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IA.md

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brand Zendesk
tagline Champions of customer service
category Business SaaS
website https://zendesk.com

Information Architecture — Zendesk

Overview

Zendesk is a customer service platform built around a ticketing system. The IA is structured around Support (ticketing), Guide (knowledge base), Chat (live messaging), Talk (phone), and Explore (analytics). The Agent Workspace unifies all channels into a single interface. Triggers, automations, and macros form the backbone of workflow automation, while Views provide customizable ticket queues.

Site Map

zendesk.com
├── Agent Workspace (Unified)
│   ├── Views (ticket queues)
│   │   ├── Your Unsolved Tickets
│   │   ├── Unassigned Tickets
│   │   ├── All Unsolved Tickets
│   │   ├── Recently Solved
│   │   └── Custom Views
│   ├── Ticket Detail
│   │   ├── Requester Info
│   │   ├── Conversation Thread (email, chat, social, internal notes)
│   │   ├── Ticket Fields (status, priority, assignee, type, tags)
│   │   ├── SLA Policy
│   │   ├── Side Conversations
│   │   └── Apps Panel
│   ├── Customer Context Panel
│   └── Knowledge Base Search (in-context)
├── Guide (Knowledge Base)
│   ├── Help Center
│   │   ├── Categories
│   │   │   └── Sections
│   │   │       └── Articles
│   │   ├── Community (forums)
│   │   └── Ticket Submission Form
│   ├── Article Editor
│   └── Theming
├── Chat
│   ├── Chat Dashboard
│   ├── Visitor List
│   ├── Shortcuts (canned responses)
│   └── Chat Triggers
├── Talk (Phone)
│   ├── Call Dashboard
│   ├── Call Recording
│   └── IVR
├── Explore (Analytics)
│   ├── Pre-built Dashboards
│   ├── Custom Reports
│   └── Datasets
├── Admin Center
│   ├── People (agents, groups, organizations)
│   ├── Channels (email, chat, social, phone)
│   ├── Business Rules (triggers, automations, macros, SLAs)
│   ├── Objects (ticket fields, custom objects)
│   ├── Apps & Integrations (Marketplace)
│   ├── Workspaces (agent workspace config)
│   └── Account (billing, security, branding)
└── Marketing Site
    ├── Products
    ├── Pricing
    ├── Solutions
    └── Marketplace

Navigation Model

  • Top bar: Zendesk logo, product switcher (Support, Guide, Chat, Talk, Explore, Admin), Search, + New, Views, Notifications
  • Agent Workspace: Views list (left) → Ticket list → Ticket detail with context panel (right)
  • Guide: Category/section tree → Article editor; Help Center has its own public-facing navigation
  • Admin Center: Categorized navigation tree (People, Channels, Business Rules, etc.)
  • Product switcher: Dropdown to jump between Support, Guide, Chat, Talk, Explore, Admin

Content Model

Entity Key Attributes Relationships
Ticket subject, status (new/open/pending/solved/closed), priority, type, assignee, group, tags, SLA → Requester, Organization, Comments
Comment body, author, type (public/internal), channel, attachments → Ticket
Requester (User) name, email, phone, organization, custom fields → Tickets, Organization
Organization name, domain, tags, custom fields → Users, Tickets
Agent name, role, group(s), skills → Tickets (assigned)
Group name, agents → Tickets (routing)
View name, conditions (filter), columns, sort → Tickets (filtered)
Macro name, actions (set field, add comment) → Tickets (applied)
Trigger conditions, actions (on ticket create/update) → Tickets
Automation time-based conditions, actions → Tickets
Article title, body, section, status, labels → Category, Section
SLA Policy target times per priority per metric → Tickets

User Flows

Resolve a Ticket

Views → Select "Your Unsolved Tickets" → Open ticket → Read conversation → Check customer context → Search/link Knowledge Base article → Apply macro or type reply → Set status to Solved

Set Up a Trigger

Admin Center → Business Rules → Triggers → + Add → Conditions (e.g., "Ticket is Created" AND "Priority is Urgent") → Actions (e.g., "Notify group via Slack") → Save

Publish Help Article

Guide → + New Article → Select category/section → Write content (rich text, video, code) → Set visibility (agents/signed-in/everyone) → Publish

Build a Custom Report

Explore → + New Report → Select dataset (Tickets, Chat, Talk) → Add metrics/attributes → Apply filters → Choose visualization → Save to Dashboard

URL / Route Structure

{subdomain}.zendesk.com/agent/dashboard            # Agent home
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/{ticket_id}   # Ticket detail
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/agent/filters/{view_id}     # View
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/knowledge/articles           # Guide articles
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/explore/                     # Explore analytics
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/admin/                       # Admin Center
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/hc/{locale}/                 # Public Help Center
{subdomain}.zendesk.com/hc/{locale}/articles/{id}    # Public article

Search & Filter

  • Global search: Search tickets by subject, description, comments, requester, tags; supports search operators
  • Views: Saved filter + sort + column configurations for ticket queues; shared or personal
  • Ticket search operators: status:open, assignee:me, priority:urgent, created>2024-01-01, tags
  • Guide search: Full-text article search (powers public Help Center and agent-side suggestions)
  • Explore filters: Attribute-based filtering in reports with drill-down
  • Customer context search: Search users/organizations by name, email, domain

Responsive Behavior

Breakpoint Behavior
Desktop (1280px+) Full Agent Workspace — ticket list + detail + context panel; Guide editor
Tablet Responsive Agent Workspace; context panel as overlay
Mobile (Zendesk app) View/respond to tickets, manage views, receive notifications; limited admin
Help Center (public) Fully responsive; article reading, search, and ticket submission on any device

Access Control

Role Capabilities
Owner Full account control, billing
Admin All settings, all tickets, manage agents, business rules
Agent Work tickets in assigned groups, use macros, access Guide
Light Agent View tickets, add internal notes only, cannot reply to customers
Contributor (Guide) Create/edit articles, manage knowledge base
End User Submit tickets, view own tickets, access Help Center
Custom Role Granular permission per feature area (Enterprise)