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Creating and managing Request Tracker Custom Fields

Context

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

Answer

What are Custom Fields?

Request Tracker (RT) provides a set of common ticket fields: Summary, Status, Creation Date, etc. You may also want to have your own fields attached to tickets in your queue to track data important to your work or specific to your business. For example: IP Address, Operating System, or Cost Object. RT allows you to do this by creating Custom Fields for your own queue.

RT's Custom Field system is very flexible. Custom fields can be of different types, for example "Enter one value," which is a simple text field, or "Select one value," which can appear as a single-select drop-down list or a scrolling list of selectable values that you define. You can either use a custom field that has already been defined in the system or you can create your own.

RT Custom Fields can apply to different RT objects. By far the most common configuration is for the custom field to apply to tickets. That means they will appear in each of your Tickets' "Basics" section and will allow you to categorize and classify tickets in your queue. Custom Fields can also apply to Ticket Transactions, Queues, Stock Replies, and Users.

How can I tell what Custom Fields apply to my queue?

To see your queue's custom fields go to Tools -> Configuration -> Queues -> Select. Select your queue name and then select the Ticket Custom Fields tab. You will see custom fields categorized in three sections:

  • Global Custom Fields
    These are system-wide custom fields that apply to every queue in the system. We do not apply any global custom fields in our RT instance, so this section is not shown.
  • Selected Custom Fields
    These are the custom fields set up for your queue. Clicking on the field name will take you to the field's maintenance screen where you can modify the field name, type, and if applicable, set of allowed values.
  • Unselected Custom Fields
    These are other custom fields in the system set up for queues other than your own. Some fields have been created for shared use - they are indicated by the text 'for common use' in the field description. You can use these shared fields for your queue by checking them on this screen and clicking the Submit button at the bottom of the page. Note that on the shared 'Select one value' or 'Select Multiple values' fields, you will not be able to modify the list of allowed values - because of the shared nature of the fields, this must be done centrally.

In the even that your queue has Transaction Custom Fields (unlikely!) you can use the Transaction Custom Fields tab to similarly work with transaction custom fields.

How can I create a new Custom Field?

Custom Fields in our RT4 instance must be created by the RT system administrators. Once they have been created, you as the queue administrator will have full administrative access to modify and update the custom fields.

See also

IS&T Contributions

Documentation and information provided by IS&T staff members


Last Modified:

July 08, 2013

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