Restrict items to company within queue?

[SeanKilleen]

Hi all,

First time user, in the process of configuring OTRS as a proof of concept for my company -- please be gentle. I'm working with OTRS on demand (easiest to get up & running / demonstrate concepts to the higher-ups). If all goes well, we'd be implementing OTRS on our servers (or potentially even utilizing OTRS on demand if the client is willing to finance the cost).

Background:

The system we have in mind is a system for supporting vendor invoicing tracking with a client. The idea is that vendors (as customers) submit tickets to the OTRS queue for "vendor requests" and we as the service provider work with them to fulfill those requests on behalf of the client. The client requires visibility into all the tickets, but the vendors should only see their own company's tickets. There are over 200 vendors, some with multiple representatives for each company.

Vision for Implementation:

Based on my (limited) knowledge of OTRS, what I'm envisioning is a queue for vendor management (invoicing tickets -- used by the vendor and us, but the client can view and change priority) and a queue for vendor administration (adding/removing vendors and reps -- the client makes requests and we fulfill them within OTRS by managing companies and customer users).

Question / Explanation:

Can I only have one queue for all vendor companies and yet restrict vendors to seeing only their own company's tickets? If not, does this mean I would have to create a queue for every vendor? Obviously I'd like to avoid a queue for every vendor as it would become a lot to manage, and at the same time I'd like to allow vendors visibility into their own tickets.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

--
Sean

[crythias]

Can I only have one queue for all vendor companies and yet restrict vendors to seeing only their own company's tickets?

Yes. "My Tickets" is per user and "Company Tickets" is per CustomerID

[SeanKilleen]

Thank you for the quick reply!

A follow-up question. You mention that

"Company Tickets" is per CustomerID

However, is this a view to select, or is access truly restricted by default on a company basis? I ask because this information contains billing financials. The idea is that Vendor A and Vendor B both submit their invoicing to the "Vendor Fulfillment" queue. Since Vendor A and Vendor B both have access to the queue to submit and read, what is to stop them from reading other Vendors' tickets and seeing others' information?

Thanks again for your response and patience!

[crythias]

Start here: http://forums.otrs.org/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=7531

CustomerID is per user.

Queues are agent side. It's important to understand that queues are categories of tickets grouped by agents that should be able to answer those tickets.

[SeanKilleen]

Thanks again for the response.

In looking at the documentation and the forum posts, it appears that Customer Groups can be used to limit customer viewing to a certain queue. However, we'd be looking to filter tickets in the same queue and limit those to a certain customer group. Is this possible?

I might not be clear about what I'm trying to achieve. We are implementing this service for a customer to handle their third-party vendors. So, Vendors A, B, and C submit tickets for invoicing, and we process them, with the client and vendors able to track the status of their tickets.

What we would like is the following:

• One queue for administration tasks, where our client has access to view and submit tickets (for adding vendors to the system, etc.)
• A company defined in OTRS for our client, with members added as necessary for ticket submission.
• A company defined in OTRS for each vendor, with members added as necessary for ticket submission.
• A queue for fulfillment, where all vendors can submit tickets regarding their invoicing
• Client should be able to see tickets for all vendors
• Vendors should be able to see tickets for their company (but _only_ their company). So, Vendors A, B, and C submit their invoices to the same queue, but Vendor A company users cannot see Vendor B company tickets. Worst case scenario, we can restrict this to individuals, so I can probably get around it.
• There are over 200 vendors who will be using this, so giving each their own queue wouldn't be feasible due to rapid turnover, etc.

Can you confirm that this is possible?

Thanks again,

--
Sean