Would it be best to use EPICs or have a category in your EPIC for support type tickets

[Linda Visagie]

Hi,  I am a bit confused about how to set up an ongoing recurring type requests.  For example if I want to be able to get management reports on a category of lets say REPORTING.  Would it be best to set up an EPIC called REPORTING and then every time we have a request to do with a new report or amending an existing report in our accounting system, we add a User Story (in which case it would be a continious EPIC) or would it be best to have a category field where when I get a request for a report I can set up an EPIC and categorise it to REPORTING and then get stats out on just REPORTING work.

[Seon Shakespeare · Accepted solution]

Hey @Linda Visagie,

Welcome to the community!

Great question! Both Epics and custom fields can work for recurring requests, but here's my take:

Epics:

• What's an Epic? It's basically a big, overarching work item that represents a large body of work. Think of it like a container for a bunch of related user stories.
• Easy to set up. Just create an Epic like "REPORTING" and link all your report requests to it. Done!
• Nice and visual. You can use Epics as swimlanes on your Kanban board to group those requests.
• But... they can get huge and messy over time. Plus, reporting on specific types of reports within that giant Epic can be a pain. And, you may need to create a new Epic for each project.

Custom Category Fields:

• More flexible. You can filter, create reports, and even build a dashboard to track all your reporting requests across multiple projects.
• Downside: You'll need to do a bit of admin to set up the custom field and add it to all the relevant screens to make sure everyone uses it consistently.

So, which one should you pick?

• Epics are great if you love visual organisation and are mostly working within one project.
• Custom fields are the way to go if you need powerful reporting and want a consistent approach across multiple projects.

Hope this helps!

[Linda Visagie]

Thank you very much Sean that is really helpful.  Your answer was very clear and very useful. 

[Seon Shakespeare]

You're very welcome Linda! Feel free to mark my comment as the accepted solution, so others can find it easily. Cheers!