Support ticket lifecycle

This support ticket lifecycle flowchart describes the processing of a support ticket that has been raised: the ticket is read and prioritised, checked against known issues, and reproduced if it is new. A known issue is linked and watched rather than opened again. Once reproduced, a query is answered and written back into known issues; bugs are fixed and shipped. A closed ticket can be reopened, and a customer who is not happy can returns to demonstrating an ongoing reproducible problem.

People draw this one to train a new support engineer, to highlight the importance of reproducibility and to describe clearly the decision points that direct flow based on bug/query and whether the customer is satisfied with the outcome obtained. It also captures the expectation that known issues are recorded, which informs future incoming ticket triage.

Open in editor

Mermaid source

---
title: Support ticket lifecycle
---
flowchart LR
  raised([Ticket raised]) --> triage[Read it and set a priority]
  kb@{ shape: doc, label: "Known issues" } -. checked .-> triage
  triage --> known{Already known?}
  known -->|Yes| link[Link it to the open bug]
  link --> watching([Watching])
  known -->|No| repro[Try to reproduce it]
  repro --> got{Can you repro?}
  got -->|No| ask[Ask for steps and a version]
  ask --> repro
  got -->|Yes| kind{Bug or query?}
  kind -->|Query| answer[Answer it, then write it up]
  answer -. adds to .-> kb
  kind -->|Bug| fix[Fix it and ship]
  fix --> happy{Customer happy?}
  happy -->|No| repro
  happy -->|Yes| closed([Ticket closed])
  closed -->|reopened| triage

Stock Mermaid vs Line9 on this support ticket lifecycle

Run the same source through the stock Mermaid engine and it often will not look as good. In some cases, Mermaid is able to deliver a usable graph, but not always. On this one:

The same support ticket lifecycle through stock Mermaid — Known issues on the far right with a long dotted checked line, and reopen drawn as a reverse along the bottom — Stock Mermaid · same source View full size ↗

In this diagram the aspect ratios between renders from stock Mermaid (dagre) and Line9 are similar. The advantage with the Line9 render lies with the closer positioning of related nodes. The node positions from stock Mermaid are particularly bad here because they cause lines between nodes to cross over unnecessarily. Line9's layout entirely avoids this problem.

For a fuller product comparison — layout, export, CLI, and pricing — see Line9 vs mermaid.live.

Render your own

Paste any Mermaid flowchart into the free online editor — no account needed. Prefer the terminal? Install the line9 CLI (free for personal use).

More scenarios on the Mermaid examples hub.

Mermaid source

Stock Mermaid vs Line9 on this support ticket lifecycle

Render your own

Related diagrams