Resolving tickets automatically using auto-close rules

Using auto-close rules, you can have Kayako Classic automatically email your customers if their ticket has been inactive for a certain length of time, and then automatically resolve the ticket if you still get no response. This means your team won't have to lift a finger to prompt customers who have fallen silent, or clear their tickets out of the queue, when that silence stretches too long.  

In this article, we'll walk you through how to auto-close rules work, and then walk you through how to set up auto-close for your own desk.

Understanding how auto-close rules work

You'll manage your auto-close rules from the 'Tickets' menu in the admin panel. When you create a new rule, you'll have the chance to define a few different criteria: 

• Resolved status – You can choose any 'resolved' ticket status – standard or custom – to move the tickets to, when the rule closes them.
• Inactivity threshold – This is the first of two time limits you'll set. If no update is made to a ticket in the number of hours you define here, Kayako Classic will automatically mark the ticket as inactive.
• Closure threshold – Once a ticket has been marked inactive, Kayako Classic will then start counting toward the closure threshold. When the ticket has stayed inactive for the number of hours you define here, the rule will set the ticket to the resolve status you've chosen.
• Notifications – You'll have the option to send customers an automatic email when either the inactivity or closure threshold has been met. You can also customize those messages by modifying the phrases for the auto-close notifications.
• Ticket criteria – You can also limit the scope of the auto-close rule according to tickets' attributes as well,  like department, type, status, etc. 

Overall, by defining a set of auto-close rules, you can tell Kayako Classic to send reminders about and set timers for any subset of your tickets, so your team doesn't have to manually chase down disengaged customers.

Now, let's have a look at the steps for creating a new auto-close rule.

Creating a new auto-close rule

You'll want to have a plan for which tickets you want to target with your rule, as well as the thresholds you want to set for inactivity and closure. Once you've got those in hand you're ready to dive into the instructions. 

NOTE: To manage auto-close rules in Kayako, you will need an administrator account with the 'Ticket auto-close rules' permission.

To add a new auto-close rule:

1. Sign into your admin control panel.
2. Under the 'Tickets' section, click the Auto-close link.
   
   
3. Here you'll see any rules your team has already configured and/or the default 'Close tickets after 5 days if we won't hear back from the customer' rule. Click the New button in the upper-right.
4. In the Rule title text box, enter a title for this auto-close rule.
5. From the Change status to drop-down, select either a default or custom 'resolved' status that  you want the rule to move tickets into when it's closed.
   NOTE: To check whether a status is 'resolved' or 'unresolved', go to Tickets > Statuses in the admin control panel and click a status to review its details.
6. In the Inactivity threshold box, specify the number hours after which Kayako Classic should mark the ticket as inactive. 
7. In the Closure threshold box, specify the number of hours after which the ticket should go to the resolved status.
   NOTE: These thresholds are calculated using calendar hours, not business hours.
8. If you want to send an email to the customer when their ticket hits the inactivity threshold, set the Send inactivity notification email option to 'Yes'.
9. If you want to send an email to tell the customer when their ticket is closed, set the Send final ticket closed notification email option to 'Yes'.
10. You can also tell Kayako Classic not to send a survey invitation for automatically closed tickets, by setting the Suppress customer survey email option to 'Yes'.
11. Set the Rule is enabled to 'Yes', to enable the rule when you save it.
    NOTE: You can always come back and change this later.
12. The Execution order field gives you the chance to tell Kayako Classic which order to execute your auto-close rules, in case you have more than one enabled. The smaller the number you select here, the higher priority it will take. 
13. Finally, in the last step, you can specify any criteria by which you want to limit the scope of your new rule. Kayako Classic will auto-close only tickets that match the criteria specified here.
    NOTE: If you use 'Ticket status' as a criteria, you'll need to select 'unresolved' statuses.
14. When you're done defining your criteria, click the Insert button in the top toolbar to save your new rule.

NOTE FOR DOWNLOAD CUSTOMERS: If you are using the self-hosted version of Kayako Classic, you'll need to set up an external cron on the server for auto-close. For help, have a look at our user guide article on setting up a server cron or scheduled task.