Workflows

Overview

Workflows in Anzen let you define the status lifecycle for each ticket type - Incidents, Problems, and Change Requests. Each workflow defines the available statuses, the allowed transitions between them, status colors, and optional auto-assignment rules. When a custom workflow is active for a ticket type, it fully replaces the default status flow.

Default Workflows

Without a custom workflow, each ticket type follows a built-in status progression:

• Incidents - New → Acknowledged → Investigating → Resolved → Closed.
• Problems - New → Investigating → Root Cause Found → Resolved → Closed.
• Change Requests - Draft → Submitted → Approved → Implementing → Completed (or Rejected at any stage).

Custom Workflows

Custom workflows allow administrators to tailor the status flow to match your organisation's processes. With a custom workflow you can:

• Add statuses - introduce new statuses that reflect your internal process (e.g. "Waiting for Vendor", "Peer Review").
• Remove or rename statuses - drop statuses you don't use or rename them to match your terminology.
• Configure transitions - define exactly which status-to-status transitions are allowed, preventing invalid state changes.
• Set status colors - assign a color to each status for quick visual identification in lists and boards.
• Auto-assignment rules - automatically assign tickets to a specific user or group when they enter a particular status.

Creating a Workflow

To create a custom workflow, navigate to Administration → Workflows in the management interface:

1. Click Create Workflow.
2. Select the ticket type this workflow applies to (Incident, Problem, or Change Request).
3. Add your statuses. Each status needs a name and optionally a color.
4. Define the transitions - for each status, specify which other statuses it can move to.
5. Optionally configure auto-assignment rules for specific statuses.
6. Save the workflow. It takes effect immediately for all new and existing tickets of that type.

Statuses

Each status in a workflow has a name, an optional color (displayed as a badge in the UI), and a position that determines the order in the status dropdown. You can mark a status as a closing status - when a ticket transitions to a closing status, it is considered resolved and a resolution timestamp is recorded.

Transitions

Transitions define which status changes are permitted. For example, you might allow "New → In Progress" and "In Progress → Resolved" but not "New → Resolved" directly. If no transitions are configured, any status can move to any other status. Transitions are enforced in both the management interface and the API.

Auto-Assignment

You can configure a workflow to automatically assign a ticket to a specific user or group when it enters a particular status. For example, you could auto-assign tickets to the "Security Team" group when they move to "Security Review". Auto-assignment only triggers on status change - it does not override manual assignments made after the transition.

Deleting a Workflow

Deleting a custom workflow restores the default status flow for that ticket type. Existing tickets that had a custom status will retain their current status text, but new transitions will follow the default workflow. It is recommended to review open tickets after deleting a workflow to ensure they are in a valid state.

Availability

Custom workflows are available on the Professional and Enterprise plans. Workspaces on the Essential plan use the default workflows and cannot create custom ones. If you downgrade from Professional to Essential, existing custom workflows are deactivated and the default flows are restored.