Issue

An Issue represents a customer query, complaint, or support request received through email, the customer portal, or created manually by the support team.

ERPNext helps you manage customer issues by tracking communication, assigning responsibilities, monitoring Service Level Agreements (SLAs), measuring response and resolution times, and maintaining the complete support history.

How to Access Issue

Go to:

Home > Support > Issues > Issue

Prerequisites

Before creating Issues, ensure the following records are available:

• Customer
• Email Account

1. Create an Issue

Issues can be created automatically through incoming emails or entered manually by support users.

If the Email Account is configured with the “Append To” feature, ERPNext automatically creates an Issue whenever a customer sends an email.

Manual Steps

1. Open the Issue list.
2. Click New.
3. Enter the Subject.
4. Specify the Raised By email address.
5. Enter the issue description.
6. Save the document.

2. Issue Status

Every newly created Issue is assigned the Open status by default.

The available statuses are:

• Open — The issue has been logged and is awaiting action.
• Replied — A response has been sent to the customer.
• Hold — The issue is temporarily paused.
• Resolved — A solution has been provided and customer confirmation is pending.
• Closed — The customer has acknowledged the resolution and the issue is completed.

If the customer replies to the email thread, the Issue automatically changes back to Open.

If an SLA is configured, its fulfillment status is updated when an Issue is marked as Resolved or Closed.

3. Additional Information

While creating an Issue, you can also define:

• Customer — Automatically linked when the sender already exists as a customer.
• Priority — Set priorities such as Low, Medium, High, or custom priorities.
• Issue Type — Categorize issues such as Functional, Technical, Hardware, etc.
• Raised By (Email) — Displays the sender’s email address.

4. Features

4.1 Issue Details

The Description field stores complete information about the issue.

It supports formatted text, images, and tables for documenting customer problems clearly.

4.2 Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Issues can be linked with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to monitor support performance.

The SLA defines response and resolution timelines based on issue priority.

• Track Time to First Response.
• Track Time to Resolution.
• Escalate issues using priorities.
• Reset the SLA when permitted.

The “Reset Service Level Agreement” button restarts SLA tracking when resetting is allowed.

4.3 Response Metrics

ERPNext automatically calculates support response statistics for every Issue.

• Minutes to First Response — Time taken before the first reply is sent.
• First Responded On — Date and time of the first response.
• Average Response Time — Average time taken between customer messages and support replies.

These metrics help evaluate the responsiveness of your support team.

4.4 References

Issues can be linked with related ERPNext documents for better traceability.

Available reference fields include:

• Lead
• Contact
• Email Account
• Project
• Company

4.5 Resolution Details

ERPNext records complete resolution information throughout the issue lifecycle.

• Opening Date
• Opening Time
• Resolution Date
• Resolution Details
• Resolution Time
• User Resolution Time

User Resolution Time excludes the waiting period for customer responses and is calculated as:

User Resolution Time =
Resolution Time − Customer Waiting Time

Resolution metrics are finalized when an Issue is closed and are automatically recalculated if the Issue is reopened.

4.6 Customer Portal

If an Issue is submitted through the customer portal by a website user, ERPNext automatically marks it as originating from the portal.

5. After Saving an Issue

5.1 Internal Comments

Support agents can add internal comments that remain visible only to ERPNext users.

Internal comments are never visible to customers.

5.2 Email Communication

Support users can send emails directly from the Issue document.

All incoming and outgoing emails are stored as a conversation thread inside the Issue.

5.3 Discussion Thread

ERPNext maintains the complete email history for every Issue.

• Outgoing emails include the support ticket number.
• Customer replies are automatically attached to the same Issue.
• Attachments sent by customers are preserved within the discussion thread.

All communication remains organized under a single support ticket.

5.4 Assign Issues

Issues can be assigned manually or automatically to support agents.

• Manual assignment using the Assign option.
• Automatic assignment using Assignment Rules.

When assigned, ERPNext creates a ToDo and notifies the assigned user.

5.5 Closing Issues

Issues can be closed manually using the Close button.

If the customer does not respond within seven days, ERPNext automatically closes the Issue.

Summary

• Create Issues manually or automatically from incoming emails.
• Track issue lifecycle using configurable statuses.
• Monitor SLAs, response times, and resolution metrics.
• Maintain complete communication history through email threads.
• Assign Issues to support agents and measure team performance.