Zendesk to Azure Boards, with the code already found
The short answer
Connect Zendesk, Azure Boards and your code. When an agent escalates a ticket, Watari works out whether it is a real bug, writes a report an engineer can act on, points to the file and function behind it, and files it in Azure Boards. If it is confident enough it also opens a draft pull request for your engineers to review. Reports of the same bug become one issue. Once the fix is deployed, an update goes back to every ticket that reported it.
What arrives in Azure Boards
- A work item in the project you chose, with the title, description, steps to reproduce, severity, tags, and a link back to the full report in Watari.
- The files and functions most likely to contain the bug, ranked, with the reasoning for each.
- A link to the draft pull request when Watari opened one. Your engineers and your CI decide what merges.
- One issue per bug. When more tickets report the same problem they are attached to the issue that already exists.
- Every item is filed as the work item type you chose, Bug unless you pick another. A feature request carries the behaviour the customer asked for in its description.
Set it up
Connect Zendesk
In Watari, open Settings, then Connected tools, and connect Zendesk. A Zendesk admin approves access on Zendesk's own consent screen, and Watari adds the one trigger that sends it the tickets carrying your tag.
Choose which tickets Watari reads
Pick one or more trigger tags, for example needs-engineering. Only tickets carrying one of those tags are sent. Until a tag is saved, nothing is sent.
Connect your code
Connect the GitHub or Azure DevOps repository the product lives in. Watari reads it so it can find where a reported bug lives, and never keeps a copy of your source code.
Connect Azure Boards
Connect Azure DevOps and choose the project work items should land in. You can also set the area path, the iteration and the work item type.
Escalate a ticket
An agent adds the tag to a ticket. The bug report, the code it points to and the Azure Boards issue follow without anyone rewriting anything.
Step by step, with screenshots: connect your support tool and choose where issues are filed.
Watari is also listed on the Zendesk Marketplace.
What Watari reads in Zendesk
The subject, the whole thread including internal comments, priority, tags and custom fields, and every attachment: screenshots, screen recordings, PDFs, logs and voice notes.
Your agents decide what Watari sees. It reads only the tickets they send, never the whole help desk.
What is filed in Azure Boards
By default Watari files the bugs it is confident about and has located in your code, so Azure Boards does not fill up with guesses. You can switch that to every bug it extracts.
In a public Azure DevOps project, the work item leaves out the customer's own words and links to the report in Watari instead. Your customer's ticket is never published.
Filing in Azure Boards is included in every plan and is never billed.
What the customer hears
Internal notes on the ticket as the issue moves, each with a reply your agent can send now. They are on by default, you can switch them off, and your customer never sees them. Once the fix is live, one comment your team approved, as a public reply or an internal note. Watari never changes ticket status, tags or assignees. Your team approves the wording first, and it waits for the deploy, so nobody tells a customer something is fixed before it is.
What it does not do
Azure DevOps Services (cloud) only. Azure DevOps Server is not supported yet. Watari creates the work item and does not read its state back.
Watari needs your code on GitHub or Azure DevOps (cloud). GitLab and Bitbucket are not supported yet. If all you need is to link a ticket to an issue by hand, a plain linking app between Zendesk and Azure Boards does that, and you do not need Watari for it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Zendesk ticket create a Azure Boards issue automatically, with the customer's message in it?
Yes. An agent adds the tag to a ticket. Watari then files the Azure Boards issue on its own, with the customer's own words in the description, the steps to reproduce and the code it points to. In a public Azure DevOps project, the work item leaves out the customer's own words and links to the report in Watari instead. Your customer's ticket is never published.
How do I send Zendesk tickets to Azure Boards?
Connect Zendesk, Azure Boards and your repository in Watari, then choose which tickets it reads. From then on, escalating a ticket files a structured bug report in Azure Boards with the code it points to.
Does every Zendesk ticket become a Azure Boards issue?
No. Only the tickets your agents escalate reach Watari, and by default only real bugs it has located in your code are filed. A ticket that needs no code change gets a suggested answer for your support team and no issue.
What happens when several customers report the same bug?
They are grouped. Azure Boards gets one issue, and each new ticket is attached to it, so engineering sees the bug once along with how many customers it affects.
Does filing in Azure Boards cost extra?
No. Watari bills for issues it maps to your code. Filing in Azure Boards, draft pull requests and customer updates are included.
Does the customer get an update in Zendesk?
Yes. After the fix is merged and deployed, an update your team approved is posted to every ticket that reported the bug.
When a support ticket reports a bug, your engineers get a drafted fix.
Connect your help desk or your issue tracker, then GitHub or Azure DevOps. Watari maps each bug to the exact file and function in your code and drafts the fix as a pull request your CI checks.
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