Ticket Escalation

The escalation system allows both clients and agents to flag tickets for urgent attention. There are two escalation paths: Emergency (immediate alerts) and Higher Priority (daily digest).

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Escalation Types

Type	Trigger	Response
Emergency	Client or agent selects "Emergency"	Immediate email + SMS to PMs and assigned staff
Higher Priority	Client or agent selects "Higher Priority"	Added to daily escalation digest (7:30 AM CST)

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How Escalation Works (Agent Side)

Escalating a Ticket

1. Open the ticket
2. Click the Escalate button
3. Select escalation level:
   • Higher Priority — normal escalation (digest)
   • Emergency — immediate multi-channel alert
4. Add a reason/note explaining why
5. Click Submit Escalation

What Happens — Emergency

Agent submits Emergency escalation
  → Immediate email to: PMs + assigned staff + department manager
  → SMS alert to PMs (via Twilio, if opted in)
  → Browser notification to subscribed staff
  → Ticket flagged with escalation badge
  → Recorded in ost_ticket_escalations

What Happens — Higher Priority

Agent submits Higher Priority escalation
  → Recorded in ost_ticket_escalations
  → Ticket flagged with escalation badge
  → Included in next morning's escalation digest (7:30 AM CST)
  → Digest email sent to PMs and department managers

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Escalation Cooldown

A 48-hour cooldown prevents repeated escalations on the same ticket:

• After escalating, the same ticket cannot be escalated again for 48 hours
• This applies to both clients and agents
• The cooldown is per-ticket, not per-user
• Emergency overrides do NOT bypass the cooldown

Checking Cooldown Status

The escalation button will show:

• Available: "Escalate" button active
• On Cooldown: Button disabled with countdown timer
• Already Escalated: Shows current escalation status

The AJAX endpoint GET /tickets/check_escalation/{tid} returns the cooldown status.

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Escalation Digest

Daily Digest Email

Sent at 7:30 AM CST daily via cron-escalation-digest.php:

Recipients: All PMs + department managers with escalated tickets

Contents:

• List of tickets escalated since last digest
• Escalation type and reason for each
• Client name and organization
• Current assignee
• Direct link to each ticket

Configuring the Digest

The digest cron runs on a schedule. To adjust timing, modify the cron schedule for cron-escalation-digest.php.

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De-Escalation

To remove an escalation flag:

1. Open the ticket
2. The escalation badge shows in the header
3. Click De-escalate or resolve the ticket normally
4. Closing the ticket automatically clears the escalation

note

De-escalation does not reverse SMS or email alerts already sent. It only removes the visual flag and excludes the ticket from future digests.

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Viewing Escalated Tickets

Escalation Queue

PMs and department managers can view all escalated tickets:

1. Navigate to the ticket list
2. Filter by escalation status
3. Or check the PM Dashboard (scp/pm.php) escalation widget

Escalation Badge

Escalated tickets show a visual indicator:

• 🔴 Emergency — red badge
• 🟡 Higher Priority — yellow badge
• No badge — not escalated

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Client-Initiated Escalation

Clients can also escalate from the client portal:

At Ticket Creation

When creating a new ticket, clients see an escalation dropdown:

• None — standard processing
• Higher Priority — flags for daily digest
• Emergency — triggers immediate alerts

On Existing Tickets

1. Client opens their ticket
2. Clicks Escalate button
3. Selects level and provides reason
4. Same 48-hour cooldown applies

See Client Portal → Escalation for client-facing documentation.

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Escalation Tracking

All escalations are recorded in ost_ticket_escalations:

Field	Description
ticket_id	The escalated ticket
escalation_type	emergency or higher_priority
escalated_by	Staff ID or client user ID
reason	Free-text reason provided
created_at	When escalation was submitted
digest_sent	Whether included in a digest email
resolved_at	When de-escalated or closed

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Best Practices

1. Reserve Emergency for true emergencies — production-down, security incidents, data loss
2. Provide clear reasons — helps PMs triage without opening the ticket
3. Check AI urgency first — if AI already flagged CRITICAL, PMs are already alerted
4. Don't escalate for speed — escalation is for urgency, not impatience
5. Follow up after escalating — don't escalate and walk away; stay engaged
6. Communicate with the client — let them know their escalation was received