Tickets follow a clear lifecycle with five standard statuses. Who may trigger which status change depends on role and previous status. This article describes each status in detail, the typical transitions, and automatic status changes via subtasks.
Standard statuses
ZEP uses the following five statuses. Each newly created ticket starts in status new.
new
Initial status of every ticket. No work logged yet. In this status, the creator can still enter planned hours (if enabled in the basic settings) and the ticket can easily be reassigned to a different project or deleted.
in process
Processing in progress. Project times can only be booked on a ticket once it has reached this status. If an employee changes the status from new to in process without a processor set, they are automatically set as the processor.
done
Processing completed. Ticket awaits acceptance by creator, customer contact person or project manager. On each transition to done, ZEP sends a notification to creator and project manager (if enabled in the notifications master data).
approved
End status after successful acceptance. If the setting No more time can be booked on closed tickets is active, the ticket no longer accepts project times. From a workflow perspective the ticket is closed but remains in the database for reports and history.
rejected
End status when the solution is not accepted or the ticket is no longer pursued. Setting this status requires a comment as justification. Rejected tickets remain in the database and can be reactivated by the creator, processor, project managers, department managers or administrators by setting the status back to new or in process.
Transitions and permissions
Which follow-up statuses are reachable from the current status depends on the role and assignment to the ticket. The overview below shows the typical transitions.
Standard transitions
From new: in process, done, or directly accepted (with corresponding permission).
From in process: done, back to new, or directly accepted.
From done: accepted, rejected, back to in process, or back to new.
From rejected: back to new or in process (reactivation by authorised users).
From accepted: no normal follow-up status. Administrators can reset in special cases.
Permission per transition
Who may trigger which transition depends on the role of the logged-in user. The central rule: the processor may set their own work to done. Acceptance (to approved or rejected) is handled by creator, project manager with budget responsibility, department managers and administrators.
Note: With customer access active, customer contact persons may set tickets in status done to approved or rejected, provided they are not limited to read-only access for the project. More in the article Customer Access to the Ticket System.
Change Status Directly
From the ticket overview, authorised users can set the status directly without opening the full edit dialog. The Change to a following status icon opens a popup. It shows the ticket and its current status and contains three fields: next status, processor (prefilled with the logged-in user if empty) and optional comment. This lets you record status changes including a comment in a single click.
Automatic status transitions via subtasks
For tickets with subtasks, ZEP adjusts the ticket status automatically:
If at least one subtask is in process, the ticket changes from any other status to in process.
If at least one subtask is done and the ticket is approved or rejected, the ticket goes back to done.
If at least one subtask is rejected and the ticket is already done or approved, the ticket changes to rejected.
When all subtasks reach status done or approved, ZEP asks on the next save whether the ticket should also be set to done.
When a ticket in status done is manually reset to in process, all associated subtasks also revert to in process.
A ticket can only be set to done once all subtasks are done or approved, and only be approved once all subtasks are approved. Details on subtask management in the article Manage Subtasks.
Effect on bookings and editing
The status determines what can still be changed or booked on the ticket:
If No more time can be booked on closed tickets is active in the ticket system settings, tickets with status done or approved are locked for project time bookings.
Rejected tickets remain in the database and can be reactivated if you have edit permission.
A project change is only possible if no project times are booked on the ticket. Otherwise via the bulk action in the ticket overview (see article View and Manage Tickets).
Approval by customer contact person
With customer access active, the customer contact person accepts tickets directly via their login. The contact person can approve or reject tickets in status done unless they are limited to read-only access. This is controlled by the option Customer access to tickets is read-only in their per-project permissions and by the basic setting of the same name. When rejecting, a comment as justification is mandatory — the current processor receives an email with the note. Details in the article Customer Access to the Ticket System.