Insourcing (receiving) tickets

About insourcing

Autotask customers have the ability to insource and work on tickets that other customers have outsourced to them. You can grow your business by providing services as a subcontractor to another organization.

NOTE  Service providers do not have to be Autotask customers to insource tickets; they could also use the Subcontractor Portal. For information on how to use the Subcontractor Portal, refer to Viewing the Subcontractor Portal Help system.

Organizations that outsource tickets are called lead partners. Organizations that accept an invitation to receive and complete tickets outsourced to them are Autotask service partners. You are not required to activate the Outsource module to receive tickets outsourced to your company. If you plan to outsource tickets to other service partners, you must activate the module. Refer to Accepting the outsource agreement.

How does insourcing work?

When you insource a ticket from a lead partner, a duplicate version of the lead partner's original ticket is created in your Autotask instance. While outsourcing is in progress, time entries, notes, attachments and charges are synchronized between the two versions of the ticket, and the other partner is notified. When the outsourcing is completed, synchronization ends and the service partner invoices the lead partner for the work they did on their behalf.

How do I become a service partner?

  • The only way to become a service partner is to be invited by one or more Autotask users. You can accept invitations from as many partners as you wish. Each partner relationship is unique; your service partners are not aware of each other. You can only insource tickets from partners whose invitations you accept. Refer to Becoming a service partner.
  • When you accept your first ticket from any lead partner, you must map the lead partner to an organization in your Autotask instance. The mapped organization will be the organization referenced on your insourced tickets, and eventually billed for the services you provide on their behalf. Refer to Mapping a new lead partner.
  • Speaking of billing, each ticket that is offered to you by a lead partner will have different terms. They may offer you a flat rate to complete the work, or an hourly rate that is different from your labor rates. You may want to put some special insourcing material codes, work types and widgets in place to manage billing for insourced labor. Refer to Setting up billing for insourced labor.

Insourcing workflow

After accepting one or more invitations to become a service partner, you will receive a notification when a lead partner outsources a ticket to you.

  • An email notification provides details about the ticket and contains an option to accept or decline. In addition, the ticket is added to the Work Received: Waiting Acceptance list in the Outsource Management dashboard. Refer to Managing received tickets.
  • After reviewing the ticket, you must accept or decline it within the time frame specified on the ticket. If you accept a ticket, a new ticket page opens in your Autotask Service Desk with some fields pre-populated with information from the outsourced ticket. The new ticket includes all standard Autotask ticket fields along with additional insourcing fields and features. You must complete and save the new ticket. Once saved, the ticket is assigned a unique ticket number in your Autotask Service Desk. Refer to Accepting or declining tickets.
  • You work the ticket in Autotask like any other ticket, except that your ticket is linked to the lead partner's ticket. Up to the time the insource status is set to Complete, when either partner makes changes or additions to their own ticket, the other partner receives a notification and a note is added to the other partner's ticket. Refer to Working on an insourced ticket.
  • When the work is completed, you submit it to the lead partner for approval. The lead partner approves or rejects your work. If the work is accepted, the outsourcing is completed. Refer to Completing an insourced ticket.
  • You can approve and post your labor and charges and bill the lead partner. Refer to Billing the lead partner.