Onboarding an ASE Account

Overview

As soon as a customer account signs a new contract that includes the Assigned Support Engineer (ASE) service, the Support Team begins the customer onboarding process. Through this process we intend to create and deliver a smooth and professional experience to the customer as we begin our partnership with them. This involves coordinating with the customer and the account team, as well as informing the rest of Support about the account’s new status.

Customer Communication

Introduce yourself as the customer’s ASE.

Agree with the customer on either a weekly or every-other-week schedule for a cadence call. The goals of the call should include completing a review of the work done since the previous call, and agreeing on what work you’ll do for them before the next call and with what relative priorities.

Systems Configuration

Add the account to the Assigned Support Engineers project README file

In the Assigned Support Engineers project, the README file contains the table that is the Single Source of Truth that lists all active ASE accounts and the ASEs for them. The table contains other standard information for each account as well:

1. Links (Salesforce, Zendesk Org Note)
2. Special Notes
3. Zendesk Org Name
4. Zendesk Account ID
5. Zendesk User (ASE) ID

The Zendesk-titled columns help everyone to find the correct account in Zendesk and to manage Zendesk configuration for automatic ticket assignment.

Since ASEs don’t have access to Salesforce, coordinate with your manager to find the necessary details. Then, submit an MR to add the full entry for the new account in the table in the README.

Manager Instructions

To get the correct Account ID and User ID, follow the guidance provided on the Support Super Form with the following options chosen:

1. The What is this request concerning? option should be Modifications to a Zendesk Global Organization
2. The What kind of modification are you looking to make? should be Set an Assigned Support Engineer for an organization

Click on the What is the Zendesk organization's ID? field and take the steps described on the right side.

Then click on the What is the Zendesk user ID of the assigned support engineer? (put None to remove the current ASE) field and take the steps described on the right side.

Auto-assign the customer’s tickets

There might be times when the account contacts will make it your top priority to take all of their non-emergency tickets. During those times, configure automatic assignment of the account’s tickets in Zendesk. Auto-assignment of customer tickets has two prerequisites:

1. There must be a named ASE for the organization in Zendesk
2. There must be an ASE-related Product Charge in the subscription in Salesforce

For both of these, please contact your manager and request that:

1. They file a request using the Support Super Form and select the following options:

   1. The What is this request concerning? option should be Modifications to a Zendesk Global Organization
   2. The What kind of modification are you looking to make? should be Set an Assigned Support Engineer for an organization The correct organization ID and user ID should have been placed into the README file during the account onboarding. If that has not yet happened, please follow those instructions and then return to submit the request for automatic ticket assignment.

   NOTE: The request is automated and will create a tracking issue reflecting its status.

2. They verify in Zendesk that the Subscription: Support Services - ASE box is checked for the account product charge listed. If it does not, they should contact Sales Ops for assistance.

As you work with the account each week to agree on the prioritization of your work for them, that might not always include taking all of their tickets. Each time that changes, just remember to:

1. Ask your manager to make the change in Zendesk
2. Update the Zendesk org note for the account

Org Note mentioning the ASE and how to treat the ticket

A customer having an ASE can be a confusing prospect for others in and out of GitLab Support. How would they know that a specific customer has an ASE? How should they handle this customer’s tickets when the ASE is not working, or busy? What if the customer creates an emergency ticket?

This is why an organization note in the ticket will prove useful. It will answer the above questions and guide all interested parties (Support Engineers, Customer Success Managers, Account Executives, etc.) to the correct workflows for what to do.

A good organization note will answer the following questions:

• Who is the Assigned Support Engineer (ASE) for this customer?
• Which region is the ASE located in?
• How to handle tickets that come in outside of the ASE’s working hours?
• What should a Support Engineer do with this customer’s tickets when the ASE is not available?
• What to do with tickets that predate the introduction of this ASE?
• What to do in case the customer submits an emergency ticket?

This information will come from the contract and from the discussion with the customer in the introductory meeting.

Create a merge request for the org note in the Organizations project and assign it to your manager for review.

Here’s an example:

notes: |
  This organization has an Assigned Support Engineer (ASE). Please [review the workflow to use](/handbook/support/workflows/assigned-support-engineer/working-on-ase-tickets/).

  Jill is the AMER ASE for Company-A so at this time, all new non-emergency tickets will be assigned to her. Pre-existing tickets will keep their existing assignee and Jill will shadow.

  If Jill is unavailable, please respond while leaving Jill as the assignee and cc yourself.

  The on-call engineer will continue to handle emergency tickets, which will not get assigned to Jill. However, inform her when an emergency comes in so she can assist if available.  

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