Using side conversation child tickets

What's my plan?

You can create side conversation child tickets and assign them to groups that you have access to or specific agents within those groups.

A side conversation child ticket is a separate ticket that is subordinate to a side conversation. Child side conversation tickets are useful when you need a formal way to track and measure requests associated with a side conversation. Side conversation tickets can also be routed to agents with omnichannel routing.

Side conversation child tickets must be activated by an admin.

This article includes these sections:

• About side conversation child tickets
• Understanding light agent interaction with side conversation child tickets
• Creating side conversation child tickets
• Copying fields to child tickets
• Limitations

Related articles:

• About side conversations
• Side conversation resources

About side conversation child tickets

When you create a side conversation child ticket, two things happen simultaneously: you create a side conversation on the original ticket, and you create a new, separate, subordinate ticket that is assigned to a specific agent or group.

These definitions may be helpful to this discussion:

• Originating side conversation: The side conversation on the original ticket used to create a side conversation child ticket.
• Side conversation child ticket: A ticket created from a side conversation.

There is an invisible connection between the originating side conversation and the side conversation child ticket. This is a parent-child relationship. The originating side conversation is the “parent” and the child ticket is the “child.” Some people think of these types of tickets as linked tickets.

The child ticket inherits replies from the originating side conversation because of the parent-child relationship. For example, when an agent replies to the side conversation on the original ticket, the replies are added to the child ticket as public comments.

However, child tickets don’t inherit other forms of ticket data from the parent ticket. For example, if the status of the parent ticket changes, the status of the child ticket doesn’t automatically change. The same is true for adding tags to a ticket, and adding or removing CCs.

There are a few types of ticket data that can be copied from the parent ticket to the child ticket at the time of ticket creation (see Including attributes from the parent ticket).

Generally, there isn’t a reverse connection between parent and child tickets. The exceptions are that public comments on a child ticket become part of the side conversation and events in the parent ticket, and the status and assignee of the child ticket is displayed on the side conversation in the parent ticket.

When an SLA is applied to a child ticket, marking the side conversation as Done in the parent ticket doesn’t fulfill First time reply and Next time reply metrics because the child ticket isn't updated by that action.

Note: Child tickets have a unique external ID which is used to link the child ticket with a parent ticket. If you change a child ticket's external ID for any reason, the relationship with the parent ticket is broken and the child ticket no longer inherits data from the parent ticket.

Understanding light agent interaction with side conversation child tickets

Light agents can't create, send, or be assigned side conversation child tickets.

Light agents have permission to make private comments, so it's possible for them to open an existing child ticket Support and add a private comment to the ticket. However, because of the inheritance pattern between parent and child tickets, that private comment won't appear in the side conversation interface of the parent ticket.

Creating side conversation child tickets

You can create, send, and be assigned to side conversation child tickets. The child tickets you create can be assigned only to groups that you have access to or specific agents within those groups.

You may notice some minor differences in the side conversations user interface, depending on which side conversation channels your administrator has activated.

In the Agent Workspace, side conversations are created from the context panel. In the standard agent interface, side conversations are created from Side conversations at the top of the ticket conversation pane.

Agent Workspace	Standard agent interface

To create a side conversation child ticket

1. In a ticket, open the context panel and click the Side conversations () icon, then click the plus sign (+).

   If you don’t have the Agent Workspace, in a ticket click the Side Conversations plus sign (+) in the upper-left.

2. Select Ticket.
   Note: The composer opens immediately if no other side conversation channels are available.

   The side conversation child ticket composer opens.

   

3. In the To field, specify an agent or group.
   Note: You can assign child tickets only to groups that you have access to and the agents within those groups. Light agents can’t be assigned to child tickets.
4. Fill out the subject and message body, including any inserted comments and attachments as needed (see Using side conversations in tickets).
5. (Optional) Click the Copy fields to child ticket icon (), specify which types of ticket field data you want copied from the parent ticket to the child ticket, and click Add. See Copying fields to child tickets.
6. Click Send.

Copying fields to child tickets

When you create a side conversation child ticket, you can choose to have the following types of ticket field data copied from the parent ticket to the child ticket.

• Followers: The followers of the parent ticket, at the time the child ticket was created, will be added as followers on the child ticket.
• Tags: The tags on the parent ticket, at the time the child ticket was created, will be added to the child ticket.
• Ticket form: The parent ticket's form and field values, at the time the child ticket was created, will be set on the child ticket.

Copying fields to a child ticket is a one time-event that occurs only when the ticket is created. For example, if the parent ticket is updated later on, and the data in those ticket fields change, the child ticket is not updated to match.

To include parent ticket attributes in a side conversation child ticket

1. Follow the steps in Create side conversation child tickets, except don't click Send yet.

   

2. In the toolbar at the bottom of the side conversation, click the Copy fields to child ticket icon ().
3. Select the types of data that you want to copy from the parent ticket to the child ticket.

   

4. Click the Add button.

   The names of the ticket fields appear above the toolbar at the bottom of the side conversation.

5. Click Send.

   A new ticket, the child ticket side conversation, is created. In the child ticket, the values of the ticket fields you selected match those that are in the parent ticket.

Limitations

The following limitations exist for side conversation child tickets:

• Notification emails will trigger twice.
• When side conversation child tickets are enabled, ticket triggers for side conversations will fire twice. For example, once for the originating side conversation, and once for the side conversation child ticket.
• For agents assigned to custom roles to create child tickets through side conversations, they must have permission to create side conversations and make public comments in tickets. See Creating custom roles.
• In certain cases, agents may be able to assign child tickets to groups that they don’t have access to. For example, if they use a macro that’s available to them that assigns a child ticket to a group to which they don’t have access.
• When a side conversation ticket is assigned to a private group, it is visible to members who don't belong to the group.