Action Sequences: What is it and what are the benefits?

Done right, service automation can improve customer experience, drastically decrease service desk calls, and reduce repetitive manual tasks — so you can get back to the work that requires a human touch.

Today, we’re going to dive into one of the simplest ways to start automating your services in TOPdesk – with Action Sequences.

What is an Action Sequence?

Within TOPdesk, you can define multiple steps, which follow up on one another, forming an automated process. This is called an Action Sequence. Action Sequences are typically used for processing responses, updating information in TOPdesk, and communicating with third-party suppliers. They can be used to set up API-based integrations with other applications, as well as perform Actions within TOPdesk itself.

What are the benefits of using Action Sequences?

Automating (parts of) your workflow doesn’t just improve efficiency and accuracy— it also frees up valuable time for more complex, challenging work.

With Action Sequences removing mundane tasks from their to-do lists, your service team will be able to focus on bringing real value to your organization, instead of wasting time performing manual actions such as closing Incidents or typing out generic replies to customers.

How do I set up an Action Sequence?

Let’s say you want to automatically close Incidents so that Operators don’t need to do any manual work once an Incident has been solved. In this case, you use the Action Sequence ‘Set status and/or close Incident’.

For this Action Sequence, you’d need to execute 2 steps.

1. Retrieve a list of all statuses used in Incident Management.
2. Assign the correct status to the Incident.

To trigger this Action Sequence automatically, you’d need to link it to a relevant Event. For instance, after 7 days have passed since the completion date.

Simple as that! And to make things even simpler? We’ve got plenty of resources to help you get started with Action Sequences, right away.

In the TOPdesk Action Sequence Library, you can find a list of template Action Sequences, that are free to use, so there’s no need to start from scratch. Have a quick browse and see which tedious tasks you can eliminate from your daily work with automation.