> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# VortexIQ Findings Open, Help Scout
> Tickets we created from audit findings that haven't been resolved yet. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.
**Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Project Management](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type)
> Tickets we created from audit findings that haven't been resolved yet.
## At a glance
> Live count of HelpScout conversations that Vortex IQ created on your behalf from audit findings (broken checkout flows, refund spikes, performance regressions, ad-on-OOS, missing SEO fields) and which still sit in an unresolved state in the shared inbox. The merchant question this answers is: *"how many revenue-protecting fixes have I asked HelpScout to triage that haven't been picked up yet?"* HelpScout calls these *conversations*, not tickets, but the merchant-facing meaning is the same.
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| **What it counts** | HelpScout conversations created by the Vortex IQ integration (tagged `vortex-iq` in HelpScout, lowercase-hyphen by HelpScout convention) whose `status` is `active` or `pending`. `closed` and `spam` drop out. |
| **API endpoint** | `GET /v2/conversations?status=active,pending&tag=vortex-iq&embed=threads` paginated with `size=50` (HelpScout default; max 200). HelpScout API v2 is OAuth-2.0 only; the connector runs a refresh-token loop. |
| **Conversation-state filter** | Active + Pending. Closed + Spam excluded. HelpScout has no separate "On Hold" state, so long-pause conversations stay Active. |
| **Bot-handled conversations** | Included. HelpScout Beacon's auto-replies and any custom Workflow auto-responses do not change `status` by default; the conversation only "closes" when an agent or workflow sets status to `closed`. |
| **Multi-mailbox aggregation** | Aggregated across every Mailbox the connector token can read. HelpScout structures multi-brand support as separate Mailboxes (one per support email address). Set `vortex_iq.mailbox_filter` to scope. |
| **Multi-channel scope** | All HelpScout channels (Email, Beacon Chat, API, Forms). Vortex IQ-created conversations always come in via API (`type: api`). |
| **Time window** | `RT`, refreshed every 60 seconds. |
| **Alert trigger** | `> 20 open`. |
| **Anomaly detection** | If the count grows by >5 in 60 minutes, Vortex IQ raises an "Audit findings backing up" alert. |
| **Time zone** | Account timezone in *Manage → Company → Time Zone*. The HelpScout API returns timestamps in ISO 8601 UTC; the card converts for display. |
| **Roles** | owner, operations |
## Calculation
Calculated automatically from your Help Scout data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.
## Worked example
A US wellness DTC brand on Shopify running HelpScout Plus with three Mailboxes (`hello@`, `wholesale@`, `returns@`). The brand's CS philosophy is "every customer email gets a human reply"; HelpScout was chosen because the shared-inbox model fits that ethos. Snapshot taken on 02 May 26 at 11:15 ET.
| Mailbox | Open Vortex IQ findings | Notes |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `hello@` (main consumer) | 9 | Filed during last week's checkout audit; mix of UX and copy issues |
| `wholesale@` | 4 | All B2B-tier pricing inconsistencies |
| `returns@` | 3 | All refund-portal flow issues |
| **Total** | **16** | Below the 20-ticket alert threshold |
The card reads **16**. Three observations:
1. **The mailbox split mirrors how the team already works.** HelpScout merchants tend to assign mailboxes to specific people, so 4 wholesale findings and 3 returns findings each have a natural owner. Surface a separate Vortex IQ panel per mailbox in the Nerve Centre; don't try to drive triage across all 16 in one standup.
2. **All 16 conversations should appear in the shared-inbox view immediately.** HelpScout's "Inbox" view defaults to showing Active conversations sorted by most-recently-modified. Vortex IQ's API-created conversations sit in this list with the `vortex-iq` tag visible inline. Train the team to triage by tag-color (set `vortex-iq` to red in *Manage → Mailbox → Tags* for visibility).
3. **HelpScout's customer-centric reputation cuts both ways here.** The shared-inbox model excels at high-touch consumer support but makes it easy for technical-debt findings to feel "out of place" in the inbox. Pair this card with [`shopify.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) so the team sees Vortex IQ findings as protecting the customer experience, not as engineering ticket noise.
4. **The 4 wholesale findings are likely the highest absolute revenue impact.** B2B pricing inconsistencies on a wholesale mailbox typically affect 5-figure orders. Cross-reference the wholesale account manager's open quote pipeline; if any of those quotes touch the affected SKUs, those findings need same-day fixes.
5. **The card is unsmoothed and counts every Vortex IQ conversation regardless of which Mailbox it landed in.** This is the source-of-truth view. For mailbox-level views use the per-mailbox sub-panels.
## Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with VortexIQ Findings Open | What the combination tells you |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Abandoned Findings (>14d no movement)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/helpscout/abandoned-findings) | The "silently leaking" subset. | Open count steady but Abandoned rising equals findings filed faster than triaged. |
| [Open Conversations (all)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/helpscout/open-tickets) | Total HelpScout backlog. | If both elevated together, the inbox is overloaded and Vortex IQ findings get buried. |
| [Avg Cycle Time](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/helpscout/avg-cycle-time) | Triage health. | Cycle time creeping while open count grows means triage is broken. Inspect [Top Assignees Overloaded](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/helpscout/overloaded-assignees). |
| [Finding Resolution Rate (90d)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/helpscout/finding-resolution-rate) | Throughput counterpart. | Open high + resolution low equals findings filed but never closed, the worst possible audit-programme state. |
| [Refund Rate (Shopify / BigCommerce / Adobe)](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) | Refund spikes should generate findings. | Refunds up + findings flat equals audit blind spot; findings up + refunds down equals programme working. |
| [Customer Service Sentiment (Shopify)](/nerve-centre/shopify/customer_service_sentiment) | NPS-side outcome. HelpScout users care intensely about NPS. | Findings dropping + sentiment rising equals proof the audit programme protects retention, the headline narrative for a HelpScout-using brand. |
| [Datadog Operational Health Score](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/datadog/operational-health-score) | Technical findings should map to Datadog signals. | Vortex IQ "checkout error" finding open + Datadog error rate steady equals possible false positive or stale finding. |
## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard
**Where to look in HelpScout's own dashboard:**
> **[Inbox view (secure.helpscout.net/conversations)](https://secure.helpscout.net/conversations)** with the tag filter `vortex-iq` and the default Active+Pending status filter.
> **[Saved Searches](https://secure.helpscout.net/conversations)**, build one for `tag:vortex-iq AND status:active OR status:pending` and share with the team.
> **[Reports → Conversations](https://secure.helpscout.net/reports/conversations/)** filtered by the same tag.
For multi-mailbox accounts, use the Mailbox switcher at the top to view per-mailbox; the API aggregates across all mailboxes by default.
**Why our number may legitimately differ from HelpScout's view:**
| Reason | Direction | Why |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Time zone** | Boundary days off | HelpScout Reports honour the Manage → Company timezone; agent UI honours each agent's profile timezone. The card uses the company timezone for the alert calculation. |
| **Conversation-channel scope** | Ours equals theirs | Both include all channels by default. If you scope the saved search to "Email only", that view is a subset. |
| **Archived / deleted conversations** | Ours lower | HelpScout's Trash is excluded from `GET /v2/conversations` by design. Trashed conversations remain queryable in the UI for 30 days. |
| **Pending status semantics** | Ours equals theirs | HelpScout's Pending is "waiting for customer reply". We count it because for a Vortex IQ finding, "pending" usually means waiting on a developer or agency. HelpScout default views show Pending alongside Active; no semantic gap. |
| **Multi-mailbox aggregation** | Either | Card aggregates across all Mailboxes; per-Mailbox views are subsets. |
| **Webhook lag** | Ours lower for "just now" | A conversation just created via the API will be in the Inbox within 1-2 seconds but may take up to 30 seconds to be returned by `GET /v2/conversations` (eventual consistency). |
**Cross-connector reconciliation:**
| Card | Expected relationship | What causes the divergence |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [`shopify.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/refund-rate) / [`bigcommerce.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/bigcommerce/refund-rate) / [`adobe_commerce.refund_rate`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/adobe-commerce/refund-rate) | Refund spikes should generate findings (24-72h lag). | Refunds up + findings flat equals audit blind spot; findings up + refunds down equals programme working. |
| [`shopify.customer_service_sentiment`](/nerve-centre/shopify/customer_service_sentiment) | Inversely correlated. | Open findings climbing past 30 for 2+ weeks predicts CSAT drop of 3-5 points. |
Documentation cross-reference (for agencies running multiple helpdesk vendors)
The "VortexIQ Findings Open" metric exists with the same definition on every helpdesk Vortex IQ files findings into.
* [`zendesk.zen_vortexiq_findings_open`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/zendesk/vortexiq-findings-open)
* [`freshdesk.fre_vortexiq_findings_open`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/freshdesk/vortexiq-findings-open)
* [`gorgias.gor_vortexiq_findings_open`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/gorgias/vortexiq-findings-open)
* [`intercom.int_vortexiq_findings_open`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/intercom/vortexiq-findings-open)
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs
**Why does Vortex IQ's number disagree with HelpScout Reports?**
Three usual culprits:
1. **Time zone**. Reports honour the company timezone; agent UI honours each agent's profile zone. The card uses company timezone for alerts.
2. **Eventual consistency**. The HelpScout Conversations API has 5-30 second eventual consistency on newly-created conversations. If you just filed a finding, give it 30 seconds.
3. **Trash inclusion**. UI views can show Trashed conversations for 30 days; the API excludes them entirely.
**A finding has been Pending for two months. Does it count?**
Yes. Pending in HelpScout means "waiting for customer reply"; on a Vortex IQ ticket that usually means waiting on a developer or agency. The card counts it as open. Build a HelpScout Workflow to auto-reassign Pending Vortex IQ conversations after N days if you want movement enforced.
**Beacon's auto-reply fired on a Vortex IQ conversation. Is it counted?**
Yes, until status moves to Closed. Beacon auto-replies do not change `status`. Add a Workflow that closes Vortex IQ conversations once Beacon confidence threshold is met if you want bot-handled findings to drop out.
**We run three Mailboxes (`hello@`, `wholesale@`, `returns@`). Do they all roll up?**
By default, yes. The connector token aggregates across every Mailbox it can read. To scope to a single Mailbox, set `vortex_iq.mailbox_filter: ` in the connector config. HelpScout merchants typically prefer per-Mailbox panels because their team structure mirrors the mailbox structure.
**Open count just jumped, what should I check first?**
A 5-step playbook:
1. **Commerce platform first.** *Refund Rate*, *Cancellation Rate*, *Order Volume* on Shopify / BigCommerce / Adobe. Refund spikes drive most audit findings.
2. **Site reliability.** Datadog *Operational Health Score*, Sentry error rate. A bad deploy generates a tail of customer-facing errors.
3. **Catalogue.** *Catalogue Drift*, *Ads on OOS*, *Top Products*. Pricing or stock changes shipped without QA flood the queue.
4. **Audit category mix.** Filter by Vortex IQ tag (`vortex-iq:checkout`, `vortex-iq:catalogue`, `vortex-iq:performance`).
5. **Viral negative review or social mention.** A bad TikTok or Trustpilot one-star spree drives 30+ tickets in an hour.
**Why is today's count so volatile?**
Today's count includes everything filed in the last 24 hours plus everything still open from before. A morning audit run that files 10 findings will step the count up immediately; the card is unsmoothed by design.
**Response time vs resolution time, which one matters for findings?**
**Resolution time**. A Vortex IQ finding does not need a 30-minute first response; it needs to be triaged, prioritised, and closed within 7-14 days. Configure HelpScout's *Reports → Happiness Score* and *Reports → Productivity → Resolution Time* with a tag filter for `vortex-iq` to track findings separately from consumer queries.
**We use HelpScout for transactional consumer queries AND Vortex IQ findings. Are they double-counted?**
No. The card filters strictly by tag. Consumer queries don't carry the `vortex-iq` tag and are excluded.
**Multi-channel: do Beacon chat conversations count?**
Yes if they carry the `vortex-iq` tag. The card does not filter by `type` (api/email/chat); only by tag and status.
***
### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre
*VortexIQ Findings Open* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Help Scout and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.
[Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.