Linking contextual tickets help you keep track of their progress and to send prompt and consistent answers when there's one. Whether you need to track a ticket where work needs to be performed by multiple teams or track the same issue for numerous customers, you can open a primary ticket known as the parent ticket, and then create or link secondary subordinates called child tickets. For example, let's say your product is facing an unexpected outage. Some of your customers will be reaching out to you. You must tell them what is affected, let them know if they need to change their usage, and tell them when to expect the next update. All these must be communicated in a single voice for it builds up your customer's confidence in you. This extension takes you one step closer to managing such tickets better. You can use the parent-child ticket relationships to keep your customers up to date in a regular, coordinated fashion.
You can link or associate a ticket only if the "Associate Type" field is added to the current layout.
Key Features
- Create a new child ticket or select an existing ticket to be linked to a parent ticket
- Clone a ticket with all of its contents and then link it to a parent ticket
- Link a parent ticket to a child
Benefits
- Parent-child ticket association ensures that ticket resolutions are delivered consistently and efficiently
- Creating child tickets and assigning them to different teams enable them to work on their respective tasks concurrently
- Helps you to keep track of multiple customers reporting the same issue
Things you should know
- A ticket can be linked to only one parent, and a parent ticket can accommodate a maximum of 200 child tickets.
- Changing the department, changing the severity, and changing the status of a child ticket do not affect the parent ticket and vice versa.
- Unless configured for automatic closure, closing the parent ticket will not automatically close its child tickets.
- A child ticket cannot be a parent ticket as well.
Installing the Parent Child Ticketing Extension
The Parent Child Ticketing extension can be installed from the Zoho Marketplace or your Zoho Desk account. - Log in to your Zoho Desk account with Administrator privileges.
- Click the Setup icon ( ) > Integration > Marketplace.
- Search for 'Parent Child' in the search bar on the right-hand side of the screen.
- Select the Parent Child Ticketing extension and click Install.
- Click Install on the Confirm Installation window.
You will land on the Parent Child Ticketing Installation Setup page. - Select the Departments and Profiles whose agents can access the extension in Zoho Desk.
- Agree to the Terms of Use and click Install.
- The extension will be installed for the specified departments and profiles.
- Click Authorize in the pop-up window to activate the extension.
- Click Accept to allow Zoho Workflow to access data in your Zoho Desk account.
The Parent Child Ticketing extension is now ready for use.
Upon successful installation, the extension can be accessed from the left tab of the ticket detail page.
Setting Ticket Closure Preferences
Now that you have installed the extension, time to set your preferences for closing the parent and child tickets linked through it. You can enable or disable the following options under the Preferences tab of the extension:
- Close all child tickets automatically once the parent is closed
Enabling this option will close all the child tickets regardless of their status on closing their parent ticket.
[or] - Close the parent ticket only when its child tickets are closed
Enabling this option will ensure that the parent ticket can be closed only after their child tickets are closed. Additionally, reopening a child ticket will also reopen its parent. - Close the parent ticket automatically once all of its child tickets are closed
Enabling this option will close the parent tickets regardless of their status on closing their child tickets.
Accessing the Extension from the Ticket Detail Page
The extension can be accessed through the ticket detail page. To access the extension, open a ticket from your portal.
- Click the Extensions icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
All extensions installed in this location will be listed.
- Select Parent Child Ticketing ( ).
The Parent Child Ticketing widget will be displayed in the left tab of the ticket detail page.
Linking Tickets
To create a parent-child association between tickets, you must first decide which ticket will be the parent and which ticket(s) will be the child. Let's look at the different options available for linking tickets.
Linking a Parent Ticket
When you realize you need to track the same issue for multiple customers, your first step will be to link the ticket to its parent. To link a parent ticket:
- Open a ticket you want to set as a child.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
- Click Link parent ticket on the extension panel.
A pop-up window with a list of tickets will appear. - Select the appropriate parent ticket from the list.
You can switch departments using the drop-down menu.
You can also search for the parent ticket by its ID number. - Click Associate.
The ticket will now display the parent ticket on the left panel.
Linking a Child Ticket
When you are ready to associate Child tickets to the Parent ticket, you may do so from the Parent Ticket. To link a child ticket:
- Open a ticket you want to set as a parent.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
- Click Link child tickets on the extension panel.
A pop-up window with a list of tickets will appear.
- Select the appropriate child tickets from the list.
You can link a maximum of 200 child tickets to a parent. - Click Associate.
The ticket will now display the child tickets on the left panel.
Creating a New Child Ticket
Besides linking existing tickets, you can also create new child tickets on the fly. This is especially useful when it comes to tracking a task on a parent ticket where work needs to be performed by multiple teams. To create and link a child ticket:
- Open the ticket that will be utilized as your parent ticket.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
- Click Create child ticket on the extension panel.
The Add Ticket form will get opened. - Fill in all fields in the form and then click Submit.
The ticket is now added as a child to the parent ticket.
Cloning and Creating a New Child Ticket
You can clone a ticket with all of its content and add it as a child to the original ticket. To clone and create a new child ticket:
- Open the ticket that will be utilized as your parent ticket.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
- Click Clone and create child ticket on the extension panel.
- This will redirect you to the Clone Ticket form where you can enter or clear the field data as per needs.
- Click Submit.
The cloned ticket is now added as a child to the original ticket.
Unlinking Tickets
You can either unlink a child from inside a parent or unlink a parent from inside a child.
I. To remove the parent ticket from a child:
- Open the child ticket to view its details.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
The parent ticket is displayed on the extension panel.
- Click Unlink Ticket from Parent at the bottom of the panel.
- Click Unlink to confirm your action.
The parent ticket is now unlinked from the child ticket.
II. To remove a child ticket from the parent:
- Open the parent ticket to view its details.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
The child ticket(s) are displayed on the extension panel. - Select the child tickets to be unlinked from the parent.
- Click Unlink Child Tickets at the top of the page.
- Click Unlink to confirm your action.
The child tickets are successfully unlinked from the parent.
Viewing Peer Child Tickets
Sometimes it is useful to view the other child tickets (peers) of a parent from inside its child ticket. To view such peer child tickets:
- Open a child ticket to view its details.
- Click the Parent Child Ticketing icon ( ) on the left side of the ticket detail page.
- Click Show Peer Child tickets under the Parent Ticket section.
All the other child tickets of the linked parent ticket will be displayed.
Uninstalling the Parent Child Ticketing Extension
You can uninstall the Print Ticket extension at any time.
- Go to Setup > Integration > Marketplace.
- In the Marketplace page, click Installed Extensions.
- Choose Parent Child Ticketing from the list of extensions.
- Click the More icon ( ) in the upper-right corner of the Parent Child Ticketing extension setup page.
- Select Uninstall Extension.
- Click Confirm to uninstall the extension.
Note:
- All existing parent-child ticket relationships will be deleted on uninstalling the extension.