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Ticket

Key principles

A ticket is a business object processed in a space (Workflow) .

  • One ticket corresponds to one process instance in the process engine .
  • When a process is started, the ticket ID is placed in a process variable named businessKey.
  • The system determines which process must be started in the process engine according to the following algorithm:
    1. If the ticket has a type and a process key is specified for that type, the process with the specified process key is started;
    2. If the ticket type is not specified, the process key is taken from the space (Workflow) that contains the ticket.
    3. If the process key cannot be determined, the process is not started.
  • A ticket can store business data (both structured and unstructured) without placing it in the process context.

Depending on the purpose of the space (Workflow), a ticket can represent:

  • A support request or incident (Service Desk);
  • A leave request, transfer, hiring request, and so on (HR processes);
  • A user story (software development processes, Scrum, Agile);
  • A task or a manager’s assignment (Task Tracker);
  • A lead or a contract (sales funnel);
  • A purchase request (Supplier Relationship Management processes);
  • Document approval (electronic document management processes).

A new ticket can be created:

  • Manually by a user (on the space (Workflow) page);
  • By the mail processor ;
  • Through the REST API.

Attributes

Identifier (id)

UUID

Identifier is a required unique attribute in UUID v.4 format that identifies the ticket. The identifier is not displayed in the user interface by default, but it can be used in filters of table views. If a process is started for the ticket, the ticket ID becomes the foreign key (business key) that links the ticket to the process instance in the process engine .

Owner (owner)

User

Ticket owner is an optional attribute. A system user who owns the ticket. Depending on the purpose of the space (Workflow), the owner can be either the author (creator) of the ticket or the performer for it. For example, in Service Desk processes the ticket owner can be the person responsible for handling the request.

If a user creates a ticket, that user automatically becomes its owner (unless another user is specified as the owner).

Responsible (responsible)

User

Responsible is an optional attribute. A system user who is the final performer for the ticket. For example, if the ticket is a user story in a software development process (Scrum, Agile), the ticket owner can be the analyst who formulated it.

The owner and the responsible user:

  • Work with the ticket within their permissions;
  • Receive notifications about ticket changes.

Name (name)

String

Name is a required non-unique attribute specified when the ticket is created. A short description used to identify the business object. Depending on the purpose of the space (Workflow), it can be used as a task or email subject, a request or contract number, a customer name, and so on.

Description (body)

Description is an optional attribute. It is formatted text (HTML format). It is used to store unstructured text (for example, a description of work to be performed or the text of a customer request). An analog is the body of an email (E-mail). Images inserted into the description are automatically added to attached files .

Status (state)

TicketState

Status is an optional attribute that contains the ticket state. The state model is configured by the space (Workflow) owner or the system administrator. The status (for example: in progress, paid, completed) is assigned by the process model and cannot be specified by the user.

Type (type)

TicketType

Type is a required attribute that contains the ticket type. The Ticket types catalog is configured by the space (Workflow) owner or the system administrator. Ticket types are needed when several different process models must be used in one space (Workflow) . For example, an HR space (Workflow) can contain several different business processes with different structures: a leave request, hiring, and so on.

Service (service)

Service

Service is an optional attribute that links the ticket to a service . It is used if the ticket is related to a consumed or provided service (for example, in ITSM or Service Desk processes). The service catalog is configured by the system administrator.

Priority (priority)

TicketPriority

Priority is an optional attribute that indicates the priority of the ticket. The priority catalog is fixed and has the following values (in descending order):

  • Very high (VERY_HIGH)
  • High (HIGH)
  • Medium (MEDIUM)
  • Low (LOW)
  • Very low (VERY_LOW)

Five values should be more than enough, just like 640 KB of RAM in 1981! 😀

Each value has a color indicator that visually highlights the ticket priority.

Priority helps the user identify tickets that should be processed first.

Impact (impact)

Impact

Impact is an optional attribute that indicates the “significance” of the ticket. The catalog is fixed and has the following values (in descending order):

  • Very high (VERY_HIGH)
  • High (HIGH)
  • Medium (MEDIUM)
  • Low (LOW)
  • Very low (VERY_LOW)

Depending on the purpose of the space (Workflow), this attribute can be used as:

  • Incident scope, the number of affected users (in incident management processes, ITSM)
  • Lead “value” (in a sales funnel);
  • Task effort (in production processes);
  • Risk probability (in risk management processes);
  • Candidate suitability score (in HR).

Milestone (milestone)

Milestone

Milestone is an optional attribute used to group tickets. The Milestones catalog is configured by the system administrator or the space (Workflow) owner.

Depending on the purpose of the space (Workflow), this attribute can be used to group tickets into:

  • A release, sprint, or version (software development processes);
  • A work stage (project);
  • A sales plan stage (CRM processes).

Due date (due date)

LocalDate

Due date is an optional attribute that specifies the date by which the ticket must be completed.

If the current date is greater than or equal to the value in the Due date field, the Ticket name and Due date fields are highlighted in red so that overdue tickets can be identified.

Closed time (closed time)

Instant

Closed time is an optional attribute that identifies completed tickets. It can be filled in manually by the user or automatically using the state model .

Person (person)

Person

Person is an optional attribute that links the ticket to a Person . It can be filled in manually by the user or automatically when the ticket is created by the mail gateway . It can be used in CRM and Service Desk processes to identify a customer or user — an individual from whom the request was received.

Organization (organization)

Organization

Organization is an optional attribute that links the ticket to an Organization . It can be filled in manually by the user or automatically when the ticket is created by the mail gateway . It can be used in CRM and Service Desk processes to identify a customer — a legal entity from which the request was received.

Labels (Labels)

Label

  • optional attribute
  • Lets you add one or more labels to classify tickets (for example: bug, feature request, documentation, question).
  • Labels are displayed on the ticket card and can be used for filtering and search.
  • See Labels for details.

Other attributes

  • Process instance ID (process instance ID, String) — optional hidden attribute. Stores the process instance ID in the process engine. An empty value means the process was not started. A non-empty value means the process is running or has been completed.
  • Workflow (workflow, Workflow) — required hidden attribute. Links the ticket to a space (Workflow) .

Ticket operations

Business actions (ticket action)

Business actions are events that can occur with a ticket at the current stage of its processing. From the process engine perspective, business actions are BPMN Intermediate Message Catch Event messages that a user can send from the ticket page.

When the Ticket state field is clicked, the system sends a request to the process engine and retrieves the list of messages that the process instance can handle at the current stage of its execution. The list of events is shown to the user as a dynamic drop-down list, where:

  • Key = Message name. Example: <bpmn:message name="take" />
  • Value = Element name. Example: <bpmn:intermediateCatchEvent name="Take in progress">

When an item in the drop-down list is clicked, the corresponding message (Message name) is sent to the process engine. In this way, a business action provides feedback between the user and the business process.

Examples of business actions:

  • Invoice paid (sales funnel);
  • Contract signed (sales funnel);
  • Hand over to testing (software development process);
  • Solution provided (Service Desk);
  • Take in progress (Task Tracker).

Important! Performing a business action does not always change the ticket status!

See ticket states for details.

Additional actions

  • Delete — opens the menu for deleting the ticket and all related records (attachments, comments, events, correspondence).
  • Move to — opens the menu for moving the ticket to another space (Workflow). The existing process instance in the process engine is deleted. After the move, a new process instance is started according to the settings of the target process and ticket type.
  • Merge with — opens the menu for merging the current ticket with the selected (target) ticket. The existing process instance in the process engine is deleted. Records related to the source ticket are moved to the target ticket, and the body of the source ticket is moved to the target ticket as a comment .
  • Create copy — opens the ticket copy menu. A new process instance is started for the new ticket. Records related to the source ticket (comments, attachments, events) are not copied.
  • Start process (Cancel process) — starts or deletes the process instance in the process engine. The process instance identifier is stored in the Process instance ID field.

Activity (Comments)

This element contains records related to the ticket, arranged in chronological order:

Tasks (User Tasks)

This element contains user tasks related to the ticket. Both completed tasks and tasks in progress are displayed, in the following format:

  • Task name;
  • Task status.

This element contains related tickets displayed in the following format:

Link types:

  • BLOCKS — the current ticket blocks the related ticket;
  • BLOCKED_BY — the current ticket is blocked by the related ticket;
  • CAUSES — the current ticket is the reason the related ticket was created (parent);
  • CAUSED_BY — the current ticket was created by the related ticket (child);
  • RELATES_TO — an equal relationship between tickets.

Attached files (Attachment)

A list of files attached to the ticket, in the following format:

  • File name;
  • Date added.

A file upload field is located below the attachment list.