# Helpdesk Overview

The Helpdesk turns customer questions into trackable, accountable work. Every issue becomes a **ticket** — a durable record with a status, an owner, a priority, an SLA clock, and a full history — that humans and AI agents move forward together, across every channel you already run.

This overview explains the core concepts. The other articles in this section walk through setup and day-to-day operation.

![System overview: support channels flow into a durable ticket, worked by AI and human agents together, grounded by the CRM and knowledge base.](/help/assets/helpdesk/system-overview.svg)

## What the Helpdesk Is

A complete support operation built into Karmaflow.ai:

- **Ticketing** — a first-class ticket object with status, owner, priority, type, tags, and SLA timers
- **Omnichannel intake** — tickets arrive from email, the customer portal, website chat, SMS, voice calls, web forms, and the API
- **A branded customer portal** — where your customers sign in to open, track, and reply to their own tickets
- **AI agents as first-class actors** — they triage, draft replies, and (where you allow it) resolve tickets, always clearly labeled as AI and always governed by your policy
- **A knowledge base** — help-center articles that deflect tickets for customers and ground your AI agents' answers
- **SLA, routing, reporting, and notifications** — the operational backbone for a serious support team

## A Ticket Is Not Just a Conversation

This is the most important concept. A chat session, an email thread, or a phone call is a *conversation*. A **ticket** is the durable unit of work that wraps one customer issue:

- It has a **human-readable number** (e.g. `#1042`) that both sides reference
- It carries **state** — where the issue stands and who owns it
- It has **history** — every reply, internal note, status change, and assignment
- It links back to the **origin interaction** (the chat, call, or email it came from)
- It survives long after the conversation ends, and can span several conversations

A single ticket can collect an email exchange, a follow-up phone call, and a portal reply — all under one number.

## Who Uses It

- **Tenant admins** configure the helpdesk: permissions, teams, SLA policies, portal branding, AI governance, and the knowledge base. Start with **Getting Started**.
- **Support staff (agents)** work tickets day to day: triage, reply, assign, resolve. Start with **Tickets**.
- **Your customers** use the portal to open and track their own tickets. See **Customer Portal**.
- **AI agents** act inside the helpdesk under your governance policy. See **AI & Governance**.

## How the Pieces Fit

1. A customer reaches out — by email, portal, chat, SMS, phone, or form.
2. A **ticket** is created, routed to a **team**, and put on an **SLA** clock.
3. **AI triage** summarizes the issue and suggests a priority, category, and relevant knowledge-base articles.
4. An AI agent or a human **replies**; internal notes stay staff-only.
5. The customer is kept in the loop by **email and the portal**, and can always reach a human.
6. The ticket is **solved**, the customer rates it (**CSAT**), and it auto-closes after your chosen window.
7. **Reports** turn all of this into operational insight.

## Where to Find It

- **Staff workspace** — the **Helpdesk** menu in the top navigation: Tickets, My Tickets, AI Approvals, Knowledge Base, Reports, and Setup (Teams, SLA Policies, Settings).
- **Customer portal** — a separate branded site on your own subdomain. See **Customer Portal**.

## Next Steps

- Setting it up for the first time? → **Getting Started**
- Working tickets day to day? → **Tickets**
- Understanding how issues arrive? → **Channels**