Automation#22 Track Ticket Duration at Specific Status

Automation#22 Track Ticket Duration at Specific Status



Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to the Community Learning Series! Today, we explore how Zylker Techfix, a gadget servicing firm, boosted productivity by tracking the time spent at a particular ticket status in Zoho Desk. 

Zylker Techfix customized Zoho Desk’s ticket statuses to align with their servicing process. Here’s their workflow: when a gadget was submitted for service, the ticket entered “Open” status. After an initial examination, it moved to “Service” status, mapped to the “Hold” type while repairs were underway. Once repairs were complete, the ticket progressed to “Billing” and then to “Closed” after payment and delivery. To improve operations, Zylker Techfix wanted to know how long tickets stayed in “Service” status, giving them insights into potential delays and resource use. With a custom function, they tracked this time in a custom field, then used it to generate reports that highlighted areas for process improvement.

With this custom function, you can gain a clear view of your support timeline, identify bottlenecks, and serve clients more efficiently. Let’s dive into how you can implement this custom function to refine your own operations and drive productivity forward.

Prerequisites
1. Create a Custom Field
To track ticket duration at a StatusName (call it In progress) mapped to the Status Type On Hold
     
      1.1 Go to Setup (S) >> Customization >> Layouts and Fields.
             Select Tickets under Layouts and the Department in which you would like to track the ticket duration. 
      1.2 Create a custom single-line field in the Tickets layout of the respective department. 
            1.2.1 Click on the layout, add a single-line field with a label StatusTime. 
                      You can label the field with your preferred name. 
      1.3 Note the API names for the single-line field to insert into the custom function.     
            To find the API name, click the Gear wheel icon in the single-line field.
            Click on Edit Properties, and you will find the API Name under the Edit Field. Refer to Create Custom Fields

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 Desk under Default Connection.
      2.4 Set the connection name as deskconnection.
      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, choose Workflows under Automation
2. Under Workflows, click Rules >> Create Rule.

In the Basic Information section,
3. Select Tickets from the drop-down menu under Module.
4. Enter a Rule Name and Description for the rule.
5. If you want to activate the rule right away, select the Active checkbox. Else, create the rule and activate it later.
6. Click Next.
 
In the Execute on section, follow these steps:
7. Select Field Update, Choose Status.  
8. Click Next.
 
9. Leave the Criteria section blank and click Next. (Add a criteria if you require it.) 
10. In the Actions section, click the + icon and select New next to Custom Functions.
11. Enter a Name and Description for the custom function.
12. Under Argument Mapping, give a desired Method Name. Map the arguments as below: 
      12.1 In the Argument Name field, type ticketId and from the Value drop-down list, select Ticket Id under the Tickets Section.                                         
13. In the script window, insert the Custom Function given below:
  1. ///----<<<< User Inputs >>>>----
  2. deskURL = "https://desk.zoho.com";
  3. //Replace with your custom domain
  4. //Replace your Custom Field API Name to Update Desired Type Status Duration Ex: Open 
  5. durationApiName = "cf_status_name";
  6. // ex: "cf_open_time"
  7. //Replace your Desired Status Type Name Ex: Open
  8. statusType = "On Hold";
  9. // Open or On Hold or Closed
  10. //Replace the Status Name 
  11. statusName = "In Progress";
  12. // Ex: In Progress, Waiting for Reply, etc
  13. // ----<<<< Initial Configs >>>>----
  14. logs = Map();
  15. logs.insert("ticketId":ticketId);
  16. openHoursToUpdate = 0;
  17. openMinutesToUpdate = 0;
  18. onHoldHoursToUpdate = 0;
  19. onHoldMinutesToUpdate = 0;
  20. //---------------------------
  21. try 
  22. {
  23. // ---- start your logic from here ----
  24. ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo = invokeurl
  25. [
  26.   url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId + "/statusLifeCycle"
  27.   type :GET
  28.   connection:"deskconnection"
  29. ];
  30. logs.insert("ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo":ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo);
  31. if(ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo != null && ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo.containsKey("statusLifeCycle") && ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo.get("statusLifeCycle").size() > 0)
  32. {
  33.   for each  statusInfo in ticketStatusLifeCycleInfo.get("statusLifeCycle")
  34.   {
  35.   statusType = statusInfo.get("statusType");
  36.   statusName = statusInfo.get("status");
  37.   if(statusType == statusType && statusName == statusName)
  38.   {
  39.     statusDuration = statusInfo.get("duration");
  40.     if(statusDuration != null && statusDuration != "")
  41.     {
  42.     statusDuration = statusDuration.replaceAll(" hrs","");
  43.     durationCollection = statusDuration.toCollection(":");
  44.     hourDuration = durationCollection.get(0);
  45.     minuteDuration = durationCollection.get(1);
  46.     openHoursToUpdate = openHoursToUpdate + hourDuration.toNumber();
  47.     openMinutesToUpdate = openMinutesToUpdate + minuteDuration.toNumber();
  48.     }
  49.   }
  50.   }
  51.   openHoursToUpdate = (openMinutesToUpdate / 60).toNumber() + openHoursToUpdate;
  52.   openMinutesToUpdate = openMinutesToUpdate % 60;
  53.   logs.insert("openHoursToUpdate":openHoursToUpdate);
  54.   logs.insert("openMinutesToUpdate":openMinutesToUpdate);
  55.   ticketUpdateParams = Map();
  56.   ticketUpdateParams.insert("cf":{durationApiName:openHoursToUpdate + ":" + openMinutesToUpdate});
  57.   logs.insert("ticketUpdateParams":ticketUpdateParams);
  58.   ticketUpdate = invokeurl
  59.   [
  60.   url :deskURL + "/api/v1/tickets/" + ticketId
  61.   type :PUT
  62.   parameters:ticketUpdateParams + ""
  63.   connection:"deskconnection"
  64.   ];
  65.   logs.insert("ticketUpdate":ticketUpdate);
  66. }
  67. }
  68. catch (errorInfo)
  69. {
  70. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
  71. }
  72. info "logs: \n" + logs; 
  73. logs.insert("errorInfo":errorInfo);
  74. info "logs: \n" + logs;
NOTE
a. In Line 2, Replace ".com" with the domain extension based on your Data Center.
b. In Line 5, add the API name of the custom field created within the Tickets layout. 
c. In Line 8 and line 11, enter the status type and status name. 
14. Click Save to save the custom function.
15. Click Save again to save the workflow.

Creating Ticket Tracking Reports
You can generate Reports under Analytics to view the time duration of your tickets in one go. 
Go to the Analytics module >> Choose Reports >> Add Report >> Select Tickets module and Time Entry under Related modules. Refer to Create Custom Report 

Let us know how this custom helps improve your ticketing process.

Until next week,
Warm regards,
Lydia | Zoho Desk 

    • 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
    • Recent Topics

    • 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
    • Invoice emails repeatedly "Bounced back" from perfectly good email address of clients.

      Hi For a couple of months now I am getting tens of invoice email invoices "bounced back" from perfectly sound email addresses when they are sent via Zoho Books. (see attached or an example) (the common theme seems to be that the emails are going to either
    • Newby Questions - Vendors, Customers, and Income vs. Other Income Clarifications

      Q1. For Deposits, there does not seem to be an option for "Income". "Other Income" is an option however. What is the process to add the option to assign a deposit to type "Income"? Q2. In many cases Vendors and Customer are the same. Vendors may purchase
    • yodlee bank fees

      My bank feeds have been pretty much error-free until this recent Yodlee update.  I have configured it as per the information however nothing comes through. It says that bank feeds have been refreshed as of 30th June, 2022. It is the end of the financial
    • Deleting, Adding and Changing a Zoho Books Entry

      Zoho Books Community & Support, If a bulk upload of entries were added to an account, what is the process to: - Delete an entry - Change the amount of an entry - Is there a means to manually add an entry other than upload?
    • Create Item group from a composite Item

      I have applied my mind for hours but cannot figure this out. Can you have a composite item in an item group?. E.g. We bundle different color and size SKU's together as composite items. Also Using composite items as Bill of Materials. We want to create
    • Better use of contacts

      Zoho inventory has the ability to add multiple contacts to customers. However Zoho inventory doesn't currently provide a way to link a contact to objects like sales orders. This means that while you can tell what company has placed a sales order you can't
    • Amazon.in FBA multiple warehouse integration with Zoho Inventory

      My organisation subscribed to Zoho One looking at the opportunity to integrate Amazon.in with Inventory. But during the configuration, we understood the integration has severe limitations when it involves multiple warehouses in the same Organisation.
    • Feature Request - Make Available "Alias Name" Field In Item List View

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, I have noticed that the "Alias Name" field does not appear on the list of selectable columns in the Customise Columns feature in the Items module. This would be very useful to see for businesses who are using the Alias Name field
    • Feature Request - Option To Hide Default System Fields on Items

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, As far as I know it is not possible to hid some of the defult system fields on Items, such as UPC, MPN, EAN, ISBN. A good use case is that in many cases ISBN is not relevant and it would be an improved user experience if we could
    • 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
    • Zoho Inventory - Composite Items - Assembly - Single Line Item Quantity of One

      Hi Zoho Inventory Team, Please consider relaxing the system rules which prevent an assembly items from consisting of a single line item and outputting a quantity of 1. A client I'm currently working with sells cosmetics and offers testers of their products
    • Categorize Items with Item Headers

      Hello customers, Did you ever want to classify items based on specific categories to help your customers understand your invoice better? With the new Item Header feature, you can easily categorize items in your invoices and estimates and give them a common title.  Item Headers are available in the Invoices, the Recurring Invoices and the Estimates module. It can be carried forward from estimates to invoices at the time of converting the estimates.  To add an item header: Go to the Estimates, Invoices
    • Push Forms to CRM

      Hello, I created a Form but forgot to integrate to CRM before many of the Forms were filled out. Is it possible to push those entries to CRM or should I just export a CSV then upload to CRM?
    • Zoho Creator Developer Console | Improved Distribution and Lifecycle Management for apps

      Hello everyone, We're excited to introduce new enhancements now in the Zoho Creator Developer Console. These updates strengthen private app distribution through licensing controls and extend environment support across all installed apps, helping teams
    • Logged out

      Hi, just been working on a sheet when a pop up box appeared telling me I'm going to be logged out in x number of seconds and if I reload I may lose any edits, or words to that effect. It did indeed log me out and I did indeed lose my last edits. Any idea
    • 554 5.1.1 – Mail sending blocked for the domain(s): [gmail.com]

      Here's your corrected text: Hello, I hope you are doing well. I was unable to send a message and received the following error: "554 5.1.1 – Mail sending blocked for the domain(s): [gmail.com]" I tried to send and deliver an email but got this error. I
    • You have reached the maximum limit of bank accounts that can be connected to Zoho Books through token.

      I can no longer connect to my bank account to download transactions into Zoho Books. I egt the error message: "You have reached the maximum limit of bank accounts that can be connected to Zoho Books through token. To connect more accounts, write to us
    • First Name in Mail

      While sending a mail/message to the user, I want only the first name to be displayed—for example: “Hi John” instead of the full name using "Hi ${Name_Field}"
    • Can you import projects into Zoho Projects yet?

      I see some very old posts asking about importing project records into Zoho Projects. But I can't find anything up to date about the topic. Has this functionality been added? Importing tasks is helpful. But we do have a project where importing projects
    • Connectivity issues with Google Calendar and third-party integrations

      Description: We are currently experiencing a critical failure with Zoho CRM third-party connections. This issue is heavily affecting our primary workflow. Symptoms: Sync Failure: Existing Zoho CRM to Google Calendar connections have been failing for approximately
    • Add Reauthentication Option for Zoho Bug Tracker Integration in Zoho Desk

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, We hope you're doing well. We would like to request an enhancement to the Zoho Bug Tracker integration within Zoho Desk. Current Limitation: At the moment, there is no option to reauthenticate the Zoho Bug Tracker integration in
    • Newby Questions

      Q1. The top bar of Zoho Books has a "Search in Banking (/) " field. What is the proper use of this text box? - Searching for Amazon for example has no results but there are transactions. - Is the search case sensitive? - Are regular expressions allowed?
    • Transaction Rule Matching

      Q1. Is there a method to have the Transaction Rules applied across multiple Bank Accounts? Q2. To match "contains" text in Transaction Rules, is a wildcard or regular expression required? Is it case sensitive? Would searching for "issue" in the following
    • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

      Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child
    • Three Zoho Billing Limitations Blocking Standard Subscription Operations

      After working through Zoho Billing support for over a year on these three issues without resolution, we wanted to flag them to the broader community. We are curious whether other businesses are running into the same walls. 1. Cannot Prepone (Move Earlier)
    • Automation #3 - Auto-sync email attachments to tickets

      This is a monthly series where we pick some common use cases that have been either discussed or most asked about in our community and explain how they can be achieved using one of the automation capabilities in Zoho Desk. Most of our customers use email
    • Can't add a sender adress from zoho campaigns

      hi, I need to change the sender address for a campaign.  When i try to add it i get a message to say 'duplicated email address found while adding your sender address'.  This is the first campaign i'm sending so I don't understand why this message is displayed? Thanks Jane 
    • Using a custom single line External ID form as merge fields in templates

      Hey everyone, We're looking to integrate a few external systems better with our Zoho CRM, and we had hoped to use external fields for this purpose. In this case, it would mean being able to use our own inoice system's invoice numbers are a direct id compatible
    • Introducing Workqueue: your all-in-one view to manage daily work

      Hello all, We’re excited to introduce a major productivity boost to your CRM experience: Workqueue, a dynamic, all-in-one workspace that brings every important sales activity, approval, and follow-up right to your fingertips. What is Workqueue? Sales
    • Zoho CRM - Feature Request - Analytics Components Group By Week Alternative Formats

      On the Zoho CRM Analytics Components, please consider adding an option to allow group by week format to be changed to other formats such as Week Commencing or Week Ending dates, rather than the current Week Number. This would provide improved usability
    • Dashboard target enhancements

      Often individuals in IT are creating dashboards for their sales team. The ability to create a single dashboard that can be used by multiple people is key. A components for a dashboard have the ability to filter by logged in user which is great. However
    • Zoho Campaigns - Feature Request - Re-Send Existing Email Action in Automations/Journeys

      Hi Zoho Campaigns and Zoho Marketing Automation teams, I would like to suggest a feature that would make building and managing complex automations significantly easier. The Feature Introduce a “Re-Send” or “Send Existing Email” action within Automations
    • 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. 
    • ISO 3166-2 Compliant Country and Regions

      Zoho should consider implementing ISO 3166-2 standards for countries and regions in address dropdowns. It adds a lot of noise in the data when items added programmatically conform to ISO 3166-2 (e.g., TX for Texas, CA for Canada, etc.), but the few items
    • US State abbreviations in Address fields

      In regards to all Address fields within Zoho, Is there a way to change the State field to be the 2 letter abbreviation vs the full spelled out US State name? Example: "Washington" should be WA. I am able to type in the abbreviated state, but it's not
    • Zoho Booking - TIN vs ATIN & ITIN

      Zoho Booking Vendors allows for TAX ID values of SSN, EIN, ATIN an ITIN. There is no option for TIN. What is the method to properly add TIN to the list of taxable values for companies? For reference: Social Security Numbers (SSN) Individual Taxpayer Identification
    • How to see Statement Details Shown in Unclassified Transactions in All Transactions?

      All, The list of Unclassified Transactions show the Statement Details and Descriptions. What is the method to see that column in the All Transactions list? -Thanks!
    • Zoho Books | Product updates | October 2025

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From iOS 26 updates to viewing reports as charts, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Zoho Books Updates for Apple Devices At WWDC 2025, Apple
    • Bill sent for Payment Approval

      Zoho Books currently supports three levels of transaction approval for bills: Draft, Submit, and Approved. We are looking to add a layer of approval like a bill marked for payment before initiating payment requests through HSBC Bank. Can you please guide
    • Next Page