Manage Cases

Cases let you track issues, tasks, and service requests from within octoja. You can assign a case to a user, link it to a specific device, set its priority, and add comments as work progresses. Every change is recorded in the case's history so the full context is always visible.

Not every case starts with a technician. People on managed devices can raise one themselves from the octoja agent in the system tray wherever Ticketing enabled is switched on, an alert channel of type Case opens one when a check fires, and an automation step can open one and link it to the device it ran on. No matter how a case reaches you, you work it the same way from the Cases page.

Before you start

• You need the Case Management permission to create, update, delete, and comment on cases in the octoja web interface. Permissions are granted via groups under Administration → Groups.
• Viewing cases requires the separate View Cases permission — without it, the Cases pages do not load.

Create a case

1. Click Cases in the left sidebar.
2. Click the Add Case button (plus icon).
3. Fill in the fields:

Priority and assignee are set later from the case detail view — see Update a case below. To link a case to a device, create it from that device's page instead: the Cases card there has a Create Case button that pre-fills the device, and the case takes over that device's customer.

4. Click Create. The case is assigned a sequential ID number.

The following walkthrough shows creating a case end-to-end — fill the title, fill the description, click Create, and the new case opens in its detail view:

Update a case

1. Click on a case in the list to open it.
2. Click the field you want to change — title, description, status, priority, assignment, or customer.
3. Edits save automatically as soon as you leave the field or pick a value. The case history records what changed, who changed it, and when.

A shortcut on the detail page speeds up a common update: click Assign to me next to the Assigned User field to take the case in one click. For recording effort, use the Tracked Time card described under Track time on a case below.

Case statuses

Work on several cases at once

With Case Management, you can work on up to 100 cases at once in the case list. Filter the list and select the required rows using their checkboxes. Actions apply to selected cases on the currently displayed page, not automatically to every search result.

• Close: Check the count in the confirmation dialog and choose Close cases. Already closed cases are skipped. Each changed case records the status change in its history. With the Active status filter, closed cases disappear from the list; use Closed to find them again.
• Add time: Enter start date, start time, end date and end time, plus an optional note. The end must follow the start; times use your browser's local time zone. Choose Add entries. Each selected case receives its own completed time entry in your name, with no device assignment.

The success message reports how many cases were closed or time entries created. Verify the time afterwards in each case's Tracked Time card.

Track time on a case

The Tracked Time card on the case detail page records the effort spent on a case. It lists every time entry linked to the case — start time, end time, the device it was logged against (if any), the person who logged it, the duration, and an optional note — and shows the total tracked time across all entries.

Add a manual time entry

1. Open the case and find the Tracked Time card.
2. Click Add time entry.
3. Fill in the fields:

4. Click Add entry. The new entry appears in the card and the total updates.

A manual entry without a device is a case-only entry — useful for time spent on the case itself, such as a phone call or coordination, that does not belong to one device.

Link or unlink device time entries

Time that was tracked directly on a device can be attached to a case so the effort shows up in one place.

• To link a device time entry to the case, open the row menu (…) on that entry and choose Link case…, then pick the case.
• To unlink an entry, open its row menu, choose Unlink case, and confirm in the Unlink case from this entry? dialog. The time entry stays on the device but no longer counts toward the case total. You can link it to a different case afterwards.

The row menu appears on the entries you logged yourself — on the case's Tracked Time card and on the device's — so each person links and unlinks their own time. Unlinking does not delete the entry; it only removes the connection to the case.

Add a comment

1. Open the case.
2. Type your comment in the Add a comment field at the bottom.
3. Click the send (paper-plane) icon button inside the comment field to post it.

Comments appear in the Comments card with the newest first. The History timeline records every change to the case and adds an entry each time a comment is posted.

When a case came in from a managed device, the person who raised it follows the conversation in the octoja agent and can reply there. Their replies arrive in the same Comments card, shown under the name their device reported, and a case you have open picks them up on its own — no reload needed.

Filter and search cases

Use the filter controls at the top of the case list to narrow results:

Click a column header to sort. Click again to reverse the order.

Pick which columns the table shows from the … menu in the filter bar. The case list keeps your choice — along with column order and width — for the next time you open it in the same browser, and Reset columns in that menu puts it back to the default set.

From anywhere in octoja, Ctrl + K (Cmd + K on macOS) opens the command bar. It searches cases by ID, title, or description the same way the search box does, and its Create Case action opens the create dialog without a detour through the Cases page.

Delete a case

1. Open the case.
2. Scroll to the Danger Zone card at the bottom of the detail page.
3. Click Delete and confirm.

Deleted cases are removed permanently. This action cannot be undone.

Tips

• Link cases to devices — when a case is linked to a device, the device record shows open cases. This makes it easier to see known issues when responding to alerts.
• Use priority consistently — Critical should mean "production down, immediate action needed". Reserve High for urgent but non-blocking issues.
• Close cases promptly — keeping cases up to date keeps your open-case count accurate and helps with reporting.

FAQ

Are cases from the system tray forwarded to my ticketing system?

No. A case that a user creates through the octoja agent in the system tray stays in octoja. Connecting a ticketing integration does not forward it automatically. The ticket channels in an alert configuration respond to check results, not new user requests.

Forwarding these cases is planned for the future but is not implemented yet. Follow and vote for the feature request for email delivery to an external ticketing system.

Do I receive an email or push notification when a user creates a case from the system tray?

No. New cases from the system tray do not automatically send technicians an email or push notification. Check the Cases page for new requests. The email and mobile channels in an alert configuration apply to check alerts, not these requests.

Email delivery is planned for the future but is not implemented yet. Follow and vote for the feature request for case forwarding.

Related articles

• Cases API
• How Users, Groups & Permissions Work