The General tab

In this section, you will name the category, select a color to associate with the category, specify whether the category is currently active, and more.

The Header section contains the list of fields that are displayed for every category for that entity. They appear at the top of the main panel when the category is applied. For some fields, you can configure a Default Value/Selection and limit any Available List Values.

The following table describes the header fields. To edit a row, select Edit from the row's context menu, or click on the row.

The Main Body section lets you select the body components that will appear on items associated with the category.

NOTE  Organization categories do not have this section.

The following components are available for the various entities. Items in bold are always visible.

Change the display order

The left column in the table displays a number for each row. That number indicates the order in which the components appear on items associated with this category.

To change the display order of the components, drag and drop a row to a new location on the table.

NOTE  The thick blue line that appears in the table shows where the new row will be dropped.

Configure the Main Body components

Tickets only.

The Change Info area is collapsed by default. The table in this area displays the five Change Info fields available only on Change Request tickets. The change info fields appear on the Change Info accessory tab, found only on Change Request tickets. Change Info fields are all direct text entry. For more on Change Request tickets, refer to Change management.

In this table, you can specify which Change Info fields will be displayed on tickets associated with this category, the order in which they appear, and whether or not a field is required. You can also specify default values for the fields.

Configuration options for the Change Info fields table are described in the following table.

NOTE  Your organization can customize the names of the change info fields. Refer to Managing change info fields.

Tickets only.

The Change Approvals section helps you manage the settings that are critical to ensuring effective change management in your business processes. See Change management for more information.

In this section, use the Available Library Checklists selector to specify which checklists, if any, from the Checklist Library will be available to add to tickets, tasks, or opportunities associated with this category. The category controls which library checklists, if any, are available for selection in the Checklist menu when you add or edit the item, and the default checklist. You can limit the menu selections to checklists that are suitable for items associated with this category. This becomes increasingly helpful as your checklist library grows.

NOTE  If you prefer one particular checklist for items associated with this category, make that checklist the only one available for selection. But be aware that the user does not have to select a checklist from the library. A checklist can be created directly on the ticket.

For more on checklists, refer to The checklist.

For details on using the Available Library Checklist selector, refer to Using the Available List Values selector.

Opportunity, Ticket, and Task categories allow you to select which Organization Form Templates will be available when the category is applied. Ticket and task categories additionally let you select which Ticket and Task Time Entry and Note Form Templates will be available. Only form templates published to the entire organization can be selected.

In this way, you can limit the form template menu selections to templates that are suited for the items the category is designed for. This can be a real time saver if your local organization has a large number of form templates.

NOTE  On entity pages, users are able to select not only from the form templates permitted by the category but also from their personal form templates and any form templates created for departments they are associated with. Categories cannot hide those form templates.

For more on form templates, refer to Form templates and ticket categories, task categories, and opportunity categories.

For details on using the Available Organization Form Templates selector, refer to Using the Available List Values selector.

(Available) Notification Templates for this [Entity] Category

All entity categories except the oeganization categories allow you to select which notification templates will be available when the category is applied. In this way, administrators can ensure that users send out the right communications when notification emails are sent out manually.

The available notification options are also impacted by the events that trigger the notification. Refer to Events that can trigger notifications.

By default, All (notification templates) is selected. To limit the selection, click Custom, and use the list values selector to move notification templates from the Available to the Not Available pane. Refer to Using the Available List Values selector.

Notification Templates for Quick Notes and Quick Time Entries

Tickets only.

For ticket quick notes and quick time entries, you can select a separate notification template.

• If you select Use System Default, the system default template for ticket notes or ticket time entries will be used.
• If you select Custom, the Notification Template used for Quick Notes or Notification Template used for Quick Time Entriesfield is enabled. Click the field and make a selection. All ticket note and ticket time entry templates are available.

EXAMPLE  This allows you to specify a separate notification template for co-managing users versus internal resources.

Special circumstances

Please note the behavior under the following circumstances:

• Workflow rules: When you are creating a workflow rule, all notification templates are available, regardless of the ticket category.
• No notification template available for an event: If no notification template is available for an event for a category, the default template for the event is used, even if it is not selected on the category.
• Form template contains an unavailable notification template: If a form template is selected that contains an unavailable notification template, the previously selected notification template will be used.
• Render all Tickets as Ticket Category: The available notification templates will be those of the category the ticket is rendered as.
• Co-managed security levels: The available notification templates will be those made available in the Notification Template for Quick Notes section.

Tickets only.

Tags are optional. If you made the Tags component of the main body visible, you may want to choose specific tags to automatically assign to tickets when they are created with this ticket category.

1. In the Add a tag... field, start typing the name of a tag, or click the selector icon and select one or more tags.
2. To group multiple tags first by tag group and then alphabetically by tag, click Organize by Group.

NOTE  Tags will not be applied to categories where the Tag section is hidden.

(Organization only)

When you create a new organization, you can, at the same time and on the same form, create a contact, note, and to-do. The visibility of fields from these entities is controlled by the organization category. All options are visible by default.

• To hide the components from the main body, clear the option.

• To change the order of appearance, drag and drop an element to a new location on the table.

Tickets only.

This setting allows you to select up to twenty additional ticket fields to appear on the New Time Entry, Edit Time Entry, New Note, and Edit Note pages under the Quick Ticket Edits heading. Making a field visible allows it to be modified when you enter time or add a note on the ticket.

• To show or hide a field, select Make Field Visible or Remove Field from the context menu . Alternatively, drag and drop the field's row to and from the Visible Fields and Hidden Fields sections by clicking in the Order column on the left.
• To change the display order of the fields, click in the Order column on the left and drag and drop the rows into the preferred display order.

Automatically expand Quick Ticket Edits section when... (enabling may impact load time)

Fields in the Quick Ticket Edit section are not visible when the section is not expanded. Required fields must be visible to be validated when the time entry or note is saved. If the Quick Ticket Edit section includes any required fields, it must be expanded to allow Autotask to confirm that the required fields contain values when the time entry or note is saved.

Select one or both of the Creating or editing Time Entries and Creating and editing Notes options to automatically expand the Quick Ticket Edit section when a time entry or note is opened for creating or editing. This will ensure that your resources have entered values into those required fields when the time entry or note is saved.

Depending on the number and type of fields in the Quick Ticket Edits section, selecting these options may increase the amount of time it takes for the time entry or note form to open.

Several sections on the General and Details tabs use available list value selectors to determine what options appear in menus or data selectors. By default, all list values will be available in menus and data selectors.

To limit the available options, click the Custom radio button. The Not Available List Values and Available List Values for this Ticket Category panes become active.

To move items:

• Double-click a single item to move from one pane to the other.
• Ctrl + click multiple items in one pane and then click the appropriate directional arrow to move the items to the other pane.

NOTE  Double-check to be sure that all items you want to show are in the right pane and all items you want to hide are in the left pane.