Support Ticket Plugin — User Guide
The Support Ticket plugin adds a full support (help-desk) system to Totara. Users can submit tickets, track their requests, and add replies; staff and managers can view all tickets, assign them, add internal notes, close or reopen them, and export data. This guide explains how to use it as a learner, staff member, or administrator.
Who can use it?
| Role | What they can do |
|---|
| Learners, teachers, and general users | Create support tickets (subject, category, priority, description, attachments, requester name/email/mobile). View their own tickets under My Tickets, open a ticket to see details and responses, add responses, and optionally reopen a closed ticket by adding a new reply. They do not see the dashboard or other users’ tickets. |
| Managers / support staff | Everything above, plus: Dashboard (see all tickets, statistics, filter by status/priority/category). Assign tickets to users, close tickets (with resolution), delete tickets, export tickets (e.g. PDF, Excel). Add internal notes (visible only to staff). Use replies and reactions on responses, add CC users and project owners. Access may be granted by role (manager) or by an administrator (dashboard access). |
| Administrators | Everything above, plus: Settings (enable/disable plugin, timezone, email notifications, SMTP/OAuth2, incoming email, excluded users). Manage categories (add, edit, delete, enable/disable). Manage dashboard access (grant or revoke dashboard access for specific users, with optional expiry). Manage excluded users (users who do not receive automatic email notifications). |
How do I open Support?
When the plugin is enabled:
- In the main navigation, click Support. From there you can open:
- Create Ticket — open the form to submit a new ticket.
- My Tickets — list and track your own tickets.
- Dashboard — only if you have dashboard access (managers or users granted access by an admin).
- Manage Categories — only if you have the manage-categories permission (e.g. managers, admins).
- Site administrators can also go to Site administration → Plugins → Local plugins → Support Ticket to open Settings, Dashboard, or Manage Categories.
Creating a ticket
- Go to Support → Create Ticket (or the link that opens the create-ticket page).
- Fill in Subject, Category, Priority (e.g. Low, Medium, High), and Description. Optionally add Attachments and Requester name, email, and mobile.
- Click Submit Ticket.
- You are redirected to My Tickets and can open the new ticket by its ticket number (e.g. TICKET-YYYYMMDD-1234).
After submission, support staff may receive an email notification if email notifications are enabled in settings.
My Tickets — viewing and replying
Under Support → My Tickets you see a list of your tickets. You can filter and open any ticket to:
- See status (Open, In Progress, Resolved/Closed), priority, category, assigned to (if any), and timeframe or time remaining (if set by staff).
- Read the original request and all responses. Staff may add replies to a response and use reactions (e.g. like).
- Add a response — type in Your Response, optionally attach files, and click Submit Response. If the ticket was closed, adding a response may reopen it.
Internal notes added by staff are not shown to you; only normal responses are visible.
Dashboard (staff and managers)
If you have dashboard access, open Support → Dashboard. You will see:
- Statistics — total, open, in progress, closed, high priority tickets, and average response time.
- Filters — by status, priority, category. Use Apply Filter / Reset Filter to narrow the list.
- A table of tickets with ID, subject, status, priority, category, submitted by, assigned to, and actions.
- Actions — view ticket, assign, close, delete. You can also Export tickets (e.g. PDF, Excel) according to the current filters.
Opening a ticket from the dashboard lets you add responses, internal notes, assign or reassign, set a timeframe (hours or end date), add CC users or project owners, and close with a resolution. Ticket history/activity log is available for auditing.
Assigning, closing, and reopening
- Assign — From the ticket view, use Assign Ticket to assign it to a user (or unassign). Assigned tickets can be filtered in the dashboard (e.g. “Assigned to me”).
- Close — Use Close Ticket, optionally enter a resolution message. The requester may receive an email that the ticket was closed.
- Reopen — Use Reopen Ticket to move a closed ticket back to Open. The requester can also effectively reopen by adding a new response to a closed ticket.
Categories
Users choose a category when creating a ticket (e.g. Technical, Billing, General). Managers and admins can go to Support → Manage Categories to add, edit, delete, or enable/disable categories. If a default category is set in plugin settings, it can be used as the initial choice when creating a ticket.
Dashboard access and assignment permissions
Access to the Dashboard is given either by role (e.g. manager with the dashboard capability) or by an administrator:
- Manage Dashboard Access — In plugin settings (or the linked page), admins can grant dashboard access to specific users, with an optional reason and expiry date. They can also revoke access. Users without access who open the dashboard URL see an “Access denied” message.
- Assign — Only users with assign permission (e.g. managers or those granted assignment) can assign tickets. Others with dashboard access can view and respond but not assign.
Settings (administrators)
Go to Site administration → Plugins → Local plugins → Support Ticket (or the Support Ticket section in settings). Main options include:
- Enable Support Ticket — Turn the plugin on or off.
- Timezone — Used for displaying ticket dates and times.
- Email notifications — Enable/disable; set Admin email to receive new-ticket and user-reply notifications.
- SMTP — Optional custom SMTP (host, port, security, authentication). OAuth2 (e.g. Microsoft, Google) can be used for sending.
- Incoming email — Optional. When enabled, replies sent to the configured ticket-reply email address can be processed (via cron or task) and added as responses to the matching ticket. IMAP and OAuth2 can be configured for the mailbox.
- Manage excluded users — Users who should not receive automatic email notifications (e.g. some admins).
Settings may also link to Manage Dashboard Access and Manage Excluded Users for convenience.
User journey (overview)
flowchart LR
A[Support menu] --> B[Create Ticket]
A --> C[My Tickets]
A --> D[Dashboard]
B --> E[Submit form]
E --> C
C --> F[View / Add response]
D --> G[Filter / Assign / Close / Export]
Tip: Keep the subject short and clear, and use the correct category and priority so staff can handle tickets faster. If you are CC’d on a ticket, you will receive email updates for that ticket until you are removed.