Zendesk for Outage Management?

Potentially I think I'd do this with just macros for certain types of issues. Then use a trigger/target that notifies a mailing list for each type.
I don't think you can pre specify recipients, and you probably wouldn't want them on the same ticket as they may notify each other etc if they reply.
Using a target to a mailing list, if they reply, the replies will be private notes.
Just initial thoughts.
Can you explain your idea in more depth, how the workflow would go, and how many recipients etc.

Thanks for your reply @...

The workflow would be along the lines of...

a. Scheduled outage becomes necessary.

b. Plan the schedule change / risk assess / change management etc. All the usual stuff that takes place.

c. For Job management and notifications, we would like to have pre-formatted templates which relate to each known outage type that we may have. For example, if we take a server or a NAS offline, we knows it will affect a series of drive maps (which relates to the user), E.g Z: drive may relate to a certain user base, Y: Drive might relate to another user base.

By having these templates for outages set up, there is less likelihood of the administrator forgetting to advise a certain user group of an outage which affects their applicable system. The template would serve as a checklist of sorts, for the administrator to communicate the outage to the applicable stakeholder groups but also to check / monitor each system as it is restored.

I do like the idea of comments coming in as private comments rather than going to all.

As we learn about the additional steps or notifications we need to apply as outages occur, we can maintain the templates / keep them up to date.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks again.

I'm thinking that step a and b are not envisioned in Zendesk, though there could be some ways to use it for the process record.
Just starting simply. This is my idea for a notification and feedback ticket...
1. Create macro that makes private comment with all required/potential parameters for your first issue/outage type. Ensure it sets a tag like outage_issuetype.
Your agent planning the outage opens a new ticket and applies the macro, then uses this as a template to check and record details/requirements.
Create a target (suggested name - public notify issuetype) that either a) emails a small list of recipients, or b) emails a distribution list managed elsewhere that includes the many recipients (need to check that reply to is not mucked up)
Create a trigger that fires when a first public comment is made on a ticket with the outage_issuetype tag, and notifies the target.
Your first public comment on the ticket will therefore send the notification to all recipients. Since they are not actually present on the ticket, they will be flagged and a private comment results)
Create this setup for each type.

You may want to consider some safeguards to prevent/manage accidental agent replies either on the ticket or if they are recipients.

You could alternatively have the distribution as the ticket requester, but test this. This would possibly eliminate the need for the trigger/target, but could be a problem if someone tries to reset a password or make a manual ticket using that email. 😔

The requester could be a specific person who needs to monitor such things, the agent themselves, or the agent could be the requester and another person handling the work be the assignee.

Any of that help?

Yep, that is along the lines of what I have just implemented. Thanks so much! Very helpful.