Overview

While Kayako does not natively offer an 'On-hold' status to use with a timer, it is possible to set up different variations of this functionality by leveraging Automation in Kayako through different means. In this article, we will explain one such method that will allow you to set a ticket on hold for different periods of time.

Solution

Before going into the process to set up our own on-hold automation, it is important to understand that the following is just one of the many methods to set up this functionality. Instead, one may opt to use a combination of Tags, Macros, or a custom plugin calling the Kayako API.

That said, the proposed solution is some of the simplest you can configure, and will offer the following options:

• You will be able to set a ticket on hold until a later date of your choosing. When the date arrives, the ticket will open automatically.
• In addition to the above, you will be able to set a ticket on hold for a few hours for it to reopen on the same day.
• Finally, you will be able to set a ticket permanently on hold, if you opt to select no related fields.

With that out of the way, let's dive in!

On-hold until a later date

The first step to creating our automation will be to create the necessary custom fields in Kayako. We'll start by adding the required Status:

1. Head to Administration > Customization > Custom fields.
2. Open the Status (System) field by clicking on it.
3. Click on Add a status and create the On-hold status:
   
   
4. Choose whether you want the SLA to be active during On-hold, and save.
5. If required, create a new View or modify those existing to accomodate the new status type. This is also a good time to define any other flow based on you new status type.

Now, we will add a new date field to set the time for the ticket to open:

1. Back in Administration > Customization > Custom fields, click on New field > Date.
2. Configure the field as per the image below:
   
3. Save your changes.
4. Add the Field to any Forms where it will be needed.

With this out of the way, we will configure a Monitor to re-open the ticket when the time comes:

1. Head to Administration > Automation > Monitors.
2. Click on New monitor and set up a Monitor as per the image below, using the field configured:
   
3. If you so wish, add any other actions or conditions to fit your needs.

Finally, we will create a trigger to ensure that customer replies set the ticket back to open:

1. Head to Administration > Automation > Triggers.
2. Click on New trigger and set up a Trigger as per the image below:
   
   
3. Save the Trigger to apply the changes.

Setting shorter on-holds

To set tickets on hold for shorter periods of time, it will be necessary to perform a few additional actions, on top of the outlined above. Please note that the following will require that a Status type has been added, and will assume that you have already created a Trigger to open the tickets on customer reply.

To enable this feature, we will begin by creating a dropdown Field to act as our timer:

1. Go to Administration > Customization > Custom fields, and click on New field > Dropdown list (single choice).
2. Configure the field as per the image below, adding as many options as you require:
   
   Please note that, for each option that you configure, you will need to create a separate Monitor in the next step.
3. Save your changes.
4. Add the Field to any Forms where it will be needed.

Finally, we will have to set a Monitor for each of the options added in the Field we just configured:

1. Head to Administration > Automation > Monitors.
2. Click on New monitor and set up a Monitor as per the image below, using the field configured:
   
   Note that this monitor will handle tickets where the option in the dropdown has been set to 1 hour. For any other case, you will need to set the 'Time spent in current status' to a number of hours that corresponds to the dropdown field configured. 
3. If you so wish, add any other actions or conditions to fit your needs.
4. Repeat the process for each option configured in the dropdown.

Testing

To test the newly added feature, you may use any conversation where the fields created are available:

1. Select a value in one of the added fields:
   
   If you select both a date and a number of hours, the ticket will open with the earlier of the two.
2. Write a short update or note and change the status to 'On-hold' to send the update:
   

After doing this, the ticket will remain on-hold until it is opened by one of the monitors you configured:

Please be aware that Monitors run hourly, meaning that, if a ticket is set to reopen after 5h, it will reopen between 5 and 6 hours from the time it was set on hold.

On the other hand, failing to select a date or timer configured as above will cause the ticket to remain on hold until manually changed. For this reason, it is recommended that you create an additional View to keep track of tickets in this status.