KorTerra Ticket Management - Ticket Tags and Tag Schedules

Overview

A ticket tag is a label on a locate ticket. KorTerra Ticket Management (KTM) applies a tag automatically when an arriving ticket matches the tag's rules, or a user adds it by hand. Tagged tickets can be found with one search, filtered in KorTerra Field, and can trigger email, text, or voice notifications. A tag schedule sets the hours those notifications go out.

Common uses:

• Flag tickets near high-pressure lines, regulator stations, or other critical assets
• Flag tickets that involve boring or explosives, or tickets from excavators who need extra attention
• Group tickets by project, site, or well pad so you can search by name instead of ticket number
• Alert a supervisor or standby technician when a ticket lands in a defined area

Tags and tag schedules are managed by your organization's administrators. If Tag and Tags Schedule do not appear under Maintenance > Messaging, your account does not include Tags or your user does not have tag maintenance access. Contact KorTerra Support at support@korterra.com or 952-522-5225 to request access.

Before you start

Decide three things before you build a tag.

1. How the tag is applied.
   • By hand only: users pick the tag on a ticket. The tag needs a name and nothing else.
   • By ticket values: KTM applies the tag when fields on the ticket match, such as Member Code, Priority, Boring, or City.
   • By map area: KTM applies the tag when the ticket's dig site falls inside an area you draw or import.
   • By values and map area together: the ticket must match both.
2. Who is notified, and how. List each email address, mobile number for text messages, and phone number for voice calls.
3. When notifications go out. For example 24/7, business hours, or after hours. Each one becomes a tag schedule.

Notifications are optional. A tag with no notifications still labels tickets and works in search. If the tag will send notifications, create its tag schedule first.

Create a tag schedule

A tag schedule sets when a tag's notifications go out. A notification cannot be saved without one, so build the schedule before the tag. Skip this section if the tag will not send notifications.

1. Go to Maintenance > Messaging > Tags Schedule.

2. On the Tags Schedule screen, select +Add.

3. In the Add Schedule window, enter a Schedule Name. A Schedule Description is optional.
4. Build each row of the schedule:
   • Select the Days the row covers.
   • Check All Day, or enter a Start Time and End Time in 24-hour format (HH:MM). A row can cross midnight, for example 17:00 to 07:00.
   • Check Include Holidays to have the row apply on holidays as well.
   • Select +Add to add the row to the schedule. Repeat for each set of days.
5. Select Save.

The example above is an after-hours schedule with two rows: Saturday and Sunday all day, and Monday through Friday from 17:00 to 07:00.

A schedule that a tag uses cannot be deleted.

Create a tag

1. Go to Maintenance > Messaging > Tag.

2. On the Tag Maintenance screen, select +Add. The list shows every tag with its Important and Active settings and its map description. Use Select Columns to change which columns show.

3. In the Add Ticket Tag window, enter a Tag Name. This is the label users see on the ticket and search for.
4. Enter a Tag Description if the tag needs more context, such as an asset ID or billing number.
5. Leave Active checked. KTM applies only active tags.
6. Check Important if this tag should be listed first when a ticket has several tags.
7. Use the Values, Map, and Notifications tabs to add rules and notifications if the tag needs them. Each is covered below.
8. Select Save.

A tag saved with no value rules and no map area is never applied automatically. Users add it by hand from the ticket.

Naming tips

• Use the name your crews already use. Users search and filter by tag name.
• Give each tag a unique name. If two sites share a name, add a qualifier such as the operator or field: SMITH 1 - NORTH FIELD and SMITH 1 - SOUTH FIELD.

Apply a tag automatically with value rules

A value rule matches a field the one call center sends on the ticket, such as member code, priority, city, company, or whether the work involves boring or explosives.

1. In the Add Ticket Tag window, enter the tag name. On the Values tab, select +Add.
2. In the Add Value Rule window, select a Field.
3. Select the match criteria: Equals or Not Equals. Free-text fields, such as Company, also offer Contains. Comparisons ignore upper and lower case.
4. Add each value and select +Add. For a field with a set list, such as Region, pick the value from the drop-down. For a free-text field, type it. Yes/no fields such as Boring and Explosives take Yes or No.
5. Select +Add and New to add a rule on a different field, or Add to finish.

Each rule then appears on the Values tab with its Field, Match Criteria, and Values. This Boring tag has one rule: Boring equals Yes.

Rules combine in a fixed way. There is no AND/OR setting.

• Several values on the same field: the ticket must match any one of them.
• Rules on different fields: the ticket must match all of them.

To tag tickets that match one field or another field, build two tags.

If your account includes Dig Site Scope, rules can also use Dig Site Size and Facility Proximity. See Auto Screening for how those rules work.

Apply a tag automatically with a map area

A map rule applies the tag when the ticket's dig site falls inside an area you define. Use map rules for fixed assets such as stations, high-pressure segments, well pads, buffers around facilities, and high consequence areas. A buffer tag, for example, has no value rules and one imported shapefile.

1. In the Add Ticket Tag window, enter the tag name and open the Map tab.
2. Enter a Map Description. It shows in the Map Description column on Tag Maintenance.
3. Choose what KTM compares with your area:
   • Dig Box (default): the excavation polygon the one call center sends. The tag applies if any part of the dig box overlaps your area.
   • Centroid: the center point of that polygon. The tag applies only if the center point is inside your area.
4. Build the area with the map buttons:
   • Add draws a new shape.
   • Subtract cuts a shape out of the area.
   • Import loads a shapefile.
   • Clear removes the area so you can start over.
5. Select Save.

If a ticket has no dig box, KTM uses its centroid. If a tag has both a map area and value rules, the ticket must match both.

Map rules match the area exactly as drawn and add no buffer. To catch tickets near an asset, build the buffer into the polygon before you import it, for example 50 feet around each well pad.

Shapefile requirements

• Projection: WGS 84 latitude/longitude (EPSG:4326). Reproject files in any other projection, such as Web Mercator (EPSG:3857), before you import them.
• Files: .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj, zipped together in one .zip file.
• Geometry: 2D only, with no Z (elevation) or M (measure) values.
• One file per import. Import each shapefile separately.

Give each tag its own polygons

Every polygon in an imported file becomes part of that tag's area. If you import the same multi-site shapefile into several tags, each tag covers every site in the file, and a ticket near one site picks up all of those tags. Split your data first so each tag's file holds only that tag's polygons.

If a large file fails to import, filter it down to the features the tag needs, or split it into smaller files.

Send notifications when a tag is applied

A tag notification goes out when KTM applies the tag to an arriving ticket during the hours of the notification's schedule. Adding a tag by hand does not send a notification.

1. Open the tag, select the Notifications tab, then select +Add. If the schedule you need does not exist yet, Schedule Maintenance on this tab opens the Tags Schedule screen.

2. In the Add Notification window, select a Notification Schedule and a Notification Template, and enter the recipient in Email Address(es).
3. Email Excavator is optional and usually left at No. Set it to Yes only if the excavator contact on the ticket should also get a copy.
4. Select Add, or +Add and New to add another recipient.

5. Back in the tag, confirm the notification is listed and Active is checked, then select Save.

Enter each recipient in the format for its delivery method.

Notification templates

The template sets what the recipient receives.

Tag Email

Tag Raw Ticket Email

Add or remove tags on a ticket

Users work with tags on a ticket from Ticket Detail and the ticket list view. On Ticket Detail, a ticket's tags show in the Tags box above the map. Select the pencil button to add or remove a tag.

Which actions users have is set under Maintenance > Customer Settings, on the Features tab, in the Tags section.

Turn on Add whenever you turn on Create. If you cannot change these settings, contact KorTerra Support.

Tags added by hand behave differently from tags KTM applies:

• They do not send notifications.
• They do not trigger Auto Screening.
• Removing a tag from a ticket affects that ticket only. The tag's rules keep applying to new tickets.

Find tickets by tag

• KTM List Search: with Advanced Search on, pick the tag from the Tags drop-down to list every ticket that carries it.
• KorTerra Field: tags sync to the app and show on the ticket card and in Ticket Detail. Select a tag on a ticket to filter your list by that tag, or choose Tags in the filter form. See KorTerra Field - Ticket Filter/Search.

Tags marked Important are listed first on the ticket. Field users can view and filter by tags but cannot create, edit, or remove them.

Edit, deactivate, or delete a tag

KTM checks tag rules when a ticket arrives. A new or changed rule applies to tickets received after you save it and does not go back to tickets already in KTM. To tag those, add the tag by hand.

• Edit: open the tag from Tag Maintenance, change its rules, map area, or notifications, and select Save.
• Deactivate: uncheck Active and select Save. KTM stops applying the tag to new tickets.
• Delete: a tag that is on any ticket cannot be deleted. Deactivate it instead.

Each ticket's audit trail records the tags KTM added to it.

Common questions and troubleshooting

A ticket got a tag for a site it is not near. Check the tag's map area. It most likely holds polygons for more than one site, which happens when one multi-site shapefile is imported into several tags. Re-import the tag with only its own polygons. If the ticket's dig box truly overlaps two areas, both tags are correct. Switch the tag to Centroid if it should apply only when the center of the dig site is inside the area.

A ticket I expected to be tagged was not.

• The ticket arrived before the rule was saved. Rules do not apply to tickets already received.
• The tag is not Active.
• The tag has both a map area and value rules, and the ticket matched only one.
• The value on the ticket is spelled differently from the rule. On a free-text field, use Contains to match part of a value.
• The tag uses Centroid, and the center of the dig site is outside the area even though the dig box overlaps it.

My shapefile will not import. Confirm the file is in WGS 84 (EPSG:4326), the .zip holds the .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj files, and the shapes have no Z or M values. If the file is large, filter it to the features the tag needs.

A notification did not arrive.

• The tag was added by hand. Only tags KTM applies send notifications.
• The ticket arrived outside the hours of the notification's schedule.
• A text or voice recipient is missing the 10-digit number format or the @sms.clicksend.com or @voice.clicksend.com domain.

Can a tag complete tickets automatically? Yes, with Auto Screening, which is licensed separately. See Auto Screening.

For help with tags, contact KorTerra Support at support@korterra.com or 952-522-5225.