Link Assets Directly to Tickets

[dschipfel]

Hello FreeITSM Team,

I would like to suggest an enhancement regarding the integration between the Ticket and Asset modules.

Current Situation

When creating or editing a ticket, it is currently possible to link the ticket to:

• Existing problems
• Changes
• Other tickets
• CMDB objects

However, there is currently no straightforward way to associate a ticket directly with an asset.

Proposed Enhancement

Allow users and agents to select one or more assets directly within a ticket.

Examples:

• A monitor is defective → Select the affected monitor asset.
• A notebook is experiencing hardware issues → Link the notebook to the ticket.
• A user reports problems with a headset, docking station, or mobile phone → The corresponding asset can be attached directly.

End User Integration

Ideally, this functionality should also be available to the ticket creator during ticket submission.

For example, when a user creates a ticket through the portal, they could select one of their assigned assets from a dropdown list. This would immediately provide context for the support team and eliminate the need for additional clarification.

Benefits

• Faster ticket processing
• Clear identification of the affected device
• Improved asset history and traceability
• Better integration between Asset Management and Service Desk processes
• Reduced communication effort between users and support staff
• More accurate reporting and analysis of recurring hardware issues

Example Workflow

A user reports: "My monitor is flickering."

Instead of only entering a description, the user selects the specific monitor asset assigned to them. The support team can immediately see:

• Asset number
• Manufacturer and model
• Serial number
• Warranty information
• Previous incidents related to the same device

This would create a much stronger connection between tickets and managed assets and significantly improve asset lifecycle management within FreeITSM.

Thank you for considering this suggestion. I would be interested to know whether this functionality is already planned or if there are existing plugins or workarounds available.

Best regards, Daniel

[edmozley]

Hi Daniel @dschipfel ,

Thanks for such a well made case. This is now built and shipped, and it follows your suggestion closely.

What you can do now

On a ticket, equipment appears in the Links bar at the top, alongside problems, changes and related tickets. Choose Link to... > Equipment and the picker opens already showing the kit assigned to whoever raised the ticket, so for "my monitor is flickering" it is one click. Start typing and it searches the whole estate.

Each linked item carries its asset tag, make and model, serial number, type and location, so everything on your list is visible without asking the user a single follow up question.

In the self service portal, a requester raising a ticket sees Which equipment is this about? listing the kit assigned to them. Exactly your end user integration point. The field is hidden for anyone with nothing assigned, so it never gets in the way.

On the asset, there is now a Tickets tab showing everything ever raised against that device, open first and then history. That covers your "previous incidents related to the same device", and it is honestly the part I think you will get the most out of. Three reports against one monitor in a year is a monitor to replace rather than repair, and that pattern is invisible when each ticket is only ever read on its own.

One thing worth knowing

Requesters can only pick equipment assigned to them. Shared items such as a meeting room screen or a printer are not listed, because nobody is assigned them.

We thought about letting people pick any unassigned asset and decided against it, since that makes every spare laptop in a cupboard browsable to every end user in order to solve a meeting room problem. So the requester describes it as they do today and an analyst attaches the asset when they pick the ticket up.

Analysts have no such restriction and can link anything. Their search covers location as well as hostname, model, serial and asset tag, which is how you find a screen in meeting room 3 when nobody knows its hostname. That does rely on your assets having locations set.

Documentation

• Linking equipment to tickets
• Developer guide

There is also in app help under Tickets > Help > Working with tickets and Assets > Help > Tickets on an asset.

Do give it a try and let me know how it holds up against real use. If shared equipment turns out to be reported often enough to be a nuisance, that is worth reopening.

Best regards,
Ed

[dschipfel]

I've tested this feature and can confirm that it works very well.

This is a huge help for us, as linking assets directly to tickets significantly improves visibility and makes workflows more efficient.

We also think it's the right decision that end users do not have access to all assets. In our experience, they don't need to see every asset, and exposing everything would create more confusion than clarity. Keeping the view focused on only the relevant assets helps maintain a clean and user-friendly experience.

Thanks for implementing this feature. It's a valuable addition to FreeITSM and provides exactly the level of functionality we were looking for.