How do I find the right value to use with the "Changes - Previous/New value" attribute?

Question

I'm using the Changes - Previous value or Changes - New value attribute from the Updates history dataset in an Explore formula. I inserted the ticket field values that I see in the UI, but my report doesn't return any results. Why not, and how do I find the correct values to use in the formula instead?

Answer

The Changes - Previous value and Changes - New value attributes require that you use the API value of a field, not the value you see in the UI.

To find the API value of a field

1. Find the ID of the ticket field whose values you want to report on.
2. Plug the ID into a URL to return a JSON file about that ticket field.
3. Review the JSON file to find the field values you need to use with the Changes - Previous value and Changes - New value attributes.

For example, let’s say you have a ticket field called Type of Support, with possible values of Beginner Support, Intermediate Support, and Advanced Support. You want to report on the Advanced Support value.

Find the ID of the ticket field

1. In Admin Center, click the Objects and rules icon () in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Fields.
2. In the Field ID column, find the ID number of the ticket field you want to report on, in this example, Type of Support. Make a note of this number, which you’ll need in the following step.

Plug the ID into a URL

1. In your web browser, visit the following URL, replacing <subdomain> with the name of your Zendesk subdomain and <ticket field ID> with the ID you noted previously.

subdomain.zendesk.com/api/v2/ticket_fields/<ticket field ID>

Review the JSON file to find the field values

In the example above, you would see something like the following:

• “id”: 360048826392,
• “name”: “Advanced Support”,
• “raw_name”: “Advanced”,
• “value”: “advanced_support”,
• “default”: false

The value to use in a formula with the Changes - Previous value or Changes - New value attribute is “advanced_support”.

If you were to use Advanced Support instead, the formula would technically be valid, but it wouldn’t return any results.

For more information, see these articles:

• Metrics and attributes for Zendesk Support
• Writing Explore formulas