> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.serval.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Ticket Types

> Understand the difference between requests, incidents, and changes

Serval supports different ticket types to help you categorize and handle various kinds of support needs appropriately.

***

## Understanding Ticket Types

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Request" icon="hand">
    A request for something new—access, equipment, information, or a service
  </Card>

  <Card title="Incident" icon="triangle-exclamation">
    Something is broken or not working as expected and needs to be fixed
  </Card>

  <Card title="Change" icon="arrows-rotate">
    A controlled modification to your environment that follows a governed lifecycle
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Requests

Requests represent asks for something the employee doesn't currently have:

* **Access requests** - "I need access to Salesforce"
* **Equipment requests** - "Can I get a second monitor?"
* **Service requests** - "Please set up a new Slack channel for our team"
* **Information requests** - "What's the policy on remote work?"

Requests typically follow a fulfillment workflow: receive → approve (if needed) → provision → complete.

### Incidents

Incidents represent problems that need to be fixed:

* **System issues** - "Email is not syncing on my phone"
* **Bugs** - "The dashboard is showing incorrect data"
* **Outages** - "I can't access the VPN"
* **Errors** - "I'm getting an error message when I try to submit"

Incidents typically follow a resolution workflow: receive → diagnose → fix → verify → complete.

### Incident Management in Serval

In Serval, incident handling typically follows this flow:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Incident is created and classified">
    A ticket comes in from Slack, Teams, email, web, or external sync. Serval can classify it as an **Incident**, and your team can adjust the type manually when needed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Team triages and routes">
    Your team sets status, priority, assignee, labels, and due date to establish ownership and urgency.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Related tickets are connected">
    If new incoming tickets appear related, Serval can link them to the incident and notify requesters that a related incident exists.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Incident is resolved and updates propagate">
    Your team runs remediation actions (including workflows), resolves the incident, and syncs updates across connected systems when configured.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Serval also supports incident-specific coordination:

* **Related incident linking** — Serval can identify related incidents and keep ticket relationships connected
* **Incident context in conversation** — Serval can surface incident context and updates in related ticket conversations
* **Workflow incident creation** — Workflows can create incident tickets when automations detect issues
* **Incident filtering** — Filter your ticket list by incident type to focus active incident work
* **External sync** — Incident records and updates can sync with connected systems like ServiceNow and Freshservice

For sync setup details, see [Syncing to Your Ticketing System](/sections/documentation/ticketing/ticket-configuration/syncing).

### Changes

Changes represent controlled modifications to your environment:

* **Infrastructure changes** - "Deploy the new database cluster to production"
* **Configuration changes** - "Update the firewall rules for the new office network"
* **Hardware changes** - "Replace the UPS batteries in server room B"
* **Software changes** - "Upgrade the CRM to version 4.2"

Changes follow a governed lifecycle with assessment, authorization, implementation, and review stages. Each change is associated with a **change model** (Normal, Standard, or Emergency) that determines the required approvals and process gates.

For full details, see [Change Management](/sections/documentation/ticketing/change-management).

***

## How Ticket Types Affect Handling

| Aspect       | Request                | Incident                  | Change                                            |
| :----------- | :--------------------- | :------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------ |
| **Goal**     | Fulfill the ask        | Restore normal operation  | Implement a controlled modification               |
| **Urgency**  | Based on business need | Based on impact and scope | Based on change model (Normal/Standard/Emergency) |
| **Approval** | Often required         | Rarely required           | Required for Normal and Emergency changes         |
| **SLA**      | Fulfillment time       | Resolution time           | Implementation window                             |
| **Metrics**  | Time to fulfill        | Time to resolve, MTTR     | Lifecycle progression, approval time              |

***

## AI Classification

Serval's AI automatically classifies incoming tickets as requests or incidents based on the message content:

The AI looks for signals like:

* **Request signals** - "I need", "Can I get", "Please set up", "Requesting"
* **Incident signals** - "Not working", "Error", "Broken", "Can't access", "Issue with"

<Tip>
  You can always manually change the ticket type if the AI classification is incorrect.
</Tip>

***

## Configuring Ticket Types

### Enable/Disable Types

In team settings, you can configure which ticket types are available:

1. Go to **Team Settings** → **Ticket Types**
2. Toggle types on or off based on your team's needs
3. Some teams may only handle requests (e.g., HR) while others handle both

### Type-Specific Settings

Configure different behaviors for each ticket type:

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Different statuses">
    Create type-specific statuses:

    * Requests: "Pending Approval", "Provisioning", "Fulfilled"
    * Incidents: "Investigating", "Identified", "Monitoring", "Resolved"
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Different SLAs">
    Set different response and resolution times:

    * High-priority incidents may have 1-hour SLA
    * High-priority requests may have 24-hour SLA
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Different routing">
    Route types to different assignees:

    * Requests → General IT team
    * Incidents → Senior IT operations team
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Changing Ticket Type

To change a ticket's type:

1. Open the ticket
2. Click the **Type** field in the right panel
3. Select the correct type
4. Type-specific fields will update accordingly

<Note>
  Changing ticket type may affect which statuses and SLAs are available. Review these after changing the type.
</Note>

***

## Best Practices

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Keep it simple" icon="minimize">
    For most teams, just Request and Incident are sufficient. Add more types only if you have distinct handling needs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Match your ITSM" icon="arrows-rotate">
    If you sync with an external system, align your ticket types with their categories.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>