Tickets: FAQs

The goal is to help you build confidence in using tickets by explaining what they are, why they exist, and how they help teams track work, collaborate effectively, and ensure important tasks are completed. Use this guide as a reference whenever you need clarification or want to learn more about managing work through tickets.

New to tickets? Please read our Tickets: Glossary of Terms to understand the keywords and terminology used. Also see our Tickets: Building blocks (categories, tags & templates) article to learn more.

Ticket basics

What is a ticket?

A ticket is a way to track a piece of work for a specific person. Think of it like a shared task or case file that helps staff keep track of something that needs to be done, followed up, or resolved for a member (person receiving support) or a helper (worker).

Why use tickets?

Tickets help teams:

Keep track of work so nothing gets forgotten
Know who's responsible for each task
See updates and progress in one place
Work together with shared visibility across the team
Handle common tasks consistently using templates

What's included in a ticket?

A ticket can contain:

Title – a short summary of the task e.g. Call Back Request
Author – Who created the ticket
Regarding – who the ticket relates to e.g. Member
Priority - Mark as a high-priority using a red star
Due date - If there’s a specific date this ticket needs to be completed by, enter it here.
Assignees – who is responsible for the work
Support team/role – the teams involved (e.g. Care Manager, Support Coordinator, Red Team)
Tags – labels used for filtering and grouping
Category – how the ticket is organised
Description– notes, descriptions, and attachments
Checklist – Prompts for smaller tasks; individually checked
Ticket Discussion – Leave comments and files for ongoing discussion and updates
Add-ons – extra features for specific processes (e.g. incidents, Helper verifications, Visit Requests)

Ticket status

A ticket can move through different stages:

Open – work still needs to be done
Snoozed – temporarily hidden until a future date
Completed – the work has been finished
Archived – stored for reference and removed from active work lists

Ticket Templates

Ticket templates solve the problem of having to repeat the same setup over and over. For common recurring tasks - like leave requests, verification renewals, or assessments - a template captures the standard details once, so every ticket of that type is created consistently and correctly. It brings Staffers together and centralises communication in one place to ensure the ticket task has been completed, allowing for oversight over important internal tasks.

Templates can automatically add things like:

The title
Assigned staff
Notes
Tags
Checklists
Add-ons

This saves time and ensures recurring tasks are handled consistently.

What is a ticket template?

A saved starting point for creating tickets. It holds a default name, category, description, assignees, tags, and a checklist, so staff can create a ready-made ticket in a couple of clicks instead of building it from scratch.

What can I set up on a template?

A name, a category, a description with formatting and attachments, the roles or specific people it should be assigned to, tags, and a checklist of steps that will appear on every ticket made from it

If I change a template, do existing tickets change too?

No. Editing a template only affects tickets created after the change. The ticket has already been created. Keep the details they were made with.

Can I stop using a template without deleting old tickets?

Yes - you can archive a template so it no longer appears when creating new tickets, while leaving all previously created tickets untouched.

Are there templates I can't remove?

Yes. Some templates have built-in power features (like worker leave requests or visit cancellations) and are protected so they can't be archived, to avoid breaking those automated workflows.

Categories & tags (Organising tickets)

The structures used to group tickets, control who can see them, and label them for later filtering.

What's the difference between a category and a tag?

A category is a single grouping that a ticket belongs to (and it controls access). Tags are optional labels - a ticket can have several - used mainly for filtering and colour-coding.

Why do categories control access?

Categories can be tied to staff roles, so people only see tickets in the categories relevant to them. This keeps sensitive work visible only to the right teams.

Can two categories or tags have the same name?

No. Within your organisation, each category name must be unique, and each tag name must be unique (regardless of capitalisation).

Can tags be colour-coded?

Yes. Each tag can be given a background colour from a set palette, making it easy to spot at a glance in ticket lists.

What happens to tickets if I archive a tag or category?

Archiving hides it from selection going forward. Existing tickets keep their history, but archived tags and categories no longer appear as options when creating or editing.

Creating and assigning tickets

How a live ticket is raised from a template, and how a Staffer is assigned to a ticket.

How is a ticket created?

You pick a template, confirm the person it relates to (a client membership or a worker), review the pre-filled details, adjust anything needed like the due date or priority, and save.

Who can a ticket be about?

A ticket is always attached to a subject - a client membership, a worker, or a recruitment candidate. It can't be saved without a valid subject.

How does a ticket get assigned to the right people?

Templates can assign by job role - when the ticket is created, the system automatically finds staff in the relevant community holding those roles and assigns them. Specific individuals can also be named as default assignees.

Does a ticket have to have someone assigned?

Yes. Every ticket must have at least one assignee — it can't be saved without one.

What are add-ons on a ticket?

Add-ons connect a ticket to a specific process — such as a purchase order, an incident, a referral, a leave request, or an assessment. They tailor what the ticket does beyond being a simple task.

Managing the Ticket Lifecycle

A ticket is how the team tracks a piece of work from the moment it's raised until it's fully resolved. Managing its lifecycle means guiding it through each stage - organising the work, deciding when and how urgently it needs attention, and keeping a clear record of everything that happens along the way.

What does the checklist on a ticket do?

Each ticket can carry a checklist of steps that staff tick off as they work. The ticket shows overall progress as a percentage, so you can see how far along it is.

What does snoozing a ticket do?

Snoozing hides a ticket until a date you choose. When that date arrives (at the start of the day in your time zone), it reappears, and you're notified. Snoozing can be personal to you without hiding it from others.

What's the difference between completing and archiving?

Completing marks the work as finished and records it in the ticket's history - you can reopen it later. Archiving removes it from active lists entirely. Both clear any snoozes on the ticket.

Can I set urgency and deadlines?

Yes. Tickets can be flagged as high priority and given a due date, which then feed into overdue and due-this-week tracking.

Is a full history kept of what happened to a ticket?

Yes. The system records key events - such as when it's closed, reopened, and other activity - along with who did it and when, so there's a complete audit trail.

Can ticket templates auto-route to the next person when a task is completed?

Yes, but only with Workato automation, tickets can auto-assign or notify the next role in a workflow when a checklist item is ticked off.

Collaboration, Notifications & Finding Tickets

How people work together on tickets, stay informed, and locate the tickets they need.

How do people collaborate on a ticket?

Staff can leave comments and mention colleagues directly. The ticket also carries a description and notes for shared context.

When do I get notified about a ticket?

You're notified when a ticket is assigned to you, when someone mentions you in its notes or comments, when its status changes, and when a snoozed ticket wakes up.

How can I find specific tickets?

You can filter by assignee, author, category, tags, community, and status (open, snoozed, completed, archived, or all), and search by the ticket title or the name of the person it relates to.

How do we prevent two staff working on the same ticket simultaneously?

There is no current real-time 'locked by user' indicator. Best practice is to formally assign tickets to one person at a time using the assignment field.

When should I use a ticket versus a notebook note?

Use a notebook note for observations, visit summaries, or care updates that don't require follow-up action. Use a ticket when a task needs to be assigned, tracked, completed, or escalated by one or more team members.

Purchase Orders

Purchase orders represent an arranged delivery of services or goods to a client from a specific Helper or supplier. In order to create a Purchaser order, a ticket must be raised.

How are tickets and purchase orders connected?

A ticket can be used to raise and manage a purchase order for the client it's about. When a purchase order is raised from a ticket, the ticket's assigned staff are notified of supplier activity on it. A purchase order can be linked to only one ticket for the same client, and each ticket can carry at most one purchase order.

What information does a purchase order hold?

It records the client it's for, the helper or supplier delivering it, a delivery address and optional delivery instructions, and a set of line items covering the individual services or goods. It also tracks totals - the gross amount, the tax portion, and the net amount.

What are the stages a purchase order goes through?

Each item on a purchase order moves through stages such as scheduled, checkout link sent (or resent or revoked), in progress, being tracked, completed, or cancelled. This lets staff see exactly where each part of the order stands.

What are checkout links and can they be sent automatically?

A checkout link is what's sent to the supplier to confirm and process delivery.

Purchase orders can be set to send these links automatically a chosen number of days (up to 30) before the expected delivery date, provided the supplier connection is enabled. There's also a check-in window (48 hours by default) controlling when check-in and check-out are allowed around the delivery time.

Who is notified about activity on a purchase order?

If the purchase order was raised from a ticket, its notifications go to that ticket's assigned staff. If it wasn't linked to a ticket, they go instead to the client's care managers.

Still Need Help?

If you're still experiencing issues, please contact our Support Team and include:

Screenshots (if possible)
The user's name/email
The exact steps taken
Any error messages received