Tickets and statuses
The twelve statuses, what each one means, and why the product refuses some of the moves between them.
The statuses
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| new | Arrived, nobody has looked at it yet. |
| open | Looked at, not yet assigned to a person. |
| assigned | Somebody owns it. |
| in_progress | Being worked on right now. |
| pending_requester | Waiting for the person who raised it. The SLA clock pauses. |
| pending_vendor | Waiting for a third party. The clock pauses. |
| pending_approval | Waiting for an approver. |
| resolved | Fixed, waiting for the requester to confirm or for auto-close. |
| closed | Done. |
| reopened | Closed, then came back. Requires a reason. |
| cancelled | Not going to be done, and everyone knows why. |
| archived | Out of the working queue, still searchable. |
Why some moves are refused
A state machine validates every transition. You cannot go from new straight to closed, because a ticket nobody worked on being closed is either a mistake or a process you should be honest about.
When a move is refused, the message lists the moves that are allowed from where you are. If the restriction is wrong for your desk, tell us which one — we would rather fix the map than have people work around it.
Pending pauses the clock
Any pending_* status pauses the SLA clock and it resumes when the ticket moves on. This is the single most argued-about number on any service desk, so every ticket has a panel that shows the policy, when the clock started, every interval it was paused and how the deadline was reached.
Notes versus replies
An internal note is never sent and never visible to the requester; a reply is. They are visually distinct in the conversation, and the reply box tells you which one you are about to write. Getting this wrong is the classic helpdesk accident.
Auto-close
Resolved tickets close themselves after a number of days you choose, with a warning notification two days before. The default is seven days.