metric will tell you the number of tickets that are currently in a Solved status in your account (or in a certain group, or under a certain assignee or whichever other attribute or filter you've used to design your query).
For example, by using the solved tickets metric with the assignee name attribute, you can see a snapshot of the number of tickets that are currently in a Solved status organized by what agent those tickets are currently assigned to. But, as soon as one of those tickets switches back to Pending or Open it will no longer show in the report. (With a delay of course due to the time it takes data to sync to Explore. Learn more about that here: How frequently does my Zendesk data sync to Explore?)
Tickets solved
The tickets solved metric can be found both in the Tickets dataset and the Ticket updates dataset. This metric will tell you the number of tickets that have changed from a different status to a Solved status or a Closed status at any point. (This metric does make sure to exclude tickets moving from a Solved status to a Closed status so as not to double count tickets. See the calculation below for more detail.)
In the Ticket updates dataset, the data this metric shows will be dependent on how you use it. For example you can use it along with the ticket group attribute to see how many tickets were moved to a Solved or Closed status by each of your agent groups (regardless of what status those tickets are in now).
In the Tickets dataset, the metrics each specify the timeframe themselves. For example Tickets solved - last 7 days. To see a list of the tickets solved metrics in the Tickets dataset, visit this anchor link and scroll up a bit: Ticket dataset.
A note on time
Generally when using a time axis (like ticket solved date), you can use the Tickets dataset (with the solved tickets metric) and you will see the tickets that were solved on the given day. So, there is no need to switch over to the Ticket Updates dataset to try and get day by day information on what tickets were moved to a solved status.
This is where a third one of our datasets comes into the mix: the Backlog dataset. If you do in fact want to see a snapshot of how many tickets were in a solved status on any given day, you can use the Backlog dataset to do that. Learn more about that unique dataset here: Analyzing your ticket backlog history with Explore.
8 Comments
Hi Elissa
How can you add Assignee together with the Tickets Solved metric if the Assignee is not existing as an attribute in the Ticket Update dataset?
Hello Violeta Micu
Very good point! I'm so sorry for the mistake! I've updated the article now to show a realistic example where "ticket group" is used, which is actually an attribute in the ticket updates dataset!
Sorry again for the mistake and thanks so much for helping me get that corrected!
Thank you Elissa
Now can you confirm that "But, as soon as one of those tickets switches to Closed it will no longer show in the report." in The Tickets Dataset? I am seeing different behaviour. Closed tickets are also shown in Tickets Dataset when you use Solved Tickets Metric.
Thank you,
Hello Violeta Micu
Thank you again. Wow I'm very sorry about this! You are correct that I explained that poorly. The Solved Tickets metric includes both "solved" and "closed" tickets. So really a better way to explain the functionality would be to say "But, as soon as one of those tickets switches back to Pending or Open, it will no longer show in the report".
I've updated that as well and am going to review this whole article once again to try and make sure there are no other oversights. Please do let me know if you find anything else that is inaccurate or out of place.
Hello Elissa,
I am trying to find the best way to quantify the amount of work done by an agent during a given date range. I had always relied on the COUNT(Solved Tickets) metric but after reading your article, I am not so sure. Hopefully, you can help me better understand the data that we are reporting.
According to the definition of Solved Tickets being the number of solved tickets assigned to an account (group or agent), wouldn't many of the tickets show in the report for each day they remain in solved status until they are closed?
For example, ticket# 1234 is solved on Monday and it shows in the report for Solved Tickets for that date. On Tuesday, that same ticket remains in Solved status. Would it show in the reporting data for Tuesday, even though it was moved to Solved status on Monday?
If this is the case, it appears that using Tickets Solved would be a better metric to show the amount of work being done by a group or agent for a given date. Is this correct?
Thank you.
Hello Rodger Bradford,
I'm glad this article was able to shed a bit of light and help you reorganize your report. It does sound like you are on the right track!
What I like to do when creating new reports, is to take some time look at what tickets are making up each column in my report. This helps me double check and validate that the data is showing what I think it should be. The way I like to do this is to use the decompose feature, with the Ticket ID metric. For example, if I have a column chart, showing #tickets solved by date, I will click on the column that shows 5 tickets for a certain date, and select decompose and select Ticket ID. Like this:
So the decompose feature shows you the ticket IDs that make up that set of data, and you can check to see if those tickets were in fact moved to a solved status on that date.
Just another quick note on your particular report setup:
Time is kinda tricky/different. Generally when using a time X axis, you can use the Tickets dataset (with solved tickets) and you will see the tickets that were solved on the given day. So no need to switch over to the Ticket Updates dataset to try and get day by day information on what tickets were moved to a solved status.
This is where a third one of our datasets comes into the mix: the Backlog dataset. If you do in fact want to see a snapshot of how many tickets were in a solved status on any given day, you can use the Backlog dataset to do that. Learn more about that unique dataset here: Analyzing your ticket backlog history with Explore.
I hope that helps!
Hello Elissa,
Similar to Rodger's question, I am trying to find the best way to quantify the amount of work done by an agent during a given date range. I am using the tickets solved metric but in reading your article, I'm not sure it will give me the true number of ticket solved events.
For example, if a ticket is solved multiple times by multiple assignees, would the solved ticket metric only use the most current solved date? If a ticket is solved on Monday by Assignee A, reopened and solved again on Tuesday by Assignee B, reopened and solved again on Friday by Assignee C, would the solved ticket event only show on Friday by Assignee C? If I pull a report on Saturday, Is there a way to get all solved Ticket events for single/unique Ticket? Thanks!
Hi Rayann Quirk, if you use the 'Tickets solved' metric within the Ticket Updates dataset you should be able to see what you need. A ticket that's been updated to 'solved' on three separate occasions would show a 3 for that metric.
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