Link Requests

Linking Requests is a feature that primarily provides an option to relate requests to one another and set some references between them. Secondly, certain common operations such as adding notes, creating resolutions and adding work logs can also be linked between them.

When two or more requests are linked, one of the requests becomes the "Reference request" and the other requests are the "Linked requests".

Link requests from the Request List View page

To link two or more requests from the Request List view page,

1. Click Requests tab in the header pane.

2. From the Request List View page, select the requests that need to be linked by enabling the check boxes.

3. Click Actions drop-down menu -> Link Requests option.

   

Here, among the selected requests, the oldest created request becomes the "Reference request" and the other requests become the "Linked requests".

Link requests from the Request Details page

To link two or more requests from the Request details page,

1. Click the Subject link of the request you want to link. This opens the Request Details page.

2. In the request details page, click Actions drop-down menu and select the Link Requests option. This opens a pop-up window with a list of requests.

3. Select the requests that need to be linked by enabling the check boxes.

4. Click the Link Requests button to link the requests.  

In this case, the request through which the linking is done becomes the "Reference request" and other requests are its "Linked requests". This option is useful when you want to choose a specific request as the Reference request instead of the oldest created request. A relatively new request can be made as Reference request with older requests related to it as Linked requests.

In the above example, linking is done through the details page of Request ID 27 and so it is made as the Reference request. Other older and newer requests (18, 25, 28 and 61) linked to it are its Linked requests.

Attributes of Reference Request and Linked Requests:

1. Any Linked request can be associated with only one Reference request at any time.

2. Even though Linked requests are linked to a Reference request, they will still be considered as independent requests with their own SLA, Business Rules, and so on.

3. If a Reference request (A) is made as the Linked request of a new Reference request (B), then all the Linked requests earlier associated to Reference request A will be linked the new Reference request B.

4. Linked requests have their own independent work logs, resolutions and notes. Operations performed over the Linked requests have no impact over the Reference request. However, any work log, resolution or note added to the Reference request can be linked to all the Linked requests by enabling corresponding check boxes.

5. Notes added to a Reference request can be made available to the Linked requests by enabling the Add notes to all linked requestscheck box. The Discussions Notes section in the Linked request details page will show its own notes and the notes that have been linked from the Reference request. Editing notes in the Reference request has no impact on the notes that have been earlier linked to the Linked requests.

6. Similarly, work logs added to a Reference request can be made available to the Linked requests by enabling the Add work log to all linked requests check box. However, any changes made to the work log in the Reference request will not change the work logs that were earlier linked to the Linked requests.

7. If a resolution written for a Reference request is linked to the Linked requests, then it overwrites any resolutions earlier added to the Linked requests. Editing resolutions for a  Reference request will change the same in the Linked requests. All resolutions written for a particular Linked request can be viewed under the History tab of that Linked request. The Click here link opens a pop-up with all resolutions associated with that request. Also, Change Status to option applies only to the Reference request and does not have any impact on Linked requests upon linking.  

8. While viewing a request's details page, indications are shown if there are any requests linked to the current request. By clicking on this indication, a description box opens and by clicking on the Request ID of the linked requests, one can navigate to the requests linked to the current request. Options to remove links between requests are also provided here.

9. Links between requests can be added, modified and also removed. Each of these operations will be recorded in the request History.

10. Links can be created between requests belonging to different request templates and even different sites. But, if the technician who has permissions in the site where the Base request is present does not have permission in the sites where the Linked requests are present, then the technician will not be able to perform operations on those Linked requests.

11. Closing and re-opening of requests is independent to both Reference and Linked requests.

12. Requests cannot be linked through API or E-Mail Command features.

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