Vendor Support Ticket Tracker

Overview

Track and manage vendor support tickets and RMA cases across multiple vendors (STX, Dell, HP, etc.). Maintains ticket state, communication timeline, pending actions, and escalation status. Integrates with email to auto-update ticket status from vendor responses and generates status reports identifying tickets requiring follow-up.

When to Use

• Creating a new vendor support ticket or RMA case
• Updating ticket status from vendor email responses
• Generating status reports for open tickets
• Identifying stale tickets requiring follow-up
• Reviewing escalation history for a specific ticket
• Tracking SLA compliance across vendors

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• No API keys required (local YAML-based storage)
• Optional: gogcli-expert skill for Gmail integration
• PyYAML package for ticket state persistence

Workflow

Step 1: Initialize Ticket Database

Check for existing ticket database or create a new one.

python3 scripts/ticket_manager.py init \
  --db-path ./tickets.yaml

Step 2: Create New Ticket

Register a new vendor support ticket or RMA case.

python3 scripts/ticket_manager.py create \
  --vendor "STX" \
  --ticket-id "SR-2025-001234" \
  --subject "HDD failure - server rack 12" \
  --priority "high" \
  --category "RMA" \
  --contact "support@stx.com" \
  --db-path ./tickets.yaml

Step 3: Update Ticket Status from Email

Parse vendor email response and update ticket timeline. Run this after receiving vendor correspondence.

python3 scripts/ticket_manager.py update \
  --ticket-id "SR-2025-001234" \
  --status "awaiting-parts" \
  --notes "Vendor confirmed RMA approved. Parts shipping 2025-06-18." \
  --db-path ./tickets.yaml

Step 4: Generate Status Report

Generate a markdown status report for all open tickets or filtered by vendor/priority.

python3 scripts/ticket_manager.py report \
  --output ./vendor-ticket-report.md \
  --filter-status "open,awaiting-parts,escalated" \
  --db-path ./tickets.yaml

Step 5: Identify Stale Tickets

Find tickets with no activity beyond a threshold (default: 7 days).

python3 scripts/ticket_manager.py stale \
  --days 7 \
  --db-path ./tickets.yaml

Step 6: Escalate Ticket

Mark a ticket for escalation and add escalation notes.

python3 scripts/ticket_manager.py escalate \
  --ticket-id "SR-2025-001234" \
  --reason "No response for 10 days despite P1 priority" \
  --db-path ./tickets.yaml

Ticket States

State	Description
open	Newly created, awaiting vendor acknowledgment
acknowledged	Vendor has confirmed receipt
in-progress	Vendor actively working on issue
awaiting-parts	RMA: waiting for replacement parts shipment
awaiting-customer	Vendor waiting for customer response/action
escalated	Issue escalated to higher support tier
resolved	Issue resolved, pending confirmation
closed	Ticket closed after resolution confirmed

Output Format

Ticket Database (YAML)

schema_version: "1.0"
tickets:
  SR-2025-001234:
    vendor: "STX"
    ticket_id: "SR-2025-001234"
    subject: "HDD failure - server rack 12"
    category: "RMA"
    priority: "high"
    status: "awaiting-parts"
    contact: "support@stx.com"
    created_at: "2025-06-10T09:30:00Z"
    updated_at: "2025-06-15T14:20:00Z"
    sla_target: "2025-06-17T09:30:00Z"
    escalated: false
    timeline:
      - timestamp: "2025-06-10T09:30:00Z"
        action: "created"
        notes: "Submitted RMA request for failed HDD"
      - timestamp: "2025-06-11T10:15:00Z"
        action: "status_change"
        from_status: "open"
        to_status: "acknowledged"
        notes: "Vendor acknowledged ticket"
      - timestamp: "2025-06-15T14:20:00Z"
        action: "status_change"
        from_status: "acknowledged"
        to_status: "awaiting-parts"
        notes: "RMA approved. Parts shipping 2025-06-18."

Status Report (Markdown)

# Vendor Support Ticket Status Report
Generated: 2025-06-15T15:00:00Z

## Summary
- Total Open: 5
- High Priority: 2
- Escalated: 1
- Stale (>7 days): 1

## Open Tickets by Vendor

### STX (2 tickets)

| Ticket ID | Subject | Priority | Status | Age | Last Update |
|-----------|---------|----------|--------|-----|-------------|
| SR-2025-001234 | HDD failure - rack 12 | high | awaiting-parts | 5d | 2025-06-15 |
| SR-2025-001180 | Memory error alerts | medium | in-progress | 8d | 2025-06-14 |

### Dell (1 ticket)

| Ticket ID | Subject | Priority | Status | Age | Last Update |
|-----------|---------|----------|--------|-----|-------------|
| DELL-9876543 | RAID controller failure | high | escalated | 12d | 2025-06-13 |

## Tickets Requiring Follow-Up

1. **SR-2025-001180** (STX) - Stale for 8 days, last status: in-progress
2. **DELL-9876543** (Dell) - Escalated, no response for 2 days

Email Integration

Auto-Update from Email Thread

Use with gogcli-expert skill to fetch vendor emails and auto-update tickets:

1. Search Gmail for vendor support threads
2. Parse latest response for status indicators
3. Update ticket timeline automatically

Common status indicators in vendor emails:

• "RMA approved" → awaiting-parts
• "Parts shipped" → awaiting-parts with tracking info
• "Issue resolved" → resolved
• "Waiting for your response" → awaiting-customer
• "Escalated to Tier 2" → escalated

Resources

• scripts/ticket_manager.py -- CLI tool for ticket CRUD operations and reporting
• references/ticket-lifecycle.md -- Vendor ticket states, SLA guidelines, escalation procedures

Key Principles

1. Every vendor communication must be logged in the ticket timeline
2. Stale ticket detection runs on configurable thresholds (default 7 days)
3. Escalation requires documented reason and triggers notification
4. Status reports are generated in Markdown for easy sharing
5. YAML storage enables version control and diff tracking of ticket changes