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Q: What does "Unchanged" next to a Request Tracker status mean ?

  • What does "Unchanged" next to a Request Tracker status mean?
  • Why does the current ticket status appear twice in the status menu, once with "(Unchanged)" next to it?

Context

  • Request Tracker (RT) on help.mit.edu
  • Ticket tracking at MIT

Answer

This feature is new as of Request Tracker (RT) version 4.0.6. It existed as an MIT customization in versions of RT prior to 4.0 but was dropped from early versions of RT4 prior to 4.0.6.

RT implements default status changes based on certain ticket actions; for example replying to a New ticket will update the status to "Open" and replying to a "Waiting" (Stalled) ticket will also update the status to "Open".

This is usually the desirable behavior but can occasionally lead to requiring an extra step. For example, if a ticket is waiting for follow-up from a Requestor (i.e. it is in status "Waiting", and the staff member working on a ticket sends a reply to check in with the Requestor, the ticket should remain in status "Waiting" after the reply. The new "duplicate" status entries allow this in a single step.

Illustration

Here's an illustration of what an open ticket status menu looks like before and after.

Old open ticket status menu
OLD: 4.0.0 through 4.0.5

New open ticket status menu
NEW: 4.0.6

How it works

This is best illustrated with an example:

  • Our example ticket is currently in a "Waiting" status because we are waiting for a part to arrive.
  • We draft a Reply to the Requestor by selecting Reply from the Action menu.
  • On the Reply screen, the status menu will read: "Waiting (Unchanged)"
  • We fill out the message box and click Update Ticket.
  • The message is sent to the Requestor, and the new status of the ticket is "Open".

Leaving the status menu set to "... (Unchanged)" will not override any default status changes RT makes based on actions taken on a ticket. Here is the same example again, but in this case it's just a check-in that should not result in a status change.

  • Our example ticket is currently in a "Waiting" status because we are waiting for the Requestor to try something.
  • We draft a Reply to the Requestor by selecting Reply from the Action menu.
  • On the Reply screen, the status menu will read: "Waiting (Unchanged)"
  • We fill out the message box with "Have you had a chance to try it yet?"
  • We change the status menu to: Waiting and click Update Ticket.
  • The message is sent to the Requestor, and the status of the ticket remains "Waiting".

IS&T Contributions

Documentation and information provided by IS&T staff members


Last Modified:

July 26, 2017

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