Zammad 6.3

Zammad Team
Wed, 17 Apr 2024 11:00:00 +0200

Zammad 6.3 is here – a minor release with major benefits! We're thrilled to reveal our mega feature: WhatsApp Business integration, set to boost your customer interaction and support. This update doesn't stop there; it also introduces customizable ticket states and enhanced translation management, ensuring an upgrade to your user experience.

1. 💬 WhatsApp Business Channel

Ready to level up your omnichannel communication? 🆙 With Zammad 6.3, you can integrate your instance with a WhatsApp Business account. This feature unlocks new possibilities for interacting with customers where they are and delivering seamless support.

Please review the prerequisites and limitations of this feature carefully, and follow our detailed tutorial to prepare your setup effectively. Learn more in our admin documentation.

Note: WhatsApp Cloud API is mandatory for connecting the messenger to Zammad. Using the WhatsApp Business App alone will not enable integration.

Acknowledgment
Many thanks to our sponsor Skoda Autohaus Melzer for the generous support in developing this feature! 🙏🏻

Discover more about how integrating an omnichannel strategy can elevate your customer service experience. Visit our blog for insightful articles on omnichannel strategies and the role of WhatsApp in customer service.

2. 🏷️ Custom Ticket States & Priority

Zammad's simplicity is one of its strengths. However, we recognize that some scenarios demand a more tailored approach. That’s why, with Zammad 6.3, we’ve introduced enhancements that allow for greater customization of ticket states and priorities, thus providing users with more control and flexibility.

Use Case Example: When waiting on different parties like customers or vendors, the "pending reminder" status may be too vague. To address this, creating a specific status such as "waiting on vendor" can streamline the ticket management process. Similarly, the ability to customize ticket priorities allows teams to precisely assess the urgency of issues, thus optimizing response times and resource allocation for enhanced workflow efficiency.

You can add, disable or change states and priorities through the admin interface. Simply navigate to "Settings > Tickets" to access the ticket states or priorities management. For more detailed instructions and information, please refer to the admin documentation. ⬅️

Important note: Please inform yourself beforehand about the correct use/philosophy of status. Incorrect configuration can lead to unwanted secondary behavior. You are also welcome to attend user admin training to learn more.

3. 🔤 Translation Management Improvements

In Zammad 6.3, we have improved translation management to give you the flexibility to manage translations specific to your helpdesk environment. This improvement to the UI allows you to customize any translation locally, even if it is not initially provided by the system. Translation is supported for a broad number of features, including but not limited to custom:

Object Attributes

Ticket Macros

Ticket Overviews

Ticket Priorities

Ticket States

➡️ Within the translation screen, simply click on the New Translation button. Read more on Customizing Translations in the admin documentation.

🌟Coming next: Improved Shortcuts

Based on feedback from many of our users, we're excited to announce that our next release will include a new set of keyboard shortcuts. Don't worry, you can switch back and forth between the new and old set so you can explore and get used to them at your own pace.

Are you waiting for a certain feature? 🤨
If you're missing something, we're sorry to hear that. Our list of feature requests is very long and ever-growing. In order to speed up the process and put your favorite feature on the fast track, by becoming a Feature Sponsor. Just reach out to us and let's make it happen!

Breaking Changes

Knowledge base granular permissions setup was changed.

Zammad allows configuration of a granular permission structure for knowledge base access. Previous Zammad versions allowed to misconfigure this in cases of allowing agents editor access to only some, but not all categories: it was possible to grant editor access at a higher level in the category tree, and then restricting access to reader or none for sub-categories. This was not effective due to permission inheritance.

Such a misconfiguration is no longer possible in Zammad 6.3. Administrators with existing knowledge base granular permission structures should review their configuration to ensure that at top-level only reader access is granted, and editor access only for the relevant sub-categories.

Permissions for Ticket State and Priority REST-API

With this release, we will introduce new permissions for the ticket state and priority management. It will no longer be possible to access the corresponding REST-API with "admin.object" permission. Existing roles and/or access tokens that are used for these specific REST-API endpoints need to be updated to include the new permissions ("admin.ticket_state" and "admin.ticket_priority").

🚨 Important Announcements

Twitter/X Integration Removal
Due to the unclear situation regarding Twitter/X APIs, we consider removing the Twitter/X integration with the release of Zammad 7.0. Please have a look here for more information and updates on this topic.

Note about MySQL deprecation
Zammad is designed to provide our users with a secure and stable platform that is convincing in its performance. For this, the choice of supported database systems is crucial. After long discussions and based on our long experience, we have decided that Zammad will only support PostgreSQL as a database in the future. However, this change will not take effect until Zammad 7.0.

Until then, we do not recommend new installations with MySQL/MariaDB. Existing systems will continue to be supported, but must be migrated to PostgreSQL until the release of Zammad 7. For this purpose, we have provided a detailed Migration Guide that can be used to migrate existing systems to PostgreSQL free of charge.

This decision was not easy for us. However, we see it as necessary, because we want to continue to provide you with a long-term and reliable platform and keep the effort for everyone within limits.

Slack Integration Deprecation
Starting with Zammad version 7.0, we will no longer support this particular Slack integration. It is recommended that you switch to pre-built webhooks instead, a new feature of ours. Existing Slack integrations should be migrated manually before this feature is discontinued.

Support for Internet Explorer 11
As of Zammad version 7.0, Internet Explorer 11 is no longer supported.

Technical Requirements

Please note that you must meet the following browser requirements to use this version:

Chrome: 83

Firefox: 78

Explorer: 11

Safari: 11

Opera: 69

Edge: 83

Advisories

ZAA-2024-01
ZAA-2024-02
ZAA-2024-03

Download Zammad 6.3

All improvements can be found in the Changelog.

Source code

ftp.zammad.com/zammad-6.3.0.tar.bz2 (70f34df1217196e5aaba5e29b8fd7d55)

ftp.zammad.com/zammad-6.3.0.tar.gz (87aa73b23b9b2d2353229f9586d11160)

ftp.zammad.com/zammad-6.3.0.zip (5c50fbadd532ab89243fa23ded8ab4dc)

Packages

CentOS

Debian

Ubuntu

Docker-Compose

Upgrade
Here you can find information on upgrading your Zammad installation: