Create Your Own Issue Management System

Effective issue management is a cornerstone of project success. Every bug or issue, no matter how small, needs to be tracked and resolved in time to maintain project momentum. In this post, we’ll explore how an issue management system in Zoho Projects is used to manage issues in our own product management process.

Real-time Example:

During the software testing process, when the tester identifies an issue impacting the Global Web Tab feature task where the alignment breaks in certain browsers, it follows a predefined process for resolution. Here’s how the issue management system handles this end-to-end.

Submit Issues using Custom Fields

Custom fields are created within the Issue Layout, allowing testers to submit issues with key details like severity, module, browser type, and font family. In the case of the Global Web Tab alignment issue, the browser type field helps pinpoint which environment is affected.

How Other Industries Can Use Issue Layouts In This Process:  

Construction: Track issues like material defects or design flaws using custom fields such as location, material type, grade, etc.

Manufacturing: Track production line breakdowns or machine malfunctions issues with custom fields like product phase, machine type, location, etc.

SLAs Based on Issue Type

SLAs are configured based on the issue type, such as Support, Security, Privacy, or Performance, to set resolution deadlines. If the issue is categorized as one of these types, the SLA triggers a resolution within 24 hours. If the issue remains unresolved, it escalates through Levels 1–4.

How Other Industries Can Use SLAs In This Process:

Construction: Set SLAs to resolve critical issues like safety violations or structural failures quickly.

Manufacturing: Set SLAs for issues like production line stoppages to minimize downtime.

Automate Assigning Issues

A tag is created using the feature name and is associated with the issue when it is submitted. Business rules are created using the tags as criteria to automatically assign the issue to the relevant developers, designers, managers, and project managers (PMs).

How Other Industries Can Use Tags In This Process:

Construction: Automatically assign issues using the issue type as tags, such as plumbing or electrical, to the appropriate contractors or subcontractors.

Manufacturing: Use tags like machinery or production to assign issues to maintenance teams or shift managers automatically.

Bulk Update Issues

A custom view is created to track and bulk update all issues related to the feature using the tag as a criteria.

How Other Industries Can Use Custom Views In This Process:

Construction: Create custom views to track and update issues related to electrical work.

Manufacturing: Create custom views to track and update production-related issues.

Manage Duplicate Issues

If a duplicate issue is submitted, the developer can link it to the original issue using the is duplicate of link type for identification. A custom function is created to ensure that duplicate issues are closed only when the original issue is closed ensuring no redundancy in the issue tracking process.

How Other Industries Can Use Link Issues In This Process:

Construction: Link duplicate issues like multiple reports of the same electrical fault.

Manufacturing: Link duplicate maintenance issues to the original issue to ensure a single resolution.

Associate Tasks to Issues

The Global Web Tab task is associated with the issue, allowing both the development and QA teams to monitor the progress of the work item from a single place. When a tester opens the task, they can view all associated issues, and when opening an issue, they can easily track the associated task.

How Other Industries Can Use Task Association In This Process:

Construction: Associate tasks like Foundation to issues like Cracked Foundation for easy tracking.

Manufacturing: Associate maintenance tasks to machinery issues to track progress.

Automating Status Updates

A custom function is created to automate the update of issue statuses. when the tester updates the task status to Started Testing, the associated issue status is automatically updated to In QA Process. Similarly, when a developer resolves the issue and updates the task status to Resubmit for QA, the associated issue status is updated to To be tested. Issue Tracker Notifications are used to send notifications to all team members to keep everyone informed about such status updates.

How Other Industries Can Use Custom Functions In This Process:

Construction: When the Electrical Safety Check issue status is updated to Passed, the associated task, such as Wiring Installation, will automatically update its status to Inspection Complete.

Manufacturing: When the Material Shortage issue is updated to Resolved, the task status for Electrical Installation will automatically update to Work Completed.

Automate Adding Followers

Sometimes issues need further validation before they are resolved. Developers can update the issue status, such as Intentionally Done or Discuss with the PM. Business rules are created to automatically add relevant product managers (PMs) and other team members as followers with such statuses as criteria. This ensures that decisions are validated and any necessary inputs are added through comments before moving forward.

How Other Industries Can Use Business Rules In This Process:

Construction: Automate adding followers to validate electrical safety checks or structural issues before moving forward.

Manufacturing: Automate adding followers to validate machine repair statuses before completing maintenance tasks.

Checklist for Testers

Once the feature is reviewed and tested, the Checklist Extension is used for the associated task. The tester is required to complete a predefined checklist within the task to verify that all relevant testing scenarios have been covered. This checklist ensures that no critical testing aspects are missed.

How Other Industries Can Use Checklist Extension In This Process:

Construction: Use checklist to create a punch list to ensure all inspections, tests, and final verifications are completed before a task  issue is marked as completed.

Manufacturing: Create a compliance checklist to ensure product assembly and quality control steps are completed before a task  issue is marked as completed.

Note: Checklist extension can be used for both tasks and issues.

Resolve Issues

Upon resolving the issue, the developer can resolve the issue from the issue details page with the context.

Custom Notifications

Custom email templates in Issue Tracker Notifications are used to automate communication. Developers and the relevant team members are automatically notified about reopened issues. This helps prevent delays in the project.

How Other Industries Can Use Email Templates In This Process:

Construction: Create customized email template and use it in issue tracker notifications for critical issues like safety violation when reopened.

Manufacturing: Create customized email template and use it in issue tracker notifications for maintenance issues when reopened.

Features used in the process: Issue Layouts, SLAs, Tags, Business Rules, Issue Tracker Notifications, Link Issues, Custom Function, Checklist Extension, and Email Templates.

If you have any questions, do leave a comment below or mail to us at: support@zohoprojects.com.

• Topic Participants

• Navya Nune

  

• frankn66

  

• François

• Monica P

  

• Sticky Posts

• CodeX Scripts for Enforcing Custom Project Logic

  Every organization has a defined way of executing projects. There are clear expectations around how tasks should move, when projects should progress, and which actions require validation. When these rules are consistently followed, projects remain structured

• Automation Series: Auto-create Dependent Task on Status Change

  In Zoho Projects, you can automatically create and assign a dependent task when a task’s status is updated. This helps teams stay aligned, ensures reviews happen on time, and reduces manual effort. In this post, we’ll walk through an easy setup using

• Time Log Reminder

  Tracking the time spent on tasks and issues is one of the most important functions of a timesheet. However, users may forget to update the time logs because they have their own goals to achieve. But, time logs must be updated at regular intervals to keep

• Introducing the Zoho Projects Learning Space

  Every product has its learning curve, and sometimes having a guided path makes the learning experience smoother. With that goal, we introduce a dedicated learning space for Zoho Projects, a platform where you can explore lessons, learn at your own pace,

• Update on V2 API End-of-Life Timeline

  Dear Users, Earlier this year, we shared the launch of the V3 APIs and requested users to migrate from the older V2 APIs by December 2025. We have received valuable feedback from our users and partners regarding their migration timelines. We are happy

• Recent Topics

• WhatsApp Channels in Zoho Campaigns

  Now that Meta has opened WhatsApp Channels globally, will you add it to Zoho Campaigns? It's another top channel for marketing communications as email and SMS. Thanks.

• CRM For Everyone - Bring Back Settings Tile View

  I've been using CRM for Everyone since it was in early access and I just can't stand the single list settings menu down the left-hand side. It takes so much longer to find the setting I need. Please give users the option to make the old sytle tile view

• Add notes in spreadsheet view

  It would be great if we could Add/edit notes in the spreadsheet view of contacts/leads. This would enable my sales teams to greatly increase their number of calls. Also viewing the most recent note in the Contact module would also be helpful.

• Opening balances - Accounts Receivable and Payable

  Our accounting year starts on 1st August 2013 and I have a Trial Balance as at that date, including Accounts Receivableand Accounts Payable balances, broken down by each customer and supplier. Q1 - do I show my opening balance date as 31st July 2013 or

• Cancel Subscription

  Hi , Im want to cancel my account but without success please help me to do it

• Making an email campaign into a Template

  I used a Zoho Campaign Template to create an email. Now I want to use this email and make it a new template, but this seems to be not possible. Am I missing something?

• Direct Access and Better Search for Zoho Quartz Recordings

  Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request a few enhancements to improve how Zoho Quartz recordings are accessed and managed after being submitted to Zoho Support. Current Limitation: After submitting a Quartz recording, the related Zoho Support ticket displays

• Multiple Cover Letters

  We are using the staffing firm edition of Recruit and we have noticed that candidates cannot add more than one cover letter. This is a problem as they might be applying for multiple jobs on our career site and when we submit their application to a client,

• URGENT: Deluge issue with Arabic text Inbox

  Dear Deluge Support, We are facing an issue that started on 12/Feb/2026 with custom functions written using Deluge within Qntrl platform. Currently, custom functions do not accept Arabic content; it is replaced with (???) characters. Scenario 1: If we

• File Conversion from PDF to JPG/PNG

  Hi, I have a question did  anyone every tried using custom function to convert a PDF file to JPG/PNG format? Any possibility by using the custom function to achieve this within zoho apps.  I do know there are many third parties API provide this with

• Now in Zoho One: Orchestrate customer journeys across apps with Zoho CommandCenter

  Hello Zoho One Community! We’re excited to introduce Zoho CommandCenter as a new capability available in Zoho One. For the whole customer journey As Zoho One customers adopt more apps across sales, marketing, finance, and support, a common challenge emerges:

• annualy customer report

  we need a report per customer that looks like this invoic number cleaning laundry repair management 01 january xxx euro xx euro xx euro xxx euro 02 february xxx euro xxx euro x euro xxxx euro and so on the years 12 months is that possible to make and

• Totals for Sales Tax Report

  On the sales tax report, the column totals aren't shown for any column other than Total Tax. I can't think of a good reason that they shouldn't be included for the other columns, as well. It would help me with my returns, for sure. It seems ludicrous

• Free Webinar: Zoho Sign for Zoho Projects: Automate tasks and approvals with e-signatures

  Hi there! Handling multiple projects at once? Zoho Projects is your solution for automated and streamlined project management, and with the Zoho Sign extension, you can sign, send, and manage digital paperwork directly from your project workspace. Join

• Exported Report File Name

  Hi, We often export reports for information. It is time consuming to rename all the reports we export on a weekly basis, as when exported their default name is a seemingly random string of numbers. These numbers may be important, I'm not sure, but I am

• Automatic Refresh on Page?

  Hi everyone, We use a page as a dashboard which shows data for the laboratory and tasks pending etc. Is there a way to set the page to automatically refresh on a X time? Many thanks TOG

• Add RTL and Hebrew Support for Candidate Portal (and Other Zoho Recruit Portals)

  Dear Zoho Recruit Team, I hope you're doing well. We would like to request the ability to set the Candidate Portal to be Right-to-Left (RTL) and in Hebrew, similar to the existing functionality for the Career Site. Currently, when we set the Career Site

• Default Reminder Time in New Tasks or New Event?

  Any way to change this from 1:00am? Thanks, Gary Moderation Update (February 2026): With the Calendar preferences, the default reminder time for Meetings, Appointments and All-Day Meetings can be set. Read more: Calendar preferences in Zoho CRM Regarding

• Right Shift key not sending to Zoho Assist environments

  I'm unable to use Right Shift key in Zoho environments. Zoho environments are Win10. Computer I access from is Win 11. Issue started when I changed to Win 11. Have tried: - Multiple browsers - web client AND desktop client - 3rd party mapping tools to

• About Meetings (Events module)

  I was working on an automation to cancel appointments in zoho flow , and in our case, we're using the Meetings module (which is called Events in API terms). But while working with it, I'm wondering what information I can display in the image where the

• PDF Annotation is here - Mark Up PDFs Your Way!

  Reviewing PDFs just got a whole lot easier. You can now annotate PDFs directly in Zoho Notebook. Highlight important sections, add text, insert images, apply watermarks, and mark up documents in detail without leaving your notes. No app switching. No

• How do you do ticket add ons in Backstage?

  Hi Everyone, If you wanted to have general admin tickets and allow for add ons, like camping, or car or Carbon offset. What would you do? Peace Robin

• validation rules doesn't work in Blueprint when it is validated using function?

  I have tried to create a validation rule in the deal module. it works if I try to create a deal manually or if I try to update the empty field inside a deal. but when I try to update the field via the blueprint mandatory field, it seems the validation

• Pull cells from one sheet onto another

  Hello all! I have created an ingredients database where i have pricing and information and i want to pull from that database into a recipe calculator. I want it to pull based on what ingredient I choose. The ingredients database has an idea and i want

• Emails Failing with “Relaying Issues – Mail Sending Blocked” in ZeptoMail

  Hello ZeptoMail Support Team, We are facing an email delivery issue in our ZeptoMail account where emails are failing with the status “Process failed” and the reason “Relaying issues – Mail sending blocked.” Issue Details Agent Name: mail_agent_iwwa From

• How does Zoho handle support operations for our EU users?

  Dear Zoho users, We have some news and reminders about how we handle support operations for Zoho users in the EU Data Center. This is part of our broader commitment to ensuring GDPR compliance and providing secure data handling for all users. We'd like

• Layout Adjustment.

  Hello Latha, Hope you are doing well. I wanted to check with you about adjusting the layout columns in the Service Report from the backend, as currently there is no capability for us to customize the layout from our end. Below is the output that I am

• Zoho Often Lag

  Desk Team, We've noticed that Desk, Creator & other apps seems to lag more these days. We often refresh multiple times.

• Importing into the 'file upload' field

  Can you import attachments into the file upload field. I would expect it to work the same way as attachments do, But can't seem to get it to work. Moderation Update: The option to import into File Upload and Image Upload fields has been supported. Read

• Layout Rules Don't Apply To Blueprints

  Hi Zoho the conditional layout rules for fields and making fields required don't work well with with Blueprints if those same fields are called DURING a Blueprint. Example. I have field A that is used in layout rule. If value of field A is "1" it is supposed to show and make required field B. If the value to field A is "2" it is supposed to show and make required field C. Now I have a Blueprint that says when last stage moves to "Closed," during the transition, the agent must fill out field A. Now

• Zoho Desk blank screen

  opened a ticket from my email, zoho desk comes up blank, nothing loads. our receptionist also gets the same thing under her login on her computer. our sales rep also gets same thing on zoho desk at his home on a different computer. I tried clearing cache/history/cookies,

• Optimum CRM setup for new B2B business

  Can some advise the most common way to setup Zoho CRM to handle sales for a B2B company? Specifically in how to handle inbound/outbound emails. I have spent hours researching online and can't seem to find an accepted approach, or even a tutorial. I have

• filter on sheets mobile (iOS, iPadOS) does not work

  I have this issue on every spreadsheet, whether imported or created natively in Zoho Sheets. I can use on desktop without issue: desktop screenshot on iOS the filter dropdowns are not there and there is no way to add them mobile iPadOS looks the same

• Is there a way to customize default settings?

  I want to customize default settings within my Zoho Business account. For instance, the current default setting for Texts inserted into a Notebook has the font much bigger than I like. Thus every time I create a new text item on a page, I have to go through the annoyance of selecting all the text and changing the size. Granted this is a minor irritation in the scheme of things, but it would be nice to have the ability to set default fonts, sizes, colors, background colors, etc. Is there currently

• Can't edit Segments

  Happening with 2 different Zoho One environments, in different browsers. Please fix.

• Error 554 Email Outgoing Error

  Our email address (info@tvbhouston) was recently migrated to a new domain host on WordPress, and our SSL certificate is still pending. We would like to continue using your service, but we are currently unable to send emails. Could you please re-enable

• Transfer ownership of files and folders in My Folders

  People work together as a team to achieve organizational goals and objectives. In an organization, there may be situations when someone leaves unexpectedly or is no longer available. This can put their team in a difficult position, especially if there

• Consumer Financing

  Does Zoho currently have a payment gateway (such as Stripe, Square, etc) which offers financing for customers? So, let's say the estimate we give the customer is greater than what they can afford at the time, but we can sell the service now, letting them

• Subform edits don't appear in parent record timeline?

  Is it possible to have subform edits (like add row/delete row) appear in the Timeline for parent records? A user can edit a record, only edit the subform, and it doesn't appear in the timeline. Is there a workaround or way that we can show when a user

• Zoho CRM - Option to create Follow-Up Task

  When completing a Zoho CRM Task, it would be very helpful if there was an option to "Complete and Create Follow-Up Task" in the pop-up which appears. It could clone the task you are closing and then show it on the screen in edit mode, all the user would

• Next Page