Ticket reopen rate: The metric that you're probably not tracking

Reopened tickets are a matter of serious concern for help desk managers because it can mess up technicians' current work schedule and put them under additional pressure. They also negatively impact daily resolution target and pose serious threats to SLA compliance. Which is why it's important for help desk staff to closely monitor reopened tickets and keep the numbers in check.

However, looking at the number of reopened tickets alone will not give you the full picture. To understand the true scale of reopens, you need to compare the percentage of reopened tickets against total incoming tickets on a daily basis. This will help you spot trends in the percentage of tickets reopened and also help you asses the quality of resolutions provided.

For instance, in the report shown below, about 30-60% of incoming requests have been reopened everyday in the last 30 days. There are also days when all incoming requests were reopened, and only a couple of days where the percentage of tickets reopened is low. Normally, it would be best to keep your tickets reopened rates at about 10-20% depending on the size of your organization.