Recurring Training Ticket PSA Guide

How to Create a Recurring Training Ticket in Your PSA (And Why It Matters)

Building habits, normalizing training culture, and treating training like real work.

Training does not become part of your culture by accident. MSP technicians will always prioritize client-facing work unless we intentionally structure training into the same systems, habits, and workflows that already govern their day. A recurring training ticket is the simplest, most reliable way to do this.

This Knowledge Base article explains what a recurring training ticket is, why it works, and how to build one correctly in any PSA or ticketing system.

A worksheet with templates, examples, and configuration tips is available at the end of this article.

Why Recurring Training Tickets Exist

Most MSP employees did not enter the industry because they love self-directed learning. They joined because they love solving problems. They love fighting fires.

If you imagine your average technician as a firefighter, the psychology becomes clear:

When given the choice between a fire and a training module, they will always choose the fire.
When training requires personal discipline, they will always deprioritize themselves for the customer.
When training lives outside the PSA, in a calendar, in an email, in “free time”, it becomes optional background noise.

The solution is not more reminders; it is structure.
Structure removes the burden of choice and embeds training into the job itself.

A recurring training ticket creates that structure by placing training inside the PSA, the technician’s natural workflow, and applying the exact same expectations used for every other ticket.

Training Should Feel Like Work, Because It Is Work

To build a culture of learning, training must look and feel like standard MSP work:

A real ticket
A real schedule
Real time entry
Real notes
Real accountability
Real visibility on dashboards

When technicians experience training as “just another ticket”, the friction drops dramatically and the habit forms faster.

The Five Core Principles

1. Create a Recurring Ticket Template

Almost every PSA allows recurring tickets or templates. You should create a single organization-wide template used for all employees.

Include in the template:

Clear expectations, such as “document what you learned”, or “apply the lesson to two recent tickets”
Subtasks or a checklist
Your training ticket category or type
Work type, billable at $0 and marked as utilized and reportable
SLA or status rules consistent with your existing ticket hygiene

Reference: See field recommendations in the cheat sheet.

2. Schedule It Consistently

Repetition is key. Schedule training the same day and time every week or every other week.

Examples:

“Thursdays at 3:30 are my training time.”
“Every other Tuesday at 9:00.”

Best-in-class MSPs dedicate 30 to 60 minutes weekly. Anything over 2 hours in one block tends to lose value.

3. Do Not Abdicate the Decision to Skip

Technicians should never decide on their own to skip training.

If a customer emergency comes up, a dispatcher or manager must explicitly tell the tech to skip their session and record that decision in the training ticket, just like any other ticket bump or priority override.

This maintains psychological safety:

“My job is training unless someone tells me otherwise.”

4. Remember That Techs Will Always Prioritize Clients

The training ticket acts as a counterbalance to this instinct.

Putting training into the PSA with proper time entry, categorization, and utilization flags means:

Training time counts as real work
Internal priorities show up in dashboards and workload reports
Techs do not need to choose between “helping someone” and “developing themselves”

You are training the habit, not just assigning tasks.

5. Build the Habit Through Sameness and Repetition

Habits require consistent repetition. Expect to run training tickets for at least 5 consecutive weeks before training feels normal.

Your goal:

Training becomes so routine that new hires assume: “This is just how we work.”

No shortcuts. No alternative workflows. No special exceptions.
Training tickets follow the same lifecycle as client tickets:

Status changes
Time entries
Internal notes
Categorization
SLA handling
Dashboard visibility

If the rules differ, the habit dies.

How to Configure Your Training Ticket (Recommended Fields)

(From the Recurring Training Ticket Cheat Sheet)

Field	Recommendation
Name	Internal Training – [Tech Name] or Weekly Training – [Team]
Type or Category	Internal, Training, or Professional Development
Work Type or Role	Billable at $0, 0x multiplier, track utilization
Client	Your MSP, you are the customer for this ticket
Assignment	Individual tech, team, or role group
Frequency	Weekly or bi-weekly
Duration	30 to 60 minutes
Status or SLA	Mirror normal ticket lifecycle
Subtasks or Checklist	Course name, time spent, applied skills, reflection
Template Notes	Written expectations for how to use training time

Ticket Hygiene Must Match Work Hygiene

Techs should treat training tickets like customer tickets:

Required time entry
Required notes
Clear status progression
Proper category and work type
Appearance on dashboards
Escalation rules for repeated skips
Internal communication logged in the ticket

This consistency is what builds muscle memory and removes ambiguity.

PSA, SLA, and Reporting Considerations

Set up a dedicated training board or category separate from service tickets.
Use work types that are utilized and billable at $0 to maintain accurate reporting.
Ensure status changes do not break dashboards or SLA alerts.
Track skipped sessions as you would any other SLA breach or exception.
Use reporting to show training time per role, per user, and per team.

Why This System Works, Even Without Empath Integration

Empath includes integrations with many PSA tools, but the recurring ticket method works universally and builds habits independently of any platform.

This approach:

Works with any LMS, vendor training, or internal content
Builds training culture across the organization
Standardizes expectations for everyone, including new hires and senior engineers
Avoids reliance on hero behavior or self-directed discipline
Makes training a normal part of the technician workflow

Once your organization has matured into a training-first culture, you can transition to an Empath-integrated workflow, but the habits you build here will still be foundational.

Next Steps

Download the worksheet for templates, setup instructions, field mappings, and quick-start checklists:

👉 [Download the Recurring Training Ticket Worksheet]

If you would like help setting this up for your MSP, book time with your Empath onboarding or Partner Success specialist. We will walk you through your PSA and help establish a structure that drives real, consistent learning behavior.

👉 Book a Strategy Call Here

Keep training, keep learning, keep growing your herd.

Additional PSA Specific Resources:

ConnectWise Creating Recurring Tickets:
Halo Recurring Ticket Templates: https://halopsa.com/guides/article/?kbid=885
Halo Ticket Templates Explained:
Syncro Recurring Tickets: https://docs.syncromsp.com/en_US/creating-tickets/create-a-recurring-ticket
SuperOps Recurring Ticket: https://support.superops.com/en/articles/6714728-ticket-scheduler
SuperOps Ticket Template: https://support.superops.com/en/articles/6632357-creating-tickets-and-ticket-templates-in-superops
Zoho Recurring Tickets: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/automation-2-create-recurring-tickets-using-schedules