Why does the data in my report change over time?

Question

Why did my data change for dates in the past?

Each time I look at a report for a time period in the past, the data changes. For example, for the period of last month, the report showed a first reply time of 10 hours. A week later, the same report showed a first reply time of 9.7 hours. Why is this?

Answer

There are many reasons why past data may change over time:

If the data is sorted by the date refers to a solved ticket. When an older ticket finally gets solved, replied to, or given a satisfaction rating, that data will show up on past dates in the report. In addition, if you use the Solved tickets metric, as soon as one of those tickets switches back to pending or open, the ticket will no longer show in the report.

Data can also change when a solved ticket is re-opened. This impacts the number of solved tickets or full resolution time. For example, if a ticket is reopened and resolved during the time you last saw the report, the report will reflect the new time for solving that ticket.

Additionally, on a ticket, the first reply time target of SLAs does not start until the ticket gets a first public comment from an end user. Your first reply time average can change for this reason. For more information, see this article: Zendesk SLAs and first reply time.