By
El Copeland
August 21, 2024
•
20 min read
Business
Tutorials
Choosing the Right Ticket Status Colors in HaloPSA
Have you implemented unique colors for your Ticket Statuses in HaloPSA?
Coloring these Statuses adds a great Quality of Life to your Agents working tickets. Often, it is treated as a nice-to-have or “let’s just make it look pretty,” which are fine if it works for you. However, we invite you to imagine instead with us: what if you could leverage symbolic colors that guide an Agent through your defined ticket process. What if you could implement that in a reasonable way?
So, to help lessen that decision fatigue for you since we know you’re busy customizing every other setting in HaloPSA as well, here is the framework that Rising Tide uses to approach customizing these settings to help you quickly and sensibly label your Ticket Statuses. In a future article, we’ll tackle Ticket Action color codes; however, the concepts will generally remain the same.
Laying out the Ticket Status Colors Framework
Before we jump into coloring statuses, let’s start by defining a ticket’s lifecycle according to how your Agents need to allocate their attention to those tickets, whether that is dictated by standard professionalism or ensuring SLAs are kept. For the sake of this conversation, we are going to address these ticket attention phases with the segments: Normal Attention, Elevated Attention, or Inert Attention.
Normal Attention
Ideally, your Agents receive a ticket and all things are “Go,” they have everything they need to start working, and then Close the ticket when they've successfully completed the task and can rest on their laurels (or move on to the next ticket!).
We recommend all Normal Attention tickets to be assigned “cool colors” like greens, blues, and purples. (And not cool because we think they’re rad, cool as opposed to warm colors, more information here on color theory) Statuses like New and In Progress generally belong here. We have the ticket, everything is going as planned. What a perfect, serene world. Peaceful, isn’t it?
Unfortunately, that’s not the reality in most of our businesses! What happens when tickets require extra attention or action to ensure their timely completion?
Elevated Attention
Here in Elevated Attention is where we see statuses like Escalated, Pending Approval, or Reopened: tickets that we need to be actively thinking about and revisiting, especially ones that are keeping our SLA clock running. To inspire action and increase visibility, we’re using warm, fiery colors like Orange, Red, and Yellow.
What if there is a ticket where we cannot take immediate action, or it doesn’t warrant it? That’s our last category: Inert Attention.
Inert Attention
There will be times when our tickets are active but there is literally nothing we can do but wait. The SLA clock isn’t running, so we don’t need to worry about taking action on these just yet: statuses like Waiting on Client or Waiting on Vendor. We recommend using greys to signify these statuses’ inactive character.
In general, we recommend you set up HaloPSA to do most of the status setting and remembering to move tasks in and out of statuses, especially Inert-type statuses. Specifically, when setting up these Inert Attention statuses in HaloPSA, be sure to build those Ticket Statuses, Ticket Type Settings, and your related Workflows so when a ticket enters or exits an Inert status, it automatically puts the ticket on or removes it from SLA hold. You can see examples of these settings in the screen captures below.
Some examples of this recommendation in action could be:
- Setting a Waiting on Client ticket to Attention Required when a customer replies to an email
- Setting a Waiting on Vendor ticket to Attention Required when a Supplier updates
- Setting a ticket to Scheduled upon creating an Appointment (Ticket Type Settings: Status after user appointment booking (resource booking), or Status after Agent creates appointment)
- Automatically setting Waiting on Client tickets to Closed after a certain number of hours with no reply according to SLA rules you set.
Ticket Status Colors Framework in Action
With all of these ideas in mind, we suggest as you approach customizing each ticket status, you ask:
What type of Attention do I expect of my team at this status: Normal, Elevated, or Inert?
When you have that answer, choose a color from the suggested family. Remember that color for other statuses you may have for other Ticket Types so it stays consistent regardless of what Area your Agent is operating from!
Here are some examples for what we specifically recommend to Rising Tide Customers. You will likely not need all of them, depending on your MSP’s needs:
Normal Attention
- Brand New/Assigned (Waiting on You): Green — Ticket is newly created and waiting for initial action. Green indicates readiness to start and clear action needed.
- Claimed/Work in Progress: Blue — Ticket is actively being addressed towards resolution. Blue symbolizes confidence in ongoing work and progress.
- We’d be remiss if we didn’t specifically call out that at Rising Tide we recommend that your Agents should not be "Claiming" tickets until they're ready to work on them.
- Closed: Black — The ticket has been fully resolved and all necessary actions are completed. Black signifies completion and closure of the ticket.
Elevated Attention
- Pending Approval: Yellow — Awaiting authorization or approval to proceed. Yellow is high-visibility and unique to call attention to follow up that may be necessary.
- Escalated: Orange — Moved to a higher level of support due to complexity or urgency. Orange highlights urgency and attention required.
- Customer Updated/Vendor Updated/Approver Updated: Orange— Orange is used to indicate recent release from a paused status like Waiting on Customer or Waiting on Vendor and subsequent re-instating of the current SLA timer, if applicable.
- Attention Required: Orange — Elevated attention needed following removal from an SLA hold.
- Reopened: Red — Previously closed/resolved ticket is active again due to additional issues or dissatisfaction. Red indicates a critical reactivation that needs immediate reassessment.
Inert Attention
- Waiting on Client: Grey — Progress on the ticket is paused because it requires input or action from the client. Grey suggests inactivity from the MSP’s side, waiting on external action.
- Waiting on Vendor/Waiting on Parts: Grey — Progress on the ticket is halted while waiting for action or information from an external vendor. Similar to waiting on client but specific to external vendors.
- Scheduled: Purple — Scheduled could also technically be included in the Normal category, hence the cool purple. Denotes a paused status where work is planned, but no active work is required.
- Resolved: Teal — Similar to Scheduled, Resolved straddles the Normal category as well. The issue within the ticket has been addressed, awaiting final closure or verification from the requester. Teal is a calm yet upbeat color indicating resolution but awaiting final closure.
As with most rules, there are going to be times when items cross between phases, or you may operate differently and not define a ticket status the same way we did here.
Maybe you have some color-blind technicians on staff and decide to use completely different colors completely or none at all. (If you do want to create a color-blind friendly palette, here’s a great resource.)
Maybe you want to choose different values (light or dark) within a certain family than what Halo provides.
Good! Break our rules. They're just here to help you decide what you do or don't actually want.
Our main recommendation is that you use your best judgement on what is right for your team and just be consistent which sometimes means keeping it simple. And let us know what you ended up doing, you may help someone else. Happy customizing!
As Partner and Business Consultant at Rising Tide, I help organizations align culture with efficiency, bridging the gap between strategy and the everyday systems that make it work. I’ve spent my career leading diverse, cross-functional teams and building communities where people actually want to learn and collaborate. With roots in technology, education, user experience & design, and project management, I specialize in turning complex ideas into clear, actionable plans that keep both people and projects thriving.
Outside of work, you’ll usually find me weight-training, gardening, or rewatching Doctor Who with a cat in my lap.
See some more of our most recent posts...
By the [run]Book: Episode 13
Episode 13 of By the [run]Book walks through key updates including webhook queueing, profit visibility on invoices, metered items, billing template automation, and new compliance safeguards. While many changes are subtle, together they reduce friction in day-to-day operations and lay important groundwork for scale.
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Episode 13 of By the [run]Book dives into HaloPSA v2.206, a release packed with scalability improvements, billing accuracy upgrades, automation controls, and long-requested UI flexibility. Mendy and Robbie break down what’s new, what to enable (and what to be cautious with), and how these updates affect real-world MSP operations—from integrations and invoicing to load balancing and data governance. This episode is especially useful for MSPs managing growth, complex billing models, or high-volume integrations.
The following features stand out as the impactful changes in this release:
Incoming Webhook Service (Queueing) #794180 The new incoming webhook service introduces queue-based processing to prevent API rate-limit failures during high-volume events like invoice syncing. This is a major reliability upgrade for accounting integrations and lays the groundwork for safer, more scalable automation across Halo.
Items & Product Groups as Meters #1015992 Items and product groups can now be set as meters by default, simplifying setup for consumption-based services like Azure usage and backup storage. While meter period handling is still evolving, this is an important step toward more flexible usage-based billing.
Social Security Number Redaction #977591 Halo now supports automatic redaction of Social Security numbers and other sensitive data in tickets and actions. This adds an important layer of data protection and compliance, particularly for MSPs handling regulated or confidential information.
Automatic Reapplication of Billing Templates on New Contracts #791985 There is now an option to automatically reapply billing templates when you add a contract for a client, helping ensure billing consistency as agreements change. MSPs should enable this with care—client-level billing overrides should be avoided while templates are in use to prevent unintended resets.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 13
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Full Feature List:
Incoming webhook service now available | v2.206 #794180 | 1:48
This introduces a queue-based approach to webhook processing to reduce failures caused by rate limits during high-volume events.
You can now set a default Ticket Status for updates in the Jira Software and Jira Service Management integrations | v2.206 #1016865 | 6:08
Allows control over the ticket status applied when Jira pushes updates into Halo.
Item/Product Groups can now be set as Meters by default and Items/Product records can also be set as Meters | v2.206 #1015992 | 6:54
Enables default usage-based billing behavior on items and product groups.
Added an option to the Dynamics 365 CRM Integration to enable/disable Customer imports matching on Customer Name if not matched on GUID | v2.206 #1015264 | 8:52
Adds control over customer import matching behavior in the Dynamics 365 CRM integration.
Parameters have been added to the Device endpoint to allow a smaller response object to be returned | v2.206 #1013180 | 11:15
Adds parameters to limit the size of API responses.
A setting has been added to Advanced Configuration to include Automation Actions to populate the dollar variables starting with SLAHOLDACTION | v2.206 #1011801 | 16:20
Adds control over how SLA hold automation variables are populated.
$PRODUCTCODE can now be used on the Bill PDF lines | v2.206 #1011633 | 19:00
Allows product codes to be displayed on billing PDFs.
A setting has been added to Timesheet Management Configuration to control whether to include rounding/minimums etc as part of the Charge Hours calculations | v2.206 #1010247 | 19:08
Adds flexibility to how charge hours are calculated and displayed.
You can now exclude agents from being auto-assigned tickets at the team level. This prevents selected agents from receiving tickets via load balancing or round-robin | v2.206 #1006134 | 20:58
Allows specific agents to be excluded from team-level auto assignment.
Added an alternative method to send User information when using JWT User matching for the Embeddable Chat Widget | v2.206 #1003959 | 21:59
Adds another method for passing user identity into embedded chat.
Payment Method and Reference have been added as options when creating Payments | v2.206 #1003949 | 22:26
Adds additional metadata fields when recording payments in Halo.
Tiered Pricing set against Items will now be used for Recurring Invoice lines and will update when adding new lines or when the quantity changes on the line | v2.206 #1003580 | 23:40
Ensures tiered pricing is correctly applied to recurring invoice lines.
Profit will now show in the Totals area of Invoices and Recurring Invoices | v2.206 #1002932 | 24:28
Adds total profit visibility directly to invoices.
Added the option to automatically create a business application instance when creating a business application | v2.206 #1002472 | 25:57
Automatically creates an instance when a business application is added.
A setting has been introduced (Configuration > Tickets > General) so that when using the Ticket Type settings for Scheduled Load Balance, new Tickets will no longer be Load Balanced when there are unassigned open Tickets with the same Ticket Type | v2.206 #1000142 | 26:35
Prevents new tickets from skipping ahead of existing unassigned tickets.
You can now show/hide the User system ‘Title’ field in Screen Layout Profiles for the User entity | v2.206 #999579 | 28:26
Adds control over visibility of the User Title field.
It is now possible to link Quote lines to Customers directly so that when Sales Orders are created they are split by customer | v2.206 #992459 | 30:46
Allows quote lines to be associated directly with customers.
You can now use the ‘Configure a new chart’ option in dashboard widgets to create multi-series charts from a single data source | v2.206 #990930 | 31:51
Enables multi-series reporting in dashboards.
It is now possible to import Overriding Item/Price data during the XLS Item import | v2.206 #989129 | 33:24
Supports importing item price overrides via XLS.
You can now set grouped rows on Column Profiles to be collapsed by default | v2.206 #987019 | 34:59
Adds a default collapsed view for grouped report rows.
When importing Devices using the NinjaOne Integration it is now possible to choose only one Organization or All Organizations | v2.206 #985878 | 35:46
Adds organization-level filtering during NinjaOne device imports.
Descriptions can now be added to FAQ lists and displayed on the tiles in the End-User Portal | v2.206 #982214 | 36:30
Allows descriptions to be shown on FAQ tiles in the portal.
Added Load Balance settings to Team level | v2.206 #979706 | 38:00
Moves load balancing configuration to the team level.
Added option to redact Social Security numbers from Ticket and Action fields | v2.206 #977591 | 41:13
Adds automatic redaction of sensitive data.
You can now set defaults for Custom Tables in Ticket Templates | v2.206 #975276 | 43:04
Allows custom tables to be pre-populated via ticket templates.
Added Access Control to Qualifications | v2.206 #971200 | 43:12
Introduces role-based access control for qualifications.
Added a Chat flow step to update linked Ticket Custom Fields with preset values | v2.206 #968961 | 43:26
Allows chat flows to populate ticket custom fields automatically.
Added the setting ‘Disable automatic loading of all services upon accessing the Service Catalogue on the end user portal’ to Services settings | v2.206 #968377 | 43:39
Improves portal performance for large service catalogs.
Added a time zone field at ticket level | v2.206 #961858 | 43:55
Adds time zone awareness directly on tickets.
You can now grant role-based read and modify access to custom fields on custom tables | v2.206 #957609 | 45:19
Adds granular permissions for custom table fields.
Added a global setting to set a password expiry date for End-Users and Agents | v2.206 #956854 | 48:23
Adds global password expiry controls.
Added a use field for asset types | v2.206 #950383 | 48:42
Adds a “use” classification to asset types.
Added Canned Text Shortcuts | v2.206 #949683 | 49:17
Introduces keyboard shortcuts for canned text.
Introduced new settings to enable user out-of-office | v2.206 #947700 | 49:44
Adds out-of-office controls for users.
Expense are now audited | v2.206 #811502 | 51:38
Expense actions are now tracked for auditing.
Added Line Column Profiles for invoices, quotes, purchase orders and sales orders | v2.206 #831635 | 51:43
Adds column profile control at the line level for financial documents.
There is now an option to automatically reapply billing templates when you add a contract for a client | v2.206 #791985 | 54:10
Adds automatic reapplication of billing templates when contracts change.
Chapter-by-Chapter Discussion Questions for The Go-Giver by Bob Burg: Chapter Thirteen: Full Circle
What if “missing the goal” isn’t failure? In Chapter 13, Full Circle, Joe hits the quarter-end with nothing to show…until a final phone call reframes everything. This discussion guide explores identity vs outcomes, patience with growth, and awe as a skill worth practicing.
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About this Series
This discussion guide is part of Rising Tide’s Fall 2025 book club, where we’re reading The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann.
If you’re just joining us, here are a few pages you’ll likely benefit from:
- Chapter One – The Go-Getter for an introduction on how to use these Discussion Questions
- Book Clubs, Conversations, and Curiosity for why we started a book club for a technical team here
Chapter Summary
In Chapter 13, Full Circle, Joe is finally met with the end of the quarter with nothing to show for his last-ditch efforts to learn and enact the 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success. After a conversation with Gus in which Joe resigns to the idea that perhaps it’s not about “what you accomplish…it’s who you are,” his phone rings. Perhaps the last week wasn’t a waste after all!
Discussion Questions
Use these open-ended prompts to guide reflection and conversation. Remember, there are no right answers!
- Joe doesn’t hit his sales goal by the deadline. How did that land for you? Did you expect a different outcome?
- Gus suggests that the real outcome might be who Joe became rather than what he accomplished. Do you buy that distinction? Why or why not?
- If this chapter ended without the phone call, would its message be stronger or weaker?
Rising Tide Input for your Consideration
- It’s easy to laugh at Joe for his expectations on a one-week timeline. Have you ever been in a situation where you expect immediate results and are disappointed when you don’t see them?
- Common saying, “People tend to overestimate what can be done in one year and to underestimate what can be done in five or ten years.”
- “The point is not what you do. Not what you accomplish. It’s who you are.”
- What did this part of the conversation make you feel?
- “The quiet felt almost as if it were alive. Motionless, but listening. It felt…receptive.”
- Has there been a moment where you’ve felt like the world was alive and full of possibilities? Through meditation? Traveling somewhere? Having an experience you’ve never had? Have you considered that sense of awe and wonder is a skill worth fostering?
About Rising Tide and our Book Club
Rising Tide helps MSPs and service-focused teams build better systems: the kind that align people with purpose.
Every Friday at 9:30 AM ET, we host Rising Tide Fridays as an open conversation for MSP owners, consultants, and service professionals who want to grow both professionally, technically, and emotionally. In Fall/Winter 2025, we’re walking through The Go-Giver, chapter by chapter.
If that sounds like your kind of crowd, reach out to partners@risingtidegroup.net for the Teams link.
Bring your coffee and curiosity…no prep required.
Chapter-by-Chapter Discussion Questions for The Go-Giver by Bob Burg: Chapter Twelve: The Law of Receptivity
In this chapter of The Go-Giver, Joe finally learns the Fifth Law of Stratospheric Success: Receptivity. What looks like a simple lesson about accepting help quickly becomes a deeper conversation about why service-oriented people struggle to receive at all!
Read post
About this Series
This discussion guide is part of Rising Tide’s Fall 2025 book club, where we’re reading The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann.
If you’re just joining us, here are a few pages you’ll likely benefit from:
- Chapter One – The Go-Getter for an introduction on how to use these Discussion Questions
- Book Clubs, Conversations, and Curiosity for why we started a book club for a technical team here
Chapter Summary
In Chapter 12, Joe shows up for lunch at Pindar’s home, excited to meet the 5th mystery guest. Together, we learn the 5th law of stratospheric success: The Law of Receptivity, which Joe defines as “The key to effective giving is to stay open to recieving.”
Discussion Questions
Use these open-ended prompts to guide reflection and conversation. Remember, there are no right answers!
- Who did you think the fifth guest was going to be?
- Did you also imagine Rachel would be the guest?
- How do you feel when you give? How do you feel when you receive?
- Do you prefer one over the other? What stories or experiences shaped that preference?
- Some of our original commentary in the early chapters echoed this idea of receptivity. What if we give and get taken advantage of? Perhaps the question is, why are we giving and not allowing ourselves to also receive? Why are we giving without care for ourselves and what we should be giving ourselves?
- Why is receiving so hard for so many of us?
- Several folks in our group said some version of, “I’ll give everything, but I’ll take nothing,” and described feeling like they were taking from someone when they receive. What about you?
- Most of the people in our club said they like giving, and that it feels better to give! But, what if, when you refuse to receive: you are taking away that same good feeling from the potential giver?
- How might being more receptive change the way you work with clients or teammates?
- Jason reframed the Law of Receptivity as being open to opportunity, not just gifts: being willing to say “yes” when someone offers an intro, a collaboration, or a chance you didn’t plan for. Where have you seen that play out in your own career?
Rising Tide Input for your Consideration
- The Water Analogy – “Drink as You Pour”
- You may have heard it said, to “Drink as you pour.” Which is, as you are serving others, it is key that you also serve yourself and care for yourself so that you do not cause an imbalance.
- Imagine you have water in a basin:
- No input, no output = stagnation: If water just sits (no fresh water in, none out) it gets swampy and stagnant. No ideas, no giving, no creativity in or out means you can’t grow and adapt!
- Only output = propensity to run dry: If you’re always pouring out (time, care, energy, support) but never receiving, you eventually empty the well. You must refill with intention and consistency, cycles of burnout don’t help you establish your health and business!
- Only input = hoarding: If you only receive and never give, the “pool” can overflow or turn destructive, just like hoarded resources in a community. Cancer is a common phenomenon that consumes without thinking and without care. It destroys all.
- Where in your life are you stagnant, over-pouring, or hoarding and what would a healthier flow look like?
- Creativity, Physics, and the Oatmeal
- Kevin dropped a reference to an old comic from The Oatmeal about creativity being like breathing: you have to inhale (rest, experiences, inspiration) to exhale (make things, serve, create). That comic helped him accept that he has to refill if he wants to keep giving.
- Where do you notice “hyper-independence” in your life or work?
- As a group, we talked about how modern “luxury” is often framed as not needing anyone, and how we tend to prioritize independence over connection. Noone borrows a cup of sugar from a neighbor anymore, we just use Instacart! Where do you feel pressure to handle everything alone? Where is that actually hurting you or others?
About Rising Tide and our Book Club
Rising Tide helps MSPs and service-focused teams build better systems: the kind that align people with purpose.
Every Friday at 9:30 AM ET, we host Rising Tide Fridays as an open conversation for MSP owners, consultants, and service professionals who want to grow both professionally, technically, and emotionally. In Fall/Winter 2025, we’re walking through The Go-Giver, chapter by chapter.
If that sounds like your kind of crowd, reach out to partners@risingtidegroup.net for the Teams link.
Bring your coffee and curiosity…no prep required.