10 help desk metrics.
What they mean. What to do next.
A useful help desk report connects demand, speed, follow-through, and the requester’s experience. These ten metrics give your team a starting point—with the definitions used in Troublesheet, worked examples, and the limits to keep in mind.
By Troublesheet · UpdatedStart by agreeing what the report includes.
A date range can mean tickets created during a period, tickets resolved during a period, or a snapshot of all open work. Those answer different questions. Troublesheet uses tickets created during the selected period, filtered by current owner and priority, and shows their current outcomes.
Record the dates and filters when you share a report. Status, ownership, and ratings can change later, so a report refreshed next week may differ. For comparisons, use equivalent periods, the same priority filters, and the same definitions of elapsed or business time.
The ten help desk performance metrics, explained.
These definitions match Troublesheet’s reporting workspace. Check how another tool calculates each value before comparing results.
Tickets received
Calculation: Count of tickets created in the selected period.
Use intake to understand demand before interpreting speed. A spike may call for more coverage or a review of a recurring issue. In Troublesheet, the date boundaries are inclusive UTC days.
Resolved / closed tickets
Calculation: Count of tickets in the period that are currently Resolved or Closed.
This shows completion within the group of tickets you selected. A ticket created before the period is excluded even if it was resolved during the period. A reopened ticket is no longer counted as completed.
Unresolved tickets
Calculation: Count of selected tickets currently Active or Pending.
Review both status and the next action: Active may need investigation, while Pending may be waiting for a reply. This is the unresolved portion of the selected group, not the entire historical backlog.
Resolution rate
Calculation: Resolved / closed tickets ÷ tickets received × 100.
For example, 32 completed tickets out of 40 received gives an 80% resolution rate. Recent tickets have had less time to reach completion, so compare periods with similar time to mature.
Average first response time
Calculation: Sum of time from creation to first response ÷ answered tickets with valid timestamps.
An unanswered ticket is excluded, not counted as a zero-minute response. Review the response sample alongside unresolved tickets. Troublesheet uses elapsed time, so nights and weekends count.
Average resolution time
Calculation: Sum of time from creation to recorded resolution ÷ currently completed tickets with valid timestamps.
Look at unusually long tickets before deciding what to change. A few difficult requests can move the average. Reopened tickets and records with missing or invalid resolution timestamps are excluded.
Response target met
Calculation: Answered tickets meeting their response deadline ÷ answered tickets with a valid response deadline × 100.
If 18 of 20 eligible answered tickets met their target, the result is 90%. Tickets without a valid deadline and tickets still unanswered are excluded. A high result does not mean every incoming request received a timely reply.
Resolution target met
Calculation: Completed tickets meeting their resolution deadline ÷ completed tickets with a valid resolution deadline × 100.
Review this together with unresolved work. A ticket still waiting for resolution is not part of this percentage, even if its deadline has already passed. Service targets and follow-up dates serve different purposes.
Overdue follow-ups
Calculation: Count of unresolved tickets whose follow-up date is in the past.
Use this as an action list: check the blocker, contact the requester, or set a realistic next step. A follow-up is a reminder; it is separate from the response or resolution service deadline.
Customer satisfaction
Calculation: Sum of submitted rating values ÷ number of ratings, on a five-point scale.
Five ratings totaling 23 points produce 4.6 out of 5. Troublesheet shows the rating count and uses ratings attached to tickets in the selected group, regardless of when the rating was submitted. This is an average score, not a percentage of satisfied customers.
A worked example: read the numbers together.
Imagine a report for 40 tickets created during one week. These are illustrative figures, not Troublesheet customer results.
| Observation | Calculation | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 32 completed, 8 unresolved | 32 ÷ 40 × 100 = 80% | Most of this group is complete. Eight still need a next step. |
| 30 answered; 900 total response minutes | 900 ÷ 30 = 30 minutes | The average covers 30 answered tickets, not all 40. |
| 18 of 20 eligible answers met target | 18 ÷ 20 × 100 = 90% | Ten answered tickets had no valid response deadline; unanswered tickets are also excluded. |
| 5 ratings totaling 23 points | 23 ÷ 5 = 4.6 / 5 | Feedback is positive among five respondents. Most tickets have no rating. |
The next question is practical: which of the eight unresolved tickets has an overdue follow-up, an unclear owner, or a requester waiting for an update? Start there before treating the averages as a complete picture of service quality.
Turn the report into a short weekly review.
- Check demand. Compare tickets received with an equivalent period. Look for repeated problems in the ticket list.
- Find work that needs attention. Review unresolved tickets and overdue follow-ups. Confirm each has an owner and next action.
- Review speed with its sample. Read response and resolution averages beside answered and completed counts. Check the slowest individual requests.
- Discuss workload fairly. Compare similar priorities and responsibilities. Current ownership does not identify everyone who contributed to a ticket.
- Choose one improvement. Assign an action, record a review date, and use the same definitions next time. A better intake question or a clearer handoff may be more actionable than a new target.
Set targets around your support hours, request impact, and team capacity. This guide does not prescribe one response time or satisfaction score for every help desk.
See these metrics alongside the tickets.
Explore help desk reporting, or review the ticket statuses and workflow that feed the report.
Try Troublesheet’s demoOpen Reports in the menu to explore sample data. No account required.