Back to Table of Contents

Linking duplicate issues

Mark issues as duplicates and link

Overview

You can flag two or more issues as duplicates and link them together so that when the master issue is updated they all update and notifications are sent to all relevant personnel for all linked issues.

In order to link issues together the following conditions must be met:

  • Issues must be for the same identified location / resource
  • The issue to be linked as a duplicate must have a status of Open or In progress
  • The issue to be linked cannot be on hold
  • The issue to be linked must have no issued works
  • None of the issues can be bookings requests

LInked issues are not fully merged but remain as separate linked issues where changes can only be made to the master record and these changes are reflected in the linked issue records.
Linked issues can be subsequently un-linked again if necessary, to facilitate separate processing of each.

The Helpdesk issue list

The Helpdesk issue list
Zoom
  1. Start on the Helpdesk list.
  2. Select the issues to be linked (click on the first one and then cmd-click on the next or use shift-click to select multip[le records listed contiguously)
  3. When you've selected the relevant records, click the Edit multiple records button

Select action

Check the restrictions in the dialogue and select the Link duplicate issues option from the actions list.
Click OK to proceed.

Confirm action

The Change issue setting dialogue confirms what will happen when you link the issues.
If happy to proceed, click Link

Issue linked

Issue linked
Zoom

On the list the colour status icon for the linked issue/s will change to show a grey triangle over the bottom right corner. You can still read the underlying status of the issue from the base colour.
Click the Goto button to open the linked record

Linked duplicate issue record

  • The duplicate issue is clearly identified as a duplicate both in the header label and next to the current status field.
  • The duplicate record is now locked down and changes can only be made on the master record that the duplicate is now linked to.
  • The status colour will be grey but the underlying status of the issue can still be read, in this case 'in progress'.
  • The record ID that this issue is now linked to is displayed next to the status field along with a button to go to the linked master issue record.

The linked master record

The master record is essentially unchanged and can continue to be porocessed as normal. Any updates (including reassignments, priority or target changes etc) are all reflected in the linked records which are all updated similarly.
To access any linked records from the master record, click on the linked objects tab.

The linked objects tab

Linked duplicate issues are listed on the linked objects tab list.
Click the Goto button on the relevant row to open the linked duplicate issue record.