Behavior Categories
How open, pending, resolved, and closed affect SLA, email notifications, and portal reopen logic
Behavior Categories
Every status — system or custom — belongs to one of four behavior categories. The category determines how UserHero treats tickets in that state, independently of the label you choose.
The Four Categories
Open
The SLA clock runs. The ticket is active and waiting for a response or action.
All five system statuses that indicate active work map to Open by default: New, In Progress, and Reopened.
Use this category for custom statuses that represent stages where your team is actively working on a ticket — for example, "Waiting for QA" or "Ready for Review."
Pending
The SLA clock pauses. The ticket is waiting for something external — a customer reply, a third-party response, or a scheduled action.
Use this category for custom statuses where your team has done their part and is waiting on someone else — for example, "Awaiting Customer Reply" or "Escalated to Vendor."
Resolved
The ticket is considered done. Triggering this category:
- Sends a resolution notification email to the customer (if their email is on file)
- Makes the ticket reopenable by the customer from the portal, within the reopen window
The built-in Resolved status uses this category. If you create a custom status that also represents completion — for example, "Fixed" or "Shipped" — assign it the Resolved category to trigger the same behavior.
Closed
No further action is expected. The ticket is closed permanently.
The built-in Archived status uses this category. Closed tickets do not trigger resolution emails and cannot be reopened by customers.
Use this category for statuses that represent a terminal state that is not a resolution — for example, "Duplicate" or "Won't Fix."
Category Mapping for System Statuses
| Status | Category |
|---|---|
| New | Open |
| In Progress | Open |
| Reopened | Open |
| Resolved | Resolved |
| Archived | Closed |
Choosing a Category for Custom Statuses
When creating or editing a custom status, select the category that best describes what should happen while a ticket is in that state:
| If the ticket is… | Use category |
|---|---|
| Being worked on | Open |
| Waiting for external input | Pending |
| Done and customer should be notified | Resolved |
| Closed with no notification needed | Closed |
SLA Behavior
SLA due dates are calculated from the time a ticket is created. The clock runs when a ticket is in an Open status and pauses when it moves to Pending. Moving back to an Open status resumes the clock from where it paused.
Tickets in Resolved or Closed statuses are excluded from SLA breach checks.