What this post is about
- Uncover hidden efforts with time tracking in your helpdesk
- Identify real time sinks in your support processes
- Keep a closer eye on service level agreements
- Plan customer projects and budgets more realistically
- Assess real product profitability beyond just sales figures
"Just Five Minutes" – and suddenly, two hours are gone. Sound familiar? Without precise time tracking, resource leaks like these often go unnoticed. When the actual effort remains invisible, so do valuable insights into which requests and topics are particularly time-consuming.
Why Integrated Time Tracking in Your Ticket System Is So Valuable
Do you know exactly how much time your team spends on each customer request or ticket? If your answer is more along the lines of "roughly...", you're likely missing out on valuable potential.
The traditional solution? Manual timesheets. But they’re prone to errors, take up additional time, and add to administrative overhead. A far more efficient approach is Zammad’s integrated time accounting.
Every time you close a ticket, you’re automatically prompted to enter the time spent on it. This ensures that time spent per ticket or customer is accurately recorded, precisely allocated, and available for real-time analysis—without any extra steps.
This doesn’t just create transparency; it also provides a solid foundation for identifying time-intensive requests, billing support services accurately, and optimizing processes with precision.
But enough theory—let’s dive into how you can put this powerful feature to work in practice!
Quick Tip:
⏱️ New to This Feature? Learn more about setting up integrated time accounting in Zammad
1. Clear Insights into Resource Allocation
Which tickets are real time sinks? Are certain topics or customers particularly demanding? Repeated or lengthy support cases can indicate inefficient processes or gaps in team knowledge. Instead of relying on gut feelings or rough estimates, Zammad’s integrated time tracking provides clear, reliable data on the actual time spent on specific tickets, customers, or customer organizations.
This transparency is the key to more efficient resource planning. If the data shows that certain requests consume an excessive amount of time, targeted training, optimized processes, or self-service options can help ease the burden on your support team.
Related:
📚 Knowledge That Sticks! A well-structured knowledge base can proactively answer common questions and reduce ticket volume.
2. Tracking Effort for Internal IT Projects
Beyond traditional IT support, Zammad’s time tracking also provides valuable insights for internal IT projects. A common example is the rollout of a new tool like Microsoft 365. On paper, such a project may seem straightforward, but in reality, the devil is in the details. IT teams juggle setup, configuration, troubleshooting, and training, yet the actual time invested in each task often remains unclear. This is where Zammad’s integrated time tracking comes in, making the entire process transparent and measurable.
The benefits don’t stop at implementation. Even after the rollout, time tracking helps assess the tool’s long-term efficiency. By analyzing internal IT support tickets, companies can see how frequently issues arise, which areas require additional support, and whether the new tool genuinely improves workflows and saves time and resources.
Instead of dealing with unexpected challenges, businesses can make data-driven decisions. With precise insights into resource allocation, they can evaluate whether an investment in new tools truly pays off and plan future projects with greater accuracy.
3. Effortless SLA Compliance
Few things endanger customer relationships as much as broken Service Level Agreement. Imagine a customer with a premium support contract that guarantees a six-hour response time. With time tracking, you can always check how long a ticket has been in progress and whether it exceeds SLA limits. This level of oversight helps you stay on top of commitments and prevents contract breaches that could lead to financial penalties or reputational damage.
But Zammad’s time tracking goes beyond simple monitoring. By analyzing past support times, you can define and adjust SLA targets based on real data. This ensures that your team isn’t overloaded, your support processes remain efficient, and your customers stay satisfied.
4. Accurate Billing for Support Services
IT services are often billed based on time spent. Imagine you’re troubleshooting software issues for multiple customers simultaneously. In the midst of this, valuable billable hours could slip through the cracks or be misallocated, leading to revenue loss or disputes over charges.
An integrated time tracking system eliminates this uncertainty. With Zammad, every minute can be accurately assigned to the correct ticket and customer, ensuring full transparency in billing. This not only helps you keep track of your efforts but also guarantees that no service goes unpaid and every contribution remains fully documented and verifiable.
5. Smart Project and Budget Planning
Do you build websites, develop software, or manage IT projects for clients? Then you know: not every project goes as planned. Some clients require more feedback loops, unexpected changes take time, and suddenly, the project exceeds its estimated workload.
With Time Accounting in Zammad, you can track your work time directly within the ticket—down to the minute, structured, and fully traceable across all customer interactions. This allows you to identify early on which clients request the most revisions, which project phases consistently take longer than expected, and where there’s room for optimization.
By leveraging this data, you can create more accurate project estimates, manage budgets more effectively, and allocate resources more strategically.
6. Putting Product Profitability to the Test
A bestseller isn’t always a profit driver. Let’s take a simple example: you sell a grill tong. The product is performing well, sales are strong—but how profitable is it really?
By tracking all support and service time related to your product—from initial customer inquiries and consultations to handling complaints—you gain a clear picture of the actual internal effort behind what appears to be a profitable item.
The data reveals whether the product is truly worth it in the long run or if support is consuming more time and resources than sales generate. With these insights, you can make targeted optimizations, streamline service processes, and make strategic decisions about your product lineup.
Summary
No more flying blind in your daily support process, no more lost minutes, and no more unpaid support time! Shed light on your workflows with Zammad’s time tracking feature. Your customers receive timely service, your projects stay within budget, and your team can finally breathe easier. Because in the end, every minute can make a difference.