The Advanced Rule feature of Next Ticket for ConnectWise Manage lets you create custom rules for ticket prioritization when the preset priority rules do not meet business requirements. Configuring this feature helps ensure the top tickets in the queue are the most critical tasks, and ticket prioritization remains aligned with your goals.
This article lists the Advanced Rule categories and field names to help you refine and create custom prioritization rules. It also provides common use cases to help identify the fields for your needs.
Prerequisites
Users with the admin role can create, activate, edit, and delete advanced rules.
Ticket Rules
| Field Name | Definition | Use Case |
| Actual Hours | You can use Actual Hours to prioritize tickets based on the amount of time already logged in the ticket. |
Tickets that have consumed a significant amount of technician time remains unresolved could indicate a complex issue requiring immediate attention. Prioritizing tickets based on Actual Hours ensures this kind of tickets are prioritized.
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| Agreement | The Agreement field allows you to prioritize tickets tied to certain agreement types or clients with specific service level agreements (SLAs). |
You can give more priority points to tickets from clients with premium or urgent service agreements. Prioritizing tickets based on Agreement helps ensure high-value clients get quicker resolutions.
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| Allow all clients to view this ticket in the Customer Portal | This field assigns higher priority points to tickets submitted through the customer portal, which often represent direct and client-initiated requests. |
To improve customer satisfaction, you can use this filter to assign higher priority points to client-initiated requests logged via the customer portal. This ensures quick responses to tickets from clients who have taken active steps to reach out and resolve their issues.
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| Assignee's Attendance Status | The Assignee's Attendance Status considers the availability of resources in prioritizing tickets for assignment and resolution. This field is tied to the assignee's attendance status in the Attendance Manager app. |
You can set higher priority for the tickets that are assigned to a technician that is on leave or has not logged in for the day. This helps ensure that tickets are always addressed on time and SLA breaches are prevented.
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| Board | The Board field helps you create priority rules based on the impact, status, or urgency of service boards used by teams, departments, or organizations. |
Some service boards might deal with critical infrastructure or key business systems, while others handle lower-priority requests. You can use the Board field to ensure tickets related to essential services are prioritized over routine issues.
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Budget Hours
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You can use Budget Hours to prioritize tickets that are nearing or exceeding their budgeted hours. |
You can assign higher priority points to tickets where the budgeted hours are almost exhausted (e.g., 80% or more) and assign even higher points if the hours are fully consumed. This helps prevent tickets from going over budget, allowing technicians to address them before additional charges accumulate.
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| Customer Has Updated | The Customer Has Updated field indicates that the customer has recently updated the tickets. |
You can use the Customer Has Updated field to prioritize tickets that have been recently updated by a customer, signaling new information or escalated urgency. This field reflects that the client is awaiting further action, and responding quickly can prevent dissatisfaction.
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| Date Entered | The Date Entered field is the timestamp indicating when the support ticket was initially created or logged into the system. |
You can select the Date Entered field to incorporate SLAs, follow a First-Come-First-Serve basis, and set correct customer expectations for ticket prioritization.
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| Department |
The Department field indicates the department where the ticket originated from. |
You can add priority points to tickets filed by departments relating to high-value clients, activities with potential impact on business, or expertise on certain subject matter.
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| Department Identifier | The Department Identifier field contains a label that specifies which department or team within an organization should handle a particular support ticket. |
You can use this field to prioritize tickets assigned to particular departments to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of issue resolution within an organization. For example, some departments, like sales or customer support, may have a more direct impact on revenue and customer satisfaction. Issues in these departments might be prioritized higher to ensure minimal disruption to critical business functions.
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| Duration | The Duration field looks into the estimated or expected time to resolve a particular ticket or issue. |
You can prioritize tickets with a shorter duration time, especially if they represent critical issues or significant impact on business or customers.
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| Entered By | The Entered By field refers to the technician who created or entered the ticket into the system. It allows ticket prioritization based on the technician who created the ticket. |
Tickets entered by specific roles or users might require higher priority. For instance, if a service manager or executive enters a ticket, it may be more urgent than those entered by general users. Assign higher points to tickets created by certain individuals (e.g., service managers, directors) to ensure these tickets are prioritized.
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| Estimated Start Date |
The Estimated Start Date field indicates the anticipated date and time when work on a particular ticket or service request is expected to begin.
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Using this field allows you to add priority points to tickets with an earlier estimated start date and deduct priority points from those with a later date. |
| Has Child Ticket | The Has Child Ticket field indicates whether a particular ticket has any associated child tickets. |
Use this field to add or remove priority points to tickets with more dependencies or sub-tasks to be completed before the overall issue gets resolved.
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| Has Merged Child Ticket |
The Has Merged Child Ticket field indicates whether a ticket has one or more child tickets that have been merged into it.
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Merged tickets can become complex and difficult to resolve. You can use this field to identify and focus on merged tickets needing attention.
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| Hours of last schedule |
The Hours of Last Schedule Ticket field represents the number of hours logged on the most recent scheduled ticket for a specific task or project. |
You can use this field to identify and add points to tickets with the most time spent on the last activity or to tickets scheduled for a particular issue or client. This ensures accurate billing and time management for service tasks.
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| Impact | The Impact field helps to categorize and prioritize tickets based on their significance and effect on the business or end-users. |
You can use this field to add priority points to high-impact issues that typically need to be addressed more urgently, and deduct points from low-impact ones.
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| Is Approved |
The Is Approved field indicates whether a specific ticket or request has been reviewed and authorized by the appropriate personnel.
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Tickets with approved actions, decisions, or features in related tickets may require immediate attention and thus need more prioritization.
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| Is Closed | The Is Closed field refers to the status of a ticket indicating if it has been resolved or completed. |
Deprioritize closed tickets to keep the focus on open issues. Assign high negative points (or filter out tickets through the NT Filter) where the Is Closed flag is true. This helps ensure closed tickets are not prioritized, keeping the ticket queue clean and focused on unresolved issues.
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| Is in SLA |
The Is in SLA field indicates whether a ticket is within the parameters defined by the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for response and resolution times.
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You can use this field to prioritize tickets that are close to breaching SLA, ensuring prompt action and preventing SLA violations. |
| Item | The Item field indicates the specific product or service associated with a ticket. |
You can use this field to add priority points to tickets on specific items like hardware, software, services, or any products or services your company supports.
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| Last Time Entry |
The Last Time Entry field has the most recent time entry associated with a particular ticket and is updated each time a technician logs time spent working on the ticket.
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Use this field to prioritize tickets with the earliest last time entry, ensuring all open tickets are actively worked on and none is overlooked. |
| Last Updated |
The Last Updated field indicates the most recent date and time when changes were made to the ticket.
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Use this field to prioritize tickets that have not been updated for a long time. |
| Location |
The Location field shows the specific physical or organizational site where the issue or request originated or where the service needs to be delivered.
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You can use the Location field when the physical location of an issue or the location of the requester impacts the ticket's urgency or importance. |
| Owner | The Owner field shows individual assigned to handle the specific issue or task described in the ticket. |
When tickets are assigned according to specialization, you can use the Owner field to adjust ticket prioritization based on skill sets or specialization.
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| Owner Identifier | The Owner Identifier field stores the ID or name of the person assigned to the ticket. |
You can use this field to leverage individual and team strengths to manage workloads effectively. For example, assigning lower-priority tickets to less experienced team members for training while reserving high-priority tickets for more experienced owners ensures that service quality is maintained while fostering growth.
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| Priority | The Priority field indicated the urgency or importance of a ticket. |
You can select the Priority field to add more priority points to high-priority tickets and decrease the priority points for low-priority tickets.
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| Record Type | The Record Type category contains the various record types in the system. |
You can use this field to streamline workflows by ensuring prioritized tickets are routed to the teams assigned to specific record types.
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| Required Date | The Required Date field contains the date when the ticket is expected to be resolved or completed. |
You can use the Required Date field to create rules that will prioritize tickets with earlier dates to ensure urgent matters are addressed promptly, minimizing potential disruptions or losses.
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| Resolve Minutes | The Resolve Minutes field indicates the amount of time it takes to fully resolve a ticket. | You can use this field to prioritize tickets that are estimated to be resolved quickly, allowing for efficient handling of easier tasks. Setting higher priority points for tickets with a low estimated resolution time, like 30 minutes or less, allows faster completion of quick-win tasks. You can also deprioritize tickets with extremely long resolve times if they don’t align with immediate business goals. |
| Resolve Plan Minutes | The Resolve Plan Minutes is the estimated amount of time it will take to resolve a ticket or complete a task. | You can use the Resolve Plan Minutes field to prioritize and quickly resolve tickets with shorter estimated resolve plan minutes and lower impact on backlog or service levels. |
| Resources |
The Resources field contains the users or team assigned to the ticket.
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Using the Resources field in your advanced rule matches tickets to individuals with the most suitable skills. When tickets are assigned to people with the right expertise, tickets are resolved faster and more accurately.
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| Respond Minutes |
The Respond Minutes field refers to the total elapsed time (in minutes) between ticket creation or last update and response time.
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You can use this field to prioritize response time and ensure high-severity issues are acknowledged and acted on immediately. |
| Send Notes as Email To Contact | The Send Notes as Email To Contact field identifies tickets with technician or user notes sent to clients. |
You can use this field to prioritize tickets with notes as emails to contacts because these can include details about the urgency or priority level of the ticket, which can help provide additional context for prioritization.
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| Send Notes as EmailCc |
The Send Notes as EmailCc field identifies tickets with additional recipients who should receive email notifications about the ticket updates.
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You can prioritize tickets with contacts in the CC field because these can include details about an escalated ticket's urgency or priority level and help provide additional context for prioritization.
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| Send Notes as EmailTo Resources |
The Send Notes as EmailTo Resources field identifies tickets with notes sent to specific persons and resources specified in the field.
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You can use this field to prioritize tickets with notes as emails to specialized functions, specific departments, or key contacts which may entail higher urgency or prioritization.
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| Service Location | The Service Location field specifies the physical location where the service is being delivered or where the issue occurs. |
You can use this field to prioritize tickets in critical locations (like data centers and headquarters), remote or hard-to-reach areas, and high-impact areas where strategic importance, logistics challenges, and possible disruption to operations are important.
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| Severity | The Severity field indicates the criticality or urgency of an issue reported in a support ticket. |
Use this field to prioritize tickets based on the impact of the issue on the business. urgency of the ticket.
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| SLA |
The SLA field indicates target metrics like first response time, resolution time, and overall service quality.
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You can add more points to tickets according to identified SLAs to uphold agreements and maintain the expected level of service.
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| Source | The Source field indicates the origin or entry point of the ticket. |
You can add more points to tickets submitted by high-value clients, dedicated escalation channels, automated monitoring tools, or other sources that may indicate ticket importance and urgency.
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| Start Date | The Start Date field has the date and time when work on the ticket is scheduled to begin. |
You can use this field to add priority points to tickets that give importance to SLA compliance, time-critical issues, and interdependent tasks.
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| Status |
The Status field indicates the current state or phase of a ticket within the system.
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Ticket statuses like "blocked" and "on hold" can be prioritized to avoid delays. "Critical," "high-priority," or "escalated" statuses need higher priority for faster resolution. Moreover, "new" or "open" statuses can be assigned to team members with available capacity to ensure efficient resource utilization.
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| Subtype |
The Subtype field provides more specific categorization of a ticket within a broader type.
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Subtypes give a clearer picture of the ticket's issue, allowing for more precise prioritization. For example, under the category of "software bugs," subtypes like "login issues," "data corruption," or "performance lag" help identify the exact nature of the problem and prioritize the ticket.
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| Summary | The Summary field briefly describes the issue, request, or task that the ticket addresses. |
Prioritize based on key phrases or keywords within the ticket summary (e.g., "outage," "escalation,"). Assign specific points to tickets that contain critical terms such as "urgent," "down," or "critical." This can help ensure that tickets with significant operational impact receive attention immediately.
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| Team |
The Team field is used to categorize and assign tickets to specific groups of users or departments within the organization.
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You can add more priority points to route the ticket to the appropriate team based on the ticket's relevance to their knowledge and experience, resulting in more efficient issue resolution.
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| Type |
The Type field categorizes and specifies the nature of the ticket. Example: Ticket types like critical bugs, changes, incident, security risk, or service requests may indicate the need for higher prioritization.
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Certain ticket types might be more time-sensitive or critical for business operations. For example, incident tickets that impact a large number of users could be more urgent than routine service requests. These configurations can help your clients streamline ticket prioritization by focusing on the most urgent tasks based on who submitted the ticket and the nature of the ticket itself. |
| Updated By |
The Updated By field indicates the user or system entity that last modified or updated the ticket.
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You can add priority points to tickets updated by subject matter experts or managers to leverage expertise and close tickets faster.
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Company Rules
| Field Name |
Definition |
Use Case |
| Address Line |
The Address Line field shows the physical address of a company. |
You can use this field to identify and prioritize tickets filed by companies in critical or VIP locations and facilities. You can also use this to prioritize tickets based on proximity to your office location. This ensures that technicians that need to go onsite can attend to tickets that are closer, reducing travel time and optimizing their schedule.
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| City |
The City field provides the city name where the ticket originated. |
You can use this to prioritize tickets based on the city the client is located in. This could be useful for MSPs offering location-specific SLAs or where certain cities are given higher priority due to proximity or logistical reasons.
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| Company |
The Company field refers to the organization or client the ticket is associated with.
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This field can prioritize tickets filed by companies in critical industries (e.g., healthcare and finance), with faster or more strict SLAs, or with larger organizations. This prioritization helps ensure customer satisfaction and service reliability.
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| Company Identifier |
The Company Identifier field contains unique acronyms or codes that help categorize and quickly identify companies. |
This field is useful if you want to prioritize tickets based on the nature and category represented by the identifier. For example, you can prioritize tickets based on client tier identifiers like PLAT-001 for Platinum Tier Client and GOLD-002 for Gold Tier Client.
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| Company Type |
The Company Type field indicates the types of companies categorized based on criteria like importance, size, or service agreements.
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To help prioritize tickets, you can map this field to categories, SLAs, or workflow triggers. For example, "Enterprise" as a company type could mean the ticket requires faster response and resolution.
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| Contact ID |
The Contact ID field identifies the specific person or role associated with the ticket. |
You can link other fields to the Contact ID field to indicate priority. For instance, you can identify another field like Business Impact Level which gets populated based on the Contact ID and thus influences the ticket’s priority.
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| Contact Name |
The Contact Name field identifies the individual who reported the issue or is the main point of contact for the specific issue tracked by the ticket. |
Understanding the role or influence of the contact can help gauge potential business impact, identify the ticket's urgency, and increase prioritization to prevent disruptions and improve customer satisfaction. |
| Contact Phone Number |
The Contact Phone Number field identifies the phone number associated with a contact or client who submitted a ticket or requested a service.
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When a client calls in to request service, their phone number is logged in the ticket for reference and follow-up. The ticket can be assigned more priority points if the number is associated with a high-priority client.
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| Contact Type |
The Contact Type field shows the categories and the role or relationship of a contact with the company, e.g., clients, vendors, partners, or internal team members. |
You can tag clients with contractual commitments or stricter SLAs "important" and set their contact type accordingly. For example, if a ticket's contact is tagged as "important," it will be given more priority points.
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| Country |
The Country field indicates the country associated with a ticket's contact, company, or location. |
You can use this field to add priority points to high-value regions, countries with compliance and regulatory requirements, and areas requiring time zone considerations. For instance, tickets from countries with large client bases or critical projects can be prioritized for quicker resolution.
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| Is In Watchlist |
The Is In Watchlist field indicates tickets that require immediate or special attention. |
If a company or contact is in the watchlist, their tickets can be automatically prioritized to ensure issues are resolved promptly.
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| Site |
The Site field identifies the specific location or branch of the client company where the issue or request originated. |
This field is useful in prioritizing clients with multiple locations or different operational priorities based on site. For instance, you can prioritize tickets from a specific company if the site is the "Main Office".
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| Zip |
The Zip field shows the customer's postal code or the location associated with a service request.
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The zip code can be used similarly to the address and city fields to prioritize tickets based on location. This can help prioritize tickets for technicians that are within their designated areas or service agreements tied to specific areas.
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Agreement Rules
| Field Name | Definition | Use Case |
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Agreement Name |
The Agreement Name field identifies and associates specific service agreements with predefined levels of support or service obligations to determine ticket prioritization. |
An agreement tagged as "Platinum Support Plan" may entail 24/7 support with a 1-hour response time and 4-hour resolution time for critical issues.
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| Agreement Start Date | The Agreement Start Date indicates when a service agreement with a client began. It is useful for creating custom workflows or rules that prioritize tickets based on the length of time a client has been under an agreement. |
MSPs can prioritize tickets from clients whose Agreement Start Date is nearing a one-year mark (or renewal window) to provide extra support and prevent dissatisfaction that could lead to non-renewal. |
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Agreement Type |
The Agreement Type field indicates the type of service contract or agreement that an MSP has with a client. |
A client on a managed services "Gold" agreement may have 24/7 support, faster response times (e.g., within 1 hour), and a high priority for all submitted tickets.
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| Automatically Generate | The Automatically Generate field identifies tickets that are automatically created based on certain conditions or schedules |
For recurring tasks or issues (e.g., server health checks, backups, or patch management), the Automatically Generate field can ensure that tickets are generated at regular intervals with the correct priority, ensuring the team addresses SLA requirements proactively.
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| Invoices | The Invoices field shows financial information related to a client’s service agreements, billing history, and outstanding payments. |
If a client has multiple overdue invoices or a significant outstanding balance, you can choose to deprioritize non-critical support tickets until the payment issue is resolved.
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| Bill to Company | The Bill to Company field identifies the company responsible for paying the bill associated with a service provided by the MSP. |
Tickets from companies listed under premium agreements (e.g., gold or platinum support plans) or high-paying clients can be given higher priority. For example, a "Gold Support Plan" client who consistently brings in substantial revenue might get faster response times than a client with a basic support agreement.
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| Billing Contact | The Billing Contact field identifies the individual or department responsible for handling financial or billing matters related to a service agreement with the client. It indirectly helps MSPs prioritize tickets by highlighting issues that could have significant financial or contractual implications. |
Knowing the Billing Contact can help MSPs identify and assess the financial importance and value of the client, which could influence prioritization decisions, especially if the client contributes significantly to the MSP’s revenue. If the Billing Contact is associated with a high-value client, issues raised by the client may receive higher priority.
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| Invoicing Cycle | The Invoicing Cycle field determines how often a client is billed for services under an agreement (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annually). |
Use the Invoicing Cycle to prioritize tickets based on agreement value, frequency of service, or client expectations tied to the billing schedule.
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| Is Cancelled | The Is Cancelled field indicates whether a service ticket has been cancelled. |
By marking a ticket as cancelled, it can be excluded from active queues, ensuring that only valid, open tickets are prioritized for resolution.
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Finance Rules
| Field | Name Definition | Use Case |
| Billing Method | The Billing Method field defines how a ticket or service is charged to a client, such as Credit Card or ACH. |
Tickets tied to more urgent or profitable billing methods might need quicker resolutions to ensure proper billing cycles or client satisfaction.
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| Currency | The Currency Field shows the medium of exchange used by the client for MSPbots transactions. |
Clients billed in USD, EUR, or GBP may receive faster service due to their higher contribution to company revenue, influencing how resources are allocated when multiple tickets arise.
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| Est. Expense Cost |
The Est. Expense Cost field shows the projected cost of expenses associated with resolving a service ticket.
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Tickets involving software license renewals or upgrades that have a significant associated cost might be prioritized to ensure continued service, preventing service disruptions for the client.
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| Est. Expense Rev | The Est. Expense Revenue indicates the estimated revenue that will be generated from billable expenses incurred during the completion of a service ticket. |
You can use this field to identify and prioritize tickets with higher potential revenue,
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| Est. Product Cost | The Est. Product Cost field shows the estimated cost entailed with resolving a service ticket. |
For example, a ticket requires purchasing 100 new licenses with an estimated cost of $5,000.
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| Est. Product Rev | The Est. Product Revenue field is the estimated revenue tied to a product or service associated with a particular service ticket. |
You can use this field to identify tickets renewing high-value managed services contract or subscriptions. Prioritizing these tickets helps complete renewals promptly to secure recurring revenue stream.
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Est. Time Cost |
The Est. Time Cost field shows the estimated time required to complete a specific task or ticket. |
When prioritizing tickets on routine maintenance, you can identify tickets with a high estimated time cost but low urgency and scheduling work on these during non-peak hours or deferring to balance the technician workload.
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| Est. Time Rev | The Est. Time Rev field shows the estimated revenue a ticket will generate based on the expected time to complete the task. This field helps MSPs prioritize tickets by aligning resource allocation with potential revenue impact, allowing teams to focus on more profitable or critical tasks. | A ticket for a large project or long-term engagement might have a high estimated time revenue, reflecting the number of billable hours needed. These tickets can be prioritized over smaller tasks that yield lower revenue, ensuring important projects stay on track. |
NT Requestor Rules
| Field Name | Definition | Use Case |
| Company Team Role |
The Company Team Role shows the specific roles assigned to team members within a client company. Each role may correspond to a different level of access, specialization, or priority within that company’s support structure.
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Tickets can be prioritized based on the role of the team member assigned to the company, such as a primary account manager or lead technician. Prioritizing based on role ensures that key personnel can address issues efficiently.
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| RequestTime |
The value in the RequestTime field is the time when the technician requested the next ticket, which is when they sent the nt command or opened the Next Ticket app.
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You can use the RequestTime field to determine the client's business hours. More priority points may be given to tickets requested during business hours and less points for those requested during out of business or off-peak hours.
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| Skill |
The Skill field indicates the skills of technicians or teams according to their expertise.
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For efficient time allocation and to accelerate resolution, you can tag tickets with specific skill requirements and prioritize by automatically assigning them to technicians with matching expertise. For example, a complex server issue might require an advanced networking skill and higher priority, whereas a password reset could be assigned to a junior technician and low priority.
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| Skill Level | The Skill Level field gives an idea on the level of knowledge required by an issue or ticket. |
To give higher prioritization, you can assign tickets to technicians adept on the issue. This also helps prevent delays due to skill mismatches. Skilled technicians can communicate more effectively about specific or complex issues, helping clients understand the process, expediting resolution, and reinforcing trust.
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| User |
The User field identifies the technician that is currently requesting for the next ticket. |
You can apply this with other conditions to prioritize tickets that match the technician requesting the next ticket. When the other fields are not sufficient for your requirement, you can add a User field to indicate Service History or Previous Ticket Count to identify recurring issues for a particular client. If the User field indicates a history of repeated issues, these tickets can be prioritized to address root causes, improving client satisfaction and reducing long-term ticket volume.
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| User Groups |
The User Group condition identifies the group of the technician currently requesting a ticket. For this to function, the user group must be specified in the User Management section of Next Ticket.
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You can apply this with other conditions to prioritize tickets that match the user group the technician is a part of. To help MSPs allocate the appropriate level of support and prioritization, you can use the User Groups field to identify high-volume clients or strategic accounts which might need dedicated support teams or senior technicians assigned to their tickets.
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| Work Role | The Work Role field has the role needed for each task. |
Work Role allows tickets to be prioritized based on the type of work required. For instance, roles like Onsite Technician or Remote Support can influence ticket handling based on the nature of the work and availability.
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User-Defined Fields
| Field Name | Definition | Use Case |
| Additional Checkbox* | The User-Defined Fields (UDFs) are pre-configured rules for specialized, business-specific ticketing and prioritization requirements. You can use these fields when the existing rules cannot address unique requirements. *These fields are also available as filter options when adjusting your tickets filter settings. |
You can create a UDF "Revenue Impact" on each ticket, allowing technicians to prioritize issues that affect high-revenue clients or critical infrastructure, ensuring high-impact issues are addressed first.
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| Additional Date* | ||
| Additional Hyperlink* | ||
| Additional Number* | ||
| Additional Percent* | ||
| Additional Text* | ||
| Additional Text Area* |
vow company custom fields