In addition to having the ability to create new linked work items from a Case or Ticket, you can also create links between existing Cases and Tickets to allow you to better manage activities being carried out by different teams.
You can create links between existing work items in two ways:
Note that you can only create links between Cases and Tickets and you cannot copy communications, files, defects, links or custom data when creating a link between existing work items.
You can link existing work items from your Home page by selecting the Cases and Tickets from the Home Page grid (which could be displaying your Work Inbox, Team's Work Inbox, Owned Work or Team's Owned Work) that you want to link together and selecting the 'Link' option that appears at the top of the grid.
The first Case or Ticket that you select will be the work item that all of the subsequent selected work items will be linked to (or the first in your list if you've used the 'Select All' option).
The resulting pop-up will confirm to you the Case / Ticket the items will be linked to, and the specific items themselves, before allowing you to complete the linking confirmation:
You can link up to a maximum of 50 work items at one time, but there is no upper limit on the number of work items that can ever be linked.
If you subsequently go to this main Ticket / Case that everything has been linked to, on its Linked Work tab you'll see ALL of the items you chose to link to it.
However if you're in one of the works items you chose to link to this main Ticket / Case, on that Linked Work tab you'll only see a record of that main Ticket / Case (and not all of the other ones which were linked).
You can link existing work items from within a work item itself by going to the work item's screen and selecting the '+ Work item' option and then choosing to add an 'Existing item'.
In the resulting pop-up you can search for the Cases and/or Tickets you want to link this work item to.
You link up to a maximum of 50 work items at one time, but there is no limit on the number of work items that can ever be linked.
A link to the new linked Case or Ticket will appear in the Linked Work tab in screen of the work items that have been linked.
You can unlink work items at any time by going to the Linked Work tab in the work item's screen and selecting the Unlink icon.
The Linked Work tab is where you can view all linked work items of a Ticket or Case.
Note that Sub-Cases created via the '+ Work item' link will still display in the 'Sub Cases' tab for the time-being, and do not show in the Links tab.
Within the Links tab grid you can a list of Linked work item, showing their reference, title, assignee, Queue and due date of a work item.
There is also an icon to unlink the work item if they have been linked in error.
You can also expand linked Cases to see their Actions.
If you don't have permissions on a certain business process, the work items from that process will be greyed out and you won't be able to open or edit them. You'll still be able to see higher level information about the work item, e.g. who they're assigned to, which Queue they're in and when they're due.
Various features in Enate allow you to manage activities being carried out by different teams, letting you easily create and oversee work items even when you don't have full permissions on each other's work.
Launching a Case or Ticket from within an existing one creates a 'Linked' relationship between the work items.
Work items with a 'linked' relationship will retain a link to the original Case / Ticket but are completely independent, behaving according to their own specific configuration and not needing to wait for the other to complete before they can complete themselves. This is useful when the original Case/Ticket's due date is not dependent on some sub part being completed (e.g. by a different department).
Linked work items will show on a Linked Work tab in the work item screen, making it easy to track a group of work items which relate to each other.
Note that only Cases and Tickets can be 'linked' and when a work item is linked to another work item and it is subsequently merged, split or converted into a Case, the subsequent work items resulting from this will also be linked to the original work item.
For example:
When a Ticket is linked to another work item and that Ticket is merged in with another work the remaining merged item will be linked to the original work item.
When a Ticket is linked to another work item and that Ticket is split into multiple Tickets, the subsequent child Tickets will also be linked to the original work item.
When a Ticket is linked to another work item and that Ticket is later converted into a Case, the subsequent Case will also be linked to the original work item.
To create a new linked Ticket from an existing Case or Ticket, click the ‘+ Work item’ link shown near the tabs section of the work item and the choose the 'Ticket' option from the dropdown.
In the resulting pop up, you can filter to search for the new type of Ticket process you want to create in two ways:
by searching by email route - you can specify the mailbox address which people would normally send emails into to create work items. Often an email mailbox represent a certain part of the business within which you want to create your new work item. As a useful shortcut we've added a feature here where you can search by mailbox and narrow down straight away the Ticket processes that you can choose from. Selecting a mailbox will filter the dropdown options to only the processes linked to that mailbox.
by selecting a Customer, Contract, Service and a Ticket process to launch (these will default in values if there is only one option to choose).
Please note that the Tickets available for you to launch will depend on the permissions settings in Builder. Additionally, you will also only be able to select a Ticket process from an email route that has been enabled in Builder (see here for more information). You will also only be able to select a Ticket process in Test Mode if the email route for that Ticket process has been configured to run in Test Mode.
You can then adjust the following settings for the Ticket:
Title
You can modify the title of the new Ticket you are creating
Short Description
You can modify the description of the new Ticket you are creating
Category & Sub Categories
You need to select the category & sub categories of the new Ticket
Override Due Date
Copy Defects
You can copy existing defects from the original Case/Ticket to the new Ticket you are creating. Note that making updates to the Defects in the new linked Ticket will NOT update the defects in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Files
You can copy existing files (including tags & file notes) from the original Case/Ticket to the new Ticket you are creating. Note that making updates to the files in the new linked Ticket will NOT update the files in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Links
You can copy existing links (including tags & link notes) from the original Case/Ticket to the new Ticket you are creating. Note that making updates to the links in the new linked Ticket will NOT update the links in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Custom Data
You can copy existing custom data (e.g. custom data fields) from the original Case/Ticket to the new Ticket you are creating. Note that making updates to the custom data in the new linked Ticket will NOT update the custom data in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Communications
Send Automated Emails
You can choose to send auto-generated system emails (e.g. Ticket creation acknowledgement emails) to contacts tagged as the the primary contact, requester or subject.
Adding Contacts
Then click to Create. A link to the new linked Ticket will appear in the 'Linked Work' tab.
Linked Cases will retain a link to the original Case / Ticket but are completely independent, behaving according to their own specific configuration and not needing to wait for the other to complete before they can complete themselves. This is useful when the original Case/Ticket's due date is not dependent on some sub part being completed (e.g. by a different department).
To create a new linked Case from an existing Case or Ticket, click the ‘+ Work item’ link shown near the tabs section of the work item and the choose the 'Case' option from the dropdown.
In the resulting pop up, you can filter to search for the new type of Case process you want to create in two ways:
by searching by email route - you can specify the mailbox address which people would normally send emails into to create work items. Often an email mailbox represent a certain part of the business within which you want to create your new work item. As a useful shortcut we've added a feature here where you can search by mailbox and narrow down straight away the Case processes that you can choose from. Selecting a mailbox will filter the dropdown options to only the processes linked to that mailbox.
by selecting a Customer, Contract, Service and a Case process to launch (these will default in values if there is only one option to choose).
Please note that the Cases available for you to launch will depend on the permissions settings in Builder. Additionally, you will also only be able to select a Case process from an email route that has been enabled in Builder (see here for more information). You will also only be able to select a Case process in Test Mode if the email route for that Case process has been configured to run in Test Mode.
You can then adjust the following settings for the Case:
Short Description
You can modify the short description of the new Case you are creating
Schedule
Override Due Date
Copy Defects
You can copy existing defects from the original Case/Ticket to the new Case you are creating. Note that making updates to the defects in the new linked Case will NOT update the defects in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Files
You can copy existing files (including tags and file notes) from the original Case/Ticket to the new Case you are creating. Note that making updates to the files in the new linked Case will NOT update the files in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Links
You can copy existing links (including tags and link notes) from the original Case/Ticket to the new Case you are creating. Note that making updates to the links in the new linked Case will NOT update the links in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Custom Data
You can copy existing custom data (e.g. custom data fields) from the original Case/Ticket with the new Case you are creating. Note that making updates to the custom data in the new linked Case will NOT update the custom data in the original Ticket/Case it was created from.
Copy Communications
Send Automated Emails
You can choose if you want to send auto-generated system emails (e.g. Case creation acknowledgement emails) to contacts tagged as the the primary contact, requester or subject.
Adding Contacts
Then click to Create. A link to the new linked Case will appear in the 'Linked Work' tab.
As part of supporting work being carried out across multiple Cases & Tickets, you can share emails between Linked work items to allow them to be viewed more widely. You can even do this for work items which you don't have permissions on.
You can share emails between linked work items in two ways.
1. From an existing email - Clicking on the '+' icon at the top of an existing email in the timeline and selecting the relevant work item you wish to share the email with.
2. From composing new email - Another way is when writing a new email, you can simply add the work item reference number into the To / CC / BCC of an email by clicking the '+' icon, just as you wold when adding an email address:
You can even use this approach when you just want to share emails between linked work items, without needing to add an email address.
Please note that you can only share emails between work items that are linked. You cannot share emails between Closed work items. Additionally, once an email has been shared between work items, it cannot be unshared.
The email will be sent as normal to any emails addresses specified, and it will also be shared with the selected work items.
When someone responds to the shared email, that response will be attached to both work items.
Related work items are a tightly connected group of items which, while they behave according to their own specific configuration, do have an active impact on their 'parent' work item - specifically the parent work item will not complete until all of its 'children' have completed first.
Communications will be shared automatically between work items in the related group so they are always visible, and when you reply to an email in one work item, the reply can be seen in all the other work items.
Additionally, files, links, defects, smart cards, and contacts are also shared automatically between all the work items in the group, so updating for example a file in one work item will update the file in all the other work items in the related group as well.
Groups of Related work items include:
A Case and its Actions
A Case and its Sub Case(s)
The remaining Ticket and other 'resolved' Tickets if multiple Tickets have been merged
A 'child' Case and its parent Ticket if a Ticket has been converted to a Case
Note that for split Tickets, a snapshot of the files, links, defects, smart cards, and contacts of the parent are to its child Tickets, so updating for example a file in one work item will not update the file in all the other work items in the related group. However, the parent Ticket, which will have moved to a state of Waiting, will not complete until all of its 'child' Tickets have completed first. Also note that if the parent Ticket receives an incoming email, it will be copied to its child Tickets rather than shared.
When work items don't have an active impact on each other (i.e. they're not part of a Related Work Items group) but there's still a loose connection between them and you want to be able to quickly jump to one from another, you should use the Linked Work Item feature in Enate.
Work items with a 'Linked' relationship behave according to their own specific configuration and do not need to wait for the other to complete before they can complete themselves. You can easily link two or more work items together at any time and it's a very useful, flexible way of loosely connecting together items so people in e.g. different departments can stay easily up to date on how other work connected to the Ticket/Case they're working on is going.
Communications will also not be shared automatically between linked work items, but you can choose to copy a snapshot of the communications in one work item to a work item it is linked to.
Note that you also have the option to share emails between linked work items -
Additionally, the files, links, defects, custom data, and contacts will not be shared automatically when launching a new linked work item, but you can choose to copy a snapshot of them. Any updates made to these will not be reflected in the other linked work items.
Using this type of connection is useful if e.g. a Case’s due date is not dependent on some other piece of work being completed (e.g. by a different department), but it's still considered useful for people working on either one to remain aware of activity on the other and, importantly, to have a quick point of accessing the other.
Work Items can be linked together in the following ways:
A Case or a Ticket launched directly from within an existing Case or Ticket.
Manually adding a link from a Case/Ticket to another existing Case or Ticket.
If your system has been configured this way (), you can select to override the due date of the new Ticket you are creating.
You can copy work item communications i.e. emails (including email attachments) and notes from the original Case/Ticket to the new linked Ticket you are creating. Note that when choosing to copy communications, you will not only copy communications from the original work item, but you will also copy communications from the original work item's related group, e.g. its Actions if it was a Case, or the parent/child Ticket if it was from a split Ticket. Also note that making updates to the communications in the new linked Ticket will NOT update the communications in the original Ticket/Case it was created from. You can find out more about related groups vs linked work items .
You can choose to add a contact. If have been configured to allow you to do so, you can even choose to add multiple different contacts for the new Ticket and divide the tags between them.
If your system has been configured this way (), you must select a schedule for the new Case you are creating.
If your system has been configured this way (), you can select to override the due date of the new Case you are creating.
You can copy work item communications i.e. emails (including email attachments) and notes from the original Case/Ticket to the new linked Case you are creating. Note that when choosing to copy communications, you will not only copy communications from the original work item, but you will also copy communications from the original work item's related group, e.g. its Actions if it was a Case, or the parent/child Ticket if it was from a split Ticket. Also note that making updates to the communications in the new linked Case will NOT update the communications in the original Ticket/Case it was created from. You can find out more about related groups vs linked work items .
Unless the '' option in the Case type in the Service Line screen has been selected, it is optional for you to add a contact. You can even choose to add multiple different contacts and divide the tags between.
Work items with a linked relationship will show in the in Cases and Tickets.
