[rt-users] RT 4

[Bob Goldstein]

>We are also looking at SugarCRM (and it's ability to work with the 
>Asterisk PBX). Rather than build CRM features into RT, it would be nice 
>(for us) to have RT integrate with SugarCRM as an optional/stronger 
>replacement for the SugarCRM ticket system.

    I'm all for a better API, for exactly such integrations.

    However, I still wonder: Doesn't the idea of having an RT
    group represent a "customer" work?  You could have all the
    various customer representatives in that group.  Have
    a special user in that group represent the customer as a whole,
    with appropriate flags or custom fields to represent your
    relationship with the customer.

    And so on.  Does this not provide the functionality you
    need?  Or is the fact that RT doesn't have the Customer Concept
    explicit out-of-the-box offputting?  Just curious.

    Hmm, I think tracking all the customer-related tickets would
    be easy.  Tracking changes to the customer group itself,
    or to the special customer user might be harder.

>
>We like RT, and as others have expressed here, we could really use the 
>concept of a "Company" record to link individual requesters to. Even an 
>"alias" linkage of some kind would be helpful. (bob at mycellphone.com is 
>also bcustomer at client.com and is also RTfan at coldmail.com - depending on 
>where he is at the moment he opens tickets for his company using all 
>three email accounts).

    Right.  This is an issue whether you have Customers or not.
    You might like to map multiple email addresses to a single user.
    I could see identifying a user based on matching a list of addresses.
    But which address do you use when RT sends email, particularly
    if the transaction was created by a consultant or done on the
    web?  The last address used by this user?  The first?  All of them?

       bobg

>
>Just a thought..
>
>Mark
>
>> On 25/05/2007, at 11:10 AM, Mathew Snyder wrote:
>>>> >>     - Customer database and the ability to track tickets per customer
>>>>       
>>> >
>>> > But this is what RT does anyway
>>>     
>>
>> RT is currently *not* a customer database, it is a ticketing system.
>>
>> We are getting pressured to move to systems like NetSuite or SugarCRM  
>> because they have built in ticketing systems providing similar  
>> functionality to RT and also manage all of the customer information  
>> and relations.
>
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