Automation#21: Track Ticket Transfers Across Departments

Automation#21: Track Ticket Transfers Across Departments


Hello Everyone!
With Halloween just around the corner, we'd like to let you know the Zoho Desk team is always there to sweep away your customer service troubles!
This week, we’re excited to introduce a custom function that tracks tickets moved between departments.
While Zoho Desk has simplified customer service, keeping your support team stress-free and your customers happy often requires thoughtful adjustments. Zylker Techfix found a great solution with this feature. They handle services for different gadget types under specific departments, but sometimes tickets accidentally end up in the wrong department. Agents moved them to the correct one, but needed a way to track these transfers. By using the Time Entry feature and a custom function, they generated reports of all moved tickets effortlessly.

Here’s the custom function that utilizes the Time Entry feature to track tickets transferred between departments.
Prerequisites
1. Create Custom Fields
To track tickets moved from one Department (call it Dep A) to the other Department (call it Dep B) or vice versa, 
1.1 Go to Setup (S) >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields. Select Time Entry under Layouts and the Department (let's say Dep B) to which you would like to move the ticket. 
1.2 Create three custom single line fields in the Time Entry layout of the respective department (Dep B) . Click on the layout, 
1.2.1 Add a single line field with a label From department.
1.2.2 Add another single line field with a label To Department.
1.2.3  Add the third single line field with the label Agent Name.
1.3 Note the API names for the the single line fields to insert into the custom function. 
To find the API name, Click on the Gear wheel icon of the single line field. Click on Edit Properties, you will find the API Name under the Edit Field. Refer to Create Custom Fields
NotesIf you would like move the ticket from Dep B to Dep A, create the similar fields in the time entry layout for Dep A.
2. Create a connection
      2.1 Go to Setup(S) and choose Connections under Developer Space.
      2.2 Click Create Connection.
      2.3 Select Zoho OAuth under Default Connection.
      2.4 Set the connection name as ticket_time_entry_add.
      2.5 Under Scope, choose the below scope values:
             Desk.tickets.READ
             Desk.tickets.UPDATE
      2.6 Click Create and Connect.
      2.7 Click Connect and click Accept.
Connection is created successfully.

Create a Workflow Rule
1. Go to Setup(S), choose Workflows under Automation
2. In Workflow Rules, select the Department (Dep B) to which you want to move the tickets. 
3. Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.
In the Basic Information section,
4. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.
5. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.
6. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.
7. Click Next.
In the Execute on section, follow these steps:
8. Select Create.  
9. Click Next.
10. Leave the Criteria section blank and click Next. 
11. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.
12. Under Basic Information, enter a Name and Description for the custom function.         
13. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the argument mapping as below: 
       13.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and from the Value drop-down list, select Ticket Id under the Tickets Section.                                         
14. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:
  1. //----------- User Input -------------
  2. fromDepartmentFieldAPIName = "cf_from_department";
  3. toDepartmentFieldAPIName = "cf_to_department";
  4. agentAPIName = "cf_agent_name";
  5. //----------- Configuration ------------------
  6. logs = Collection();
  7. timeEntryParam = Map();
  8. cf = Map();
  9. historyParam = Map();
  10. historyParam.put("from",0);
  11. historyParam.put("limit",1);
  12. historyParam.put("fieldName","departmentId");
  13. ticketHistory = invokeurl
  14. [
  15. url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/History"
  16. type :GET
  17. parameters:historyParam
  18. connection:"ticket_time_entry_add"
  19. ];
  20. logs.insert("ticketHistory":ticketHistory);
  21. if(ticketHistory != null && ticketHistory.get("data") != null)
  22. {
  23. historyDetails = ticketHistory.get("data").get("0");
  24. logs.insert("historyDetails":historyDetails);
  25. if(historyDetails.get("eventName") == "TicketUpdated" && historyDetails.get("eventInfo").get(0).get("propertyName") == "Department")
  26. {
  27.   departmentDetailsChanges = historyDetails.get("eventInfo").get("0").get("propertyValue");
  28.   previousDepartment = departmentDetailsChanges.get("previousValue").get("name");
  29.   currentDepartment = departmentDetailsChanges.get("updatedValue").get("name");
  30.   agent = historyDetails.get("actor").get("name");
  31.   departmentChangedTime = historyDetails.get("eventTime");
  32.   cf.put(fromDepartmentFieldAPIName,previousDepartment);
  33.   cf.put(toDepartmentFieldAPIName,currentDepartment);
  34.   cf.put(agentAPIName,agent);
  35.   timeEntryParam.put("executedTime",departmentChangedTime);
  36.   timeEntryParam.put("cf",cf);
  37.   logs.insert("timeEntryParam":timeEntryParam);
  38.   createTimeEntry = invokeurl
  39.   [
  40.   url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/timeEntry"
  41.   type :POST
  42.   parameters:timeEntryParam.toString()
  43.   connection:"ticket_time_entry_add"
  44.   ];
  45.   logs.insert("createTimeEntry":createTimeEntry);
  46. }
  47. }
  48. info logs;
NOTE
a. In Line 2, Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.
b. In Line 3, add the API name of the From Department created in the Time Entry Layout.
c. In Line 4, add the API name of the To Department created in the Time Entry Layout.
d. In Line 5, add the API name of the Agent Name created in the Time Entry Layout.
15. Click Save to save the custom function.
16. Click Save again to save the workflow.
If you would like to move the ticket from Dep B to Dep A, create  the workflow rule in Dep A as well. 
Creating Ticket Tracking Reports
To track the ticket moved from one department, you can generate Reports under Analytics. 
Go to the Analytics module >> Choose Reports >> Add Report >> Select Tickets module and Time Entry under Related modules. Refer to Create Custom Report.
This custom function will help you keep an eye on your ticket movements, ensuring that none of your important tickets go missing!
Wishing you a delightful Halloween filled with joy and treats, along with a wonderful fall season! 🎃🍂
Until next week,
Warm regards,
Lydia Kiruba | Zoho Desk 



      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

          • Register for Zoho Desk Beta Community

            With the start of the year, we have decided to take a small step in making the life of our customers a little easier. We now have easy access to all our upcoming features and a faster way to request for beta access. We open betas for some of our features
          • Share your Zoho Desk story with us!

            Tell us how you use Zoho Desk for your business and inspire others with your story. Be it a simple workflow rule that helps you navigate complex processes or a macro that saves your team a lot of time; share it here and help the community learn and grow with shared knowledge. 
          • Tip #1: Learn to pick the right channels

            Mail, live chat, telephony, social media, web forms—there are so many support channels out there. Trying to pick the right channels to offer your customers can get pretty confusing. Emails are most useful when the customer wants to put things on record. However, escalated or complicated issues should not be resolved over email because it's slow and impersonal.  When you need immediate responses, live chat is more suitable. It's also quick and convenient, so it's the go-to channel for small issues. 
          • Welcome to Zoho Desk Community - Say hello here!

            Hello everyone! Though we have been here for a while, it’s time to formally establish the Zoho Desk Community; we’re really happy to have you all here! This can be the place where you take a moment to introduce yourself to the rest of the community. We’d love to hear all about you, what you do, what company or industry you work for, how you use Zoho Desk and anything else that you will like to share! Here’s a little about me. I am Chinmayee. I have been associated with Zoho since 2014. I joined here
          • Webinar 1: Blueprint for Customer Service

            With the launch of a host of new features in Zoho Desk, we thought it’ll be great to have a few webinars to help our customers make the most of them. We’re starting off with our most talked about feature, Blueprint in Zoho Desk. You can register for the Blueprint webinar here: The webinar will be delivered by our in-house product experts. This is a good opportunity to ask questions to our experts and understand how Blueprint can help you automate your service processes. We look forward to seeing

          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

                                  • Best Email Backup Wizard in 2026

                                    While searching for an email backup solution, my main hesitation was reliability. As a user, I had already seen many tools that looked promising but failed when handling large mailboxes, skipped folders, or caused authentication issues during the backup
                                  • Subforms and automation

                                    If a user updates a field how do we create an automation etc. We have a field for returned parts and i want to get an email when that field is ticked. How please as Zoho tells me no automation on subforms. The Reason- Why having waited for ever for FSM
                                  • Allow Managers to Create Shifts for Their Departments in Zoho People

                                    Hello Zoho People Product Team, Greetings and hope you are doing well. This feature request is related to Zoho People - please don't move it to zoho one! We would like to submit a feature request regarding shift management permissions in Zoho People.
                                  • Zoho Learn and Zoho CRM integration

                                    I would like to see an integration between Zoho Learn and Zoho CRM. 1. To be able to add articles in a related list in all modules 2. Zia to suggest related articles in a Deal or Case or Lead 3. Ability to read / search articles during a call / follow
                                  • Maintain steady traffic to your domain: How Domain Aliasing helps

                                    Consider this scenario: An organization has its primary domain as administrator.com. Now it wants to shorten its domain to admin.com because it's simpler and easier to remember. However, changing the domain completely can cause the following problems:
                                  • Why Sharing Rules do Not support relative date comparison???

                                    I am creating a Sharing Rule and simply want to share where "Last Day of Coverage" (Date field) is Greater than TODAY (Starting Tomorrow). However, sharing rules don't have the option to compare a date field to a relative date (like today), only to Static
                                  • How do I migrate OLM file to Gmail?

                                    Migrating emails from Outlook for Mac to Gmail can be challenging because Gmail does not support OLM files directly. This limitation often causes confusion and delays, especially when users need quick access to important emails and mailbox data on a web-based
                                  • CRM x WorkDrive: File storage for new CRM signups is now powered by WorkDrive

                                    Availability Editions: All DCs: All Release plan: Released for new signups in all DCs. It will be enabled for existing users in a phased manner in the upcoming months. Help documentation: Documents in Zoho CRM Manage folders in Documents tab Manage files
                                  • Workflow rule only allows 10 workflow per module

                                    Apparently a Zoho professional edition only allows 10 workflow rules per module. This makes workflow allocation literally impossible while allocating potential to different members of the team. I have 15 licenses. Is there a way in which related alerts can be varied? In other words, is it possible to have different related alerts be triggered with different rule criteria. so if I say, if potential is 'x' then trigger related alert 'x' and if potential is 'y' then trigger related alert 'y' Thanks,
                                  • IF Statement in Zoho CRM Formula Field

                                    Hi, I am attempting to write a formula field that will give me one result if one statement AND another statement are true, then a different value if the first statement AND a different statement are true, else 0. Stated differently: if account = destination
                                  • CRM Percent custom fields: When will it show the % symbol and behave like %?

                                    1. Actually Percent custom fields fail to show the % symbol. 2. When in formulas Percent fields work like number: 100 x 5% = 5 ideal world 100 x 5% = 500 what happens actually 3. When importing Percent fields the % symbol has to be removed and the data
                                  • 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
                                  • Automatically CC an address using Zoho CRM Email Templates

                                    Hi all - have searched but can't see a definitive answer. We have built multiple email templates in CRM. Every time we send this we want it to CC a particular address (the same address for every email sent) so that it populates the reply back into our
                                  • Editing the Ticket Properties column

                                    This is going to sound like a dumb question, but I cannot figure out how to configure/edit the sections (and their fields) in this column: For example, we have a custom "Resolution" field, which parked itself in the "Ticket Information" section of this
                                  • "Total Hours" on Employee Attendance Report

                                    I'm learning that in Zoho jargon, "total hours" does not include paid breaks. Or at least not the way that my setup is working. That seems a little weird to me, since most jurisdictions in the US don't differentiate between time spent on paid break and
                                  • Fixed assets in Zoho One?

                                    Hi, We use Zoho Books and have the fixed asset option in it. I started a trial for Zoho One and I do not see that as an option. Is the books that is part of zoho one equivalent to Zoho Books Elite subscription or is it a lesser version? Thanks, Matt
                                  • Integration with...

                                    Dear Zoho Commerce team, Please could you consider the integration within Zoho Commerce / Inventory and Qapla'? (https://www.qapla.it/en/) This app is better than Aftership in many ways: - Aftership integration require PRO plan and price start from more
                                  • Repeat Column merge in ZOHO writer columns doesn't allow to set max columns per row

                                    I'm using ZOHO writer to merge data from a ZOHO CRM subform and I want it to make a table. We're using Insert Table for Column Repeat, because this is what we need. (Name of column (Teamname) and underneath that a list of names of teammembers). It works
                                  • Generate leads from instagram

                                    hello i have question. If connect instagram using zoho social, it is possible to get lead from instagram? example if someone send me direct message or comment on my post and then they generate to lead
                                  • Adding Markdown text using Zoho Desk API into the Knowledge Base

                                    Hi Zoho Community members, We currently maintain the documentation of out company in its website. This documentation is written in markdown text format and we would like to add it in Zoho Knowledge Base. Do you know if there is REST API functionality
                                  • Create case via email

                                    Good Afternoon, I have just registered and am taking a look around the system. Is it possible to create a case via email.  I.e. an employee/client/supplier emails a certain address and that auto generates the case which then prompts a member of staff
                                  • Need a Universal Search Option in Zohobooks

                                    Hello Zoho, Need a Universal Search Option in Zohobooks to search across all transactions in our books of accounts. Please do the needful Thanks
                                  • Locked Notebook

                                    Hi, I hadn't used my Notebook in some time and was refamiliarizing myself with it. I clicked a lock icon and now I can't unlock. When I hit the information or unlock icons I'm taken to a page with the notebook icon and a keyboard. When I type, nothing
                                  • Unable to produce monthly P&L reports for previous years

                                    My company just migrated to Books this year. We have 5+ years financial data and need to generate a monthly P&L for 2019 and a monthly P&L YTD for 2020. The latter is easy, but I'm VERY surprised to learn that default reports in Zoho Books cannot create
                                  • Hide fields only for creation

                                    Hello, I'd like to hide some fields only during the creation of a contact in Zoho CRM. In fact I have some fields that are automatically calculated thanks to an automation, so when my users create a contact I don't want them to fill those fields. I know
                                  • Issues with Zoho Sheet in Mac

                                    I have downloaded the Zoho App from App Store but It is failing to Save As, Open & Download Operations. App Store
                                  • Weekly Sales Summary

                                    Is it possible to generate a weekly report in Zoho Books to show -$$ amount of estimates generated -# of estimates generated by Salesperson -$$ amount of Sales Orders created -$$ amount of Invoices generated
                                  • Subject character limit increase

                                    We have an occasional user case where subject lines exceed 500 characters which is the ZeptoMail imposed limit. While I understand long subject lines are not "best practice", these are particular notification emails with specific information for client
                                  • Can I write a check in Zoho Books with no associated bill?

                                    This currently does not seem possible, and I have a client that desperately needs this function if I am able to convert them with Quickbooks. Thank you in advance for your reply. 
                                  • OpenAPI Specs are just plain wrong

                                    The provided yml files for generating the OpenAPI specs are absolutely riddled with errors and inconsistencies. From missing fields on the objects, to just incorrectly named resource objects. I'm having to go through and manually changing the spec 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
                                  • Custom Footer – Zoho Writer Document

                                    Hello everyone, I’m having an issue adding a custom footer in a Zoho Writer document. I would like to insert my company information (including a logo + address) in the footer. The problem is that when I add these elements, the main content of my pages
                                  • Report grouping

                                    I have added a grouping in a report but it is not working how i had expected. I wanted to group a summary on a field named Size but when i add the grouping the report is still showing me each record and making a summary at the bottom of the report. What
                                  • Social Media Simplified with Zoho Social: Preview your Instagram grid before posting

                                    For a platform like Instagram that relies on visual appeal, it's important that you plan your image and video content in a way that holds your audience's attention. Planning your grid ahead of time gives you the benefit of understanding how your posts
                                  • Spreadsheet View click & focus issue in Arabic (RTL) localization

                                    Hello Zoho Support Team, I am facing an issue in Zoho Creator Spreadsheet View when using Arabic localization (RTL). Scenario: My app supports English (LTR) and Arabic (RTL). I created a Spreadsheet View for a form. In English, everything works correctly.
                                  • VAT rates - exempt and out of scope

                                    Good Evening, UK based company here. I am a bit confused in respect of setting up VAT rates for exempt goods and services; at present I am simply leaving the VAT rate blank in the transactions in order to prevent any VAT appearing in the VAT return. When
                                  • How to loop through Multiple Upload and Display Actual File Name

                                    I have been reading the help on the File Upload Control and reviewed the Deluge help on files and I can not figure out how to loop through the uploaded files and do anything but get the automatically created file names. The code below will run but each
                                  • abou arattai

                                    I want to use the Arattai app for business purposes, so please convert my account to a business account.I have my own invoice app, and I want to link it with the Arattai app for direct messaging.
                                  • Overlapping Reports in Dashboards

                                    It's rare, but occasionally it would be a good feature if I were able to overlap reports, either fully or partially in the Dashboards. Also, then having the ability to move objects to the front or rear, or make them transparent/translucent would be good
                                  • Looking back at Zoho Calendar in 2025

                                    Hello Zoho Calendar Community, As we step into a brand-new year, we’d like to take a moment to thank you for being an active and valued part of the Zoho Calendar community. Your trust, feedback, and continued engagement motivate us to keep evolving and
                                  • Next Page