How to Create a Time Delayed Action using Autotask Workflow Rules

There are times you want a WFR to trigger only after a ticket sits “idle” for a certain amount of time. A great example is if you want a ticket to auto-close after X days of sitting idle in a status such as “Pending Close.”

That’s actually relatively easy with Autotask Workflow Rules (WFRs). Here’s what you do, using the above example for specifics. I’ll assume you already have a ticket status “Pending Close” created:

1. Go to (A)->Admin->Workflow Rules->Service Desk
2. Click New
3. Set Workflow Rule Name: Auto Close Tickets in Pending Close
4. Under Events, choose: Time-Based: Idle For: 2 Business Days
5. Under Conditions, choose: Status EQUAL TO Pending Close
6. Under Updates, choose: Status = Complete
7. Click Save & Close

Understanding this WFR

We choose “2 Business Days” instead of “2 Days” since that would auto-close a ticket on a Sat/Sun, but most clients won’t respond on weekends, making that rule not really legitimate. We then tie that Event with the Condition of the Status EQUAL TO Pending Close so that this WFR only triggers in a very specific use case.

We could further refine this WFR by also having it automatically email out a Notification, but that’s usually not correct if a Notification went out already and we are just giving the client a few days to respond.