Getting Started with Parent / Child Tickets

Parent-child ticket relationships allow you to connect related tickets across different classifications within TeamDynamix. This hierarchical structure enables you to manage complex incidents, problems, changes, and releases more efficiently by grouping related work and cascading updates from parent tickets to all associated children.

In this article, we'll cover:

• When to Use Parent-Child Relationships
• Classification Hierarchy
• Accessing and Viewing Parent-Child Relationships
• Creating Parent-Child Relationships
  • Add Existing Child Tickets to a Parent
  • Create a New Child Ticket from a Parent
  • Link an Existing Ticket as Parent
  • Create a New Child Ticket from a Parent
• Cascading an Update
• Cascading Service Level Agreements to Children

When to Use Parent-Child Relationships

Parent-child relationships are valuable for:

Major Incident Management

• Group all user-reported incidents under a single major incident parent
• Communicate status updates to all affected users simultaneously through cascading
• Track the full scope of a service outage
• Example: 50 users report email access issues during a campus-wide Exchange outage—link all 50 tickets to one Major Incident parent

Problem Management

• Link recurring incidents to a problem investigation
• Track patterns across multiple related issues
• Document the scope of impact while investigating root cause
• Example: Multiple users report slow performance on a specific application over several weeks—link all incidents to one Problem parent to identify the pattern

Change Management

• Connect a problem to its remediation change
• Link multiple changes to a release implementation
• Maintain traceability from investigation through deployment
• Example: A firewall configuration problem requires a change—link the Problem as a child of the Change to track the complete resolution path

Release Management

• Coordinate multiple changes within a larger release
• Track all components of a major deployment
• Example: A quarterly infrastructure upgrade includes 15 different changes—link all changes as children of the Release parent

Classification Hierarchy

TeamDynamix classifications follow a pyramid structure where higher-level classifications can be parents of lower-level ones:

Can be parent tickets:

• Release (top-level - can be parent to Changes, Problems, Major Incidents)
• Change (can be parent to Problems, Major Incidents, Incidents, Service Requests)
• Problem (can be parent to Major Incidents, Incidents, Service Requests)
• Major Incident (can be parent to Incidents, Service Requests)

Can be child tickets:

• Change (can be child of Release)
• Problem (can be child of Change or Release)
• Major Incident (can be child of Problem, Change, or Release)
• Incident (can be child of Major Incident, Problem, Change, or Release)
• Service Request (can be child of Major Incident, Problem, Change, or Release)

Important notes:

• Incidents and Service Requests can only be children—they cannot have their own child tickets
• Major Incidents, Problems, and Changes can be both parents and children
• You can create multiple levels of relationships (e.g., Release > Change > Problem > Incidents)
• You can skip levels when needed (e.g., link an Incident directly to a Release)

If you disable a classification within a ticketing application, that classification—and its related forms—will not be available for selection.

For more information on the differences between classifications, see Differences between Incident, Major Incident, Problem, Change, Release, and Service Request.

Accessing and Viewing Parent-Child Relationships

In Work Management, open any ticket in a Ticketing application. Parent-child relationship features are available from two locations within the ticket:

From a parent ticket:

• The Children tab displays all linked child tickets and is visible only on tickets with eligible parent classifications (Major Incident, Problem, Change, or Release)
• Click any child ticket in the list to navigate directly to it

From a child ticket:

• The parent ticket information is shown in the ticket details. The parent ticket name appears under the parent classification. Click the ticket name to open the parent.
• The Actions menu includes Set Parent and Create Parent options, available on tickets with eligible child classifications (Incident, Service Request, Major Incident, Problem, or Change)

If neither the Children tab nor the parent-related Actions options appear, the ticket's classification is not eligible to participate in a parent-child relationship. See the Classification Hierarchy section for more details.

Creating Parent-Child Relationships

There are four methods to establish parent-child relationships, depending on whether the parent ticket already exists and which ticket you're working from.

Method 1: Add Existing Child Tickets to a Parent

Use this when you have an existing parent ticket and want to link existing tickets as children.

1. Open the parent ticket in the Ticketing application
2. Click the Children tab
   • If the Children tab doesn't appear, this ticket classification cannot be a parent
3. Click + Add Existing
4. Search for and select the ticket(s) you want to add as children
   • You can filter by ticket ID, requestor, status, or other criteria
5. Check the boxes next to the tickets you want to link
6. Click Add Selected

The selected tickets now appear in the Children tab list and are linked to the parent ticket.

Method 2: Create a New Child Ticket from a Parent

Use this when you're working from the parent ticket and need to create a new related ticket.

1. Open the parent ticket in the Ticketing application
2. Click the Children tab
3. Click + Add New
4. Select the Classification for the new child ticket
   • Only eligible child classifications for this parent type will appear
5. Select the appropriate form and complete the required fields
   • The form automatically inherits applicable values from the parent ticket (such as requestor, account/department, or affected service)
6. Click Save

The new ticket is created and automatically linked as a child. It appears immediately on the Children tab of the parent ticket.

Method 3: Link an Existing Ticket as Parent

Use this when you have a child ticket and want to link it to an existing parent.

1. Open the child ticket in the Ticketing application
2. Click Actions > Set Parent
3. Enter the parent Ticket ID or click the magnifying glass to search
   • The search filters to show only tickets with eligible parent classifications
4. Select the parent ticket
5. Click Save

The child ticket is now linked to the selected parent. You can view the parent ticket information in the child ticket's details.

Method 4: Create a New Parent Ticket from a Child

Use this when you have a child ticket but need to create a new parent ticket for it.

1. Open the child ticket in the Ticketing application​​​​​​​
2. Click Actions > Create Parent
3. Select a form for the new parent ticket
   • Available forms show only classifications eligible to be parents of the current ticket
4. Complete the form fields
   • The form automatically inherits applicable values from the child ticket
5. Click Save

A new parent ticket is created, and the original ticket is automatically linked as its child.

Cascading Updates from Parent to Children

One of the most powerful features of parent-child relationships is the ability to cascade updates from a parent ticket to all its children simultaneously.

What Gets Cascaded

When you cascade an update, the following information flows from the parent to all children:

• Status change - All children receive the same new status as the parent
• Comments - Your update comment appears in the feed of every child ticket
• Notifications - Selected roles on child tickets receive email notifications

How Cascading Works

Cascading is recursive, meaning:

• Direct children of the parent are updated
• Children of those children (grandchildren) are also updated
• This continues through all levels of the hierarchy

Example hierarchy: Major Incident > Problem > 10 Incidents

• Updating the Major Incident with cascade-enabled updates the Problem AND all 10 Incidents

Cascading an Update

The parent ticket must have at least one child ticket assigned to use cascading.

1. Open the parent ticket
2. Click Actions > Update
3. Check the Cascade checkbox to enable cascading
4. In the Cascade Notification dropdown, select which roles to notify on child tickets:
   • Reviewers / Reviewing Groups
   • Creators
   • Requestors
   • Responsible Persons / Groups
   • You can select multiple roles
5. Select the new Status for the tickets
6. Enter a Comment explaining the update. This comment will appear on all child tickets
7. Update any other fields as needed
8. Click Save

Cascaded Updates in the Feed

Cascaded updates are marked differently in ticket feeds:

• If only cascade is enabled: (Update Cascaded)
• If cascade notification is used: Update Cascaded (Notified: [Role(s)])
  • Example: Update Cascaded (Notified: Creators, Requestors)

This marker helps you distinguish between regular updates and those that affected multiple tickets.

Important Considerations

• Review before cascading: Ensure it is appropriate for all child tickets to receive the same status and message
• Cascade notifications thoughtfully: Only notify roles that need the update to avoid unnecessary emails
• Document clearly: Your cascade comment appears on many tickets—make it clear and professional
• Status appropriateness: Verify the new status is appropriate for all child ticket types

Cascading Service Level Agreements to Children

Similar to cascading updates, you can assign or reassign a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to a parent ticket and have it automatically applied to all children.

When to Cascade SLAs

This is useful when:

• Multiple related incidents should have the same response and resolution timeframes
• A major incident's urgency applies to all user-reported tickets
• You want consistent tracking across a group of related tickets

How to Cascade an SLA

• Open the parent ticket
• Click Actions > Assign SLA (or Reassign SLA if one is already assigned)
• Select the SLA to apply
• Check the Update SLA on all children checkbox
• Click Save

The SLA is applied to the parent ticket and all its children, regardless of how many levels deep the hierarchy extends.

SLA Cascading Considerations

• Child tickets may have different classifications with different SLA rules—verify the SLA is appropriate for all children
• If a child ticket already has an SLA, cascading will replace it
• SLA times are calculated from when the SLA is assigned, not from the parent ticket's creation time