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Managing Projects with Zendesk
Posted Jan 08, 2014
For companies that aren't yet big enough to use a third party provider to manage projects, the Project Management APP from Zendesk labs will come in handy.
This APP allows you to create a Parent ticket and attach multiple child tickets to it, without having to use the default Problem-Incident scenario. This also helps with analytics, allowing you to track tasks instead of problems.
Installation
- Go to Project Management.
- Click Get it and complete the process
How to use it
Creating the Parent ticket
- Create a new ticket. This ticket will be the project's parent ticket. Disregard the ticket field you created (for now)
- Once the ticket is created, on the right-hand side under APPS you will see the Project Management app.
- Click on Make a Project from this ticket.
Creating child tickets
- Access the parent ticket
- There are three options: Single Ticket, Bulk Ticket, Add existing. A Single Ticket will allow you to create one child ticket. Bulk Tickets will allow you to create several child tickets. Add existing will prompt you to enter an existing ticket ID.
All children tickets will have to be assigned to the appropriate agents/groups and all additional info entered (this process is manual.)
As tickets are worked on, the status can be viewed from the parent ticket.
Enjoy ! :)
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73 comments
Robin Varner
We are looking at managing projects in Zendesk, and this app looks like it will do exactly what we need. My concern is twofold: first, when installing the app, it states it's possible the download could contain malicious code, and it could disappear at any time since it's not supported. Is there any hope to have a fully functioning option for this app? It would be ideal for what we need in our situation.
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Robin!
It's true that this app is not officially supported; hence the warning message when you go to install it. That said, it was written by one of our own developers, it's quite stable, and many of our customers use it without problems.
It's possible that this could become a supported app in the future, but there's a process to be followed in order for that to happen and I can't say whether it's on the roadmap at this point.
In summary, install the app and be of good cheer. :) Let us know if you have any other questions!
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Wirt Wolff
It seems also (version in the market) that all tickets must be tasks with due dates. It would be good to add this to the instructions.
I guess this makes sense for a project app, but I was trying to break out separate problems in child tickets from a ticket with a big list of problems so due dates don't really apply. (Got a bunch of js errors and missing information at first.)
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Wirt!
I did some testing on my end, and I was able to create child tickets using the app and set any ticket type I wished, not just Task. Would you be able to send me some recreation steps and/or a screenshot?
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Kristóf L.
Hi Jessie,
I can't figure out the function of creating bulk child tickets. The only difference I see compared to the single ticket is that the group field changes to a list, though that list is empty for me. Can you maybe provide a little bit more instructions on what this feature is supposed to do?
Thanks
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AJ Acevedo
This app would be a perfect solution if the parent project ticket could be separated from the reporting. If someone was assigned the project ticket and it take two months to complete will this effect their time to solve average in the reports?
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Kristof! Sorry for the delayed response!
I did a little testing to ensure I understood the expected behavior on this app.
When you click "Single Ticket", you fill out your form, and click "Create Single Ticket", the app goes back to it's main display that shows the list of child tickets. If you wanted to create another child ticket, you'd have to click "Single Ticket" again.
When you click "Bulk Ticket" and submit, the app stays on the ticket form. This allows you to create as many variations on the child ticket as you require, one at a time, assigning them to the various agents that need to work on them and changing ticket properties as needed, without being directed back to the main app screen every time.
I hope that clears things up a bit! Let me know if you have any other questions.
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Jessie Schutz
Hi AJ!
The parent tickets will have an impact on the assignee's time to solve metric, but there are a couple of ways you may be able to account for this in your reporting if you're using Insights.
Firstly, you have the option of enabling the On-Hold Status if you haven't done so already. Using this status will allow you to create Views where you can see all your parent tickets in once place, and you can build reports to include or exclude that status when you're reporting on active (not solved) tickets.
Secondly, each parent ticket is tagged when the first child ticket is created. I believe the default for this is project_parent. The child tickets are tagged as well. You can filter your reports to include or exclude this tag. You can find more information on tag reporting in Insights here: Reporting on tags in Insights (Plus and Enterprise). Be sure to check out the list of links at the end, too - there's lots of valuable information in those articles as well.
Hope that helps!
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AJ Acevedo
Thanks!
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YinzCamAcct.Mgmt.
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YinzCamAcct.Mgmt.
As you can see if the first screen shot, I created a Project Parent ticket in which child tickets will be attached to (Ticket 237). You can see the successful addition of the ticket, (although it looks nothing like your 3rd picture on the apps/project-app page, which includes ticket #, subject , and status)
I then reload the browser page for ticket #237, and that is in the 2nd screen shot. As you can see, there are no child tickets showing, and it looks as though Ive still never made a project out of ticket 237.
The 3rd screen shot shoes ticket 238 (the child ticket I created through clicking "Make a project from this ticket". It shows no relation to the parent project ticket.
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Doug!
I hopped into your account to take a closer look at those tickets and I see that the child ticket you created was deleted, which makes it harder to figure out what's going on.
I do see that the appropriate tags (project_237 and project_parent) were added to the parent ticket, so it does appear that at least some things are functioning correctly. Would you mind if I tried to recreate the issue with a new test ticket in your Zendesk?
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YinzCamAcct.Mgmt.
Please do! Go ahead and assign any test tickets to me. We really need this working ASAP, at least on the basic OOB level.
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Doug!
I did some testing, and the app is working fine in my test environment.
When I tested in your ZD I noted that there was an error message displaying in your app:
Now, because this is a Zendesk Labs app, we don't actually support it. But I can tell you that it is functioning correctly in the wild. I would recommend uninstalling and reinstalling the app to see if that clears up whatever is going wrong with the JavaScript.
Hope that helps!
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Luke Johnson
I am having the same problem as Doug. Child ticket was created, project tags are there, but if I close and come back to the ticket they are not listed in the 'Project app' sidebar.
Anyone else running into this or have a solution?
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Luke Johnson
I am receiving the same JavaScript 'due_at' error as Doug. I have added a due date thinking that may help but it has not. I have uninstalled and re installed the app and still not working correctly. Anybody else having this issue?
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Skip Moore
I have fixed the code and submitted the fix to the labs team. If you want to use it right now feel free to download it and upload it as private app.
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YinzCamAcct.Mgmt.
Skip,
Thanks so much. This DOES now work as expected, and will certainly improve our workflow.
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Nicholas Alteen
Hi All,
Apologies for replying to an older post, but I had a question related to Zendesk Project tickets. Is it possible to create/manage project and child tickets through the normal Zendesk API?
My team is investigating a web portal that would allow for creation of project tickets and several corresponding child tasks.
Thanks!
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Nicholas!
How this is going to work will depend on how you're creating the child or project tickets. Are you using one of our apps, or do you have a different workflow in place?
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Nicholas Alteen
The workflow I am using is submitting using the tickets API:
https://{subdomain}.zendesk.com/api/v2/tickets.json
When pulling existing project parent/child tickets, I can see the project-related data in the JSON. I just wanted to make sure if I sent similar data that this would behave in the same manner as if I had used the Project App directly.
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Jessie Schutz
Hey Nicholas! Thanks for the clarification.
I'm not completely sure what kind of black magic goes on behind the scenes when you use the app to create the link between parent and child tickets and display the linked information within each ticket.
As you've probably seen, when you create a project using the Project App, there are two tags added to each ticket: either project_parent or project_child, and project_XX, where XX is the parent ticket number. What you want to do could be as simple as making sure that the appropriate tags are added when the tickets are created, or it could be WAY more complicated.
This would probably be fairly easy to test; just make some test tickets with the tags and see what happens. Otherwise, I'd definitely recommend you check out our Zendesk API forum. That's where our API experts like to hang out, so hopefully you'll find the answers you need there!
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Jessie Schutz
Hey Wouter!
The apps are very similar, with one major exception. The Linked Ticket app allows you to create only one child ticket per parent ticket, and is a good solution for people who might need to bring an external third party into a conversation (such as a contractor or vendor), but either can't or doesn't want to use to Ticket Sharing.
The Project App lets you create multiple child tickets per parent, and works great for folks who need to create and assign multiple tasks related to a ticket.
Hope that clears things up!
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Joerg Endter
Hello,
I have some problems with the project app.
If using a custom date field, the calender for choosing the date will not pop up and I have to type in the date.
And if the setting for the ticket field is "required", it is still posible to submit the ticket with a blank field.
Are these known issues and will they be solved in the next update?
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Andrea Saez
Hi Joeg,
You're better off contacting the team via Zendesk Labs, as they manage the app directly. Keep in mind this isn't an official Zendesk app at all, just a little nifty thing a group of people decided to whip up together on the side.
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Jessie Schutz
Hey Joerg!
As Andrea mentioned, we're not able to support Zendesk Labs apps because they're unofficial. However, I can tell you that when a field is required, that means that the field must be filled out in order for the ticket to be solved. You can still create or update a ticket without the require filled being populated. This goes for all ticket fields, across the board.
Hope that helps!
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Joerg Endter
Thanks for the info, I will contact the Zendesk Labs team for further support.
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Robin Varner
What does the Group field do on the Create Single Ticket? If I start typing one of my group names, it will show the matching group names in a list, but if I select one, nothing seems to happen. The ticket still remains unassigned.
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Chae Journell-Klain
Just curious how this app differs from using Problem/Incident and which is preferred over the other? Thanks.
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Jessie Schutz
Hi Chae!
The primary difference is that the app allows you to create the child tickets right from the parent ticket and automatically linking them, rather than having to create the Problem ticket, and then creating the Incident ticket and linking it after the fact.
The other major difference is that the app allows you to use any ticket type you wish. So, for example, your parent ticket can be a regular Question, and then the child tickets can be Tasks.
Hope that helps!
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