TicketMate Documentation

What is TicketMate?

TicketMate is a multi-tenant IT helpdesk platform built and hosted in Australia. It gives your team a structured way to receive, track, and resolve support requests, whether they come in via email, a user portal, or a custom web form.

Each organisation gets its own isolated workspace with its own domain, branding, and data. Agents work from a clean admin panel. Users get a branded self-service portal. Managers get oversight without complexity.

Getting started

Once your account is provisioned you'll receive an invitation email with a link to set your password. Your workspace is available at your assigned subdomain (e.g. yourcompany.ticketmate.au).

First steps for admins

1. Log in to the admin panel at yourcompany.ticketmate.au/admin.
2. Invite your team. Go to Users and send invitations to agents. They'll receive an email with a secure setup link. For larger teams, use the Import button to bulk-import users from a CSV file.
3. Configure your mailbox. Add an inbound email address under Settings › Mailboxes. Emails sent to this address will automatically become tickets.
4. Create teams. Group agents into teams (e.g. IT Support, Infrastructure) so tickets can be routed to the right people.
5. Set up custom forms (optional). Build structured intake forms for common request types like password resets or new starter onboarding.
6. Share the portal link. Users access the portal at yourcompany.ticketmate.au/portal. They can register and start submitting tickets immediately.

The user portal

The user portal gives your end users a self-service interface to submit and track support requests without needing to email directly. It's accessible at yourcompany.ticketmate.au/portal.

The customer portal ticket list, accessible at yourcompany.ticketmate.au/portal

Registering and logging in

Users can self-register using their email address. Once registered, they'll have access to all tickets they've submitted. Password reset is handled via email.

Submitting a ticket

Users can submit a ticket via the general form or via a custom form published by your admin team. The general form includes a subject, priority, and a markdown-enabled description field. Users can use basic formatting like bold, lists, and headings to describe their issue clearly.

Tracking and replying

Once a ticket is submitted, users can view its current status, read agent replies, and post their own replies from the portal. The reply box also supports markdown formatting.

The ticket detail view: status, conversation history, and the reply editor in one place

Users can also reply by email. Simply reply to any notification email and the message will be attached to the ticket automatically. Signatures and previous quoted replies are stripped on a best-efforts basis.

Ticket statuses

• Open: ticket received, under review by the team.
• Pending: waiting on a third party or more information.
• On Hold: work has been paused, e.g. awaiting a vendor or scheduled maintenance.
• Closed: ticket resolved and closed. Users can reopen by submitting a new message.

Multi-factor authentication

Users can enable MFA on their account from the portal settings. If your admin has made MFA mandatory for the workspace, users will be prompted to set it up on first login. See Security & MFA for more detail.

Managing tickets

Agents manage tickets from the admin panel at yourcompany.ticketmate.au/admin. The ticket list shows all open tickets with sortable columns for status, priority, assignee, and last updated.

Ticket fields

• Subject: a short description of the request.
• Status: Open, Pending, On Hold, or Closed.
• Priority: Low, Medium, High, or Critical.
• Type: Incident, Service Request, or Service Enquiry.
• Assignee: the agent responsible for the ticket.
• Team: the team the ticket is assigned to.
• Requester: the user who submitted the ticket.

Quick Actions

The Quick Actions button on every ticket detail page consolidates common operations into a single dropdown menu. From here agents can edit the ticket, reassign it to another agent or team, link an asset, apply a task template, or close the ticket without leaving the page.

Changing ticket status

Select Change Status from the Quick Actions menu to move a ticket to Open, Pending, On Hold, or Closed. The modal optionally lets you include a message to the user, which is sent as a reply on the ticket at the same time as the status changes. When closing a ticket the user receives a closure notification; for other status changes they receive a standard agent reply notification.

Replying to tickets

Agents reply to tickets directly from the ticket detail page using a rich text editor. Replies support full formatting including headings, bold, italic, lists, links, and code blocks. Formatted replies are rendered in both the admin panel and the user portal.

Users are notified by email whenever an agent replies. They can respond via the portal or by replying directly to the notification email.

Activity log

Every ticket maintains an activity log showing status changes, assignments, and replies in chronological order. This gives agents and admins a complete audit trail of what happened and when.

Closing tickets

Agents can close a ticket via the Quick Actions menu. If the ticket has any incomplete tasks, the agent must complete all tasks before closing is permitted. Admins can override this and close the ticket immediately; any remaining open tasks will be marked as complete automatically. When closed, the user receives an email notification with a link to reopen the ticket. Users can also reopen directly from the portal.

Tasks

Tasks are checklist items attached to a ticket. They give agents a structured list of steps to complete before a ticket can be closed, ensuring nothing is skipped on repeat or multi-step requests.

Adding tasks to a ticket

Open any ticket and scroll to the Tasks section below the ticket details. Click Add task to create a new checklist item, give it a name, and save. Tasks can be added, reordered, and deleted at any time while the ticket is open.

You can also apply a Canned Task List to a ticket via the Quick Actions menu, which creates a set of predefined tasks in one step.

Completing tasks

Agents check off tasks directly on the ticket detail page. Each task shows a checkbox and the task name. Completed tasks are crossed out. The task list shows a count of completed vs total tasks so agents can see progress at a glance.

Tasks and ticket closing

Agents cannot close a ticket that has incomplete tasks. The close action is blocked until all tasks are checked off. This acts as a safety net to prevent a ticket being resolved before the underlying work is done.

Admins can override this restriction. When an admin closes a ticket with open tasks, a confirmation step is shown. Confirming will close the ticket and automatically mark all remaining tasks as complete.

Canned task lists

Canned task lists are reusable task templates. Admins define a named set of tasks once, and agents can apply that template to any ticket with a single action. This saves time on recurring processes and ensures steps are consistently applied each time.

Creating a canned task list

Go to Settings › Canned Task Lists in the admin panel. Click New canned task list, give it a descriptive name (e.g. New Starter Onboarding, Hardware Setup), and add each task item. Save when done. The list is immediately available for agents to apply.

Applying a canned task list to a ticket

From any ticket, open the Quick Actions menu and select Apply Task List. Choose the template to apply and confirm. All tasks from the selected list are added to the ticket instantly. Tasks can be added or removed individually afterwards if needed.

Canned responses

Canned responses are pre-written reply templates that agents can insert when replying to a ticket. They save time on frequently sent messages and help your team maintain consistent, well-worded communications.

Creating a canned response

Go to Settings › Canned Responses in the admin panel. Click New canned response, give it a name (used to identify it in the list), write the response body, and save. The body supports full markdown formatting.

Using a canned response

When composing a reply on a ticket, click the Canned Responses button in the reply toolbar. Select a response from the list and its content is inserted into the reply editor. Agents can edit the inserted text before sending if the message needs personalising for the specific ticket.

Email to ticket

TicketMate can receive emails and automatically convert them into support tickets. This means users can submit tickets simply by emailing your support address, with no portal login required.

Setting up a mailbox

Configure your inbound mailbox under Settings › Mailboxes in the admin panel. You'll be given an inbound address to forward to (or set as the destination for your support alias). Emails sent to this address are processed automatically.

How inbound emails are processed

• New emails from unknown addresses create a new ticket and a new user account.
• Replies to existing notification emails are attached to the correct ticket automatically using the message thread ID.
• The email subject becomes the ticket subject.
• The email body becomes the ticket description or reply body.
• Attachments are extracted and stored securely on the ticket.

Reply parsing

When a user replies to a notification email, TicketMate strips out the quoted previous reply (the section below the ##- Write your reply above this line -## marker) and attaches only the new content. Best efforts are made to remove email signatures as well. Most common signature formats are detected and removed automatically.

Inbound email log

Every inbound email is logged under Settings › Inbound Emails. Admins can see the status of each received email (queued, processed, or failed), view any error details, and reprocess failed emails directly from the admin panel. This is useful for diagnosing delivery issues without needing to contact support.

Email notifications

TicketMate sends automated email notifications to keep agents and users informed at each stage of the ticket lifecycle.

Notification types

• New ticket (agents): sent to the assigned agent (or all agents if unassigned) when a new ticket is created.
• Ticket assigned (agent): sent to an agent when a ticket is assigned to them.
• Agent reply (user): sent to the user when an agent posts a reply.
• User reply (agent): sent to the assigned agent when a user replies.
• Ticket closed (user): sent to the user when their ticket is closed or resolved.

Replying by email

All notification emails include a ##- Write your reply above this line -## marker. Users and agents can reply directly to any notification. The content above the marker is extracted and attached to the ticket as a new reply.

Toggling notifications

Notification preferences can be managed per-workspace under Settings › Notifications. Individual notification types can be enabled or disabled.

Email templates

Admins can customise the subject line and body of each notification email under Settings › Email Templates. Templates use a markdown editor and support dynamic variables that are replaced with real values at send time.

Available variables

Custom forms

Custom forms let you collect structured information from users for specific request types, including new starter setups, hardware requests, password resets, and so on. Instead of a free-text description, users fill in a structured set of fields.

Building a form

Forms are built in the admin panel under Forms. Each form has a name and a set of fields. Supported field types include:

• Text: single-line text input.
• Textarea: multi-line text input for longer answers.
• Select: a dropdown with predefined options.
• Checkbox: a yes/no toggle.
• Date: a date picker.

Publishing a form

Once a form is saved, it appears in the user portal under Submit a request. Users choose the form that matches their request type and fill in the fields. Submissions create a new ticket with the form responses formatted clearly in the ticket body. Each question is followed by the user's answer, making triage quick and consistent.

Routing form submissions

Each form can be assigned a default team and priority, so submissions are automatically routed to the right group without manual intervention.

Teams

Teams let you group agents and route tickets to the right people. A ticket assigned to a team will notify all agents in that team, and any team member can take ownership.

Creating a team

Go to Teams in the admin panel and create a new team. Give it a name (e.g. IT Support, Infrastructure, Helpdesk) and add agents as members.

Assigning tickets to teams

When creating or editing a ticket, agents can assign it to a team in addition to (or instead of) an individual agent. Users submitting via the portal can also select a preferred team if your admin has enabled that option on the intake form.

Automatic routing

Custom forms and email routing rules (see below) can automatically assign incoming tickets to a specific team, removing the need for manual triage on common request types.

User management

Admins manage all workspace users under People › Users. The user list shows each person's name, email, role, and whether their account is active. Deactivated accounts are hidden by default and can be revealed with the filter controls.

Inviting users

Click Invite User to create a new account. The new user receives an email with a secure link to set their password. You can also send a fresh invitation link at any time from the user's action menu if they have not yet set a password.

Bulk import via CSV

To add multiple users at once, use the Import button. Download the sample CSV template, fill in each user's name, email address, role (admin, agent, or user), and whether to send an invite email (y or n). Upload the completed file and TicketMate will create the accounts and send invitations in the background. Any rows with validation errors (duplicate email, invalid role, etc.) are reported after the import completes.

Roles

• Admin: full access to the admin panel, settings, and all tickets.
• Agent: can view and manage tickets; no access to billing or workspace settings.
• User: user-level access; can use the portal to submit and track their own tickets only.

Deactivating users

Agents who leave the team can be deactivated rather than deleted. Deactivated accounts cannot log in but their ticket history is preserved. A user with open tickets assigned to them cannot be deactivated until those tickets are reassigned. Accounts can be reactivated at any time.

MFA reset

If an agent or admin loses access to their authenticator app, an admin can reset their MFA from the user's action menu. The user will be prompted to set up MFA again on next login.

Email routing

Email routing rules let you automatically assign, prioritise, or categorise incoming tickets based on keywords in the subject or body. This is useful for handling recurring request types without manual triage.

Setting up routing rules

Routing rules are configured under Settings › Email Routing. Each rule defines:

• Keyword: a word or phrase to match against the email subject or body.
• Action: what to do when a match is found, e.g. assign to a team, set a priority, or set a ticket type.

Rule evaluation

Rules are evaluated in order when a new inbound email arrives. The first matching rule is applied. If no rule matches, the ticket is created with the default settings for that mailbox.

SLA policies

SLA (Service Level Agreement) policies let you define response and resolution time targets for different ticket types. TicketMate tracks these deadlines automatically and alerts your team when a ticket is approaching or has breached its SLA.

Creating an SLA policy

Policies are configured under Settings › SLA Policies. Each policy defines:

• Response time: how long before an agent must first respond to the ticket.
• Resolution time: how long before the ticket must be fully resolved.
• Business hours: whether deadlines count calendar time or business hours only.

Business hours

SLA deadlines can be configured to count only during your organisation's working hours. Set your business hours and timezone under Settings › Business Hours. Tickets that arrive outside business hours will have their clock start from the next opening time.

Breach notifications

When a ticket breaches its SLA deadline, the assigned agent and team are notified automatically. Breached tickets are also highlighted in the ticket list so they can be prioritised immediately.

Assigning policies to tickets

SLA policies are assigned at the ticket level. You can assign a policy manually or configure your email routing rules and custom forms to apply a policy automatically based on ticket type or priority.

Asset management

TicketMate includes a built-in asset register so you can track the hardware and equipment your team supports. Assets can be linked to tickets, assigned to users, and monitored for warranty expiry.

Adding assets

Assets are managed under Assets in the admin panel. Each asset record can include:

• Category, make, and model for easy identification.
• Serial number for inventory tracking.
• Assigned user so you know who has each device.
• Warranty expiry date: TicketMate will notify you automatically before warranties lapse.
• Encrypted notes for sensitive details such as BitLocker recovery keys or admin credentials. These are stored encrypted at rest.

Linking assets to tickets

When an agent is working a ticket, they can link one or more assets to it. This gives context about the affected hardware and makes it easy to pull up the asset history across multiple tickets over time.

Warranty expiry alerts

TicketMate checks for upcoming warranty expirations daily and sends alerts to admins in advance. This helps your team plan hardware refresh cycles and avoid being caught with unsupported equipment.

Security & MFA

TicketMate includes multi-factor authentication (MFA) for both agents and users. MFA adds a second verification step at login, protecting accounts even if a password is compromised.

Setting up MFA (agents & users)

1. Log in to the admin panel or portal.
2. Navigate to your Profile or Account settings.
3. Select Enable two-factor authentication.
4. Scan the QR code with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, etc.).
5. Enter the 6-digit code to confirm setup.

Enforcing MFA workspace-wide

Admins can require MFA for all users in their workspace under Settings › Security. When enabled, users who have not yet set up MFA will be prompted to do so on their next login before accessing any content.

Recovery

If a user loses access to their authenticator, an admin can disable MFA for that account from the Users management screen, allowing them to log in and re-enrol.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

SSO lets your portal users sign in with their existing Google Workspace or Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) account instead of a separate TicketMate password. Once configured, a "Sign in with Google" or "Sign in with Microsoft" button appears on the portal login page.

TicketMate uses a bring-your-own OAuth app model. Each organisation registers their own OAuth credentials with Google or Microsoft rather than sharing a TicketMate-managed app. This means your users authenticate directly against your own identity provider, and you retain full control over access.

Setting up Google Workspace SSO

1. Go to Google Cloud Console (console.cloud.google.com) and create a new project, or select an existing one.
2. Navigate to APIs & Services › OAuth consent screen. Set User Type to Internal to restrict login to your Google Workspace organisation only. Fill in the required fields and save.
3. Go to APIs & Services › Credentials › Create Credentials › OAuth 2.0 Client ID. Set the application type to Web application.
4. Under Authorised redirect URIs, add the following (you can register multiple; add both if you want SSO on both the customer portal and the admin panel):
   https://yourdomain.ticketmate.au/portal/auth/google/callback
https://yourdomain.ticketmate.au/admin/auth/google/callback
5. Click Create and copy the Client ID and Client Secret.
6. In TicketMate, go to Settings › Organisation › Single Sign-On, select Google Workspace, paste both values, and save.

Setting up Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) SSO

1. Go to the Azure Portal (portal.azure.com) and navigate to Microsoft Entra ID › App registrations › New registration.
2. Give the app a name (e.g. TicketMate). Under Supported account types, select Accounts in this organisational directory only (YourTenantName only, Single tenant) to restrict login to your org.
3. Under Redirect URI, select Web and enter: https://yourdomain.ticketmate.au/portal/auth/azure/callback. After registering, you can add additional URIs under Authentication › Add a URI; add https://yourdomain.ticketmate.au/admin/auth/azure/callback if you also want SSO on the admin panel.
4. Click Register. From the Overview page, copy the Application (client) ID and the Directory (tenant) ID.
5. Navigate to Certificates & secrets › New client secret. Set an expiry and click Add. Copy the Value immediately; it will not be shown again.
6. In TicketMate, go to Settings › Organisation › Single Sign-On, select Microsoft Entra ID, paste the Client ID, Client Secret, and Directory (Tenant) ID, then save.

How SSO login works

• SSO is available on both the customer portal login page and the admin panel login page. Both use the same OAuth app credentials configured in Settings.
• On first login, TicketMate matches the authenticated user to an existing account by email address. If a match is found, the SSO identity is linked to that account.
• For Microsoft Entra ID, TicketMate uses the account's email address (the mail attribute) rather than the login username (UPN) for matching. This ensures users who have previously submitted tickets by email are correctly linked to their SSO identity, even when the two addresses differ.
• If no existing account matches, a new portal customer account is created automatically using the name and email returned by the identity provider. Admin panel SSO does not create new accounts; the user must already exist.
• On all subsequent logins, the match is done by the provider's unique user ID, so the account remains linked even if the user's email address changes.
• SSO logins bypass the TicketMate in-app MFA prompt on both the portal and admin panel. The security of your external identity provider (including any MFA it enforces) is used instead.

Important notes

• The redirect URI must match exactly. Any difference between what is registered in Google or Azure and the URL in TicketMate (including http vs https or a trailing slash) will cause login to fail.
• Client secrets expire. Microsoft Azure client secrets have an expiry date. Set a reminder to rotate the secret before it expires and update it in Organisation Settings before it lapses, or SSO logins will start failing.
• Disabling SSO will lock out SSO-only users. Users who signed in exclusively via SSO and never set a TicketMate password will not be able to log in if SSO is removed. Those users should use the Forgot Password link on the portal login page to set a password before SSO is disabled.

AI Assistant

The AI Assistant lets agents ask Claude AI questions directly from the ticket view. Agents can ask it to draft a reply, suggest an escalation path, identify the root cause of an issue, or summarise a long thread, without leaving the ticket.

Enabling the AI Assistant

1. Go to Billing in the admin panel. If your plan supports the AI Assistant add-on, an Add AI Assistant card will appear. Click it to add the metered item to your subscription via the Stripe Billing Portal.
2. Once the subscription item is active, go to Settings › Organisation. An AI Assistant section will appear. Enable the toggle to make the assistant visible to agents.
3. Agents will now see an AI Assistant panel below the task checklist on every ticket.

Using the assistant

The AI Assistant panel on each ticket is collapsed by default. Click the panel header to expand it. Type a question and press Send or Ctrl+Enter. The assistant responds using the full ticket context: subject, description, all replies, internal notes, and the requester's email address, without you needing to paste anything in.

You can ask follow-up questions in the same session. The conversation is held in memory for the duration of the page visit and is not saved once you navigate away. Each message sent counts as one call for billing purposes.

Suggested uses

• Draft a reply: "Draft a professional reply letting the user know we're investigating and expect a fix by end of day."
• Summarise a long thread: "Summarise this ticket in two sentences for a handover note."
• Suggest next steps: "What should I check first for an email sync issue affecting multiple users?"
• Escalation decision: "Based on the impact described, should this be escalated to Critical priority?"

Billing

Usage is metered; you only pay for what you use. Each AI call costs the equivalent of $5 per 250 calls (billed in packages of 250, rounded up). Usage is totalled across the billing period and charged at month end via Stripe. The panel header shows a running count of calls used in the current month.

Data residency

All TicketMate data, including tickets, user records, file attachments, and email content, is stored and processed exclusively in Australia. The application and database run on a VPS in the Sydney region, managed via Laravel Forge. File storage and email delivery use Australian AWS infrastructure.

What this means for your organisation

• Your data is subject to Australian law, not US or EU jurisdiction.
• We will never move customer data offshore.
• File attachments are stored in S3 in the ap-southeast-2 (Sydney) region.
• Email delivery uses Amazon SES via Australian endpoints.
• No third-party analytics or tracking tools with offshore data processing are embedded in the admin panel or user portal.

Questions?

If you have specific compliance requirements or need documentation for an internal review, get in touch and we'll be happy to help.