Lifecycle Reports

Lifecycle Reports

From data to decisions: A deep dive into ticketing system reports


lifecycle report captures and visualises the sequential states that a ticket undergoes across its lifespan. 

For instance, when a customer submits a support ticket for a faulty product, it is initially marked as Open. It transitions to In Progress when an agent begins addressing it, may be placed on On Hold while awaiting confirmation from the warehouse, and ultimately concludes as Completed once the replacement is dispatched. It is then moved to Closed status after the issue is resolved.

The lifecycle report provides details on the duration of each phase, the person responsible for managing it, and the date it advanced to the next stage. It tracks when and how long each ticket stays in a specific status. It can also consider other factors, like the person assigned or the ticket category. Most ticketing systems offer detailed filtering. This lets organizations look at lifecycle metrics by agent and team.

What does it track?

  1. Request ID: Zoho Desk identifies and distinguishes tickets using a unique reference number called a ticket ID.
  2. Event start time: The time when the ticket status begins.
  3. Event end time: The end time of the ticket status
  4. Status updated from: The initial status of the ticket.
  5. Status updated to: The current ticket status.
  6. Duration: The duration between the transition.
  7. Duration (Business Hours): The duration between the transition in business hours.
  8. Modified by: The agent who modified the request.

What are ticket-based reports? 

Ticket-based reports are summaries created from the data collected in a help desk ticketing system. These reports focus on different aspects of ticket management and give insights into how customer support requests are handled and resolved. They usually include metrics like ticket volume trends, response times, resolution times, ticket statuses, agent and team performance, and customer satisfaction scores.

Types of lifecycle reports

Status transition: A simple solution to reduce delays 

In a streaming service company, the status lifecycle report identifies tickets that remain in the Pending Verification status for an excessive amount of time, which can negatively impact user satisfaction. For instance, a user reporting an issue with their subscription may be stuck in Pending Verification while awaiting a response from the billing team. 
 
By analyzing the lifecycle report, the company discovers that the delay arises from inefficient communication between the support and billing departments. To address this, they can implement automated notifications or escalation measures to alert the support team if a ticket remains in the Pending Verification status for an extended period. This approach will expedite resolution times and lead to enhanced user satisfaction.

Agent transition: Enhancing agents' accountability

In a travel agency, tickets concerning flight changes often require collaboration among different agents, such as those handling customer service and ticketing. By using the agent lifecycle report, managers can assess how long each agent spends on flight-related tickets. 
 
For example, if an agent consistently takes longer to resolve these tickets than their colleagues, this data helps identify potential weaknesses in their process. The manager can then provide focused training through an internal knowledge base or redistribute tickets more evenly using assignment algorithms. By optimizing the distribution of work and offering targeted support, agents can improve their ticket handling efficiency, reduce delays, and resolve requests more swiftly.

Team transition: Supporting cross-team collaboration

A food delivery service frequently encounters tickets transitioning between the Customer Support and Delivery teams, especially for order-related inquiries. By analyzing the team lifecycle report, they can identify how long tickets linger with each team and determine whether delays stem from the Delivery team. 
 
To address this, the company can implement time-based automation protocols that activate when tickets move to the Delivery team. This will facilitate quicker acknowledgement and necessary actions, minimize resolution times, and significantly improve the customer experience.

Department transition: Simplifying complex issues

A university admissions office handles support tickets that involve multiple departments, including Admissions, Financial Aid, and Academic Advising. By utilizing the department lifecycle report, they find that tickets regarding financial aid often take longer than anticipated during the transition from Admissions to Financial Aid. 
 
The report uncovers that inefficient handoffs between these departments are contributing to the delays. To enhance this process, the university can establish automation protocols that streamline information transfer between departments, thus minimizing bottlenecks and ensuring that all essential details are passed along seamlessly.

Components

Status transitions

This tracks the movement of tasks, tickets, or items through various defined states, such as New, In Progress, On Hold, and Resolved. Watching these status changes helps managers understand the process flow, identify where delays occur, and confirm that each phase is being handled appropriately.

Time spent per status

This measures how long an item stays in each status before moving on. Calculating the time spent reveals bottlenecks, identifies inefficient stages, and guides efforts to shorten cycle times and accelerate overall resolution or delivery.

Agent and team analysis

This component breaks down performance metrics for individual agents and teams. It provides insights into productivity, workload distribution, and effectiveness. It helps with targeted training, balanced workload allocation, and recognizing top performers within the lifecycle.

Work schedule adjustments

Using lifecycle data, this part checks if current staffing and schedules match workload patterns. It helps optimize shifts and resource availability. This helps avoid both over-staffing and under-staffing, ensuring demand is met and wait times are reduced.

Report and visualization

This presents the collected data through detailed reports and graphs, such as charts and dashboards. This makes complex lifecycle information easy to understand and share. Visuals help identify trends, issues, and opportunities for improvement quickly and effectively.

Benefits

Identify workflow bottlenecks

Lifecycle reports reveal the stages or processes where delays or inefficiencies occur. By pinpointing these bottlenecks, organizations can investigate causes and implement targeted improvements to keep work flowing smoothly and avoid stagnation.

Measure team performance

These reports provide precise data on how teams or individuals are performing against defined metrics such as ticket resolution, project progress, or task completion rates. They enable team leads to assess productivity objectively, identify high performers, and address performance gaps with evidence-based insights.

Improve resolution time

Tracking the lifecycle of tasks or tickets highlights opportunities to shorten turnaround times, such as by automating repetitive steps, reallocating workload, or streamlining approval chains. Accelerating resolution improves customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Support continuous improvement

Lifecycle reporting creates a feedback loop where ongoing data collection drives iterative refinement. Organizations use insights from past performance to refine processes, adopt best practices, and innovate workflows that adapt to changing demands and evolving goals.

Optimize resource allocation

With clear visibility into workload distribution, resource utilization, and process timing, lifecycle reports enable managers to assign the right people, apply the right technology, and allocate their budget where those resources are needed most. 

Takeaway

Using a lifecycle report in a help desk ticketing system is essential for operational success. It offers a clear, data-driven view of each stage in the ticket process, from issue intake to resolution. This enables teams to identify delays and reduce resolution times. 

The insights from the report support better resource allocation and enable help desks to provide faster and more consistent support experiences. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and boosts productivity and efficiency in a scalable way.

 

Stay tuned for more articles in our Desk Reports series.

 

Regards,

 

Kavya Rao

The Zoho Desk Team



InfoManaging a help desk involves complex responsibilities, such as identifying bottlenecks, minimising errors, and evaluating team performance for seamless service delivery. To do this effectively, access to comprehensive analytics and real-time insights is crucial. Zoho Desk streamlines these tasks by also providing detailed analytics and live reports through the Radar app, allowing managers to make informed decisions anytime, anywhere. Download now!

      Zoho Campaigns Resources


        • Desk Community Learning Series


        • Digest


        • Functions


        • Meetups


        • Kbase


        • Resources


        • Glossary


        • Desk Marketplace


        • MVP Corner


        • Word of the Day


        • Ask the Experts


          • Sticky Posts

          • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

            Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote
          • WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

            Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform
          • Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

            Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools
          • Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

            Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help
          • Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

            Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

          Zoho CRM Plus Resources

            Zoho Books Resources


              Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                Zoho Projects Resources


                  Zoho Sprints Resources


                    Zoho Orchestly Resources


                      Zoho Creator Resources


                        Zoho WorkDrive Resources



                          Zoho CRM Resources

                          • CRM Community Learning Series

                            CRM Community Learning Series


                          • Tips

                            Tips

                          • Functions

                            Functions

                          • Meetups

                            Meetups

                          • Kbase

                            Kbase

                          • Resources

                            Resources

                          • Digest

                            Digest

                          • CRM Marketplace

                            CRM Marketplace

                          • MVP Corner

                            MVP Corner




                            Zoho Writer Writer

                            Get Started. Write Away!

                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                ご検討中の方

                                  • Recent Topics

                                  • Can a Zoho Sites page be embedded into another website (outside Zoho)

                                    Hi All, We have a request from a client - they'd like to take one of our information pages created in Zoho Sites and embed it into their own website? I was told through an email with Zoho that this was possible >>Thank you for your patience regarding
                                  • Bug in allowing the user to buy out of stock items

                                    Hi i want to allow the user to buy out of stock items, according to the commerce documentation if i disable Restrict "Out of stock" purchases it will, but it doesnt work, so i want to know if it had any relation with zoho inventory, and if theres any
                                  • Transition Criteria Appearing on Blueprint Transitions

                                    On Monday, Sept. 8th, the Transition criteria started appearing on our Blueprints when users hover over a Transition button. See image. We contacted Zoho support because it's confusing our users (there's really no reason for them to see it), but we haven't
                                  • Zoho CRM Sales Targets for Individual Salespeople

                                    Our organistion has salespeople that are allocated to different regions and have different annual sales targets as a result. I am building an CRM analytics dashboard for the sales team, which will display a target meter for the logged in salesperson.
                                  • Transfer all Related Data to new Account Owner

                                    Currently when I change the account Owner I only see the option to change only the open deals But I want the new account owner to take over all the related modules and all the deal stages Is it not possible right now? Am I missing something? Do I really
                                  • How to Calculate MTTR (Mean Time to Resolve)

                                    We want to calculate MTTR (Mean Time to Resolve) in our Zoho Analytics report under Tickets. Currently, we are using the following fields: Ticket ID Ticket Created Time Ticket Closed Time Ticket On Hold Time We are planning to calculate MTTR (in days)
                                  • How to export project tasks, including the comments

                                    Hi, how can I export the project tasks, whereby I can also see the comments associated to a specific task? The use-case is that often we use comments to discuss or update a task related ideas. I would like to export the tasks, where we can also see the
                                  • Unable to see Zoho contacts in Zoho app on ios

                                    Hi Support Team, I am a new user, I have created my account and installed zohomail app on iOS 16 which works. I was also able to import my Gmail contacts into Zoho Contacts, which I can see. The problem is that I can’t see these imported cobalts in Zohomail
                                  • Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ?

                                    Does Zoho Sheet Supports https://n8n.io ? If not, can we take this as an idea and deploy in future please? Thanks
                                  • Bigin Android app update: User management

                                    Hello everyone! In the most recent Bigin Android app update, we have brought in support for the 'Users and Controls' section. You can now manage the users in your organization within the mobile app. There are three tabs in the 'Users and Controls' section:
                                  • Share records with your customers and let them track their statuses in real time.

                                    Greetings, I hope everyone is doing well! We're excited to introduce the external sharing feature for pipeline records. This new enhancement enables you to share pipeline records with your customers via a shareable link and thereby track the status of
                                  • Live webinar: Discover Zoho Show: A complete walkthrough

                                    Hello everyone, We’re excited to invite you to our upcoming live webinar, Discover Zoho Show: A Complete Walkthrough. Whether you’re just getting started with Show or eager to explore advanced capabilities, this session will show you useful tips and features
                                  • Deal Stage component/widget/whatever it is... event

                                    Deal Stages I am trying to access the event and value of this component. I can do it by changing the Stage field but users can also change a Deal Stage via this component and I need to be able to capture both values. Clicking on 'Verbal' for instance,
                                  • Create advanced slideshows with hybrid reports using Zoho Projects Plus

                                    Are your quarterly meetings coming up? It’s time to pull up metrics, generate reports, and juggle between slides yet again. While this may be easier for smaller projects, large organizations that run multiple projects may experience the pressure when
                                  • Add an option to disable ZIA suggestions

                                    Currently, ZIA in Zoho Inventory automatically provides suggestions, such as sending order confirmation emails. However, there is no way to disable this feature. In our case, orders are automatically created by customers, and we’ve built a custom workflow
                                  • Formula field with IF statement based on picklist field and string output to copy/paste in multi-line field via function

                                    Hello there, I am working on a formula field based on a 3-item picklist field (i.e. *empty value*, 'Progress payment', 'Letter of credit'). Depending on the picked item, the formula field shall give a specific multi-line string (say 'XXX' in case of 'Progress
                                  • Zoho CRMの流入元について

                                    Zoho CRMとZoho formsを連携し、 formsで作成したフォームをサイトに埋め込み運用中です。 UTMパラメータの取得をformsを行い、Zoho CRMの見込み客タブにカスタム項目で反映される状況になっています。 広告に関してはUTMパラメータで取得できているため問題ないのですが、オーガニック流入でフォーム送信の場合も計測したいです。メールやGoogle、Yahoo、directなどの流入元のチャネルが反映されるようにしたいのですが、どのように設定したら良いでしょうか。 また、
                                  • In App Auto Refresh/Update Features

                                    Hi,    I am trying to use Zoho Creator for Restaurant management. While using the android apps, I reliased the apps would not auto refresh if there is new entries i.e new kitchen order ticket (KOT) from other users.   The apps does received notification but would not auto refresh, users required to refresh the apps manually in order to see the new KOT in the apps.    I am wondering why this features is not implemented? Or is this feature being considered to be implemented in the future? With the
                                  • Error While Sign in on Zoho Work Drive

                                    Dear Team, I hope this email finds you well. I have recently created a Zoho account and started using it. But while I am trying to log in to Zoho work drive it won't log me in its crashing every time I try it. I have tried it on android app, phone browser
                                  • Choosing a portal option and the "Unified customer portal"?

                                    I am trialling Zoho to replace various existing systems, one of which is a customer portal. Our portal allows clients to add and edit bookings, complete forms, manage their subscriptions and edit some CRM info. I am trying to understand how I might best
                                  • Unified Directory : How to Access ?

                                    I signed in to Zoho One this morning and was met with the pop up about the upgraded directory (yay!) I watched the video and pressed "Get Started" ... and it took me back to the standard interface. How do I actually access the new portal/directory ?
                                  • Translation support expanded for Modules, Subforms and Related Lists

                                    Hello Everyone!   The translation feature enables organizations to translate certain values in their CRM interface into different languages. Previously, the only values that could be translated were picklist values and field names. However, we have extended
                                  • Unified task view

                                    Possible to enable the unified task view in Trident, that is currently available in Mail?
                                  • Bigin, more powerful than ever on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and watchOS 26.

                                    Hot on the heels of Apple’s latest OS updates, we’ve rolled out several enhancements and features designed to help you get the most from your Apple devices. Enjoy a refined user experience with smoother navigation and a more content-focused Liquid Glass
                                  • Importing data into Assets

                                    So we have a module in Zoho CRM called customers equipments. It links to customers modules, accounts (if needed) and products. I made a sample export and created extra fields in zoho fsm assets module. The import fails. Could not find a matching parent
                                  • Allow instruction field in Job Sheets

                                    Hello, I would like to know if it is possible to have an instruction field (multi line text) in a job sheet or if there is a workaround to be able to do it. Currently we are pretty limited in terms of fields in job sheets which makes it a bit of a struggle
                                  • Streamlining Work Order Automation with Zoho Projects, Writer & WorkDrive

                                    Hello Community, Here is the first post in 'Integration & Automation' Series. Use Case :: Create, Merge, Sign & Store Documents in Zoho WorkDrive. Scenario :: You have a standard Work Order template created in Zoho Writer. When a task status is chosen
                                  • The dimensions of multilingual power

                                    Hola, saludos de Zoho Desk. Bonjour, salutations de Zoho Desk. Hallo, Grüße von Zoho Desk. Ciao, saluti da Zoho Desk. Olá, saudações da Zoho Desk. வணக்கம், Zoho Desk இலிருந்து வாழ்த்துகள். 你好,来自 Zoho Desk 的问候。 مرحباً، تحيات من Zoho Desk. नमस्ते, Zoho
                                  • Multi-line address lines

                                    How can I enter and migrate the following 123 state street Suite 2 Into a contact address. For Salesforce imports, a CR between the information works. The ZOHO migration tool just ignores it. Plus, I can't seem to even enter it on the standard entry screen.
                                  • Accessing Zoho Forms

                                    Hi all, We're having trouble giving me access to our company's Zoho Forms account. I can log in to a Forms account that I can see was set up a year ago, but can't see any shared forms. I can log into Zoho CRM and see our company information there without
                                  • Archiving Contacts

                                    How do I archive a list of contacts, or individual contacts?
                                  • Cost of good field

                                    Is there a way we can have cost of good sold as a field added to the back end of the invoicing procedure and available in reports?
                                  • How to add image to items list in Invoice or Estimate?

                                    Hello! I have just started using Zoho Invoice to create estimates and, possibly to switch from our current CRM/ERP Vendor to Zoho. I have a small company that is installing CCTV systems and Alarm systems. My question is, can I add images of my "items" to item list in Zoho Invoice and Estimates and their description? I would like to show my clients the image of items in our estimates so they can decide if they like these items. And I tell you, often they choose more expensive products just because
                                  • Issue with the Permission to Zoho Form

                                    I am getting an error by signing in to zoho form as it is stated that i don't have permission to access this is admin account
                                  • CRM templates

                                    Hello everyone, In my company we use Zoho campaigns where we set up all newsletters and we use Zoho CRM for transactional emails. I have created some templates in Zoho campaigns but from my understanding i cannot use those in Zoho CRM, right?
                                  • Pending Sales Order Reports

                                    Pending sale order report is available for any single customer, Individual report is available after 3-4 clicks but consolidated list is needed to know the status each item. please help me.
                                  • lavetisiva1997@gmail.com

                                    lavetisiva1997@gmail.com. OTP
                                  • Zoho Mail SMTP IP addresses

                                    We are using Zoho Mail and needs to whitelist IP for some redirections from your service to another e-mails. You can provide IP address list for Zohomail SMTP servers?
                                  • Zoho Campaigns - Why do contacts have owners?

                                    When searching for contacts in Zoho Campaigns I am sometimes caught out when I don't select the filter option "Inactive users". So it appears that I have some contacts missing, until I realise that I need to select that option. Campaigns Support have
                                  • email forwarding not working

                                    Your email forwarding service does not work. I received the confirmation email and completed the confirmation, after that nothing and nothing since no matter what I have tried. Shame as everything else was smooth. I spose it's harder to run one of these web based internet mail services than you guys thought!!! can you fix the email forwarding asap PLEASE!
                                  • Next Page