Non-CSD agent user made internal comment in but was seen by external customer!

[Elizabeth Wong]

A Jira software user (who's not customer service desk agent) commented on a CSD issue where the "Add internal note" button is missing (It was there before). He made a comment thinking it would still stay internally since he's not an agent, but in fact it went externally and seen by the customer.

This is a big issue as the note is not supposed to be seen by customer. Anybody know what could be the glitch and how to solve this problem? Thanks!

[Angélica Luz]

Hello Elizabeth,

Thank you for reaching out to Community!

Internal users that don’t have a service desk license, are able to add only internal comments when they are watchers.

For public comments, the person must be the assignee, reporter, participant or part of an organization.

Can you please check if the Software user was not added as a participant or if he is not part of an organization in the project?

If he was just the watcher, please let us know:

• Is it a next-gen or a classic project?
• If it’s a classic, was he using the new issue view?
• If he accesses another ticket, does he see the option for internal and public comment?
• Can you add another Software user as a watcher and check what options they see on the ticket?

Regards,
Angélica

[Elizabeth Wong]

Hi Angelica,

Thanks for trying to solve our problem! Here's what we found:

• It's a classic project
• Yes he's using new issue view
• He can see "Add internal note" in another ticket but not public comment, same thing to another CSD project, he can only add internal note but not to external customer.
• Another software user who has the same access permission can only send internal note, and that's how it supposed to work.

Looks like this issue only happen to that particular ticket.  

Hope these can help you figure out what could be the problem. Thanks!

Regards,

Elizabeth

[Angélica Luz]

Thank you for the information, Elizabeth.

I tested here using a user with only a Jira Software license and added in the role Developers. 

For the tickets on an SD project, only the internal comment was available. Then, I added this user as a Participant and shared with an Organization where the user was part of and the only option for comment was still “Internal note”.

The difference, in this case, was that the user was able to see the ticket in the portal and also they receive customer notifications, which when replied it adds a public comment.

Can you please confirm if, on this ticket, the user was not added as a participant and, if the ticket was shared with an organization, check if he is not part of this Org.

Also, confirm if he used the agent view and not the portal or notification to add the comment.

[Elizabeth Wong]

This software user, Marco, is indeed a participant, but he isn't in any organization in the SD project. When he replied he's not using the portal. However another user who's also a participant can only comment internally.  The screenshot below is what Marco sees when he comment.  There's no "Add internal note" indication and after he comment it will go public.

[Angélica Luz]

Thank you for the screenshot.

Marco is using the customer portal indeed, that’s why he can’t see the option to comment internally.

Here is the comment box of the customer portal:

Here is the same ticket when viewing as an agent:

So, Marco needs to go to the ticket in the agent view (internally) in order to post an internal comment. Also, please, remove him from the Participants list, so he won’t be able to see the ticket in the portal anymore, he will only see the ticket internally.

[Elizabeth Wong]

Thanks for the insight! How do we go to the customer portal and comment on a CSD ticket? I am trying to recreate the screen you sent me to understand how Marco arrived there but I can't find the way. Thanks!

[Angélica Luz]

As he is a participant, he received a notification, so he could access the portal through the email:

Also, he can access the portal directly through the ticket.

New issue view:

Old view:

There are other options, but in this case, it's to go to the portal only and not directly to the ticket:

[Elizabeth Wong]

Thanks for all the explanation, I was able to find the "View customer request" link from the old issue view, but it's not in the new issue view.  

Also, I thought only agent can interact with customer directly.  Our participant can only make internal comment in project issue view.  Is it how it's supposed to be?  If participant could interact with customer in customer portal, why can't they have a choice to comment externally in Jira issue view?

Thanks again for your patience to solve our issue!

[Angélica Luz]

You are welcome! I'm glad to help.

When we add a user as a participant, they will be able to contact the customer using the portal, because Jira will recognize them as customers as well.

Any internal user added as participant or part of an organization can access the portal and add public comments.

When working with both Service Desk and Software, the Developer must be only a watcher in the ticket, so they will receive system notifications and they will be able to access the ticket only using the agent view and add internal comments.

[Elizabeth Wong]

Angelica, thanks a lot for the detail explanation!   So now I understand the cause of the issue.  We will change the practice of adding our developers as participants to avoid future confusion.  

[Elizabeth Wong]

Hi Angelica,

Another incident came up...after I removed the participant status of Marco, he made an internal comment and an Agent received that notification email, replying to the email and it went external to customer!  so now I want to know:

1. when an agent replying an notification email, there's no choice of external or internal comment but just go external? 

2. How about if a "non-agent" software user replying to an notification email, will it go external as well?

3. Is there anyway we can configure so that all the comments (email, customer portal, project view" stay internal, unless we comment in project view choosing "reply to customer"?

Thanks!

[Angélica Luz]

Hello Elizabeth,

When an agent reply to an email, the comment is always public, it's not possible to choose if the comment will be external or internal, because they have both permissions, so the best option is to access Jira and post the comment.

When a user is only a watcher and doesn't have a Service Desk license like Marco, the only permission they have is to add internal comments, so if he answers the email (the system notification), the comment will be internal.

Regards,
Angélica