This assignment was part of the hiring process at Tracxn. The problem statement was designing an effective customer ticketing system. The detailed problem statement is shared below- You are the Head of the Customer Support department for a B2B company providing research services. Your team acts as the primary point of contact for all customer queries and is responsible for resolving them. Each customer query is treated as a ticket and the system to resolve these tickets is being referred to as the ticketing system. You are required to design this ticketing system.

1. Tracxn Assignment
Name: Biswadeep Ghosh Hazra
Email ID: biswadeep93@gmail.com
Phone Number(s): +91 9051707408 (WhatsApp) / +91 8777723269
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biswadeep-ghosh-hazra/

2. Problem statement-
You are the Head of the Customer Support department for a B2B company providing research services. Your team
acts as the primary point of contact for all customer queries and is responsible for resolving them. Each customer
query is treated as a ticket and the system to resolve these tickets is being referred to as the ticketing system. You
are required to design this ticketing system.
Key Pointers-
All queries are received at a common support ID and customers are expected to send their queries from their
registered email IDs only.
• Here are a few example queries for your reference:
o Please provide me with the list of the top 5 investors in the E-Commerce Sector in India and the top
companies they have invested in.
o I cannot download the report on the Blockchain Sector from your platform. Could you please help me with
that?
o My account status is inactive even though we have processed the payment. Can you please help?
• Depending on the query, it can either be resolved by the customer support department itself or can be raised to
any other relevant department.
• Org structure of the Customer Support team is as follows - There are Executives, who report to Managers, who in
turn report to an AVP.
Problem statement and key pointers

3. Specific deliverables
A: Case Study
1. Please design the Blueprint (i.e. top-level block diagram) of this ticketing system.
2. How can we distribute the tickets received among the Executives for resolution? What are the different options
and what is your recommendation?
3. An Executive had received a query with incomplete information and had replied to the customer seeking the
missing information. However, the customer is not replying on email or any other medium. What should the
Executive do? What are the different options and what is your recommendation?
4. Please suggest top MIS reports that you would monitor to ensure that the designed ticketing system is working
properly.

4. Top-level block diagram (Question-1)

5. Recommendation for ticket distribution (Question-2)
The tickets can be distributed amongst the various executives in the following manner-
1. Round-robin assignment: This will ensure that all tickets are uniformly distributed amongst all executives ensuring
they all receive an equal number of tickets over time. However, this does not take into consideration the
complexity of each ticket leading to uneven resolution times.
2. Skill-based assignment: Tickets are routed to pre-determined executives depending on their skill set. This ensures
the best possible resolution time but it will take extra effort from the company to define and maintain said
employee skill, leading to extra costs and also might lead to uneven workload distribution.
3. Priority-based assignment: Depending on priority, the tickets are assigned to executives, with higher-priority
tickets being assigned first. This requires a proper definition of priority levels and also might lead to neglecting
lower-priority tickets.
4. Random assignment: This randomly assigns tickets to executives without any clear agenda or criteria. This is a
bad choice as it will drastically reduce the ticket-resolving rate which will lead to negative customer experience.
5. Hybrid assignment: This method takes into consideration two or three elements above and combines them to
get the best possible results. For example, a hybrid assignment method might initially assign tickets to executives
on a round-robin or priority basis and then go for a skills-based re-routing wherein executives can assign tickets
amongst themselves basis their overall skill set. This might require both manual and automated interventions.
I will suggest a hybrid assignment method to get the best results. Along with this, there has to be a manager’s
oversight to ensure the best possible outcomes. This approach will lead to better KPIs (higher tickets handled per
hour, better CSAT & NPS, lower call abandonment rate to name a few).

6. Customer reach out (Question-3)
The following flow should be undertaken in case the customer is not replying via any medium-
1. Follow-up email: Sending a polite follow-up email asking the customer for the pending information and the
importance of that information to resolve the pending ticket. However, this might not guarantee a response.
Another follow-up email (at least 24 hours after the first one) should be sent to elicit a response from the customer.
2. Alternative communication channels: The next step would be to try alternative communication channels the
details of which, the customer might have provided. This includes phone number(s) (try to contact the customer
within an acceptable time range, for example between 11 AM to 6 PM), social media channels such as
WhatsApp and Telegram, or a web form through the ticketing system.
3. Internal escalations: Depending on the priority of the ticket, the executive should then escalate the issue to a
manager and seek guidance on how to best solve the open ticket item. This ensures that the higher management
team is involved and up to date on the issue.
4. Provide alternative solutions basis the information available: The team can provide alternative solutions (if
possible) depending upon the information available to them. This will showcase proactive customer engagement
and also prompt the customer to share the missing information. However, this might not be possible most of the
time as the missing information might be crucial to understanding the problem.
5. Document the communication attempts and close the ticket: Should all avenues of communication be
extinguished, then it is crucial to document all instances of customer reach out along with necessary action taken.
Additionally, for all future use cases similar to this, there should be a resolution deadline (for example: 3 to 5
business days) to ensure rapid ticket closure. This will ensure other tickets get the required priority they deserve.

7. Top-level MIS report (Question-4)
The top Management Information System (MIS) reports required to be monitored to ensure that the designed ticketing
system is working properly are-
1. Ticket resolution time and volume: Tracking the number of tickets received over time (daily, weekly, monthly,
quarterly and annually) to identify seasonality, peak periods of inquiries, potential bottlenecks in resources and
self-service improvements. Metrics- Average Tickets Received per Day/Week/Month, Average Resolution Time,
First Contact Resolution Rate (percentage of tickets resolved on initial contact).
2. Customer Satisfaction: One of the most important metrics, if not the most. This can be tracked through periodic
surveys and feedback forms embedded in the system. Metrics- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) based on
surveys.
3. SLA (Service Level Agreement) Compliance report: Tracks the percentage of tickets resolved within the defined
service level agreement (SLA) timeframe. Ensures that customer queries are resolved promptly according to
standards set out by the company. Metrics- Percentage of Tickets Resolved Within SLA.
4. Agent performance: This evaluates the performance of each support executive to identify top and bottom
performers respectively and also sets out an average benchmark for everyone to adhere to. Metrics- Average
Tickets Resolved per Agent, Average Customer Satisfaction Rating per Agent, Average Handle Time (AHT).
5. Knowledge base reports: This is also important to identify gaps in self-service options and identify and update the
base with frequently asked questions (FAQs) which directly impact the important client-related KPIs (CSAT and
NPS). Metrics- Number of Knowledge Base Article Views, Number of Resolved Tickets Through Knowledge Base
Self-Service.

8. THANK YOU FOR THE
OPPORTUNITY!