Notification of a system incident is received at a first help desk system. In response, an incident record is generated and maintained for the system incident. The incident record includes incident data and a record identification (ID). The incident data and record ID are transmitted from the first help desk system to a second help desk system where a corresponding record is maintained. One of the help desks is assigned an exclusive status to process the system incident. Regardless of which help system is assigned the exclusive status to process the system incident, the incident record is closed at the first help desk system, which automatically triggers closing of the corresponding record in the second help desk system.