RT 6.0.3 Documentation
Ticket metadata
Introduction
This document describes the metadata fields on RT tickets. These fields appear on the ticket display page and store information about each ticket. Understanding these fields helps you use RT effectively.
The Basics
The Basics section contains the core identifying information for a ticket.
id
A unique number assigned to each ticket when it is created. Ticket IDs are assigned sequentially and never reused.
Subject
The title of the ticket. This appears in search results, email subject lines, and at the top of the ticket display page.
Description
An optional field for recording the main purpose or summary of the ticket. This is useful for project management workflows where tickets represent tasks or work items that benefit from a longer description beyond the subject line.
Queue
The queue the ticket belongs to. Queues organize tickets by team, department, or workflow. Moving a ticket to a different queue may change the available statuses, custom fields, and staff who can access it.
Status
The current state of the ticket in its workflow. Common statuses include new, open, stalled, resolved, and rejected. The available statuses depend on the queue's lifecycle configuration.
Owner
The user responsible for working on the ticket. A ticket can have only one owner, and it must be a user (not a group). Unassigned tickets show "Nobody" as the owner.
Priority
The ticket's importance level. By default, RT displays priority as Low, Medium, or High. Internally, priorities are stored as numbers (0-99), which allows for automatic escalation over time, but most users only see the text labels.
InitialPriority
The priority assigned when the ticket was created. This value is preserved even if the current priority changes.
FinalPriority
The target priority for the ticket when it reaches its due date. Some RT configurations automatically escalate priority from InitialPriority toward FinalPriority as the due date approaches.
SLA
The Service Level Agreement assigned to the ticket. SLAs define response and resolution time targets. When an SLA is set, RT can automatically calculate the Due date and track whether targets are being met. See SLA Configuration for more information.
Time
The Time section tracks time spent on a ticket.
TimeEstimated
The estimated time to complete the ticket. This is set manually and helps with planning and workload management.
TimeWorked
The total time spent working on the ticket. When adding time, use the "Add to time worked" field rather than setting TimeWorked directly. Time can be added in the Time widget on the ticket display page, on the update page when making a comment or reply, or by using the ticket timer.
TimeLeft
The remaining time to complete the ticket. This is typically calculated as TimeEstimated minus TimeWorked, but can also be set manually.
Total Time Worked
A calculated value showing the sum of TimeWorked for the ticket and all its child tickets. This value updates automatically when child tickets are added or removed. Only parent/child relationships are included; tickets linked with depends-on or refers-to are not counted. Total Time Worked is also available as a column in Query Builder reports.
People
The People section shows all users associated with the ticket through roles. Roles determine who receives notifications and who can perform certain actions.
All roles except Owner can accept both users and groups as values. When using the autocomplete to add someone to a role, matching users appear first, then groups. To see only groups, type "group:" in the search box.
Requestor
The person who submitted the ticket or on whose behalf it was created. A ticket can have multiple requestors. Correspondence sent from the ticket goes to all requestors.
Cc
Additional parties who receive copies of all correspondence on the ticket. Cc recipients are visible in email headers to requestors and other external users.
AdminCc
Administrative recipients who receive all ticket updates, including internal comments. AdminCc recipients are typically internal staff and are not visible to requestors.
Custom Roles
Additional roles defined by your organization. Like the core roles, custom roles track people associated with tickets. Examples include Approver, Manager, or Technical Contact. Custom roles can allow a single user (like Owner) or multiple users (like Cc).
Dates
The Dates section tracks important timestamps in the ticket's lifecycle. Some dates are set automatically by RT, while others can be set manually.
Created
The date and time the ticket was created. Set automatically and cannot be changed.
Starts
The date when work on the ticket should begin. Set manually to help with scheduling and planning.
Started
The date when work on the ticket actually began. Set automatically when the ticket transitions from an initial status to an active status. In the default lifecycle, this happens when a ticket moves from new to open. This is often used to measure response time - how long between ticket creation and when staff began working on it.
Due
The deadline for completing the ticket. Set manually or automatically based on SLA rules. Overdue tickets can be highlighted in search results.
Told (Last Contact)
The date staff last replied to the ticket. Updated automatically when correspondence is sent by someone other than a requestor. This is used to track when customers were last contacted, which is useful for response SLAs that require staff to reply within a certain time frame. Displayed as "Last Contact" in the interface.
Resolved
The date the ticket was closed. Set automatically when the ticket moves to an inactive status like resolved or rejected.
LastUpdated
The date and time of the most recent change to the ticket. Any modification updates this field, including replies, comments, status changes, or metadata updates.
Links
Links create relationships between tickets and other objects. While links are commonly used between RT tickets, you can link to any URL including external wikis, documentation, or other ticketing systems. Links help organize related work and can enforce workflow constraints.
Parents and Children
A hierarchical relationship for organizing tickets. Parent tickets contain child tickets, useful for breaking large tasks into subtasks. This relationship does not enforce any resolution order. Time worked on child tickets is automatically summed and displayed as Total Time Worked on the parent ticket.
Depends On and Depended On By
A dependency relationship that enforces resolution order. A ticket cannot be resolved while it still depends on unresolved tickets. Use this for tasks that must be completed in a specific sequence.
Refers To and Referred To By
A simple reference relationship indicating related tickets. This is informational only and does not affect resolution. Use this to note related discussions or similar issues.
Custom Fields
Custom fields allow your organization to track additional information specific to your needs. Each queue can have different custom fields configured. Common types include:
- Text - Free-form text entry
- Select - Choose from a predefined list
- Date - Calendar date values
- Multiple values - Select more than one value from a list
Your RT administrator configures which custom fields are available for each queue.
Attachments
Attachments are files and email content associated with ticket correspondence. Each reply, comment, or incoming email can include attachments. The following fields are available for searching attachments in the Query Builder:
Content
The text content of ticket correspondence and attachments. Use this to search for specific words or phrases within the ticket history.
ContentType
The MIME type of an attachment, such as application/pdf, image/jpeg, or text/plain. Use this to find tickets with specific types of files.
Filename
The name of an attached file. Use this to find tickets with attachments matching a specific filename or pattern.
History
The History section displays the complete audit trail of the ticket, showing all changes since the ticket was created. This includes correspondence (replies sent to requestors), comments (internal notes), status changes, ownership changes, link changes, custom field updates, and any other modifications.
Each history entry shows the type (such as "Comment" or "Correspond"), who made the change, when it occurred, and the details. The entries visible depend on the user's rights - for example, users without the ShowTicketComments right will not see comments.
Attachments are shown with their associated history entry. Images may be displayed inline, while other file types like PDFs can be viewed in the browser or downloaded.
History can be filtered and searched to find specific entries.
Reminders
Reminders are small sub-tickets attached to a main ticket. They help track follow-up tasks or deadlines associated with the ticket. Each reminder has its own subject, owner, and due date.
← Back to index