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Configure Custom Statuses and Relationships

  • Last Updated October 3, 2026

Topic

This article explains how to configure your ticketing boards in NinjaOne.

Environment

NinjaOne Ticketing

Description

This feature allows users to create new custom statuses that display as children of existing system statuses (New, Open, Waiting, Paused, Resolved, Closed). You can assign these custom statuses to any ticket and apply them to board conditions, board filters, and automations.

Select a topic to learn more:

Custom Ticketing Statuses

Add custom statuses when your team needs to communicate more specific progress stages than the default statuses provide. Common scenarios include:

  • Tracking operational dependencies, such as Waiting on Parts or Awaiting Vendor Response, under the Waiting parent status
  • Routing escalated tickets through a defined path, such as Escalated to Tier 2, under the Open parent status
  • Tracking approval or validation stages, such as Pending Customer Approval or In Testing, under the Open or Paused parent status
ticketing_custom.png
Figure 1: Configure custom statuses and relationships for NinjaOne Ticketing

After you create a custom status, you can apply it in board conditions, board filters, and automation rules. Custom statuses also interact with SLA targets: use the SLA targets met by status setting when configuring a custom status to define whether transitioning to that status satisfies the response target, the resolution target, or neither.

Use the ticket status to communicate its progress (pending, testing, backlogged, and more).

If a number appears next to the status name, it indicates that custom statuses have been added; click the arrow to expand the section and view the new statuses.

To manage custom statuses, open the Custom → Status tab on the NinjaOne Ticketing configuration page; move your mouse cursor over the status to view customization options.

  • If the status is at the beginning of the list or the primary level, you have the following options:
    • Edit status: Change the display name and notification options.
    • Add custom status: Create a secondary status.
  • If the status is nested or at the secondary level, you have the following options:
    • Edit status: Change the display name and notification options.
    • Delete: Erase the status.
ticketing_custom_status_edit.png
Figure 2: Change status settings or create a sub-status

Automatic Transition for Resolved Tickets

The Resolved setting for Custom → Status works differently from other custom statuses; you must also select an option for Automatic transition for resolved tickets and Transition time for resolved tickets. The data for the Automatic transition for resolved tickets drop-down menu is dependent on the custom configurations for Closed statuses.

ticketing_custom status_resolved_edit.png
Figure 3: Select an automatic transition for resolved tickets

Ticketing Approval Workflow

NinjaOne Ticketing provides default Approved and Rejected statuses that you can use to build custom approval and rejection workflows and to sort your tickets.

ticketing_approval statuses.png
Figure 4: View and manage approval and rejection statuses for NinjaOne Ticketing

When a ticket is approved or rejected, a notification will display in the Ticket activity section as a System activity.

ticket activity_system activity_accepted and rejected.png
Figure 5: View approval and rejection information within a ticket

SLA Targets Met by Status

Use the SLA targets met by status drop-down menu to define when a ticket meets the selected service level agreement (SLA). Refer to NinjaOne Ticketing: Service Level Agreements (SLA) to learn more.

ticketing_status_sla targets met by status.png
Figure 6: Select which SLA target to update for a new status

Custom Ticketing Relationships

Add custom relationships when the default relationship types do not accurately describe how two tickets are connected. Custom relationships are most useful in ITSM workflows where the semantic meaning of a ticket link determines how incidents, problems, and changes are managed. Common scenarios include:

  • Linking an incident to a root-cause problem ticket with a relationship such as Caused By or Root Cause
  • Linking a change request to the tickets it addresses with a relationship, such as Implemented By
  • Grouping related service requests under a parent with a relationship that communicates a specific dependency type

Use ticketing relationships when linking tickets or assigning parent tickets on the ticketing boards.

You must activate the Ticket Relations permission for technicians to access the custom ticket relationship setting. Refer to our NinjaOne Ticketing: Technician and User Permissions article for more information.

To create a custom relationship for linked tickets, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Custom → Relationships tab on the NinjaOne Ticketing configuration page and click Add relationship.
ticketing_custom_relationship_add.png
Figure 7: Custom ticketing → Add relationship
  1. Give the Relationship name a unique identifier and optionally add a description.
  2. Click Add.

You can deactivate or change the name and description of relationships that you added in the system. You can only deactivate native relationships tagged as System.

Currently, you cannot restore deactivated relationships.
ticketing_custom_relationship_actions.png
Figure 8: Custom ticketing → Custom relationship modification options (click to enlarge)

Additional Resources

Refer to NinjaOne Ticketing: Resource Catalog to learn more about NinjaOne Ticketing.

FAQ

Next Steps