Question
I want to update tickets using a trigger or automation. The ticket attributes I want to update are not accessible using business rules. I can make the update successfully using the Support API. Can I have the trigger or automation notify a webhook that updates the ticket through the API?
Answer
No, this workflow is not recommended or supported. When a ticket is updated by business rules and the API simultaneously, errors are likely to occur. When this happens, it is called a race condition.
Every time a ticket is created or updated, all your business rules run in a cycle against that ticket. For instance, triggers fire and update the ticket if their conditions are met during the cycle. A cycle is the entire process of a ticket being checked against all your triggers.
When a trigger updates a ticket using the API, the update occurs at some indeterminate point in the cycle. Results can vary based on when the ticket update occurs in the cycle. The ticket update can affect whether other business rules fire.
For more information, see the article: About triggers and how they work.
6 Comments
I too want this functionality to update a field with a numeric value when firing an action, whether that be through a macro, trigger or automation.
I guess we'll see what they have in their feedback forum...
The lack of more sophisticated workflows is becoming more and more an achiles heel for Zendesk as the requirements of customer support/experience/operations teams continue to increase in complexity. The basic triggers are great for a traditional service desk but to manage cross-functional business processes you need something with a little more firepower.
This article is sadly inaccurate.
The correct answer is Yes - BUT!
An entire article explaining why you shouldn't do something does not negate the fact that you can. This option is used by many zendesk administrators with caution. It is used as the basis for many support articles even.
And by Brett ;) https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/4409515238554-How-to-allow-email-target-responses-to-thread-into-existing-ticket
So this functionality existed with extensions/targets, but now is not supported with webhooks? Why are we moving backwards?
Bobby K - they didn't remove it... they just don't recommend that you use it. It is possible and we do use it in our environment. We understand the risks and do extensive testing to ensure that it doesn't mess anything up. We aren't trying anything too sophisticated at this point. If we ultimately have that need, we will likely be looking at an external tool to do that :(
We have to use this method too despite the advice not to, all we want to do is add an internal note to the ticket when an automation has run so that the agent who picks the ticket up is aware of what has gone on in the ticket (eg. a chaser email has automatically been sent to the customer).
This is clearly something many customers want, and need, to do and are being forced to use a risky working around. Is there a reason that this basic functionality can't be added?
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