Use the Time Tracking app to monitor how much time agents spend on tickets. Once you've set up the app, see Using the Time Tracking app to learn how to use it.
If you're looking for help using Zendesk Explore to generate reports about your time tracking, see Time Tracking app: metrics you need to be measuring.
Important considerations
- When the installation is complete, the Time Tracking app automatically creates two custom ticket fields to store time: Time spent last update and Total time spent. These fields need to be added to your ticket forms. See Understanding Time Tracking custom ticket fields.
- The Time spent last update and Total time spent fields are hidden from agents in roles with permission to use the app. If you use several apps, there might be a slight delay when loading the app in the Apps panel, briefly exposing these fields.
- The Time spent last update and Total time spent fields can be updated via the API. In very rare cases, agents have used this to modify time in these fields.
- When managing tickets in bulk, changes made to the Time spent last update and Total time spent fields in the bulk editor aren't recorded.
- If an agent quickly updates and submits a ticket (manually or via a macro) before the Time Tracking app can fully load in the Apps panel, it could result in time not being recorded.
- Agents can find ways to skip the app's loading process and its normal functions. There have been cases where agents have leveraged the limitations of the app to manipulate the times on tickets.
- The Time Tracking app doesn't work outside of a ticket in areas such as side conversations, the bulk ticket editor, and the Zendesk Support mobile app.
- If you uninstall the app, recorded time values on a ticket will no longer be visible in Zendesk Support, even if you reinstall the app.
Installing and configuring the Time Tracking app
You can download and install the Time Tracking app from the Zendesk Marketplace. With this app, you can track how much time agents spend working on tickets. Light agents can't use this app.
To install the Time Tracking app
- In Admin Center, click
Apps and integrations in the sidebar, then select Apps > Channel apps.
- Click Zendesk Marketplace.
- Find the Time Tracking app, then click the title.
- On the app details page, click Install.
- From the drop-down, choose the account you want to install the app to, then click Install.
- On the app settings page, configure any settings you want, as described below. You can
return to this settings page at any time by clicking Apps > Manage >
Time Tracking:
- Title: Displays the name of the app. You can edit this to be any name you want.
-
Display timelogs to agents: Determines if agents can see a log of time spent
on that ticket so far, including the agent and status for each time interval.
- Hide the app from agents: Only displays the app to agents with the admin role. If the app is hidden, agents without the admin role cannot see or edit the timer.
-
Auto pause: Automatically pauses the timer when the agent navigates away from
the ticket, such as by switching to another ticket tab. The timer resumes
automatically when the agent navigates back to the ticket.Note: Auto pause will not occur when an agent's workstation is inactive or when they navigate to a different browser tab. This setting is specifically configured for switching between ticket tabs within Zendesk.
- Display timer controls: Determines whether agents see the play and pause buttons next to the timer, allowing them to manually control when the timer starts and stops.
- Reset current time: Determines whether agents can see the refresh button next to the timer, allowing them to start the timer over.
- Resume on changes: When changes are made to any fields, the agent will be asked if the timer should be resumed.
-
Edit time submission: When you enable this setting, the window below appears
when an agent submits a ticket. Agents can review and edit the time they spent on a
ticket if, for example, they spent significant time discussing the issue with a
colleague outside of Zendesk.
With this feature enabled, agents are required to confirm their time in order to submit the ticket. They have 15 seconds from when the window opens to cancel.
- Simplified time submission: Enables agents to edit and submit their time spent in minutes, rather than hours, minutes, and seconds. For example, with this setting enabled, an agent could enter "5" for five minutes. Without this setting enabled, the agent must enter it in the format "00:05:00". This setting only applies if you've also enabled the Edit time submission setting.
-
Enable role restrictions: Select which roles can use the Time Tracking app.
The app will not appear and will not track time for roles you don't select if you have
this setting enabled. Note: If you enable role restrictions, roles without access to the app will see the custom fields the app creates in their tickets. By design, roles with access to the app won't see the custom fields. For details, see Understanding Time Tracking custom ticket fields.
- Enable group restrictions: Enables you to select which groups have access to the app.
- Block large time spent submissions: Blocks submission of a ticket if an agent is trying to submit a ticket with a time spent value greater than two weeks.
When you've finished configuring settings, click Install.
- If your Zendesk plan includes multiple ticket forms, you must update all your forms to include two new custom ticket fields created by Time Tracking. For details, see Understanding Time Tracking custom ticket fields.
Understanding Time Tracking custom ticket fields
Installing Time Tracking automatically creates two custom ticket fields: Time spent last
update and Total time spent. To view the fields, in Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
By design, agents with access to the app won't see the custom fields on their tickets. If you enable role restrictions, roles that don't have access to the app will see the custom fields on their tickets.
If your Zendesk plan includes multiple ticket forms, you must manually move the new fields to all your ticket forms. If you don't add the new fields to all your ticket forms, you will receive an error message. See Time Tracking app error message.
To add the custom fields to your ticket forms
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Forms.
- Click the name of a ticket form to open it.
- Drag the Time spent last update and Total time spent fields from the list
on the right onto your ticket form.
For more information, see Creating multiple ticket forms.
39 comments
Kristen
@... or @...
Hi Jessie and Dennis! I was under the impression that the time log would stamp regardless of if the agent has submitted the ticket (bottom right hand corner). From playing around with this, it seems like the time is only stamped when it is submitted. Is this correct and part of the intentional design?
Is there anywhere we can see the raw tracking regardless of if an agent submits it? Is there anywhere we can see the date of when the agent was on the ticket?
Thank you!
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Keiko I.
Hi Kristen,
Yes, the time tracking app does work based off submission so if an agent does not update the ticket it does not track their time.
Thanks,
Keiko Ishida | Technical Support Engineer - Tier 2
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Florian Hendrickx
Hi,
Can someone clarify a few things for me.
This has been running for some time and i'm trying to understand the data:
1) Auto pause is enabled so does this mean that the time spent i'm seeing is only when the ticket was the active tab in a browser window? Imagine a user has two active windows on 2 screens and the windows have with multiple tab, but the active tab in one of the windows is the ticket. And the active tab in the other windows is a totally different domain/software. Is it counting?
2) What happens if i turn off auto pause ? Will it be counting any open tab with a ticket?
3) What is total time spent since last update? Does this mean that the agent has not submitted but is logging time? To monitor if they're updating? Or does this mean like client-facing updates?
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Marco
Hi Florian,
Thanks for reaching out to us regarding this.
If the ticket is still the active tab in the window, the time would still continue running. Though I do understand what you're saying since you have another screen. When the article about the time tracking app mentioned that it pauses when switching to another tab, it meant the ticket tabs within Zendesk when you are working on multiple tickets at the same time, and not the browser tabs. Sorry for the confusion here.
If auto-pause is turned off, then yes. As long as a ticket is opened by an agent, even if it is not the active tab it will continue running. So for example you opened ticket 1, then opened ticket 2 and worked on it for 15 minutes, then went back to ticket 1 to work on it for another 15 minutes, then ticket 1 would show 30 minutes since it was open though it was in an inactive tab.
Total time since last update starts from when the last update was submitted, instead of when the ticket was opened by an agent.
Hope this answered all your questions!
Cheers!
Marco M. | Zendesk Support
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Derek Rhodes
I tried this app out in my organization. Had to uninstall as the requirement to have the two custom fields on each and every ticket form does not suit our environment.
Use Case:
We have 3 separate departments (or Groups) that utilize Zendesk as a ticketing system, each with their own ticket forms applicable to the type of requests they receive. We only want to use the time tracking app in one of those Groups and have it only be visible to agents in that Group.
Setting up the app, we had added the two time tracking custom fields to each ticket form in our Zendesk environment and had configured the app to only be accessible to one Group. With that said, it works for the one Group that has access however the other Groups see the two custom fields on the agent view.
Seems like an all-or-nothing type of solution.
1
Fabian Krenz
Dear Zendesk Support,
we're currently setting up the Time Tracking app and would like to know, if there is any possibility to delete particular times out of the tracking app?!
Following use case: an agent is typing the wrong time by accident, and would like to correct this time. Once a time is set, there seems to be no chance to delete the wrong time? A small button for each time would be great. Maybe make this as as option which can be activated in the settings... this small function would be important to us.
Many thanks,
Fabian
1
Timothy Hanchard
Thanks for reaching out to Zendesk. At the moment, I believe this isn't possible but I'm confirming that on my end.
Best regards,
Tim
0
Dana Barker
We have found that if you add the negative number that reflects the time you want to remove, it will deduct from the overall time. Not sure if that helps at all but thought I would share!
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Povilas Kaminskas
Hello,
does anybody know if there are any tools to analyze this log data - how much time agents spent on all tickets per day. what type of tickets took most time. and etc.
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Matthew Roark
Unfortunately, Dana Barker's previous suggestion is no longer a viable workaround; I'm unable to submit a negative time as it throws an error: "Invalid time format, expected HH:mm:ss". Administrators and agents alike need a way to modify timings if this is not available otherwise (which I'd prefer there to be an actual implementation vs a workaround).
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Dave Dyson
Welcome to the community! For better visibility to our product team, would you mind posting your feedback to our Feedback - Platform: Apps & Integrations community topic, using this Template? That way other users can upvote your idea and add their own comments to it. Thanks!
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Dave Dyson
I think we had some issues with our chatbot this morning - can you give it another try when you get a chance?
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Kirsten Penaloza
Hi, fyi, the link above under "Time Tracking app error message" gives a "oops - The page you were looking for doesn't exist" result.
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Brett Bowser
Thanks for sharing this with us! This is the correct link to the article: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4411267942810-Time-Tracking-app-error-message
I'll let our documentation team know that this article needs to be updated.
Cheers!
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Qin Brian
We have installed time tracking and activated both fields, but there was no data to show.
Can Zendesk help?
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Dane
Hi Qin,
I have created a ticket for you to investigate on this behavior. Please wait for my update via email.
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Permanently deleted user
Derek Rhodes Perhaps trying using form conditions to 'hide' these fields as often as possible? Simply add a condition to the other 2 forms that the time-tracking fields should only appear when making a different selection (choose the least-used ticket field) and then the other 2 groups will rarely see the time-tracking fields.
Of course, this isn't a total solution but it might be somewhat helpful.
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Michael Bui
The time tracking app used to work on the Zendesk mobile app but not longer appears to be visible in it, nor can your record the time spent.
Is time tracking still available for the Zendesk mobile app?
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Allen Lai | Head of CX at Otter.ai
Occasionally, agents forget that they have the ticket open and will respond to it several hours later. This of course skews our reporting. Is there a way to edit the agent submissions? Or add some kind of logic that if an update submission exceeds X minutes, to use the average instead? Thanks!
1
Salim Cheurfi
The agent time entered can be edited by the agent when the time is submitted, after this step you can as well edit the time by submitting negative time updates to a ticket via the Time Tracking app
More information in our article : Can I subtract time from the Time Tracking app?
I hope this helps,
Best,
0
mfg
I would like for our Team Lead and Admin roles to have visibility into the ticket fields when looking at individual tickets. I'd like to hide the app and fields from standard agents.
If I enable group-based restrictions rather than role-based restrictions, will groups without access see the fields?
If I don't enable either role- or group-based restrictions, does that mean nobody would see the fields?
0
Shaz Usman
We're not able to see the timelogs any more. The tickets state "No timelogs to display" and the time tracking continues to add to the overall time only.
Tried disabling/enabling the "Display timelogs to agents" setting in the app and also uninstalling/reinstalling but same behavior.
Any suggestions on what we can try?
0
Elaine
Hi mfg,
I would like to ask for further details as to what you're trying to achieve in setting up the Time Tracking app.
I'm going to create a ticket on your behalf and let's continue from there. Kindly look out for an email notification. For now, keep safe! :)
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Elaine
Hi Shaz,
I think it is best if I create a ticket on your behalf to further understand what issue you're currently experiencing regarding the Time Tracking app.
Kindly wait for an email notification regarding this ticket. For now, stay safe! :)
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Shaz Usman
Elaine,
It looks like it started working again. We're able to see each individuals time on the timelogs section in each ticket now so we're good.
0
Permanently deleted user
Is it possible to consolidate the times per agent?
For e.g. instead of having 5 entries for agent A, 3 for agent B, 7 for agent C, the consolidated log would show one entry of cumulative time for agent A, one entry for agent B, and one for C?
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Allen Lai | Head of CX at Otter.ai
Is it possible to add some intelligence to know when an agent has gone idle and automatically pause the timer? I understand the agent may navigate away from a ticket to try and reproduce the issue or perform additional research, but we're constantly running into issues where an agent opened a ticket, walked away from their computer, come back to the ticket 30 minutes later, and forget to refresh their browser.
Time Doctor has this feature and is very helpful.
0
CCal
Hi,
Using PUT request, Is it possible to pass new values to the "Time spent last update (sec)" field?
I tried using a PUT request with the appropriate "id" and "value" as described here :Creating and updating tickets | Zendesk Developer Docs
But I do not see the time updated in the ticket when refreshing the ticket page.
However, when I run a GET request on the ticket, I can see that the new value is there.
I thought this might be a refresh issue, so I went to the ticket on the browser and manually updated the ticket, but alas, I cannot see the value i passed in the PUT request.
So, is it even possible to pass values via PUT requests?
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Molly Katolas
Heyya friends - we usually work with multiple screens and browsers with multiple tabs. If an agent opens a ticket and keeps the browser tab open but with another application overtop the Zendesk UI, will the timer keep running? It sounds like it will, but looking for confirmation.
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Chris Wooten
Molly Katolas as long as the ticket you are on stays open the time will still be counting. You should be able to test this.
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