Master Tickets

This guide explains master tickets from an agent/user perspective.

Master tickets help you coordinate one larger issue (for example an outage, recurring bug, or shared incident) while keeping customer conversations separated in child tickets.

When to use a master ticket

Use a master ticket when:

  • Multiple customers report the same problem
  • You want one internal coordination ticket for a broader incident
  • One issue creates several follow-up tickets
  • You need to track progress across related tickets in one place

Core idea

  • Master ticket: the parent ticket used for coordination and rollups
  • Child tickets: customer-facing or follow-up tickets linked to the master
  • Relationship types: links describe why tickets are connected (for example duplicate, child, related)

This keeps customer communication isolated while agents still get one operational view.

What agents see on a master ticket

The master ticket workflow area shows a rollup summary of linked child tickets, including:

  • Child ticket counts by status
  • Open vs closed child counts
  • SLA warning count across child tickets
  • Latest customer reply across child tickets
  • Affected customers and projects summary

This helps agents prioritize and decide whether to broadcast updates or close child tickets in bulk.

Typical workflow (incident / duplicate handling)

  1. Create a normal ticket or open an existing shared-issue ticket
  2. Use Convert to Master Ticket to make the role explicit
  3. Add child tickets or link duplicates from the dedicated master actions
  4. Work investigation and internal coordination in the master ticket
  5. Keep customer-specific replies inside each child ticket
  6. Use bulk actions from the master ticket when the issue is resolved

Creating a master ticket in the app

The app now supports two explicit ways to start a master ticket workflow:

  • Enable Create as master ticket while creating a new ticket
  • Open an existing ticket and click Convert to Master Ticket

After conversion/creation, the app immediately opens the child-ticket linking flow so the ticket does not remain an empty implicit master by accident.

Relationship sections in ticket detail

Master-ticket detail no longer hides everything in one generic link section.

Instead, the app separates:

  • Child Tickets
  • Duplicates
  • Related Tickets
  • Linked Ressources for tasks and knowledge documents

This makes it obvious which links drive master workflows and which links are only supporting references.

Master actions available

From the master ticket, agents can run bulk actions on child tickets:

  • Bulk update child status
  • Bulk assign child tickets
  • Bulk update child labels
  • Bulk close child tickets
  • Broadcast a message to selected child tickets

Bulk actions can target:

  • All child tickets
  • A selected subset of child tickets

Customer-safe communication model

Master tickets are designed for safe coordination across multiple customers.

  • The master ticket can be used as an internal coordination layer
  • Child tickets remain customer-facing
  • Public updates are sent to each selected child ticket separately
  • Customer details are not shared across other child tickets

Important: do not use a child ticket to communicate incident details meant for all affected customers. Use the master ticket broadcast action so each customer receives an isolated update in their own thread.

Sync behavior (what can be automated)

Workspaces can configure master/child sync policies so common updates stay consistent.

Examples:

  • Sync master status to child tickets
  • Sync assignee, labels, or priority from master to child tickets
  • Reopen the master ticket when a reporter replies on a child ticket
  • Escalate the master ticket based on child ticket urgency/SLA risk

These sync rules are configurable and can be enabled per field.

Best practices

  • Use the master ticket title for the shared problem, not one specific customer
  • Keep customer-specific troubleshooting in child tickets
  • Use internal notes/messages on the master ticket for coordination
  • Use broadcasts for customer-facing updates across many child tickets
  • Close child tickets in bulk only after confirming the shared issue is resolved for all selected customers

Example scenario

Example: Login outage reported by 8 customers

  • Create master ticket: Login failures after deployment
  • Link 8 customer tickets as child tickets
  • Track investigation, rollback, and root-cause notes in the master ticket
  • Send a public update broadcast to all 8 child tickets
  • After fix verification, bulk-close child tickets as solved