Checklists

Enterprise feature (new in 1.19.2, helpdesk). See the Helpdesk overview.

A new starter needs an account, a laptop, a phone and a building pass. A checklist writes those steps down once. Add it to a ticket and the agent ticks each step as it’s done; mark the steps that matter as Required, and the ticket can’t be solved until they are ticked.

The checklist library

Desk settings → Checklists keeps the reusable lists. It needs one of the desk capabilities Helpdesk settings, Request types or Workflows (Managers and Admins, out of the box).

The table shows each Checklist, its number of Items, what it is Added automatically to (“Nothing (added by hand)” when nothing adds it), and how often it was Used.

New checklist opens the editor:

• Name, such as “Leaver: IT”.
• Items: type each step (“What needs doing”) and press Enter for the next. Drag an item to move it, or click its handle for Move up and Move down. Each item’s settings button holds:
  • Required: the ticket can’t be solved until it’s ticked;
  • Owner team: shown on the ticket, and its calendar counts the due date;
  • Due: No due date, Due the day it’s added, or Due in 1 business day up to Due in 20 business days.
• Add it automatically: tick request types, and every new request of those types gets this checklist. The workflow tasks that add it are listed here too; a workflow task adds checklists from its own settings in the workflow builder (see below).

Then Create checklist (or Save checklist when editing).

Editing a checklist never changes a ticket’s copy. Tickets that already have it keep the items they were given.

Deleting a checklist leaves tickets that have it with their copy, and request types stop adding it. It can’t be deleted while a workflow task adds it (“The New starter workflow adds it in “Laptop and accounts”. Take it off that task first.“), or while a run of a workflow that is still going adds it.

On a ticket

The ticket’s side panel has a Checklists card: each checklist on the ticket with how many items are done (“3/5”, in amber while required items are open), and Add a checklist to pick one from the library. Each choice shows how many items and required items it has.

Each checklist also has a card in the ticket’s main column, with a progress bar and its items. An item shows Required until it’s ticked, its owner team and due date (highlighted once overdue), and, once ticked, who ticked it.

• Ticking: anyone who works the ticket can tick and untick items, newbies included. Each tick is a line on the timeline and an entry in the audit log.
• Add an item (on the checklist’s card) adds a step just for this ticket. It isn’t required.
• Remove checklist (on the checklist’s card) takes it off the ticket. It needs Change status, since removing one would otherwise get round the solve check. The timeline keeps a note that it was removed.

A ticket can hold several checklists, but each one only once.

Up to 10 can be added (from 1.19.4 the rule is the same as for assets). At 10 or more, Add a checklist is greyed out, with the tooltip “A ticket holds up to 10 checklists.”, and one added anyway is refused with that sentence. A merge can leave a ticket with more than 10: the card lists them all, and every one counts for solving. Remove some to add another.

Added by a request type

A request type ticked under Add it automatically adds the checklist to each new request of that type as it is raised. The timeline says so; there is no audit entry, because nobody did it by hand.

If the ticket already holds 10 checklists, the checklist isn’t added, and from 1.19.4 the ticket gets an internal line saying why: “The request type New starter didn’t add the checklist “Leaver: IT”: a ticket holds up to 10 checklists. An agent can remove one and add it by hand.“ A workflow task does the same (“The workflow didn’t add the checklist …”).

Added by a workflow task

In the workflow builder, a task step has a Checklists setting: Add checklist to choose up to five. They are added to the task’s ticket when the task starts, and the task’s required items must be ticked before the task can be marked done. If a checklist was deleted since, the task’s ticket gets an internal line saying so.

Due dates

An item’s due date is counted when the checklist is added: that many business days later, in the owner team’s calendar (or the ticket’s team’s calendar when the item has no owner team), skipping weekends and holidays. It falls due at that day’s close.

Due the day it’s added means today’s close. An item added after the day’s close, or on a day the team is closed, counts from the next business day, so it is never overdue the moment it’s added.

What blocks solving

Required items that aren’t ticked stop a ticket being solved, whatever route the solve takes. The refusal names up to three of them: “Finish the required checklist items first: “Laptop”, “Phone” and 2 more.“

Path	What happens
Solve in the desk, or the e key	Refused. The desk shows the message and scrolls to the item. The Log your time before solving? dialog doesn’t open, and a running timer keeps running.
Send and set Solved	Refused before anything is posted.
A macro that solves, applied by an agent	Refused whole. Nothing is posted.
Bulk edit	That ticket fails with the reason, and none of its other changes apply. The other tickets are changed.
Claude connector (hd_update_ticket)	Refused with the same sentence.
An automation, or a macro an automation sends	Only the status change is dropped. Its other changes still apply and its reply is still sent.
An alert that would resolve its ticket	The ticket stays open, and the failure is logged.
A major incident’s Solve all	That linked ticket stays open, with the reason. If the incident’s own ticket is blocked, nothing is posted or solved.
A workflow’s Finish step	The run ends, but the request stays open with an internal note, and its owner is told (else the team’s leads, else its members). The Finish step’s survey choice is kept for when it is solved later.
A task’s Mark done	Refused.

What doesn’t block:

Path	What happens
A task’s Can’t be done	Not blocked.
A declined request	Not blocked.
Merging	Not blocked. The merged ticket’s checklists move to the kept ticket, except one made from a checklist the kept ticket already has, even past 10.
Closing a ticket that is already solved, including closing solved tickets automatically	Not blocked.

If an item is unticked in the moment between your reply being sent and the status changing, the reply still goes out, and the composer says “Sent, but the status didn’t change.”

Who sees checklists

Only agents who work the ticket. Requesters, CCs and customer portal customers never see them. The Claude connector’s hd_read_ticket lists a ticket’s checklists for agents.

Anonymising a ticket removes its checklists, since item titles may name the requester.

Limits

What	Limit
Checklists in the library	200
Items on one checklist	50, each up to 300 characters
Checklists on one ticket	10 added by hand or automatically; a merge may leave more
Request types one checklist names	50
Checklists one workflow task adds	5

In the audit log

Action	Shown as
helpdesk.checklist_template.created / .updated / .deleted	Created / Edited / Deleted a checklist (an edit records what changed)
helpdesk.checklist.added / .removed	Added a checklist to a ticket / Removed a checklist from a ticket
helpdesk.checklist.item_added	Added an item to a ticket’s checklist
helpdesk.checklist.item_ticked / .item_unticked	Ticked / Unticked a checklist item