Setting up an email account within Jira Service Management (JSM) allows different clients to provide extensive information without using the Portal every time they have a question. While this is a great functionality within JSM, and quite easy to set up, there are some key items to remember to ensure all works well: things that can be required, setting up the queue, and email addresses do's and don'ts.
As you set this up, not only will you need an email address tied to an inbox, but it's just as important to have a request type set up in your JSM project. The request type should be hidden from the portal; this way it cannot be selected as an option if someone accesses the portal to create requests. This will give you control and the ability to clearly separate emailed requests from ones created through the portal by other users/customers. Once the request type is set up, you can only require the Summary and/or Description to be set. These two fields will be pulled directly from the email, with the subject becoming the summary and body of the email becoming the description. If you try and require any other fields, the request type will fail and the emails will not be processed into requests automatically.
In conjunction with setting up the request type for the email is setting up the queue for this specific request type. Remember, you are able to reference the name of a request type in JQL searches. This allows your agents to quickly identify which requests were created via email and not just lumped into the other queues. Due to some of your requests being created through email, the communication back to the customers is critical to make them feel like the request is being seen. The queue will alert the team when there are incoming email requests, and coupling them with SLAs correctly, will focus the proper communication and solving of these issues consistently.
Lastly, think critically about the email address you select. First, the email needs to be specifically used to receive issues from customers; this means it should not be used for mass communication where you also get NoReply email addresses, or mass communication that will cause false tickets to be created. While you can add certain automation into JSM to look for specific emails and not respond to them, the point of JSM is to allow for ease of administration of a Service Desk of which customer communication is the most critical item.
Overall, the email request creation for JSM is a great option, which is at times easier for users/customers to use versus going onto a portal. With the proper configuration and use of the recommendations in this article, the email will function and you can maximize the effectiveness of JSM email requests. Always keep in mind it is better to have a purposed email address than to reuse one and wonder why some emails work, some do not, and there are loops of comment(s) being sent due to NoReply.
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