Can a ticket be updated with a note without changing the last updated time?

[Ian _I_ - Aware]

We want to add internal notes to tickets for our staff to follow up BUT we also don't want the last updated time on the ticket to then be updated because it means we cannot track if tickets are being followed up or not. 

So basically we want to add an internal note but keep the last updated time as it was, so we can see if tickets are being followed up or not after the internal note has been added.

Is this possible?

Many thanks.

[Oliver Siebenmarck _Polymetis Apps_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ian _I_ - Aware ,

I agree with both @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- and @Agraj Mangal – last updated is not an ideal indicator for actual work being performed and labels might be a good way to flag issues. 

However, if you are really set on using last updated, you could still do so using Automation and notifications. Here's how I would approach that:

1. Create a scheduled Automation, ex. a weekly check
2. Have that scheduled Automation perform a JQL query of your issues. This is where you would include only issues that have not been updated in the last week.
3. As an action for the Automation, send notifications. There's a bunch to choose from, like Slack, Teams or emails

And that's it. This should work, but is a bit brittle because a lot of things can change the 'last updated' attribute of an issue. 

Hope that helps,
 Oliver

[Ian _I_ - Aware]

Thanks Oliver, that's very useful.

@Agraj Mangal  @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- thank you also for your suggestions and feedback.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There's no way to do this, the last updated date is always calculated from the last change made to the issue.

I would not want to rely on the updated date to track if issues are being followed up on, people making notes, commenting, chasing or adding or updating the issue do not indicate that an issue is being dealt with.  The best thing to look at is the assignee - they're the one responsible for getting things done with the issue.

[Agraj Mangal]

Agree with Nic. Rather than relying on last updated time for the tickets I would use some other mechanism to track those tickets - labels maybe ?