Getting Started with Ticket Tasks

In many cases, a ticket may be created for a more complex piece of work that requires a series of smaller steps to be completed before the ticket can be closed. Similarly, there may be situations where multiple teams must complete different parts of a ticket's work.

Ticket tasks are subtasks added to a ticket to engage others or groups in contributing to the ticket, while the ownership and primary responsibility for the ticket remain the same. Some ticket templates or forms may automatically add ticket tasks to new tickets, or you can add them manually through the Ticketing application in Work Management.

In this article, we'll cover:

• When to Use Ticket Tasks
• When to Reassign a Ticket vs Create a Task
• Working with Ticket Tasks
  • Adding a Task to a Ticket
  • Updating Tasks on a Ticket
  • Editing, Assigning, or Deleting Ticket Tasks
  • Taking Responsibility for a Ticket Task
  • Adding a Ticket Task to My Work
• What Happens to Group Assignment When Reassigning

When to Use Ticket Tasks

Ticket tasks are well-suited for:

• Breaking down complex work into manageable steps
• Engaging multiple teams or individuals in different aspects of the work
• Tracking completion of sequential steps in a process
• Maintaining accountability for specific portions of the overall ticket

When to Reassign a Ticket vs Create a Task

As a best practice, organizations should define when to reassign a ticket and when to use a ticket task. A helpful way to think about it: reassigning a ticket gets it to the correct owner, while assigning a task brings in someone who needs to contribute without taking ownership.

Reassigning a ticket transfers primary responsibility to the team or person who owns the overall issue. For example, a ticket is assigned to Group A to fix the widget machine. Group B handles those repairs, so the ticket is reassigned to Group B. The ticket is now in the right hands.

Creating a ticket task engages a person or group to complete a specific component of the work, even though they do not own the overall ticket. For example, a ticket comes in to fix the entire widget factory owned by Group C. One necessary step is fixing the widget machine. A task is created and assigned to Group B to handle that piece, while Group C retains ownership of the ticket.

Best practice: Tickets should be assigned to the owning group and remain with that group throughout the ticket lifecycle. Use tasks to coordinate work with other teams as needed.

Working with Ticket Tasks

The Difference Between Editing and Updating Ticket Tasks

Just as with tickets themselves, editing and updating tasks serve different purposes:

• When you edit a task, you make changes to its base parameters — title, responsible party, dates, and similar fields.
• When you update a task, you record progress — updating the percent complete, time spent, comments, and notifications.

Adding a Task to a Ticket

Note: Workflow tasks cannot be manually added to tickets. Maintenance activities can only be added to change or release tickets.

To add a task to a ticket:

1. In Work Management, navigate to the Ticketing application.
2. Click Search in the left navigation.
3. If necessary, modify the search criteria and click Apply.
4. Click the ticket title to open the ticket details.
5. Go to the Tasks/Activities tab.
6. Click Add > Task.
7. Enter a Title.
8. If another task must be completed before this one can begin, select a Predecessor. If the predecessor task has not yet been completed, this task will be marked as inactive. Once activated, the start and due dates will be set automatically, overwriting any manually specified dates.
9. The Start and End Dates will default to the current day. Edit these as necessary.
10. Enter Estimated Hours to complete the task.
11. Optionally, enter a Complete Within value.
12. Select the Responsible person or group.
13. Click Save.

Editing, Assigning, or Deleting Ticket Tasks

Note: Workflow tasks cannot be individually deleted. If a workflow needs to be removed, the entire workflow must be removed from the ticket.

To edit a task (including changing assignment):

1. In Work Management, navigate to the Ticketing application and open the desired ticket.
2. Click the task name under Current Activities on the ticket's General tab or the Tasks/Activities tab.
3. Click Edit.
4. Make the needed changes, including any assignment changes in the Responsible field.
5. Click Save.

To delete a task:

1. In Work Management, navigate to the Ticketing application and open the desired ticket.
2. Click the task name under Current Activities on the ticket's General tab or the Tasks/Activities tab.
3. Click Actions > Delete.
4. Confirm the deletion.

Updating Tasks on a Ticket

Note: You cannot update a task if the associated ticket has been converted to a project task, or if the task is inactive.

To update a task on a ticket:

1. In Work Management, navigate to the Ticketing application and open the desired ticket.
2. Click the task name under Current Activities on the ticket's General tab or the Tasks/Activities tab.
3. Click Actions > Update.
4. Record progress by updating the percent complete, time spent, comments, and notifications.
5. Click Save.

Taking Responsibility for a Ticket Task

Taking a task means assigning an unassigned task to yourself.

To take ownership of an unassigned ticket task:

1. In Work Management, navigate to the Ticketing application and open the desired ticket.
2. Click the task name under Current Activities on the ticket's General tab or the Tasks/Activities tab.
3. Click Actions > Take Task.

You will be entered in the Responsible field.

Adding a Ticket Task to My Work

In addition to adding tickets to My Work, you can add individual ticket tasks. This is useful when you want a specific task to appear in your personal work queue.

To add an unassigned ticket task to My Work:

1. In Work Management, navigate to the Ticketing application and open the desired ticket.
2. Click the task name under Current Activities on the ticket's General tab or the Tasks/Activities tab.
3. Click Actions > Take Task
4. Click Actions > Add to My Work

To add a task that has already been assigned to you:

1. In Work Management, open the My Work application.
2. Click My Assignments in the left sidebar.
3. Locate the task and click the + My Work button beneath it.