Workflow Template

Project Issue Management Workflow

Manages a project issue from intake through resolution: captures the issue, has the project manager assign an owner and priority, escalates high-priority issues to the sponsor, has the issue owner resolve or escalate, routes escalated issues to a steering committee, verifies resolution with the project manager (looping back to the owner if not resolved, up to 3 times), and closes out with a resolution email to the reporter.

When a project issue lands in your inbox or a hallway conversation, it's easy for details to get lost or for no one to be sure who's actually fixing it. This workflow captures each issue through a simple form, has the project manager assign an owner and priority, automatically escalates high-priority issues to the sponsor, and routes anything the owner can't resolve to a steering committee for a decision. Every step, status change and email is tracked on the record, so the team always knows where an issue stands without chasing updates.

Business Outcomes

Helps reduce dropped or forgotten project issues by capturing every submission as a tracked record
Supports faster response on high-priority issues through automatic sponsor escalation
Makes ownership and accountability clearer with a named issue owner and priority on every record
Helps keep unresolved issues moving with structured escalation to a steering committee
Reduces manual follow-up by automatically emailing reporters at acknowledgement and resolution

Workflow Steps

Steps

1
Create Issue Recordcreate record
Registers the submitted issue as a project_issue record.
2
Set Status to Openupdate record
Sets the issue status to Open at intake.
3
Send Acknowledgement Emailsend email
Emails the reporter an acknowledgement with their reference number.
4
PM: Assign Owner and Prioritycreate task
Creates a task for the project manager to record the issue owner and set the priority, due in 2 days.
5
Save Owner and Priorityupdate record
Persists the issue owner and priority set by the project manager to the record.
6
Route on Priority
Checks whether the issue is High priority to trigger sponsor escalation.
priority: "High"→Create Sponsor Escalation Task
Default→Set Status to In Progress
7
Create Sponsor Escalation Taskcreate task
Creates a fire-and-forget escalation task for the project sponsor, due in 1 day, without waiting for it.
8
Set Status to In Progressupdate record
Sets the issue status to In Progress before resolution work begins.
9
Issue Owner: Resolve Issuecreate task
Creates a task with no due date for the issue owner to record the resolution plan, actions taken, and outcome.
10
Save Resolution Dataupdate record
Persists the resolution plan, actions taken, and outcome to the record.
11
Route on Resolution Outcome
Checks whether the issue owner resolved the issue or needs escalation.
resolution_outcome: "Needs escalation"→Set Status to Escalated
Default→PM: Verify Resolution
12
Set Status to Escalatedupdate record
Sets the issue status to Escalated when the issue owner cannot resolve it.
13
Steering Committee: Decidecreate task
Creates a task for the steering committee to record its decision, due in 5 days.
14
Save Steering Committee Decisionupdate record
Persists the steering committee's decision to the record.
15
PM: Verify Resolutioncreate task
Creates a task for the project manager to verify whether the issue is resolved, with notes.
16
Save Verification Dataupdate record
Persists the verification result and notes to the record.
17
Route on Verification Result
Checks whether the project manager verified the resolution or sends it back to the issue owner.
verification_result: "Verified"→Set Status to Closed
verification_result: "Not resolved"→Loop Back to Issue Owner
Default→End
18
Loop Back to Issue Ownerrestart from step
Restarts the workflow from the issue owner's resolution task for rework, up to 3 times.
19
Set Status to Closedupdate record
Sets the issue status to Closed once the project manager has verified resolution.
20
Send Resolution Emailsend email
Emails the reporter to confirm the issue has been resolved and closed.

Fields

Show all 15 fields

FormProject Issue Report

Reporter Name*· Text
Reporter Email*· Email
Project*· Text
Issue Description*· Long text
Impact*· Choice
Urgency*· Choice

TaskPM: Assign Owner and Priority

Issue Owner*· Text
Priority*· Choice

TaskIssue Owner: Resolve Issue

Resolution Plan*· Long text
Actions Taken*· Long text
Resolution Outcome*· Choice

TaskSteering Committee: Decide

Steering Committee Decision*· Long text

TaskPM: Verify Resolution

Verification Result*· Choice
Verification Notes*· Long text

Other fields

Issue Status· Choice

Reporter Name*
Reporter Email*
Project*
Issue Description*
Impact*
Urgency*

Forms

Project Issue Report

6 fields

Data Views

Project Issues

project, impact, priority, issue_owner +1 more

Dashboard Widgets

Issues by Status

Recommended integrations

Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.

Send email in the workflow
AWS SES

project issueissue managementproject escalationproject riskPMO

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FAQs

Do I need to set this up for every project separately?

No, a single workspace can run this workflow for issues across multiple projects, since the intake form captures the project name on each submission. Each submitted issue becomes its own record with a reference number, so you can filter and track issues by project in the table views. If you do want a separate version for a specific project, you can duplicate and adjust the workflow in minutes.

Can my team customise who gets assigned issues?

Yes. Tasks in this workflow — assigning owner and priority, resolving the issue, sponsor escalation, and steering committee decisions — are all assigned to workspace members, and you can change who those tasks go to at any time. You can also describe changes in plain English or edit the steps directly in the workflow editor if your assignment process differs from the default.

What happens if an issue is marked high priority?

When the project manager sets the priority to High, the workflow automatically creates a fire-and-forget escalation task for the project sponsor, due in one day. This task doesn't hold up the rest of the process — the issue status still moves to In Progress and the issue owner starts resolution work in parallel, while the sponsor's notes are recorded on that task.

What happens if the issue owner can't resolve the issue?

If the issue owner records the outcome as 'Needs escalation,' the workflow sets the status to Escalated and creates a task for the steering committee to make a decision, due in five days. Their decision is saved to the record, and the project manager then verifies whether the issue is resolved before it moves toward close-out.

Is this suitable for issues that need several rounds of rework?

Yes. If the project manager's verification finds the issue isn't resolved, the workflow loops back to the issue owner's resolution task for another attempt, and this can repeat up to three times. Each pass through the resolution and verification steps is recorded on the issue's timeline, so you can see exactly what was tried and when.

Do reporters need an account to submit or track an issue?

No. Reporters submit issues through a public request form and receive an acknowledgement email with their reference number, with no account needed. They also receive a resolution email once the issue is closed, keeping them informed without any login required.

Who is involved in this workflow from start to finish?

The reporter submits the issue via the request form, the project manager assigns an owner and priority and later verifies resolution, the issue owner carries out the resolution work, and — for escalated issues — the sponsor and steering committee weigh in. Each of these is a task assigned to a workspace member, with the results saved to the record as the issue progresses.

Can we see the current status of all open issues at a glance?

Yes. Every issue is a record with a status — Open, In Progress, Escalated or Closed — along with a full timeline of what happened. Table views and dashboards let you see records grouped by status, so you can quickly spot what's outstanding or overdue.

How do we change this workflow if our escalation process is different?

You can adjust the workflow by describing the change you want in plain English or by editing the steps directly in the workflow editor. Earlier versions of the workflow are kept, so you can review or revert changes as your process evolves.

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