---
sourceDocument: Australia IT Service Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/r/it-service-management

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia IT Service Management

ft:clusterId :

    - itsm

bundleId :

    - itsm

workflow :

    - Technology


---

# Synchronizing parent and child incidents

# Synchronizing parent and child incidents {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated January 30, 2025  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
The parent and the child incidents are synchronized such that the state of a child
incident changes depending on the state of the parent incident.
{#parent-child-state-sync__table_iqz_kmm_qbb__entry__4}

| Parent State | On Hold Reason (Parent) | Child State | On Hold Reason (Child) |
|-|-|-|-|
| In Progress | NA | In Progress | NA |
| On Hold | Awaiting Change/Awaiting Problem/Awaiting Vendor | Same as parent | Same as parent |
| On Hold | Awaiting caller | Not updated | Not updated |
| Resolved | NA | Resolved. The Activity log in the child incident form is updated with the resolution notes copied from the parent Incident. | NA |
| Closed | NA | Not closed. Child incidents must always be closed by the caller or by the system based on the auto-closure property. | NA |
| Canceled | NA | NA | NA |
[Table 1. Parent-Child state synchronization]

{#parent-child-state-sync__table_iqz_kmm_qbb}  
Note:  
This table applies only to standard incident life cycle states. When a parent incident is proposed or accepted as a major incident, the states of any associated child incidents do not change automatically. For more information,
see [Managing major incidents](https://servicenow-prod.fluidtopics.net/9cveBxWhGRUV6JdZz2lHvw "A major incident (MI) is an incident that results in significant disruption to the business. A major incident demands a response beyond the routine incident management process. Major incidents have a separate procedure with shorter timescales and higher priority, so that there is a faster resolution process for incidents with high business impact.").

When an incident has a child incident, the following actions take place:

* If an ITIL user reopens the parent incident, then the parent incident as well as the child incident reopens. Both the parent and the child incident state is set to In Progress.
* If an ESS user reopens the parent incident, the parent incident state is set to In Progress but the child incident is not reopened.
{#parent-child-state-sync__ul_ydh_ztn_2gb}