On this page
Why clients keep asking for ticket updates
When support runs over email, a client sends a request and then hears nothing until a technician replies. They cannot tell whether anyone has read it, who has it, or whether it is waiting on them. So they send a follow-up, call the helpdesk or ask their account manager, and each of those messages becomes more work for the same ticket.
The cause is almost never a slow technician. It is that the status lives in the MSP's ticketing system, where the client cannot see it. Giving clients a view of that status answers most "any update?" questions before they are asked.
What a client ticket view should show
A useful ticket view answers the questions a client actually has, in plain language:
- Status. Open, in progress, waiting on the client, resolved. Use status names a client understands, not internal board names.
- Who has it. The assigned technician's name tells the client a person owns the problem.
- The conversation. Public replies, newest first, with the ability to add a note or a screenshot to the same ticket instead of opening a new one.
- History. Closed tickets as well as open ones, so a client can find what was done last month.
- The right scope. Most staff should see only their own tickets. An office manager may need every ticket for their location or company.
- Nothing internal. Technician-only notes, billing details and internal routing should stay hidden.
Ways to give clients ticket visibility
There are three common approaches. Email notifications from the PSA (professional services automation tool) tell clients when something changes, but they arrive one at a time and are easy to lose. A PSA's built-in portal shows tickets, though it is often a separate login that covers tickets and little else. A dedicated client portal shows tickets alongside documentation, reports, invoices and devices, so clients check one place for everything. The trade-offs are covered in Is a PSA's built-in client portal enough?.
Whichever you choose, tell clients where to look. A ticket view only reduces follow-up questions if clients know it exists. See how to get clients to use a portal.
How MSPortal shows ticket status to clients
In MSPortal, clients open Tickets in your branded portal. The list starts on open tickets, with Closed and All one click away, and column filters for summary, status and dates. Opening a ticket shows its description, status, priority, the assigned technician and the activity timeline. The ticketing feature page shows the full workflow.
What clients can do depends on the role you give them:
- Reply and attach files. Clients add a note to the existing ticket and attach up to five files. Attachments work with ConnectWise, HaloPSA and Autotask, but not Syncro.
- Email a note to coworkers. If you turn it on, a client can send a note to up to ten people, and a reply to that email is added to the ticket.
- Change status or escalate. Only if their role allows it. When escalation is turned on, a client explains why the ticket is urgent and it moves to your escalation status.
You choose which tickets each role sees: Own Tickets Only, tickets at the user's location, or all of the company's tickets. Internal notes are never shown to client users, and worked hours stay hidden unless you choose to show them. Clients with access to several locations can switch between them or see them together; see one login for multiple locations.
Clients can also check tickets from a phone browser, the Chrome extension or a Tickets tab in your Microsoft Teams app. On client dashboards, ticket cards show open and recently closed counts, and clicking one lists the tickets behind it.
How current is the ticket status?
Tickets stay automatically updated from your PSA rather than being copied by hand. ConnectWise ticket updates arrive by webhook. Autotask and HaloPSA can use webhooks once they are set up. Otherwise a scheduled sync brings changes in, with target intervals of about 5 minutes for Syncro, 10 for Autotask and 15 for ConnectWise and HaloPSA, according to the sync schedule documentation. A change made in the PSA can therefore take a few minutes to appear. The client ticket guide explains what clients see and how they reply.
To see it with your own tickets, book a demo.
Related questions
Can clients see internal technician notes?
No. In MSPortal, client users see only the public conversation on a ticket. Internal notes stay with the MSP's team, and private notes written in MSPortal are never sent to the PSA at all.
Can a client see every ticket for their company?
Only if the MSP allows it. In MSPortal, each client role can be limited to its own tickets, tickets at the user's location or all of the company's tickets, so an office manager can see more than other staff.
Do clients need to log in to the PSA to check ticket status?
No. With a client portal such as MSPortal, clients sign in to the MSP's branded portal, and ticket status, technicians and replies come from the PSA through the integration.
How do clients get help submitting a complete ticket in the first place?
Request forms and AI-assisted ticket entry help clients include the details technicians need. See how MSPs get clients to submit better tickets.