Reply Approvals
The Reply Approvals extension for KB Support allows you to add an approval process to ticket replies that are authored by selected support agents.
With this extension, admins can define which of their agents need to have ticket replies approved, and which agents are able to approve the replies. Such a workflow can be very useful within support environments such as those who have trainee support workers working on live tickets, or where products or services you support are complex and a four eyesprinciple is needed to ensure consistency and accuracy within replies.
When an agent creates a ticket reply, if approval is required, the reply will not be made visible to the customer until it has been granted. All other actions associated with creating a reply, such as sending an email notification to the customer, are also stopped.
Agents defined as approvers, can receive email notifications that replies awaiting approval are pending and additionally, a notification will be displayed within the WordPress admin screen. This notification also includes a link to the ticket screen where tickets with replies waiting for approval will be listed.
When accessing a ticket that includes a reply pending approval, that reply will be displayed within the Reply to Ticket metabox. It will include an icon that makes it clear that it is awaiting approval.
The reply will include two new action links which are visible to agents who can approve the reply.
Approving Replies
An agent who is defined as being able to approve replies, can click the Approve action link and instantly approve the reply. Once approved, the events that normally take place when a reply is created, such as sending an email notification to the customer, are triggered resulting in the reply becoming visible to the customer.
Declining Replies
In order to decline a reply, the reply must be visible on the screen. Agents who can approve replies should click to view it and then, if they wish to decline, they can click the Declineaction link.
Clicking this link will reveal a new field where the agent must enter their reason for not approving the reply. Once done, the agent clicks the decline button and the reply will be removed from the ticket having never reached the customer.
At this point, it is possible for KBS to automatically send notification to the agent who authored the reply and advise them that it was not approved. Three additional template tags are available within the content of this notification;
{declined_by}
Inserts the name of the agent who declined the reply{declined_reply_reason}
Inserts the reason specified for not approving the reply{declined_reply_content}
Inserts the content of the reply that was declined