bmc sde administrator's guide

www.bmc.com

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6

Administrators Guide

March 2008

If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact Information Design and Development by email at [email protected].

Contacting BMC Software

You can access the BMC Software website at http://www.bmc.com. From this website, you can obtain information about the company, its products, corporate offices, special events, and career opportunities.

United States and Canada

Address BMC SOFTWARE INC2101 CITYWEST BLVDHOUSTON TX 77042-2827 USA

Telephone 713 918 8800 or800 841 2031

Fax 713 918 8000

Outside United States and Canada

Telephone (01) 713 918 8800 Fax (01) 713 918 8000

Copyright 1998, 2004-2008 BMC Software, Inc.

BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

IT Infrastructure Library is a registered trademark of the Office of Government Commerce and is used here by BMC Software, Inc., under license from and with the permission of OGC.

ITIL is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and is used here by BMC Software, Inc., under license from and with the permission of OGC.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.

Java is the trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries.

BMC Software considers information included in this documentation to be proprietary and confidential. Your use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable End User License Agreement for the product and the proprietary and restricted rights notices included in this documentation.

Restricted rights legendU.S. Government Restricted Rights to Computer Software. UNPUBLISHED -- RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. Use, duplication, or disclosure of any data and computer software by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions, as applicable, set forth in FAR Section 52.227-14, DFARS 252.227-7013, DFARS 252.227-7014, DFARS 252.227-7015, and DFARS 252.227-7025, as amended from time to time. Contractor/Manufacturer is BMC Software, Inc., 2101 CityWest Blvd., Houston, TX 77042-2827, USA. Any contract notices should be sent to this address.

Customer Support

You can obtain technical support by using the Support page on the BMC Software website or by contacting Customer Support by telephone or email. To expedite your inquiry, please see Before Contacting BMC Software.

Support website

You can obtain technical support from BMC Software 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at http://www.bmc.com/support_home. From this website, you can:

Read overviews about support services and programs that BMC Software offers. Find the most current information about BMC Software products. Search a database for problems similar to yours and possible solutions. Order or download product documentation. Report a problem or ask a question. Subscribe to receive email notices when new product versions are released. Find worldwide BMC Software support center locations and contact information, including email addresses, fax

numbers, and telephone numbers.

Support by telephone or email

In the United States and Canada, if you need technical support and do not have access to the Web, call 800 537 1813 or send an email message to [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:, such as SupID:12345.) Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

Before contacting BMC Software

Have the following information available so that Customer Support can begin working on your issue immediately:

Product information

Product name Product version (release number) License number and password (trial or permanent)

Operating system and environment information

Machine type Operating system type, version, and service pack System hardware configuration Serial numbers Related software (database, application, and communication) including type, version, and service pack or

maintenance level

Sequence of events leading to the problem

Commands and options that you used

Messages received (and the time and date that you received them)

Product error messages Messages from the operating system, such as file system full Messages from related software

License key and password information

If you have a question about your license key or password, contact Customer Support through one of the following methods:

E-mail [email protected]. (In the Subject line, enter SupID:, such as SupID:12345.)

In the United States and Canada, call 800 537 1813. Outside the United States and Canada, contact your local support center for assistance.

Submit a new issue at http://www.bmc.com/support_home.

Defining a work schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Creating a work schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Modifying work schedule information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Deleting a work schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Assigning and unassigning a holiday to or from a work schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Assigning a work schedule to a staff member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Unassigning a work schedule from a staff member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Contents

Preface 15

Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Available documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 1 Setting up the system 17

About groups and users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Permissions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Setting up a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19About the Group Actions menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Creating a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Modifying group information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Deleting a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Modifying the default permissions assigned to a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Copying permissions from one group to another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Setting up a staff member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26About the Staff Actions menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Creating a new staff member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Modifying staff member information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Deleting a staff member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Assigning or unassigning a staff member to or from a group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Assigning permissions to a staff member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Copying permissions from one staff member to another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Locking records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Defining a holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Creating a holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Modifying holiday information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Deleting a holiday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Contents 5

Using the Application Administration module. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Accessing the Application Administration window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Defining due date calculations (for upgrades only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

More information about due date calculations (for upgrades only) . . . . . . . . . . . 47Defining default decimal places setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Defining the default calendar setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Defining the Actions menu settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Adding user IDs to note fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Disabling the New button in popup windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Defining the PopChart port configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Defining the spell check settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Defining email conversation default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Defining due date calculations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Configuring a push service event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Creating a new push service event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Modifying a push service event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Starting/Stopping/Restarting the push service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Viewing license information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Uploading a new license file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Defining the urgency hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Defining time zone settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Defining the password settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Defining the URL for BMC Identity Manager for .NET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Defining the URL for Microsoft SMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Defining BMC CM and VNC Enterprise Edition settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Changing the internal system account (_SMSYSADMIN_) password. . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Preparing to change passwords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Using the _SMSYSADMIN_ Password tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Chapter 2 Setting up Service Level Agreements (SLAs) 67

About SLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Guidelines for defining and setting up SLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Guidelines for linking SLAs, services, and organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Customization tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Defining SLA services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Creating a service record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Creating a copy of a services record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Modifying service information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Deleting a service record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Defining SLA organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Creating an organization record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Creating a copy of an organization record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Modifying organization information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Deleting an organization record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Setting up SLA rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Creating an SLA rules record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Creating SLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Entering SLA information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Entering SLA criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Entering SLA goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Adding SLA milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Working with details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 906 Administrators Guide

Creating a copy of an SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Modifying SLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Adding an incident detail record to an SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Adding a problems detail record to an SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Adding a change request detail record to an SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Adding an OLA or UC detail record to an SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Adding a service or organization detail record to an SLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Deleting a detail record from an SLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Deleting an SLA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Adding, linking, or unlinking services, organizations, and SLAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Creating a link record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Linking a record to a module. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Unlinking a record from a module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Chapter 3 Setting up list options 101

Guidelines for setting up list options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Setting up a status list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Creating a status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Creating a copy of a status record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Modifying status information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Deleting a status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Setting up a priority list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Priority Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Notification process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Creating a priority record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Modifying priority information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Deleting a priority record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Setting up an incident types list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112About the Incident Type window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112About the Work Order Generator window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114About the Default Work Order window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Creating an incident type record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Modifying incident type information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Deleting an incident type record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Segregating data using incident types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Preliminary guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Setting up incident types for segregating data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Setting up a category list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Creating a category record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Creating a copy of a category record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Modifying category information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Deleting a category record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Setting up category type list options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Creating a category type record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Creating a copy of a category type record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Modifying category type information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Deleting a category type record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Setting up a quick ticket templates list option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Contents 7

About the Quick Ticket Template Assign To menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135About the Select from Quick Tickets window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Creating a quick ticket template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Creating a copy of a quick ticket template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Modifying quick ticket information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Deleting a quick ticket template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Setting up a support actions list option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Support actions overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142About the Support Action window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Creating a support action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Creating a copy of a support action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Modifying support action information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Deleting a support action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Setting up a standard description list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Creating a standard description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Modifying standard description information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Deleting a standard description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Adding a standard resolution to a standard description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Deleting a standard resolution associated with a standard description . . . . . . . 151

Setting up a CI action list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Creating a CI action record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Creating a copy of a CI action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Modifying CI action information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Deleting a CI action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155Deleting an inventory history record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Setting up a purchase action list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Creating a purchase actions record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Creating a copy of a purchase actions record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Modifying purchase actions information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Deleting a purchase action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Deleting a purchasing history record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Setting up a purchase status list option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Creating a purchase status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Creating a copy of a purchase status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Modifying purchase status information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Deleting a purchase status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Deleting a details record associated with a purchase status record . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Setting up an impact list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Creating an impact record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Modifying impact information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Deleting an impact record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Setting up an urgency list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Creating an urgency record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Modifying urgency information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Deleting an urgency record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Setting up a change management status list option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Creating a change management status record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Creating a copy of a change management status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Modifying change management status information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Deleting a change management status record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1738 Administrators Guide

Chapter 4 Setting up the Knowledge Search system 175

How the Knowledge Search system works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Indexing guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Configuring Knowledge Search. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Accessing the Knowledge Search Settings window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Defining the indexing settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Defining search fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Defining display fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Indexing external documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Adding the Knowledge Search toolbar button to a form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Chapter 5 Customizing BMC Service Desk Express 189

Customization tools overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Customizable form view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Customization Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Default forms and navigator bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Group selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Customizing a form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Creating and customizing a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Keyboard use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Creating dynamic forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Using the ToolBar window (Forms) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Style and Objects toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Display Details check box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Insert options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Using Property windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Body Property window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Condition Builder window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Customized Toolbar Button Property window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Field Properties window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Grid Properties window (details) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Image Properties window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Label Property window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Line Property window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Menu Properties window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Popup Customization window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Section Properties window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Separator Box Property window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Tabs of [Form Name] window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Toolbar Button Property window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Using the Customization wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219About the Customization Wizard window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Creating and customizing a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Modifying a form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Deleting a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Assigning a customized form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228Unassigning a customized form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Assigning a customized form as the default view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Contents 9

Customizing a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Creating a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Modifying a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Deleting a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Assigning a navigator bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238Unassigning or re-assigning a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Customizing a pop-up window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240About the GridProperties window (pop-up). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Modifying a pop-up window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242Assigning a pop-up window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245Unassigning a pop-up window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Customizing a print preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Style and Objects toolbar (print preview). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Insert options (print preview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Using Property windows (print preview). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Field Property window (print preview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Label Property window (print preview) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Resetting a print preview default . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Modifying validated fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259Miscellaneous customizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Defining the tree view for a Select from Categories window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Defining the tree view for a Select from Services window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Retiring groups and users (marking as inactive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 6 Setting up the Dashboard 265

Creating a dashboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266Defining global and group rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Defining sharing rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Viewing the sharing status for dashboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Adding QuickViews to a dashboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Chapter 7 Setting up the Collaborative Workspace 271

Assigning topic creation rights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Assigning topic access rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Chapter 8 Setting up the Preventive Maintenance features 275

Defining a Preventive Maintenance action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Adding an attachment to an action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Removing an attachment from an action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Adding a maintenance schedule to an action record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Chapter 9 Using Surveyor 281

Before you begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282How surveys are selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Defining survey settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Defining a survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Creating a survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28710 Administrators Guide

Defining survey questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Linking a question to a survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295Linking a survey to a module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Defining an on demand survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297Viewing activated survey activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298Viewing answered surveys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299Viewing answered survey questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Marking a survey as inactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302A use-case scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Chapter 10 Introducing the System Checker 303

Verification overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304Using the System Checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

System Checker interface overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Verification Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Verification Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Verification Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Starting Checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308Starting a verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309Viewing verification results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Verification Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316Viewing result details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317Upgrade failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Managing verification results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319Opening verification files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319Adding comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321Deleting verification results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321Emailing results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Chapter 11 Configuring Program Launcher 323

Customizing security settings for Internet Explorer 7.0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324Creating a program launcher link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Adding program launcher links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Adding a program launcher link to a navigation bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326Adding a program launcher link to a form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327Launching a batch file with parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328Determining field numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Appendix A Troubleshooting 331

Troubleshooting error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332Using the System Message Monitor window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Appendix B Using the Configuration Wizard 337

Accessing and logging in to the Configuration Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338Changing the default user name and password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339Managing staff records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Creating and assigning a staff record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340Contents 11

Modifying staff information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341Deleting a staff record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341Defining a login ID and password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Managing groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Creating a group record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Modifying group information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343Deleting a group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Managing categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345Creating a category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345Modifying a user-defined category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347Removing a user-defined category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Managing actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348Creating an action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348Modifying a user-defined action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349Deleting a user-defined action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Managing statuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350Creating a status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351Modifying a user-defined status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351Deleting a user-defined status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Managing quick tickets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352Creating a quick ticket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353Modifying a user-defined quick ticket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354Deleting a user-defined quick ticket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Managing priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355Creating an priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355Modifying a user-defined priority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356Deleting a user-defined priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Exiting or logging out of the Configuration Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Appendix C Using the Reports Configuration Utility 359

Using Crystal Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360Installing Crystal Reports Professional. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360Uploading reports to the server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361Setting the Auto Grow feature in Crystal Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Using the Reports Configuration utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362Before you begin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362Accessing the Report Configuration utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363Report Configuration window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Creating a report link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Editing report titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365Editing report parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366Specifying report access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367Moving a report link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369Copying a report link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369Deleting a report link. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370Finding reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

Working with report categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371Creating a report category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372Renaming a report category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37312 Administrators Guide

Deleting a report category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374Working with the navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

Associating a report with a navigator bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374Removing a report association from a navigator bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Exiting the Report Configuration utility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Appendix D Knowledge Search query format information 377

Supported query formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378Unsupported query formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Appendix E Setting up Push Service for Telephony Integration 381

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382How Push Service works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383Push Service preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Selecting how to invoking a screen pop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386Push Service configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Enabling the Push Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387Setting up Push Service in BMC Service Desk Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387Changing the user identifier data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389Setting the IP address for the Push Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389Changing the Push Service port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389Creating a virtual directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389Enabling COM access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390Modifying scripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Push Service testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392Testing Push Service configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392Testing the web configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393Troubleshooting configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Glossary 395

Index 411Contents 13

14 Administrators Guide

BMC Service Desk Express Release Notes These documents (ReleaseNotes.pdf and ReleaseNotes.htm) contain important information about the current BMC Service Desk Express software release: new features,

Administratorsany pre-installation requirements, known issues, resolved issues, and documentation.

BMC Service Desk Express Quick Install Guide

This guide lists requirements for hardware and software, provides procedures to quickly

AdministratorsPreface

The BMC Service Desk Express Administrators Guide identifies what System Administrators must do to configure the BMC Service Desk Express application. This guide assumes you have a working knowledge of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer.

AudienceThis guide is written for System Administrators.

Available documentationThe following table lists the documentation available for BMC Service Desk Express.

Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format is available on the product installation CD, on the Customer Support website (http://www.bmc.com/support_home), or both.

You can access product Help by clicking on Help links.

You can install the documentation at the same time that the application is installed. Your BMC Service Desk Express CD-ROM contains the documentation in PDF format that you can view or print.

Title Description AudiencePreface 15

install the BMC Service Desk Express software, and lists references to other documents for administrator tasks.

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6BMC Service Desk Express Installation Guide

This guide lists the hardware and software prerequisites and explains how to install the application and configure its components.

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Administrators Guide

This guide addresses how to plan for the BMC Service Desk Express application; configure and maintain list options, users and groups; set up service level agreements and knowledge search parameters; and import client data using the BMC Service Desk Express Active Directory Synchronization Configuration Wizard.

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Users Guide This guide describes how to create and manage incidents, work orders, and whiteboards; set up inventory; and manage purchase requests (for customers with the full version of BMC Service Desk Express only).

Everyone

BMC Service Desk Express Business Rules Administrators Guide

This guide describes setting up, configuring, and managing business rules.

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Client Side Business Rules Administrators Guide

This guide describes setting up, configuring, and managing client side business rules.

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Change Management Users Guide

This guide describes how to create, modify, and track change and problem requests using Change Management.

Everyone

BMC Self Service Desk Express and Client Services Administrators Guide

This guide describes how to customize and use the Self Service Desk or Client Services module (Client Services is for customers using the full version of BMC Service Desk Express only).

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Database Administrators Guide

This guide describes how to use the Database Administration utility and provides schematic views of the main components in the database.

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Integration Engine Administrators Guide

This guide addresses how to configure and maintain integration packages and steps that transfer data from one provider to another.

Administrators

BMC Service Desk Express Help The Help provides procedural information to assist you in completing tasks, and background and overview information to help you improve your understanding of the concepts and structures of BMC Service Desk Express. The Help is automatically installed as part of the BMC Service Desk Express application.

Everyone

Title Description Audience16 Administrators Guide

selected group are available.Chapter

1 Setting up the systemThe System Administration header on the navigator bar is where a BMC Service Desk Express System Administrator begins to configure a new installation for an organization. After the installation, log in as the System Administrator using the default login ID (administrator) and password (welcome) to create groups and login IDs for users who need access to BMC Service Desk Express. You are prompted to change your password when you log in.

The following topics are provided:! About groups and users (page 18)! Setting up a group (page 19)! Setting up a staff member (page 26)! Locking records (page 35)! Defining a holiday (page 38)! Defining a work schedule (page 40)! Using the Application Administration module (page 45)! Changing the internal system account (_SMSYSADMIN_) password (page 63)

NOTE The ability to use System Administration features is based on assigned login privileges. If you log in as a System Administrator, all features are available. If you log in as a Group Administrator, only Group Administration privileges for a Chapter 1 Setting up the system 17

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6About groups and usersGroup members are support staff members who run the help desk, managers who monitor the performance of a help desk, and administrative staff who require reports or other information stored in the BMC Service Desk Express database. Each time you log in to BMC Service Desk Express, you enter the system as a member of a group. The System Administrator defines the access rights or permissions of a group when initially setting up the user.

These rights or permissions:

! Provide access to the BMC Service Desk Express application.

! Identify to which group a staff member belongs.

! Control how windows appear.

! Control the ability to change or customize windows (requires Administrator privileges).

Groups are the basic structural element of your system and serve as the foundation upon which many other system features depend. Here are some of the features that depend on groups:

! Staff members must be assigned to at least one group to log in to the system.

! Permissions are granted based on groups.

! Incidents and work orders can be assigned to groups.

To begin using BMC Service Desk Express, you must create at least one group and assign each staff member to that group. The real strength of your system, however, is that you can create any number of groups to organize staff members, and to grant access rights based on the functions performed by each group. Users can be members of more than one group and assigned different permissions based on their login privileges.

PermissionsWhen you create a group, BMC Service Desk Express immediately assigns a set of default permissions. For groups, it sets permissions for all staff members of the group to access and modify all forms.

Permissions operate within a hierarchy:

! A System Administrator receives full access privileges and is responsible for assigning permissions to each group.

! Group permissions are inherited by all staff members of a group, including the Group Administrators.

! Staff member permissions can be individually assigned within a particular group by a System Administrator.18 Administrators Guide

Setting up a groupNOTE Group Administrators can view an individuals permissions if they belong to the same group. They can also modify an individuals information (except the staff members login ID).

You can only grant permissions or privileges that belong to you. When BMC Service Desk Express is installed, a System Administrator with the login ID of MAGIC and the password of magic is set up in the system with all privileges and permissions. You might want to change the password for the System Administrator to maintain system security.

Setting up a groupYou can create, modify, or delete a group.

About the Group Actions menuThe Group Actions menu contains the following command:

! Set Group Permissions: Click this command to open the Permissions window to select the permissions you want to assign to the current group. Group permissions determine a users highest level of access. Although users can have individual permissions, they cannot exceed that of their group.

Creating a groupCreating a group is a two-part process:

Step 1 Create the group.

Step 2 Assign permissions to the group. You can assign the default permissions, modify these permissions for a group, or copy permissions from another group when multiple groups are created.

After a group is created and permissions are assigned, you can assign staff members to the group. By default, a staff member assumes the same privileges as the group to which it belongs unless specified otherwise.Chapter 1 Setting up the system 19

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6! To create a group1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Groups.

The Group window appears.

Figure 1-1: Group window

2 Enter the following required information:

a Group IDType a unique alphanumeric identifier for the new group.

NOTE Due to Oracle restrictions, group IDs must be in the US7ASCII character set. Please consult the Oracle documentation for details about restrictions on login names, which would apply to both Staff and Group names.

b LocationType the physical location of the current group.

c Parent GroupTo designate the current group as a child to a parent group, click the drop-down list to select the appropriate group.

IMPORTANT BMC Service Desk Express does not allow you to create group hierarchies. A group already designated as a child cannot be designated as a parent when creating a new group.

d CommentsType any comments you want to save with the current group record (for example, information about how this group is set up, about permissions, and so on).

3 On the toolbar, click Save.

The Staff tab is used to track staff members assigned to the current group. 20 Administrators Guide

Setting up a group4 Right-click to access a menu and do one or more of the following tasks:

! Click Add New Staff to Group. See Creating a new staff member on page 27.

! Click Assign Staff to Group. See Assigning or unassigning a staff member to or from a group on page 30.

! Click Unassign Staff from Group. See Assigning or unassigning a staff member to or from a group on page 30.

5 Permissions must also be assigned to this group. See Modifying the default permissions assigned to a group on page 23 or Copying permissions from one group to another on page 25.

Modifying group informationWhen a group is created, group information can be modified.

! To modify group information1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Groups.


2 On the toolbar, click Find.

The Select From Groups window appears.

3 Double-click the group record you want to modify.

The Group window reappears and fills with information from the selected group.

4 Except for the Group ID, you can modify any group information you want. Do one of the following tasks:

To Then

Change location and comments information

Add, remove, or replace text as appropriate.

Modify permissions 1 On the menu bar, click Actions, then Set Group Permissions. The Permissions window appears.

2 See Modifying the default permissions assigned to a group on page 23 or Copying permissions from one group to another on page 25.

Add a new staff member to the group (same as creating a staff member)

1 Click the Staff tab. 2 Right-click the details (tab) area and select Add New Staff to

Group. The Staff window appears. 3 See Creating a new staff member on page 27.Chapter 1 Setting up the system 21

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6Deleting a groupIf the Delete toolbar button is unavailable, you do not have rights to delete records. Check with your System Administrator.

WARNING BMC does not recommend deleting groups. Deleting a group adversely affects reporting and historical data. As a best practice, mark the record as inactive to remove it from daily use. Retiring a record can be accomplished by adding an Inactive field to the Group window. Do this when customizing the system. See Customizing BMC Service Desk Express on page 189 for more details. Only a System Administrator should be able to mark a group record as inactive.

Before you delete a group, be sure that each member of that group belongs to another group. If you do not reassign staff members, the group designation is removed from the staff record. This could mean that a staff member might not be able to log in to the BMC Service Desk Express application.

! To delete a group1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Groups.




3 Double-click the group you want to delete.


Assign a staff member 1 Click the Staff tab.

Unassign a staff member 1 Click the Staff tab. 2 Click More Actions, and Unassign Staff to Group.

The Select Staff window appears.3 Select the staff to assign to the group.

Note: You can use SHIFT and click to select multiple adjacent staff members, or use CONTROL and click to select staff members that are not adjacent.

4 Click Unassign. The Select Staff window closes, and the list in the Staff tab is updated.

To Then22 Administrators Guide

Setting up a group4 On the toolbar, click Delete.

A confirmation window appears.

5 Click Yes.

The fields on the Group window are cleared indicating the group is deleted from the database.

Modifying the default permissions assigned to a groupBy default, a group is assigned global permissions (all the check boxes are selected) until they are changed by the System Administrator.

NOTE BMC does not recommend that the same default global permissions assigned to the System Administrator be allowed to remain for a group and its assigned group members. These defaults must be changed to enforce best practices security for your application.

! To modify the default permissions assigned to a group1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Groups.




3 Double-click the group that contains the permissions you want to modify.


4 On the menu bar, click Actions, then Set Group Permissions. The Permissions window appears.

NOTE Group permissions determine a users highest level of access. Although users can have individual permissions, they cannot exceed that of their group.

5 Do one of the following tasks:

! To keep the default permissions assigned by the system, click OK to exit the Permissions window.

! To customize the permissions for the current group, go to step 6.

! To copy permissions from one group to another (only applicable if multiple groups are created), see Copying permissions from one group to another on page 25.Chapter 1 Setting up the system 23

BMC Service Desk Express 9.66 On the Permissions window, do any of the following tasks:

Task Description

VIEW This column lists the names of the base views or forms to which the group has access, and to which the permissions apply.

SELECT This column defines access and view privileges for the forms listed in the View column. By default, a group or staff member can access and view all the available forms.Clear the check boxes for the forms you do not want a group or group member to be able to access and view.

INSERT This column defines create privileges for the forms listed in the View column. Clear the check boxes for the forms for which you do not want a group or group member to be able to create records in the database.

UPDATE This column defines modify privileges for the forms listed in the View column.Clear the check boxes for the forms for which you do not want a group or group member to be able to modify information in the database.

DELETE This column defines delete privileges for the forms listed in the View column.Clear the check boxes for the forms for which you do not want a group or group member to be able to delete from the database.

Can close Work Orders This option is selected by default and allows a group or group member to close work orders.If you deselect the Can close Work Orders option, a group or group member cannot close work orders.

Can close Incidents This option is selected by default and is related specifically to incidents with open work orders attached. Clear this check box to restrict a group or group member from using the Close command on an Actions menu to close an incident.

Allow the Incident to be closed without warning

If you selected the Can close Incidents check box, you can select this option to grant a group or group member the ability to close an incident with assigned open work orders without generating a system warning.

Display a warning message but allow the Incident to be closed

If you selected the Can close Incidents check box, you can select this option to grant a group or group member the ability to close an incident with assigned open work orders by generating a system warning. 24 Administrators Guide

Setting up a group7 Click Apply.

Most check boxes on the window appear dimmed.

8 Click OK.

After you create a group and modify permissions, create, add, and assign staff members to the group. All users must be a member of at least one group before they can use the BMC Service Desk Express application.

Copying permissions from one group to anotherIf you are setting up a large number of groups, it might take some time to define permissions for each group. To expedite this process, BMC Service Desk Express allows you to copy permissions from one group to another.

! To copy permissions from one group to another1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Groups.




3 Double-click the group to which you want to copy permissions.


4 On the Actions menu, click Set Group Permissions.

5 Click Copy Permissions.


6 Double-click the group that contains the permissions you want to copy.

The Permissions window reappears and refreshes with the permissions settings from the selected group. The Copied From read-only field fills with the name of the group from which the permissions were copied.

7 Click OK to save these new permissions.

This message appears: Do you want to cascade the new permissions to all users in this group?

Do not allow the Incident to be closed

If you selected the Can close Incidents check box, you can select this option to restrict a group or group member from closing a work order attached to an incident.

Note: The work order record only closes when you select the Can close Work Orders check box.

Apply permissions to all group members

Select this check box to assign all members of the current group the privileges defined on the current Permissions window.

Task DescriptionChapter 1 Setting up the system 25

BMC Service Desk Express 9.68 Click Yes.

NOTE Click No to cancel the copy process.

9 Click OK to close the Permissions window.

Setting up a staff memberEach user requiring access to the BMC Service Desk Express application must be set up in the system and assigned to at least one group.

Creating a staff member is a two-part process:

! Create the staff member

! Assign the staff member to a group

By default, a staff member assumes the same privileges as its group unless specified otherwise. Also, a work schedule (working hours, shifts) can be assigned to a staff member who identifies the specific time of day when a staff member is available to receive assigned incidents and work orders.

About the Staff Actions menuThe Staff Actions menu contains the following commands:

! Set Staff PermissionsClick this command to open the Permissions window and select the appropriate permissions for the current staff member. A staff member must be assigned to a group. By default, a staff member inherits the permissions of the group to which they are assigned. These permissions can then be modified as appropriate. Although users can have individual permissions, they cannot exceed that of their group.

! Staff AvailabilityClick this command to open the Staff Availability window and change the password and identify when a staff member is out of the office.26 Administrators Guide

Setting up a staff memberCreating a new staff member

! To create a new staff member1 From the System Administration header area on the navigator bar, click Staff.

The Staff window appears.

Figure 1-2: Staff window

2 Enter the following required information:

a Login IDType a unique alphanumeric identifier for the staff member.

NOTE Due to Oracle restrictions, login IDs for staff members must be in the US7ASCII character set. Please consult the Oracle documentation for details about restrictions on login names, which would apply to both Staff and Group names.

b First NameType the first name of the staff member.

c Last NameType the last name of the staff member.

3 Enter the following optional information:

a PhoneType the telephone number for the staff member.

b Ext.Type the extension for the staff member.

c EmployerType the employer for the staff member.

d Job FunctionClick the button next to this field to select a job title for the staff member.

e # of Incidents AssignedThis read-only field is used to track the number of incidents assigned to the current staff member.Chapter 1 Setting up the system 27

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6f Password Never ExpiresBy default this check box is not selected. Select this check box if you want the passwords to have an expiration date.

g Work ScheduleClick the drop-down list to select the appropriate work schedule for the current staff member.

h Time ZoneClick the drop-down list to select the appropriate time zone in which the current staff member is located.

i FaxType the fax number for the staff member.

j Email AddressType the appropriate email address.

IMPORTANT If your system is not provided by BMC, then the following fields on the Staff form are disabled: Login ID, First Name, Last Name, E-mail Address, and Phone. The Password Expires check box is also disabled. The Copy and Delete buttons is also disabled.


The Groups tab is used to assign a staff member to a group and to view the groups to which a staff member is assigned. For more information, see Assigning or unassigning a staff member to or from a group on page 30 and Assigning permissions to a staff member on page 31.

Modifying staff member information

! To modify staff member information1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Staff.



The Select Staff window appears.

3 Double-click the staff record you want to modify.

The Staff window reappears and fills with information from the selected staff record.

4 Do one or more of the following tasks:

To Then

Change information on the Staff window

Add, remove, or replace text as appropriate.

Modify permissions 1 On the Actions menu, click Set Staff Permissions. The Permissions window appears.

2 See Assigning permissions to a staff member on page 31 or Copying permissions from one staff member to another on page 33.28 Administrators Guide

Setting up a staff memberWARNING BMC recommends that you verify all information is accurate before modifying any staff member information or change a password for a staff member. If you enter incorrect information in the Staff form, you could cause other features in BMC Service Desk Express to function incorrectly.


Set staff availability 1 Click My Profile. The Staff Profile window appears.2 See the staff availability section in the BMC Service Desk

Express Users Guide.Change a password for a staff member

1 Click My Profile. The Staff Profile window appears.2 Click Change Password. The Change Password for User

window appears.3 See the changing passwords section in the BMC Service Desk

Express Users Guide.Assign or unassign a staff member to or from a group

1 Click the Staff tab. 2 Click More Actions, and select Assign Groups to Staff or

Unassign Staff from Group.The Select from Groups window appears.

3 Select the group to assign to the staff.

Note: You can use SHIFT and click to select multiple adjacent groups, or use CONTROL and click to select groups that are not adjacent.

4 Click Assign. The Select from Groups window closes, and the list in the Groups tab is updated.

To ThenChapter 1 Setting up the system 29

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6Deleting a staff memberIf the Delete toolbar button is unavailable, you do not have rights to delete records. Check with your System Administrator.

WARNING Before you delete a staff member, be sure that any incidents, work orders, or whiteboards assigned to the staff member are reassigned. If not, these entities are automatically reassigned to the group to which the staff member belongs.

Deleting a staff record adversely affects reporting and historical data. As a best practice, mark the record as inactive to remove it from daily use. Retiring a record can be accomplished by adding an Inactive field to the Staff window. This is done when customizing the system. For more information, see Customizing BMC Service Desk Express on page 189.

! To delete a staff member1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Staff.



The Select Staff window appears.

3 Double-click the staff record you want to delete.


4 On the toolbar, click Delete.

A confirmation window appears.

5 Click Yes.

The fields on the Staff window are cleared indicating the staff record is deleted from the database.

Assigning or unassigning a staff member to or from a group

! To assign or unassign a staff member to or from a group1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Staff.



The Select From Staff window appears.

3 Double-click the staff record you want to assign to or unassign from a group.

The Staff window reappears and fills with information from the selected staff record.30 Administrators Guide

Setting up a staff member4 From the details (tabs) area, right-click from the background area to access a context menu, then do one of the following tasks:

! To assign a staff member to a group, then click Assign Staff to Group. The Select From Groups window appears.

! To unassign a staff member from a group, then click Unassign Staff from Group. The Select From Groups window appears.

5 Double-click the group you want to assign to or unassign from a staff member.

! If you selected to assign a staff member to a group, then the Staff window reappears. A group record is created and added to the Groups tab.

! If you selected to unassign a staff member from a group, then the Staff window reappears. The group record is deleted from the Groups tab.

6 On the toolbar on the Staff window, click Save.

Assigning permissions to a staff memberStaff member permissions can be assigned or modified for an individual staff member after the staff member is assigned to a group.

When assigning permissions for a staff member, you must assign unique permissions to the System Administrator or Group Administrator, or both.

NOTE When you change permissions for a staff member, that individual must be informed.

WARNING BMC recommends that you verify all information is accurate before assigning permissions to a staff member. If you enter incorrect information, this could cause other features in BMC Service Desk Express to function incorrectly.

! To assign permissions to a staff member1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Staff.




3 Double-click the staff record to which you want to assign permissions.


4 On the Actions menu, click Set Staff Permissions.

The Select From Staff window reappears.Chapter 1 Setting up the system 31

BMC Service Desk Express 9.65 Double-click the staff record to which you want to assign permissions. This second selection is necessary in case a staff member is assigned to more than one group.

The Permissions window appears.

Figure 1-3: Permissions window

6 Do one of the following tasks:

! To keep the default permissions assigned by the system, click OK to exit the Permissions window.

! To customize the permissions for this group, go to step 7.

! To copy permissions from one staff member to another, see Copying permissions from one staff member to another on page 33.

7 From the SELECT column, clear the check boxes for the forms you do not want a staff member to be able to view or access.

8 From the INSERT column, clear the check boxes for the forms you do not want a staff member to be able to create and add records to the database.

9 From the UPDATE column, clear the check boxes for the forms for which you do not want a staff member to be able to modify information in the database.

10 From the DELETE column, clear the check boxes for the forms you do not want a staff member to be able to delete from the database.

11 Select the System Administrator check box to designate the current staff member as the System Administrator.32 Administrators Guide

Setting up a staff member12 The Details button is available only when the System Administrator check box is selected. If applicable, click this button.

The User Profile window appears.

Figure 1-4: User profile window

By default, all check boxes are selected which means the ability to create, modify, and delete staff and group records is reserved for the System Administrator.

a Clear any privileges you want to restrict for the System Administrator.

b Click OK to exit the User Profile window.

13 Select the Group Administrator check box to designate the current staff member as the Group Administrator if applicable.

14 Clear the Can close Incidents check box to restrict a group or group member from using the Close command on an Actions menu to close an incident.

15 Clear the Can close Work Orders check box to restrict a group or group member from using the Close command on an Actions menu to close a work order.

16 Select the Can Save On Assign check box to enable a staff member to automatically save an incident when the Assign To menu is used.

17 Click Apply.

Most check boxes on the window appear dimmed.

18 Click OK to exit the Permissions window.

19 On the toolbar on the Staff window, click Save.

Copying permissions from one staff member to anotherIf you are setting up a large number of groups, it might take some time to define permissions for each group. To expedite this process, BMC Service Desk Express offers you the flexibility of copying permissions from one staff member to another.

! To copy permissions from one staff member to another1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Staff.


2 On the toolbar, click Find. Chapter 1 Setting up the system 33

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6The Select From Staff window appears.

3 Double-click the appropriate staff record.


4 On the Actions menu, click Set Staff Permissions.

The Select From Staff window reappears.

5 Double-click the appropriate staff record. This second selection is necessary in case a staff member is assigned to more than one group.

The Permissions window appears.

6 Click Copy Permissions.


7 Double-click the staff record that contains the permissions you want to copy.

The Permissions window reappears and refreshes with the permissions settings from the selected staff member.

Figure 1-5: Permissions window (Copy permissions used)

The Copied From read-only field fills with the name of the staff member from whom the permissions were copied.

8 Click OK to save these permissions.

The Permissions window closes.34 Administrators Guide

Locking recordsLocking records By default, the BMC Service Desk Express application provides record locking for several modules. Record locking is designed to prevent multiple users from updating the same record at the same time. To change or add to these default settings, use the Lock Configuration module from the System Administration header on the navigator bar. The Lock Configuration module allows the System Administrator to:

! Select the modules for which record locking should be turned on.

! Identify the message variables to be included in the warning message that is generated when multiple users access the same form.

Two scenarios exist that cause a record to lock:

! When the same user attempts to open the same record

! When different users attempt to open the same record

When the same user attempts to open the same record, then this message appears: This record appears to be locked by you. Do you wish to unlock it? You can unlock the record by clicking OK from the message window.

When a user attempts to open a window already launched by another user, this message appears: Sequence [#] is in use by [Login ID]. This record will be opened in a READ ONLY mode. You cannot unlock the record from this message window. The Unlock Records module must be used to unlock the locked record. Chapter 1 Setting up the system 35

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6! To configure record locking1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Lock

Configuration.

The Lock Configuration window appears.

Figure 1-6: Lock Configuration window

The Module Name column identifies modules for which record locking is available.

2 In the Allow Locking column, select the check boxes for the modules for which you want to enable record locking. If a check box is not selected, record locking is disabled for that module.

3 The Display Name column identifies the form name you want to use in the warning message that is generated when a launched form is accessed by another user. In the Display Name column, click the appropriate drop-down list.

The Field Selection window appears. 36 Administrators Guide

Locking records4 Double-click to select the appropriate option.

The selected field fills in the Display Name field.

NOTE In most cases, the display name options include some type of ID number or record sequence number. For example, if you select the Client module, you might select the Client ID as the field name you want to appear in a message. When a second user opens a record already in use, you might see this message: Client ID JDoe is in use by Magic. The record will be opened in a READ ONLY mode. If you selected the record sequence number, you might see this message: Sequence 100 is in use by Magic. The record will be opened in a READ ONLY mode. If you select the sequence number, you must customize those forms to include a Sequence # field so it is easy to track the sequence number. Sequence numbers are assigned in the database and are not visible on a form unless you customize the form to include this field. You can select Sequence as the display name without customizing forms.

5 Click Save to save your selections and to exit the Lock Configuration window.

! To unlock a record1 From the System Administration header on the navigator bar, click Unlock

Records.

The Unlock Records window appears.

NOTE If no records are locked, this window is clear.

The Record column displays the sequence number for the locked record. In some cases, you must customize a form to include a sequence number field.

The User column displays the login ID of the staff member using the file at the time it was locked.

The Module column displays the name of the module for the locked record.

2 Highlight the record you want to unlock.

3 On the toolbar, click OK.

The selected record no longer appears in the list indicating it is no longer locked.

4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each record you want to unlock.

5 On the toolbar, click Cancel to exit the unlock records window.Chapter 1 Setting up the system 37

BMC Service Desk Express 9.6Defining a holidayYou can create or delete a holiday or modify any existing holiday information.

Creating a holidayHolidays identify specific days when an organization is closed for business. An organization can define its own list of holidays.

A holiday can also be associated wit

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