Set up ticket categories, routing, and SLAs

Understand the outcome

Each category decides who can file, view, respond, and manage, and how fast a ticket is due.

Tickets is the department request desk. Members file requests through an intake form for each category. Each ticket goes to the roles and default assignee the category names and gets a due date from the category’s SLA. Staff are warned before the deadline and alerted when it is missed, and every reply, internal note, and status change stays on the ticket. Tickets replaced the request queues of the retired Spaces module.

Before you begin

Make the decision before changing the screen. Record the current configuration when the department already uses this feature, and use a test record or test account when the change can affect active members.

• List request types and who handles them.
• Decide SLA hours for each.
• Decide what information staff need up front.

Where to work and what access you need

Start from the portal destination named in the procedure. Administrators normally need permission to view Tickets plus the specific create, edit, manage, approve, report, or all-record action used by the task. Visibility alone does not grant management access.

• My tickets/modules/tickets/my
• Assigned/modules/tickets/assigned
• New ticket/modules/tickets/new
• All Tickets queue/modules/tickets/queue
• Ticket/modules/tickets/:ticketId
• Analytics/modules/tickets/analytics
• Reports/modules/tickets/reports
• Categories/modules/tickets/categories

Required foundation

• Core must be enabled and correctly configured before this workflow can operate reliably.

If your department uses custom roles, test the procedure with that role—not only with a full administrator account. This confirms the people responsible for daily operations can complete the workflow without receiving unrelated access.

Complete the task

1. Step 1Open Categories

   Create a category.

2. Step 2Set roles

   Choose roles for filing, viewing, responding, and managing.

3. Step 3Set the default assignee

   Pick a person or rely on the responding role.

4. Step 4Set SLA hours

   Enter hours until due; due-soon alerts go two hours before.

5. Step 5Build the intake form

   Reword or turn off built-in questions, add custom fields, and require attachments if needed.

6. Step 6Test

   File a ticket as a member and work it as staff.

Operational safeguards

Apply these module-level controls while completing the procedure. They prevent a technically saved configuration from becoming an operational or access problem later.

• Control point
  Start with a few clear categories.
• Control point
  Give every category a default assignee or responding role.
• Control point
  Set SLA hours your staff can meet; SLAs count clock hours, not business hours.
• Control point
  Require attachments only where they are always needed.
• Control point
  Train staff to use internal notes for anything the requester should not see.
• Control point
  Review the backlog and SLA hit rate regularly.

Verify the result

Do not consider the setup complete merely because the save action succeeded. Confirm the behavior from the user-facing or operational view, then retain evidence of the test when department policy requires it.

• The ticket lands with the right assignee.
• The due date matches the SLA.
• Internal notes stay hidden from the requester.

If any verification fails, return to the source configuration and correct it there. Do not edit a report or downstream record to conceal an incorrect setup.

Troubleshooting

Staff can’t see a ticket

Add their role to the category’s view or respond roles.

SLA counts nights and weekends

SLAs are in clock hours.

Too many overdue tickets

Adjust SLA hours or staffing, and review Analytics.

Related Tickets capabilities

This task sits inside a larger module workflow. These related capabilities may affect the result or provide the next administrative step:

• Intake forms with seven custom field types and built-in questions you can reword or turn off
• Separate roles for filing, viewing, responding, and managing each category
• Default assignee per category; staff can file on a member’s behalf
• SLA hours per category with “due soon” (two hours before) and “overdue” alerts
• Statuses: Open, In progress, Waiting on requester, Resolved, Closed, and Cancelled
• Staff-only internal notes alongside public replies
• Up to 15 files per ticket, 25 MB each
• My tickets, Assigned, and a staff queue with search and filters
• Analytics for volume, backlog, SLA hit rate, response and resolution times, and workload
• Ticket log reports with SLA columns, exported to CSV or PDF

Use the module hub to open the dedicated procedure associated with any capability listed here.

Connected modules and downstream effects

A change here can alter what members see, what data appears in reports, or how another module completes its workflow. Review the connected areas below before making a department-wide change.

• ChatRole-controlled department channels with replies, reactions, files, and push.

After deployment, test one complete workflow from the originating module through every connected destination your department uses. Document the final configuration so another administrator can audit or reproduce it later.

Continue in Tickets

Return to the Tickets module guide for connected workflows, dependencies, portal destinations, and additional procedures.