Ticket system

Last modified: 27 Feb 2025

About tickets

Tickets are central to O&M processes in VCOM:

• Tickets are created based on alarms. Your alarm preferences must be configured during system setup. See Smart alarms.

• They contain all relevant information for an event, such as device downtime.

• A ticket may contain several alarms with the same root cause.

• The ticket cause helps you to decide whether you need to consider the ticket in reports and yield loss calculations.

• CMMS ONLY Work orders can be assigned to a ticket. Work orders are specific tasks for service personnel. Examples: exchanging or repairing an inverter, cleaning PV modules, etc. See CMMS.

• PREMIUM PARTNERS ONLY Create scheduled tickets for all your systems simultaneously with Automation.

VCOM procedure from incident to work order

• VCOM logs an Incident when the configured trigger criteria of a specific alarm are met for the first time. When the criteria persist to be met this incident will be updated continuously. Some incidents only occur for a short time and do not require further action. As soon as the trigger criteria are not met anymore, the incident is closed automatically. You can view all incidents in the Incidents portlet.

• An Alarm is only triggered for persistent incidents that still occur after a configured delay period. Unlike an incident, normally an alarm is not closed automatically even if the underlying incident already closed. That is why a new incident of the same type and on the same component will be linked with the already existing alarm without delay. You can view all alarms in the Alarms portlet. To configure auto-close settings for alarms as well, see Smart alarms.

Note

A device error alone, for example, an inverter error, will not trigger an alarm. However, if the inverter is faulty, it will lead to misproduction, which triggers a misproduction alarm, and the inverter error will be linked to that alarm.

• Tickets are created manually or automatically. They can be based on an alarm, originate from an Automation, or be created independently. Group multiple alarms into a single ticket if desired. You can view all tickets in the Tickets portlet. See also Ticket system.

• CMMS ONLY Link Work orders with your tickets and assign them to a technical team. Work orders are specific service or maintenance tasks carried out on site. You can view all work orders in the Work orders portlet. See also Manage work orders.

Create a ticket

Steps

1. In the Tickets portlet, select the Plus icon.

2. In the window that appears, give the ticket a Title and (optional) Description.

3. Select the relevant systems.

4. Select Create ticket.

5. The ticket will now appear in the Tickets portlet.

6. Proceed to Add details to a ticket.

Create a ticket from an alarm

A ticket can be created from an individual alarm, or multiple alarms can be grouped into a ticket.

Prerequisites

• At least one alarm is active.

Steps

1. In the Alarms portlet, select the Ticket icon next to the alarm for which you want to create a ticket. Alternatively, you can drag and drop an alarm to the Tickets portlet.

2. In the window that appears, give the ticket a Title and (optional) Description.

3. The ticket has now been created and is displayed in the Tickets portlet.

4. Proceed to Add details to a ticket.

Group alarms into a single ticket

Group alarms into a single ticket to connect related alarms. For example, you might want to group all alarms for a system related to inverter failure.

Prerequisites

• At least two alarms are active for the same system

• You have added the Alarms portlet

Steps

1. On the left-hand side of the Alarms portlet, tick the check boxes next to the alarms you want to group and select Group from the Actions dropdown. Alternatively, drag and drop multiple ticked alarms to the Tickets portlet.

2. In the window that appears, select the Ticket type and give the ticket a Title and (optional) Description.

3. Select Group alarms to ticket. 

4. The ticket has now been created and is displayed in the Tickets portlet.

5. Proceed to Add details to a ticket.

Add details to a ticket

Prerequisites

• A ticket already exists

Steps

1. In the Tickets portlet, select the Edit icon next to the ticket title.

2. The Ticket details portlet will appear.

3. Edit details about the status and maintenance:

   • Ticket status

   • Priority

   • Person in charge

   • Technician deployed

   • Service partner

4. Edit the fault details:

   • Components: The components you select affect the System availability and Inverter availability calculations and charts

   • Affected power: Based on the selected components, you can calculate the power affected by this incident and its related tasks. This number is for information only and does not influence charts or calculations.

   • KPI EDITOR ONLY Exclude from PR and System availability calculations: Tick the check box to exclude this specific ticket from the calculations. Example: an inverter is damaged and should not influence the system availability calculation during the time it takes to carry out repairs.

5. Edit details about the ticket cause. These may be relevant for PR, system availability, and OpenOffice reports (Ticket statistics variables, for example).