Handling Notification Tickets
Parent/Child Ticket Linking — Tier 1 Support Standard Operating Procedure
- Document ID: SOP-T1-07
- Version: 2.0
- Owner: Tier 1 Support Associates
- Approver: John Martinez — T1 Manager
- Applies To: Tier 1 Support Associates
- Related SOPs: SOP-T1-02 — Hetrix Down Notifications
SOP-T1-03 — Scheduled Maintenance Notifications
SOP-T1-05 — Potential Trouble Notifications
1. Purpose
This procedure defines how Tier 1 Support links an inbound carrier notification email to the working ticket created from it, so that every notification email is accounted for and every working ticket has a clear source.
2. Scope
This procedure applies to every carrier notification email received in HubSpot for Hetrix Down, Potential Trouble, or Scheduled Maintenance events. It is a companion procedure to SOP-T1-02, SOP-T1-03, and SOP-T1-05 — those SOPs cover how to work the notification itself; this SOP covers how the two tickets are linked together.
3. Key Concept: Parent and Child Tickets
Terminology
Child ticket — the ticket HubSpot creates automatically from the inbound carrier notification email. This is the raw notification, not yet worked.
Parent ticket — the new working ticket that Tier 1 creates using SOP-T1-02, SOP-T1-03, or SOP-T1-05. This is where the actual troubleshooting, carrier contact, and customer communication happen.
The naming can feel backwards at first, since the child ticket exists before the parent ticket is created. Read it as: the child is the source notification, and the parent is the working ticket it produced — not a timeline of which came first.
4. Roles & Responsibilities
- Tier 1 Support Associate: Sets the child ticket to In Progress on receipt, creates the parent ticket per the relevant SOP, associates the two tickets, and closes the child ticket once linked.
- T1 Manager: Approves this SOP.
5. Prerequisites
Non-Technical Prerequisites
- Active HubSpot account with ticket status, association, and field-edit access.
- Familiarity with the relevant notification SOP for the alert type received (SOP-T1-02, SOP-T1-03, or SOP-T1-05).
Technical Prerequisites
- Ability to change a ticket's status and Reason for Opening field in HubSpot.
- Ability to associate one ticket to another using the +Add / Add Existing flow.
6. Procedure
STEP 1 — Mark the Child Ticket In Progress
When a carrier notification email (Hetrix Down, Potential Trouble, or Scheduled Maintenance) arrives in HubSpot, it creates a child ticket automatically. Set this ticket to In Progress as soon as it is received.
In the child ticket:
- Ticket Status → select In Progress from the dropdown.
- Reason for Opening → set to Child Ticket.
STEP 2 — Create the Parent Ticket
Create a new ticket in HubSpot by following the applicable SOP for the alert type received:
- Hetrix Down → SOP-T1-02
- Potential Trouble → SOP-T1-05
- Scheduled Maintenance → SOP-T1-03
On this new ticket, set the Reason for Opening field to Parent Ticket.
STEP 3 — Associate the Notification Email to the Parent Ticket
Once the parent ticket has been created, open it and go to the ticket name.
In the associations panel: click +Add → Add Existing → select the notification email (the child ticket) from the carrier → Next → Save.
STEP 4 — Close the Child Ticket
Once the notification email has been associated to the parent ticket, click on the associated ticket (the child ticket), go to Ticket Status, and select Closed.
Sequence matters
Do not close the child ticket before the parent ticket has been created and the two are associated. Closing it early breaks the link between the notification and the working ticket.
7. Escalation Criteria
- A child ticket cannot be matched to any existing or newly created parent ticket → flag to the T1 Manager rather than closing it unlinked.
- The same notification email appears to have generated two separate child tickets → confirm with the T1 Manager before closing either, to avoid losing one of the records.
8. Do's and Don'ts
Do
- Set the child ticket to In Progress as soon as it is received, before starting any other work on it.
- Create the parent ticket using the correct SOP for the alert type (Hetrix Down, Potential Trouble, or Scheduled Maintenance).
- Associate the child ticket to the parent ticket before closing either one.
- Carrier notification emails or tickets can be associated to the parent ticket before sending any email to the customer.
Don't
- Don't close the carrier notification (child) ticket before creating the new (parent) ticket.
- Don't close the child ticket before it has been associated to the parent ticket.
- Don't skip the Reason for Opening field on either ticket — it's how the two are distinguished at a glance.
9. Revision History
- v1.0: Original knowledge-base article format. Grammar issues (“shall be set to In progress Once receive in Hubspot,” “Notificaton” typo). The parent/child relationship was implied through the steps but never explicitly defined, which made the direction of the relationship easy to misread.
- v2.0: Restructured into standard SOP format (Purpose, Scope, Key Concept, Roles, Prerequisites, Procedure, Escalation Criteria, Do's/Don'ts, Revision History). Added an explicit Key Concept section defining “parent” and “child” ticket before the procedure starts. Corrected grammar and typos. No procedural content changed.