Customer Service Ticket Export (EDI)

Summary / Purpose

Use this article to automatically export Customer Service Ticket information from TransVirtual using EDI rules.

This guide explains how to notify customers or staff when tickets are created or updated, ensuring issues are communicated and tracked efficiently.

Overview

In TransVirtual, Customer Service tickets can be created for a consignment. These tickets raise issues to the attention of the relevant team so they can be resolved.

TransVirtual can export any created ticket information and send it to a location using EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) export rules. These exports use methods such as FTP and email to transmit the data out of TransVirtual.

This article details how to set up a common example: sending an email to a customer when a Customer Service Ticket has been raised for them. The customer service ticket page can be found under Import/Export > Data Export > Customer Service Tickets.

Tip: This article assumes an SMTP has already been set up so that outgoing emails from TransVirtual send via a chosen email address rather than a TransVirtual one. For information on setting this up, see the SMTP Servers section of the Global Setup article.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Create/Add Customer Service Ticket

Navigate to the customer service ticket page. The page looks like the image below.
To create a new export rule, on the Export Customer Service Ticket page, click New Rule. A pop-up titled Create a New Export Rule appears, as shown below.
Manually enter the rule and select the export framework using the drop-down button.
Rule Name: The name given to the EDI rule. The name should be reflective of what the rule does. For this example, the rule is named "Email to Customer on Ticket Creation".

Export Framework: The method by which TransVirtual exports the data this rule sends. This example uses Email.
Once the details have been filled in, click Create to add the EDI rule. The rule appears in the customer service ticket list in orange, indicating that it is currently inactive. Click the rule to display its details on the right side of the screen, as shown below.
On the rule details screen, scroll down to the Data Filter section and configure it. This data filter determines when the EDI rule applies and when it does not.
To apply logic to the Data Filter, select the field, logic, and value, then click Add Rule. The rule appears in the Data Filter screen, as shown below.

Note: This example selects System Event in the Select Field, Equal in Logic, and Ticket Opened in Select Value, as shown above.

Note: At present, the Data Filter applies this EDI rule to any consignments that have recently been created (opened). Additional logic can be added to this Data Filter to cover other scenarios, but for this example, it is left as is.
Once the Data Filter has been configured, configure the rule details as follows.
Rule Name: This field is already populated from when the rule was created. The Rule Name can be changed; it should be reflective of what the rule does. This example leaves it as is.

Trigger Period: How often the EDI rule runs. This can be changed to a set time of day or set intervals using the Settings button next to this field, as shown below.

Note: Changes to the trigger period setting can be applied here, but for this example, it is set to Every 2 Mins.

Export Framework: The method TransVirtual uses to export the information generated by this EDI rule. This example uses email. The email sent with the export can be customized using the Settings button next to this field. Once clicked, an Email Setting screen displays, as shown below.

Note: This example enables the toggle for Send to the Ticket Contact Email Address. Toggling this to Yes means the email sends to the address listed as the ticket contact:

Note: This example assumes an SMTP has already been set up so that outgoing emails are sent via a chosen email address rather than a TransVirtual one. Update the email settings as follows:

Email Account: This is important because when the ticket contact receives an email about a newly created ticket and responds to it, the reply goes back to the SMTP email address if one is set up. This is an important step in setting up this export rule. For this example, the Customer Service email address is used to send emails generated by this EDI rule.

Email To: This field should only be used for internal staff where possible. It is left blank for this example, since the export should only send to the Ticket Contact Email.

Email Subject: Used to set an email subject. For this example, the following is used:

Note: @Model.TicketNumber is a special coding function that automatically populates the ticket number. For this to work, the code must be spelt exactly as above.

Once details have been set up, go to the Email Body section by clicking the Body tab. The Email Body section displays as shown below.

In the email body, manually enter the content, then click Validate or Update as shown above.

Note: @Model.RelatedNumber is a special coding function that automatically populates the consignment number this ticket is related to. For this to work correctly, the code must be spelt exactly as above.

The following content can also be included in the email body:

Note: This is another special coding function that sends the user a URL they can use to add comments to their open ticket and view or track its progress. Not required, but may be useful.

Note: The Validate button at the bottom of this window gives a preview of what the email will look like. It also checks any coding entered and alerts if there are issues that require resolving.

Export File Type: Used to include attachments sent with the email. For this example, no attachments are sent, so None is selected. Click Update to save the changes.
To enable the rule, click the Enable Export toggle to Yes, then click Update as shown above. The rule now appears in white in the list, indicating that it is active, as shown below.
When a new Customer Service Ticket is opened (created), the email address listed as the ticket contact receives an email informing them that a new ticket has been created and for which consignment.

Example Setup - Ticket Comment

The above has detailed how to set up an EDI rule that emails a customer when a ticket has been created for them. There is also the option to create another EDI rule (from within the same page) that exports any comments made on a ticket to the relevant customer ticket contact.

The setup for this kind of EDI rule is largely the same as above, with a few minor differences. An example of how to set this type of rule up would be:

On the Export Customer Service Ticket page, click Create New Rule, then manually add a Rule Name and specify the Export Framework using the drop-down button.
Note: For this example, the rule is named "Email Ticket Comment to Customer" and the Export Framework is Email.
Go to the Data Filter section and enter the details in a similar way, as shown below.

Note: Select Note Type for the Select Field, Equal for Logic, and UserNotPublic in the Select Value section using the drop-down button, then click Add Rule. Adding this detail in the Data Filter means the export applies when a public comment is added to the ticket.

Note: Public comments are those that anyone with access to this ticket can see.
When adding comments, a setting can be toggled to hide comments from customers. To do this, go to the ticket and click Add Comment. A new ticket comment/note pop-up displays, where the customer-visible toggle can be enabled or disabled.
Once the Data Filter section is configured, click the settings for Export Framework and configure the email to send to the Customer Ticket Contact, as per the first example in this article.
Give the email an appropriate subject; the @Model.TicketNumber code can be added here. This means TransVirtual groups all responses in the same ticket thread, which appear together on the same ticket.
In the Email Body, use these three pieces of code:
@Model.TicketNumber: Automatically generates the ticket number.

@Model.RelatedNumber: Automatically generates the linked consignment number.

@Model.NewNoteComment: Automatically generates the comment text that has been added.
Once done, the email body appears similar to the screen below.

Important: The coding text must be spelt exactly as above for this to work properly.
Click Validate to preview the email and check for any coding errors.
Once the appropriate settings have been configured, enable the export rule toggle to activate it.
Note: This process works best with an SMTP set up - see the Overview section at the top of this article for more information.

Note: For further information on Customer Service Tickets, see the Customer Service Ticket article.

Extra Information

If a customer service ticket EDI export has been configured to send to a staff-allocated email address and the assigned staff member on a ticket does not have an email address listed against their staff card, the system instead sends the email to the address listed in the section below in the Global Setup page.

Tip: It is advisable that all staff members have an email attached to their staff card, as this helps with multiple functionalities across TransVirtual.
Whether a staff member has an email against their staff card can be checked by going to Transport > Configuration and Setup > Card Files, then clicking the Staff (User) tab, as shown below.