Staff entering Questions on behalf of the client

Questions entered on behalf of clients

Some questions received by staff (such as ones received by phone or at the service desk) need to be entered into RefTracker in full on behalf of the client, for example questions that need to be researched in depth, and reference questions accepted by non-reference staff in the library e.g. at the circulation desk. Questions are normally entered in full, when a staff member cannot complete the delivery of a reference response whilst dealing with the client face to face, but they may also be entered in full because they need specialist skills, will be used for billing, or in the knowledge base.

To enter a question on behalf of a client, staff use the New screen.
However staff may also use a Copy function (under Actions) to create a question form an already existing question.
Of course full questions can also come into the system via clients entering them using the RefTracker client interface or by them using individual Request forms in your web pages, or through import of question such as from emails.

And of course DeskStats is provided to enter the details of those questions answered, or services provided, “on the spot”, and so not needing to be entered in full.

When questions are entered in full using a RefTracker form, statistics are automatically recorded for them – there is no need to separately record statistics for them. 

Requests from other staff members

RefTracker can also be used to manage all of the tasks, projects, and statistical collections work that your information service staff to do. That means that RefTracker can be used to manage ALL of the work done by the staff of your reference service. These tasks are entered using Internal task forms under New, and are not included in the RefTracker service statistics, but rather as separate Internal task statistics.

In the following New questions section we we will look at how to use the New screen, in detail. Just as the client interface forms are created by your System Administrator using Request forms, so are the forms used in New, so their layouts are structurally similar and the way that they are used is the same.