Current Challenges with Bulk Updates
- Limited ticket selection: Freshservice currently restricts bulk updates to 30 tickets at a time, which slows down large-scale changes.
- Private Updates: Unable to add private updates to tickets via bulk update tool, which is difficult for admins to manage large numbers of tickets without using a workflow tool.
- Bulk Updates in Change Requests: Having the ability to bulk update change requests is also only possible via workflow tool but doesn't allow for dynamic questioning or notes.
- Mandatory fields frustration: Users often need to export, reformat, and re-upload data for fields they don’t intend to modify, leading to inefficiency and errors.
- Rigid workflows: Existing options (Bulk Action, Scenario Automation, Supervisor Rules, Scheduled Workflows) lack flexibility for dynamic conditions and large datasets.
Modernisation Ideas
1. Dynamic Field Handling
- Allow users to skip mandatory fields if they are not being changed.
- Introduce smart validation that only checks modified fields, reducing unnecessary errors.
2. Enhanced UI/UX
- Replace the current pop-up with a multi-step wizard:
- Step 1: Select records.
- Step 2: Choose fields to update.
- Step 3: Preview changes before applying.
- Add inline error handling and real-time feedback for formats (e.g., date fields).
3. Scheduled & Conditional Updates
- Introduce conditional bulk updates (e.g., “Update all tickets older than 30 days with status = Pending”).
- Allow scheduled execution during off-peak hours to minimise impact.
4. AI-Assisted Updates
- Use AI to suggest field values based on historical patterns.
- Implement predictive checks for common errors (e.g., incorrect date formats).
5. Improved Asset & Service Updates
- Enable nested field updates and bulk clearing of values without re-uploading CSV files.
- Support dynamic filtering so only relevant fields appear for selected asset types.
