remedy

BMC® Remedy® Service Desk: Incident Management 7.0

User’s Guide

June 2006

Part No: 60845

Copyright 1991–2006 BMC Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

BMC, the BMC logo, all other BMC product or service names, BMC Software, the BMC Software logos, and all other BMC Software product or service names, are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective companies.

BMC Software, Inc., 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 or nondisclosure agreement for the product and the proprietary and restricted rights notices included in this documentation.

For license information about the OpenSource files used in the licensed program, please read OpenSourceLicenses.pdf. This file is in the \Doc folder of the distribution CD-ROM and in the documentation download portion of the product download page.

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 UNPUBLISHED -- RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.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.

Contacting Us

If you need technical support for this product, contact Customer Support by email at [email protected]. If you have comments or suggestions about this documentation, contact Information Development by email at [email protected].

This edition applies to version 7.0 of the licensed program.

BMC Software, Inc.www.bmc.com

www.bmc.com

mailto:[email protected]


Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Best Practice and New icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite. . . . . . . . . . . 10

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

BMC Remedy Incident Management 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

BMC Remedy Problem Management 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

BMC Service Level Management 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 1 Introducing BMC Remedy Incident Management 7.0 . . . . . . . 17

Installing and configuring Incident Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

What’s new in Incident Management 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Incident Management user roles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Requester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Support staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Incident manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Process flow and the life cycle of an incident request . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter 2 Using functions common to all ITSM applications . . . . . . . . . 27

Opening the main application console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Using BMC Remedy User client to open a main console . . . . . . . . . 28

Contents ! 3

BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management 7.0

Using a browser to open a main console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Working with the Overview console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Opening the Overview console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Using the Assigned Work table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Viewing and creating broadcast messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Using the navigation pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Using quick actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Auto-filling fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Working with records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Searching for records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Printing records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Modifying records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Working with relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Defining relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Copying relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Indicating impacted areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Modifying relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Performing quick actions on a relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Removing relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Adding work information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Creating reminders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Broadcasting messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Creating broadcast messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Viewing broadcasts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Sending pages and email messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Paging a person or on-call group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Sending email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Working with reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Generating a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Using qualifications to generate a report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Generating a report using saved qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Chapter 3 Working with the Requester console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Requester role. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Service Request Management users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Understanding the Requester console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

4 "Contents

User’s Guide

Opening the Requester console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Functional areas and tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Working with service requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Creating a service request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Filtering service requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Viewing a service request record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Modifying a service request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Searching for service requests by Request ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Printing a service request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Canceling a service request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Reopening a service request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Completing surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Viewing service requests with errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Working with service requests as the Request Master . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Opening a service request record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Reopening a service request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Viewing or adding work information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Viewing the event log and troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Service Request form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Working with the Solution database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Viewing broadcast messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Chapter 4 Working with Incident Management as support staff . . . . . . 103

Understanding the Support Console tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Setting application preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Recording a new incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Using the Process Flow Status wizard to record a new incident . . . . . . 109

Using a template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Using the decision tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Relating incidents as duplicates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Recording CI unavailability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Adding or modifying a customer profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Understanding assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Receiving notification of assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Working with assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Contents ! 5


Reassigning an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Working with tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Investigating and diagnosing an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Viewing an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Searching for a solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Recording the cost of working on an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Resolving an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Creating a problem investigation from an incident . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Creating infrastructure change from an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Reopening a resolved incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Closing an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Creating known errors and solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Creating a known error from an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Creating a solution database entry from an incident . . . . . . . . . . 150

Chapter 5 Working with Incident Management as a manager . . . . . . . 153

Understanding the Manager Console tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Managing assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Viewing unassigned incidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Assigning an incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Monitoring an incident's status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Reopening a closed incident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Understanding SLM calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Understanding notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Viewing the audit log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Chapter 6 Managing configuration items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Creating a CI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Creating a computer system CI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Creating a bulk inventory CI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Creating an inventory location CI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Managing inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Viewing inventory locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Relocating CIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Reserving and using inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

6 "Contents

User’s Guide

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Contents ! 7


8 "Contents

Preface

The BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management 7.0 User’s Guide describes how to use the BMC® Remedy® Incident Management application. Incident Management is one of five BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications.

The BMC® Remedy® IT Service Management Suite (BMC® Remedy® ITSM Suite) includes:

! The BMC® Remedy® Asset Management application.

! The BMC® Remedy® Change Management application.

! The BMC® Remedy® Service Desk solution (which includes the BMC® Remedy® Incident Management application and the BMC® Remedy® Problem Management application).

! The BMC® Service Level Management application.

The applications run in conjunction with the BMC® Remedy® Action Request System® platform (BMC® Remedy® AR System® platform) and share a common database. All five applications consume data from the BMC® Atrium® Configuration Management Database (CMDB) application.

Preface ! 9


Best Practice and New icons

Documentation for the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite contains two icons.

About the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite

There have been several updates to the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite since version 6.0.

Note the change to the BMC® Remedy® Help Desk application. BMC is now offering the BMC Remedy Service Desk solution, which contains the following applications:

! BMC Remedy Incident Management

! BMC Remedy Problem Management

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 is installed with Asset Management, Change Management, and Service Desk (including Incident Management and Problem Management). It stores information about configuration items and their relationships in an inheritance-based data model, and has the ability to reconcile data from different sources. BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 provides a “single source of truth” about your IT environment, enabling other BMC applications to manage CIs, predict the impact of configuration changes, and perform other Business Service Management (BSM) functions.

For more information, see the BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 User’s Guide.

Icon Description

The New icon identifies features or products that are new or enhanced with version 7.0.

The Best Practice icon highlights processes or approaches that BMC has identified as the most effective way to leverage certain features in the suite.

10 "Preface

User’s Guide

BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0

The BMC Remedy Asset Management application lets IT professionals track and manage enterprise configuration items (CIs)—and their changing relationships—throughout the entire CI life cycle. As part of the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite, Asset Management is integrated with BMC Remedy Service Desk (which contains the BMC Remedy Incident Management and BMC Remedy Problem Management applications), BMC Remedy Change Management, and BMC Service Level Management, and offers flexibility to support customized business processes.

For more information, see the BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0

Using ITIL-compatible best practices, BMC Remedy Change Management provides IT organizations with the ability to manage changes by enabling them to assess impact, risk, and resource requirements, and then create plans and automate approval functions for implementing changes. It provides scheduling and task assignment functionality, and reporting capabilities for reviewing performance and improving processes. Because Change Management is integrated with BMC Atrium CMDB, Change Management lets you relate changes to other records, such as configuration items (including services) and incidents.

For more information, see the BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

BMC Remedy Incident Management 7.0

BMC Remedy Incident Management is used to manage incidents. Incident management is reactive, and is typically initiated in response to a customer call or automated event. An example of an automated event might be an alert from a monitoring system, such as BMC® Service Impact Management (BMC® SIM). The primary goal of the incident management process, according to ITIL standards, is “to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible with minimum disruption to the business, thus ensuring that the best achievable levels of availability and service are maintained.”

About the BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite ! 11


An incident is any event that is not part of the standard operation of a service and that causes an interruption to or a reduction in the quality of that service. Normal service operation is the operation of services within the limits specified by Service Level Management (SLM).

For more information, see the BMC Service Desk: Incident Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

BMC Remedy Problem Management 7.0

BMC Remedy Problem Management is used to manage problem investigations, known errors, and solution database entries. Problem management can proactively prevent the occurrence of incidents, errors, and additional problems. A problem investigation helps an IT organization get to the root cause of incidents. It initiates actions that help to improve or correct the situation, preventing the incident from recurring.

After a problem investigation identifies the cause, this information can result in either a known error or a solution database entry. A known error is a problem that has been successfully diagnosed and for which a temporary work-around or permanent solution has been identified. A solution database entry contains information that might be required to provide or restore a service.

For more information, see the BMC Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

BMC Service Level Management 7.0

BMC Service Level Management enables a service provider, such as an IT organization, a customer support group, or an external service provider, to formally document the needs of its customers or lines of business using service level agreements, and provide the correct level of service to meet those needs.

Service Level Management also provides a means to review, enforce, and report on the level of service provided. It streamlines the most important task of all, which is the communication between a service provider and its customers. Multiple service targets can be defined and monitored, acting as a bridge between IT service support and IT operations. This enables costs to be controlled and helps to provide a consistent level of service in support of a key business service.

12 "Preface

User’s Guide

For more information, see the BMC Service Level Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

Audience

Incident Management is intended for the following IT professionals:

! IT support staff

! IT managers

The Requester console is intended for any IT user.

BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents

The following table lists the documentation available for the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite.

Unless otherwise noted, online documentation in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format is available on product installation CDs, on the Customer Support website (http://supportweb.remedy.com), or both. You can order printed documentation from [email protected].

Note: To access the support website, you must have a support contract.

You can access application Help by clicking on Help links within the application.

Title Document provides Audience Format

ITSM Configuration Quick Start Start with this reference card to quickly install and configure applications in the ITSM suite.

Administrators Print and PDF

BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Concepts

Concepts for using the Action Request System.


BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Installing

Procedures for installing the Action Request System.


BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Common Data Model Diagram

Hierarchical diagram of all classes in the CDM, including unique attributes and applicable relationships.

Administrators PDF

Audience ! 13

http://supportweb.remedy.com



BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Common Data Model Help

Description and details of superclasses, subclasses, attributes, and relationships for each class.

Administrators HTML

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Concepts and Best Practices Guide

Information about CMDB concepts and best practices for planning your BMC Atrium CMDB implementation.

Executives and administrators

Print and PDF

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Developer’s Reference Guide

Information about creating API programs, C and Web Services API functions and data structures, and a list of error messages.

Administrators and programmers

PDF

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Help Help for using and configuring BMC Atrium CMDB.

Users and administrators

Product Help

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

Information about installing and configuring BMC Atrium CMDB, including permissions, class definitions, reconciliation, and federation.


BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Javadoc API Help

Information about Java classes, methods, and variables that integrate with BMC Atrium CMDB.

Programmers HTML

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Master Index

Combined index of all books. Everyone Print and PDF

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Release Notes

Information about new features and known issues.

Everyone Print and PDF

BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 User’s Guide

Information about using BMC Atrium CMDB, including searching for CIs and relationships, launching federated data, reporting, and running reconciliation jobs.

Users Print and PDF

BMC Remedy 7.0 Approval Server Guide for Users and Administrators

Topics on installation and configuration of the Approval Server, how to use the Approval Server, and understanding the approval workflow.

Users and administrators

Print and PDF

BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide

Procedures for configuring the BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications.



14 "Preface

User’s Guide

BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Installation Guide

Procedures for installing the BMC Remedy IT Service Management applications and solutions: BMC Remedy Service Desk solution (BMC Remedy Incident Management and BMC Remedy Problem Management), BMC Remedy Change Management, and BMC Remedy Asset Management.


BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0 Help

Help for using BMC Remedy Asset Management.

Everyone Product Help

BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0 Release Notes

Information about known issues in each release of BMC Remedy Asset Management. Also provides a list of new features included with the application.


BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0 User’s Guide

Procedures for using the BMC Remedy Asset Management application; includes new features and overview.


BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 Help

Help for using BMC Remedy Change Management.


BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 Release Notes

Information about known issues in each release of BMC Remedy Change Management. Also provides a list of new features included with the application.


BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 User’s Guide

Procedures for using the BMC Remedy Change Management application; includes new features and overview.


BMC Remedy Service Desk 7.0 Release Notes

Information about known issues in each release of BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management and BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management. Also provides a list of new features included with the application.


BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management 7.0 Help

Help for using BMC Remedy Incident Management.


BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management 7.0 User’s Guide

Procedures for using the BMC Remedy Service Desk: Incident Management application; includes new features and overview.



BMC Remedy IT Service Management Suite documents ! 15


BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 Help

Help for using BMC Remedy Problem Management.


BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 User’s Guide

Procedures for using the BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management application; includes new features and overview.


BMC Service Level Management 7.0 Configuration Guide

Procedures for configuring the BMC Service Level Management application.


BMC Service Level Management 7.0 Configuration Help

Help for configuring the BMC Service Level Management application.

Administrators Product Help

BMC Service Level Management 7.0 Installation Guide

Procedures for installing the BMC Service Level Management application.


BMC Service Level Management 7.0 Release Notes

Information about known issues in each release of BMC Service Level Management. Also provides a list of new features included with the application.

Everyone PDF

BMC Service Level Management 7.0 User Help

Help for using the BMC Service Level Management application.


BMC Service Level Management 7.0 User’s Guide

Procedures for using the BMC Service Level Management application; includes new features and overview.


BMC Remedy 7.0 Task Management Administrator’s Guide

Procedures to configure Task Management.

Note: This guide also includes steps to configure seamless authentication between BMC Remedy Change Management and the other components of BMC Remedy Change and Configuration Management (CCM).



16 "Preface

Chapter

1
Introducing BMC Remedy Incident Management 7.0
The Service Desk: Incident Management application is used to manage incidents. Incident management is reactive, and is typically initiated in response to a customer call. The primary goal of the incident management process, according to ITIL standards, is “to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible with minimum disruption to the business, thus ensuring that the best achievable levels of availability and service are maintained.”

An incident is any event that is not part of the standard operation of a service and that causes an interruption to or a reduction in the quality of that service. Normal service operation is the operation of services within the limits specified by the service target.

The following topics are provided:

! Installing and configuring Incident Management (page 18)

! What’s new in Incident Management 7.0 (page 18)

! Incident Management user roles (page 21)

! Process flow and the life cycle of an incident request (page 24)

Introducing BMC Remedy Incident Management 7.0 ! 17


Installing and configuring Incident Management

Your administrator installs and configures Incident Management. For details, see:

! BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Installation Guide

! BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide

What’s new in Incident Management 7.0

The new features in this release of Incident Management include:

! Improved ITIL conformance—A new process flow tool helps you follow ITIL processes for incident management.

! Enhanced user interface—The user interface is now more consistent with other BMC applications. To help speed use of the application, forms and dialog boxes have been streamlined, and Quick Action accelerators have been added.

! Role-based consoles—Support staff, managers, and requesters have separate consoles. The Requester console provides customer access.

! Permission model—Permissions and functional roles have been enhanced to provide greater flexibility in setting up user access. For details, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

! Task management—You can assign tasks to one or more people without changing the incident assignment. For previous users of Incident Management, this replaces the work log action feature. Now you can assign and view tasks without going into the work log.

! Direct view into CMDB—This allows you to manage configuration items (CIs) from Incident Management.

! Cost tracking—The cost for each incident can be tracked as the incident moves between support groups for diagnosis, resolution, and closure, based on either flat-rate or time-based costs.

18 "Chapter 1—Introducing BMC Remedy Incident Management 7.0

User’s Guide

! Reporting—Incident Management now includes the reports described in the following table.

! Service Level Management—If Service Level Management is installed, the Incident form displays the status of service targets.

! Enhanced audit log—You can now filter the audit log, for example, to see only date field audit records or assignment changes.

! Terminology changes—You can find terminology changes in the following table.

Report Description

Group Assignment to Incidents This report lists incidents and their assigned support groups for a specified date range.

Open Incident volume by Assignee This bar chart displays the number of open incidents for each assignee.

Incidents by activity times This report lists all open incidents and the amount of time since the reported date.

Resolved and Closed Incident Volume by Assignee

This bar chart displays the number of resolved and closed incidents for each assignee.

Change induced incidents This report lists incidents that were caused by changes.

Note: This report is available only if Change Management is installed.

Table 1-1: Key terminology changes in Incident Management

Previous term New term

Associate Relate

Associations Relationships

Automatic Routing Auto Assign

Delete Remove—This change applies only to the Relationship and Financial tabs, to clarify the action being performed.

Service Categorization Operational Categorization

What’s new in Incident Management 7.0 ! 19


What’s new forHelp Desk

users?

This release replaces BMC® Remedy® Help Desk with Incident Management and Problem Management. New Incident Management features for former Help Desk users include the features mentioned in the previous paragraphs, and also the following features:

! Enhanced problem management—Problem investigations have a separate form. Problem Management includes new processes to manage the life cycle of a problem investigation and known errors, and to record solution database entries.

! Navigation pane—Located on the left side of consoles and forms, this provides access to common functions, such as assigning an incident to yourself.

! Multi-tenancy—This makes it possible to host multiple companies and their data on a single server. This feature can also be used for any groups, such as business units or departments, whose data must be kept separate. Multi-tenancy is limited to the company level in Incident Management. Configuration can differ on a per-company basis. Multi-tenancy from the user’s perspective is accessed by selecting the appropriate company from the list next to the Company field.

! Incident matching—From the Incident form, users can perform searches for known errors, solution database entries, problem investigations, and other incidents that match criteria from the current incident to assist in the incident resolution process.

! Categorization—This is recorded separately for operational and product categorization, each with multiple levels to provide greater flexibility. Due to multi-tenancy, each company or business unit can be configured with its own categorization.

! Decision tree—This takes the user step-by-step through a questionnaire, and, based on answers, completes part of the form for a new incident. A manager or administrator can build decision trees.

Work Log Work Info

Work Log Action Task

Table 1-1: Key terminology changes in Incident Management

Previous term New term


User’s Guide

! Scripts—These are detailed instructions that an administrator or manager sets up to help users record important information about an incident. Scripts can be used when recording or assigning an incident.

! Incident templates—These can be used to populate incident records with standard information that is entered on a regular basis. A template can also set a relationship to a configuration item (CI). An administrator can create templates for commonly occurring incidents, as described in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

! Prioritization—Incident priority is now determined by impact and urgency. This can be configured by an administrator, as described in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

! Terminology changes—You can find a terminology change in the following table.

Incident Management user roles

Incident Management provides functionality for IT users with the requester role, for support staff, and for managers.

Important: The permission model in Incident Management has had several updates since version 6.0. To define permissions and functional roles, review the permissions and functional roles sections in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

Requester

IT users can request resolution of incidents through the Requester console. This console gives requesters access to:

! Public broadcast messages.

! Their own incident and change requests.

! A satisfaction survey, which can be completed on resolution of an incident or change request.

Table 1-2: Key terminology change between Help Desk and Incident Management

Help Desk term Incident Management term

Bulletin Board Broadcast

Incident Management user roles ! 21


The Requester console provides access based on the following permissions:

! Request Console Master—This user is responsible for configuring the Requester console. The request console master can view all the requests submitted by other users. This user is more of an administrator than a support user.

! Registered User—This user has a record in the People form, and the user’s login information is in the Login/Access Details tab of the People form.

! Guest User—All other users are considered to be guest users even if a user has a record in the People form. If a user’s login information does not exist in the user record, then the user is considered a guest user. Guest users cannot create change requests.

Support staff

First-line support staff are members of the Service Desk. They are the primary contacts for all customers and are responsible for recording incidents and coordinating their resolution. Typically, the first-line support staff own all incidents and are therefore responsible for validating incident resolutions with their customers.

Second-line and third-line support are considered subject matter experts. Their main responsibility is to provide an accurate analysis and diagnosis of their assigned incidents to restore service to the affected customers.

Support staff responsibilities include:

! Creating, classifying, and updating incident records.

! Verifying the Customer Profile data and updating the information if appropriate.

! Relating CIs to the incident.

! Escalating incidents that need to be resolved based on SLM terms or perception of urgency.

! Resolving incidents or assigning for resolution.

! Coordinating and validating resolutions with customers.

! Closing incidents and determining customer satisfaction.


User’s Guide

Support can also participate in the problem management process, as described in the BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 User’s Guide. They can also participate in the change management process, as described in the BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

Incident manager

Incident managers are responsible for the quality and integrity of the incident management processes. Support group leads and managers are responsible for the work of members of their support group. They coordinate the assignment of incidents to support staff.

Their responsibilities include:

! Monitoring incidents.

! Monitoring open incidents requiring assignment.

! Managing the assignment of incidents to their appropriate support groups for resolution.

! Receiving notifications of incident assignments and escalations.

! Facilitating the resolution of escalated incidents in accordance with the escalation policy.

! Ensuring the resolution of incidents within the support group's service targets.

! Ensuring the overall completeness and accuracy of closed incidents.

! Reviewing reports.

! Ensuring that incidents requiring root cause analysis are copied into Problem Management.

! Managing support group membership.

! Managing scripts, templates, and decision trees.

Incident Management user roles ! 23


Process flow and the life cycle of an incident request

The Process Flow Status area displays the process flow of the incident request within the Incident form. A diagram shows the five stages of an incident request, as indicated by best practices, rooted in ITIL processes. The current stage of the incident is highlighted. The status of the incident is indicated by both color and text.

Figure 1-1: Example of selecting an accelerator from the Process Flow Status wizard

The Process Flow Status area also serves as a wizard, guiding you through the stages of the incident life cycle. At each stage, the diagram provides accelerators applicable to the current stage. For example, you can use accelerators to move the incident to a pending state or to the next stage. When you select an accelerator, a dialog box appears, prompting you to enter the data required to complete the task. You can also enter optional recommended data in the dialog box. By using the process flow accelerators, you are following ITIL best practices.

Process Flow Status area

Current stage


User’s Guide

Figure 1-2: Selecting an accelerator from the Process Flow Status wizard

Figure 1-3: Example of form displayed by Process Flow Status wizard

Process flow and the life cycle of an incident request ! 25


Table 1-3: The five stages of an incident request

Incident stage Description Tasks

Identification and recording

This stage initiates the incident management process. The purpose of this stage is to accurately record and recognize disruptions to services provided by IT to its customers. For details, see “Recording a new incident” on page 108.

! Next stage

! Enter pending (or resume)

! Select template

Investigation and diagnosis

In this stage, you can search existing information to identify a possible solution. If the incident cannot be resolved or a root cause analysis is required, you can escalate the incident to problem management. For details, see “Investigating and diagnosing an incident” on page 132.

Next stage

! Generate problem

! Generate change

! Relate CI


Note: Generate change is available only as a task if Change Management is installed.

Resolution and recovery

In this stage, you resolve and recover from the service disruption to enable the customer to resume work. For details, see “Resolving an incident” on page 141.

! Next stage

! Generate problem

! Generate change


Incident closure In this stage, you make sure that the incident has successfully restored the service to the customer and that the customer is satisfied with the outcome. For details, see “Closing an incident” on page 147.

! Reopen

! Close

Closed In this stage the incident is closed. No further activities are performed on the incident.

None


Chapter

2
Using functions common to all ITSM applications
This section contains basic procedures that are common to most forms and consoles. Most of the information in this section is similar throughout the ITSM suite.


! Opening the main application console (page 28)

! Working with the Overview console (page 31)

! Working with records (page 38)

! Working with relationships (page 43)

! Adding work information (page 51)

! Creating reminders (page 53)

! Sending pages and email messages (page 60)

! Working with reports (page 65)

Using functions common to all ITSM applications ! 27


Opening the main application console

You start an ITSM application by opening its main console. How you do this depends on whether you want to view the console through the BMC® Remedy® User client or through a browser. See the following instructions for information about opening the main console.

Using BMC Remedy User client to open a main console

This section describes how to open an application’s main console from the IT Home page, by way of BMC Remedy User.

" To open the application’s main console from the BMC Remedy User tool

1 Choose Start > Programs > Action Request System > BMC Remedy User.

The Login dialog box appears.

Figure 2-1: Login dialog box

2 Perform the following steps:

a In the User Name field, type your user name.

b In the Password field, enter your password.

28 "Chapter 2—Using functions common to all ITSM applications

User’s Guide

c In the Preference Server field, specify the server name if your administrator set up a preference server for centralized user preferences.

For example, if you have a report server from which you can access predefined reports, you specify it here.

3 Click OK to log in.

The Home Page form opens automatically. If it does not, perform the following steps in BMC Remedy User:

a Choose Tools > Options.

b In the Options dialog box, click the Home Page tab.

Figure 2-2: Home Page tab on the Options dialog box

Opening the main application console ! 29


c Select the check box to open the home page automatically.

4 When the IT Home page opens, click the Incident Management Console link from the navigation pane.

Figure 2-3: IT Home page

Using a browser to open a main console

This section describes how to open the Incident Management console from a browser.

" To open a main console from a browser

1 Type the following URL in to your browser’s address bar:

http://<web_server>:<port>/arsys/apps/<arsystem_server>/Home Page

where:

<web_server> is the fully qualified name of the BMC Remedy Mid Tier system, specified in the format server_name.company.com.

<port> is an optional port number, which is needed if the web server is not on the default port (port 80).

<arsystem_server> is the name of your BMC Remedy AR System server.

Navigation pane

IncidentManagement

Console link


User’s Guide

For a list of supported browsers, see the compatibility matrix at:

http://supportweb.remedy.com/Rem/IssuesAndSolutions/CompatibilityMatrix/index.jsp

2 Enter your user name and password, then click Login.

3 When the IT Home page opens, click the Incident Management Console link in the navigation pane.

For an illustration of the IT Home page, see Figure 2-3 on page 30.

Working with the Overview console

The Overview console is the primary interface for support staff. It provides quick access to the information you need and to the procedures that you perform most often.

This section discusses how to use the Overview console.

Figure 2-4: BMC Remedy IT Service Management Overview console

Working with the Overview console ! 31



Opening the Overview console

The BMC Remedy IT Service Management Overview console provides quick access to commonly performed functions.

" To open the Overview console from your desktop

1 Open BMC Remedy User as described in “Using BMC Remedy User client to open a main console” on page 28.

2 On the Home Page form, under the Remedy Foundation Elements heading, click the Overview Console link.

The Overview console appears.

" To open the Overview console from a browser

1 Launch your browser as described in “Using a browser to open a main console” on page 30.

2 On the Home Page form, under the Remedy Foundation Elements heading, click the Overview Console link.

The Overview console appears.

Using the Assigned Work table

The Assigned Work table lists different types of records. The types of records that you can select depend on the BMC Remedy applications that are installed.

Each type of record is identified by a specific prefix:

! CHG—Identifies change requests. BMC Remedy Change Management must be installed for you to be able to create and view change requests.

! SDB—Identifies solution database entries. BMC Remedy Problem Management must be installed for you to be able to create and view solution entries.

! TAS—Identifies tasks. Tasks can be attached to incidents, problem investigations, or change requests.

! INC—Identifies incidents. BMC Remedy Incident Management must be installed for you to be able to create and view incidents.


User’s Guide

! PBI—Identifies problems. BMC Remedy Problem Management must be installed for you to be able to create and view problems.

! PKE—Identifies known errors. BMC Remedy Problem Management must be installed for you to be able to create and view known errors.

! PR—Identifies purchase requisitions. BMC Remedy Asset Management must be installed for you to be able to create and view purchase requisitions.

You can also change the table’s contents by using the Company filter and Console View fields at the top left corner of the console:

! Company—Shows records associated with a particular company (useful in a multi-tenancy environment).

! Personal—Shows all the records that are assigned to you.

! Selected Groups—The options below this heading apply to records that are assigned to your support groups. When you select an option for selected groups, you are prompted to select from all support groups for which you are a member.

! Show All—Shows all records for the groups you select.

! Show Unassigned—Shows all the records that are unassigned to an individual, but which are assigned to the groups you select.

! All My Groups—Shows all the records that are assigned to all support groups that you belong to. If you belong to more than one support group, the records for all those groups appear.

! Show All—Shows all records.

! Show Unassigned—Shows all the records that are unassigned.

In the Windows environment, if there are more records than the application can show in the table, you can see the next grouping of entries by placing the pointer in the table and right-clicking, then clicking either Next or Prev. When using a browser, use the arrow keys at the top corner of the table.

You can create new records by clicking the Create button that appears below the table.



Creating records

From the Overview console, you can create new records for the various ITSM applications installed on your system. The types of requests you can create from the Overview console depend on the applications you have installed.

" To create records

1 From the Overview console, click Create.

The Select Request Type dialog box appears.

Figure 2-5: Select Request Type dialog box

2 From the Request Type list, select the type of record you want to create.

Note: The available request types depend on which ITSM applications are installed on your system.

3 Click Select.

The New form of the application appropriate to the type of record you are creating appears.

4 Enter all the required information to create the request.

For details on creating a new incident, see “Recording a new incident” on page 108. For more information about creating other types of records, see the related application’s user guide.


User’s Guide

Searching for records

From the Overview console, you can search for records from the various ITSM applications installed on your system. The types of records you can search for depend on the applications you have installed.

" To search for records

1 From the Overview console, click Search.

The Select Request Type dialog box appears.

2 From the Request Type list, select the type of record for which you want to search.

Note: The request types available depend on which ITSM applications are installed on your system.

3 Click Select.

A search dialog box appropriate to the type of record for which you are searching appears.

4 Enter search criteria as needed to search for the record.

For more information about searching for records, see “Searching for records” on page 38.

Refreshing data

After you create or modify a record, click Refresh to see the latest changes in the Assigned Work table. The Refresh button is located in the top right corner of the console.

If you have changed the search criteria, you can return to your defaults by clicking Set to Defaults.



Viewing and creating broadcast messages

Use the Broadcast feature, on the lower portion of the console, to view and create messages that can be viewed by the entire organization or by users in the support, approver, management, and administrator groups. For information about using Broadcasts, see “Broadcasting messages” on page 55.

Using the navigation pane

The pane on the left side of the console is the navigation pane.

Changing the console view

The links under Console View help you filter records that appear in the Assigned Work table. For more information about using the Console View functions, see “Using the Assigned Work table” on page 32.

Using console functions

The following links are under the Console Functions heading:

! Select Status Values—Lets you see only those records in a certain state, which you specify from the Select Status Values dialog box. See “Selecting status values” on page 37.

! My Profile—Lets you set your profile. See “Viewing your profile” on page 37.

! Application Preferences—Lets you set your application preferences and options. This function is also available from the Incident Management console, as described in “Setting application preferences” on page 106.

Opening other applications

Use the Other Applications links to open other, available ITSM applications. The links that appear under the Other Applications heading are determined by the applications that are installed on your system:

! Incident Management—Opens the Incident Management application.

! Change Management—Opens the Change Management application.

! Problem Management—Opens the Problem Management application.


User’s Guide

! Asset Management—Opens the Asset Management application.

! Approval—Allows you to view all requests pending approval.

! CMDB—Opens the BMC Atrium CMDB Class Manager console.

! SLM—Opens the Service Level Management application.

Selecting status values

You can use the Select Status Values dialog box to filter the requests that appear in the Overview console based on their status.

" To select status values

1 From the navigation pane in the Overview console, choose Console Functions > Select Status Values.

The Select Status Values dialog box appears.

2 Select the status values for each category from the lists, then click OK.

The dialog box closes.

3 If the Assigned Work table does not refresh with the filtered records, click Refresh to reload the table’s contents.

Viewing your profile

You can view and modify your personal profile. When you click My Profile, the People (Search) form appears. In this form, you can:

! Update company information such as organization, business, and home address, and so on.

! View permissions.

For detailed information about the People form, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

" To modify your profile

1 From the navigation pane, choose Console Functions > My Profile.

The People form appears.

2 Update the information at the top of the form, or click the tab corresponding to the area in which you want to change the profile information.



Make your changes by selecting from the various lists that are available.

3 When you finish making the changes, click Save.

Using quick actions

The Overview console lets you perform certain quick actions. From the Quick Actions list, select the appropriate action, then click Execute.

! Print—Lets you select records and print their contents. See “Printing records” on page 41.

! Home Page—Opens the Home Page.

Auto-filling fields

As you work with the forms and dialog boxes, you might see a plus sign (+) included in a field label. You can type part of the information next to these fields and press ENTER. If an exact match is located, the application automatically completes the field. If a selection list appears, double-click the item you want to put in the field. Using auto-fill fields and lists is faster, more consistent, and more accurate than typing the information.

Working with records

This section discusses some of the common functions related to record handling.

Searching for records

Two types of searches are available from the Incident Management console. One type of search looks only through records that are in some way associated with you through your login ID or group ID (for example, records created by you, assigned to you or to your support group, and so on) and that meet your specific search criteria. You execute this type of search from the Search area near the top of the console. For a description of how to run this type of search, see “Searching your records” on page 39.


User’s Guide

Note: To view the support groups you belong to, from the navigation pane, choose Console Functions > My Profile, then on your profile click the Support Groups tab. For more information about this function, see “Viewing your profile” on page 37.

The other type of search looks through all of the records that meet your search criteria, regardless of their associations to people or groups. You run this type of search by using the Search Incident link in the navigation pane of the Incident Management console. For a description of how to run this type of search, see “Searching all records” on page 41.

Searching your records

The following procedure describes how to search the application for records associated with you or your group and that meet your specific search criteria. Use this type of search when you are looking for a record that you know is associated with your ID or with your group’s ID.

" To search records assigned to your groups

1 From the console Search area, select your search criteria from the various selection boxes.

Figure 2-6: Search Criteria area

Note: The most commonly searched-upon record fields appear in the Search Criteria area of the console. More record fields are available as search criteria under the Advanced Search option, as described in “Using the Advanced Search feature” on page 40.

2 Click Search.

Working with records ! 39


The Assigned Work table updates with the results of your search.

3 Scroll through the Assigned Work table to find the specific record you want.

Note: If the search returns a large number of records, use the Advanced Search feature to help you narrow the results.

You can also search for another record from within an open record by using the standard BMC Remedy User search function.

Using the Advanced Search feature

If your search returns too broad a range of records, you can perform an advanced search to narrow the results.

" To use the Advanced Search feature

1 From the Incident Management console, click Advanced Search.

The Advanced Qualification Builder dialog box appears.

Figure 2-7: Advanced Qualification Builder dialog box

2 From the Keywords or Fields selection boxes, select the keywords or record fields on which you want to search.

To insert operators (+, =, >,<, and so on), click the appropriate operator button. Do not forget to place literal values between quotation marks. For example, to search for an incident with a priority of “high,” you would construct the following search:

'Priority' = "High"

3 Click Select.

The dialog box closes and you return to the main console.


User’s Guide

4 Click Search.

The search results table updates with the results of your search.

Searching all records

The following procedure describes how to search all incidents. Use this type of search when you are looking for an incident that is not associated with your ID or your group’s ID, or anytime you need to search all incidents.

" To search all records

1 From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose General Functions > Search Incident.

A form appears that allows you to perform the search.

The form is laid out in a similar way to the Incident form, and contains the same tabs and fields. You can use any of the tabs and fields in the form to specify your search criteria.

2 Using the tabs and fields, build your search condition.

To reduce the number of records found by the search, enter as much information into the form as you can.

3 When you finish entering your search criteria, click Search.

When the search finishes, the search results table lists all of the records that match the search criteria.

4 Scroll through the table to find the specific record you want.

5 When you find the record, open it in the Incident form by double-clicking it in the search results table.

Printing records

You can print a copy of a record to keep for filing purposes or to share with someone who does not have access to the application.

Use this procedure to print a record.

" To print a record

1 From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose General Functions > Search Incident.

Working with records ! 41


2 Select the record you want to print.

Note: If you already have the record open and want to print it, click Print at the bottom of the form to open the Business Objects Report Preview dialog box, then go to step 4.

3 At the bottom of the console, from the Quick Actions list, select Print, then click Execute.

The Business Objects Report Preview dialog box appears, allowing you to view the record before you print it.

4 Click the Print icon on the menu bar at the top of the dialog box.

When the print confirmation dialog box appears, click the Print icon to send the record to your local printer.

5 Close the Business Objects dialog box.

Modifying records

After you generate a record, you can modify or update the information it contains. Use the following procedure to modify a record.

" To modify a record

1 From the Incident Management console, open the record that you want to modify.

2 Click the tab that contains the information you want to update.

3 Make the appropriate changes.

4 Click Save.


User’s Guide

Working with relationships

By defining and maintaining relationships among records, you can create a more sophisticated overview of the connections and interdependencies among the current record and other service issues being tracked by the application.

An incident can be related to any of the following record types:

! Configuration item

! Another incident

! Solution database entry

! Known error

! Problem investigation

If you have Asset Management and Change Management, an incident can also be related to the following record types:

! CI unavailability

! Infrastructure change

Defining relationships

Use the following procedure to define a relationship.

" To define a relationship

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident from which you want to define a relationship.

2 Click the Relationships tab.

Figure 2-8: Relationships tab

Working with relationships ! 43


3 From the Request Type list at the bottom of the Relationships tab, select the type of record to which you want to relate the current record.

For example, to relate your incident to a configuration item, select Problem Investigation from the Request Type list.

4 Click Search.

A dialog box appears that allows you to perform a search.

Figure 2-9: Example of Completed Relationship Search

Note: The content of the dialog box depends on the type of record you chose in the Request Type list.

5 Complete the search criteria tabs with the relevant information, then click Search.

Try to supply as much information as possible in the search dialog box to reduce the overall number of records returned by the search.

The matching results appear in a search results table.

6 From the search results table, select the configuration item with which you want to create the relationship.


User’s Guide

7 From the Relationship Type list at the bottom of the search dialog box, select the type of relationship you want to create.

8 Click Relate.

An information message dialog box appears, displaying a confirmation message.

9 Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.

10 Click Close to close the search dialog box.

The Relationships tab appears with the newly created relationship visible in the Relationships table.

If there are events for the related item, the Current Events dialog box appears.

This dialog box shows all current broadcasts that have been generated and related to the associated item. Broadcasts can be generated from other ITSM application modules, too.

11 In the Current Events dialog box, select one of the following options:

! Relate the current record to the originating record.

! Link a record.

! Relate the current record to the selected unavailability record.

The lower table lists any current Unavailability recorded in an incident.

To relate the current record to the origination record

a Select the broadcast from the list.

b Click Originating Record.

To see additional details about the originating record, click Details.

To link a record

a Click Linked Incident.

To relate the current record to the selected unavailability record

a Click Relate.

b To see additional details about the unavailability, click View CI Unavailability.

c To see information about the record that generated the unavailability, click Details.



An administrator can disable Current Events functionality in the Configure Incident Rules form. See the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide for information about how to do this.

Copying relationships

When you define a relationship between the current record and another record, the other record might also have one or more records related to it. Using the Copy Related Relationships form, which you open from the Relationships tab, you can look at the related record’s other relationships. If you determine that any of these other relationships should be related to the current record, you can define the relationship from this form.

By doing this, you can more thoroughly document all of the record relationships.

Note: You cannot use this procedure to copy related CIs.

" To copy relationships

1 From the Incident Management console, open an incident.


3 From the Relationships table, select a record related to the current incident.

4 From the Quick Actions list, select Get Related Relationships, then click Execute.

The Copy Related Relationships dialog box appears. This dialog box contains a table of all other records related to the record you selected in step 3.

5 From the table of related records, select the other record that you want to relate to the current record.

Note: To see the details of the other record, select it, then click View. A form appears with detailed information about the selected record. Use this feature to help you determine whether you want to relate the other record to the current record.

6 Click inside the Relationship Type field.

A list of relationship types appears.


User’s Guide

Note: The contents of the Relationship Type list depends on the type of record you are trying to create the relationship with.

7 Select the type of relationship you want to create, then click Select.

A note appears confirming the relationship creation. Click OK to dismiss the note.

8 Close the Copy Related Relationships form.

The newly created relationship appears in the Relationships table.

Indicating impacted areas

The Impacted Areas dialog box gives you a place to show the region, site, location, and so on, that are affected by the content of the record. Use the following procedure to indicate the impacted areas.

" To indicate an impacted area

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident for which you want to indicate an impacted area.

2 In the navigation pane, choose Advanced Functions > Impacted Areas.

The Impacted Areas dialog box appears.

Figure 2-10: Impacted Areas dialog box



3 Select items from the various lists that help to describe the impacted area appropriate for the incident you are working on, for example, Company, Region, and so on.

Note: Required fields are marked with an asterisk.

4 Click Add.

You can add as many impacted areas as necessary. You can also delete areas that you have previously chosen in this dialog box.

5 When you are finished indicating the impacted areas, click Close.

Modifying relationships

After you define a relationship, you change the relationship type and update the relationship description. Use the following procedure to modify the relationship.

" To modify a relationship

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident that has the relationship you want to modify.


3 From the Relationships table, select the relationship you want to modify.

4 From the Quick Actions list, select Modify Relationship Type, then click Execute.

The Modify Relationship dialog box appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 2-11: Modify Relationship dialog box

5 Enter the new relationship details according to the on-screen instructions.

6 Click Save to save your changes.

Performing quick actions on a relationship

You can perform many other actions on a relationship. For a list of these actions, see Table 2-1 and Table 2-2.

" To perform a quick action



3 From the Relationships table, select the relationship entry for which you want to perform the action.

4 From the Quick Actions list, select the action you want to perform, such as Get Impacted Areas.



The following table lists available quick actions for any related item.

Additional quick actions are available when you select a related configuration item, as indicated in the following table.

5 Click Execute.

Table 2-1: Effects of general relationship actions

Relationship action Effect

Get Related Relationships Copies the relationships of the selected record to the current incident’s relationships.

Modify Relationship Type Prompts you to modify the relationship type, as described in “Modifying relationships” on page 48.

Table 2-2: Effects of relationship actions for related CIs

Relationship action Effect

CI Relationship Viewer Opens a graphical relationship viewer that shows a selected CI’s relationship with other records.

Create New CI Unavailability If Asset Management is installed, you can create CI unavailability for the selected CI.

Get CI Impact/Urgency Copies the impact and urgency of the selected CI.

Get CI Product Categorization Copies the product categorization from the selected CI to the classification of the current incident.

Get CI Resolution Product Cat. Copies the product categorization from the selected CI to the resolution of the current incident.

Get Impacted Areas If Asset Management is installed, prompts you to select impacted areas, as defined in the selected CI, into the current incident’s impacted areas.


User’s Guide

Removing relationships

Use the following procedure to remove a relationship.

" To remove a relationship

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident that contains the relationship you want to remove.


3 In the Relationships table, select the relationship you want to remove.

4 Click Remove. Click Yes when the application prompts you to confirm the removal.

The application refreshes the Relationships tab.

Adding work information

Work Info is a new feature that replaces the Notes and Notes log fields from ITSM 6.0. You access this feature from the Work Info tab of the current record.

Use this feature to add work information regarding activities performed on the current record. For example, you might want to add work information about the following activities:

! General Information—Notes about the record; for example, you might want to add a note that a particular CI was deployed, and include the date.

! Vendor communication—Notes about communication with a vendor, such as a bulletin received from a vendor.

These are just some of the options available from the Work Info Type list on the Work Info tab.

" To add work information

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident that you want to add the work information to.

2 Click the Work Info tab.

Adding work information ! 51


Figure 2-12: Work Info tab

3 From the Work Info Type list, select the type of work information you want to add.

4 From the Source list, select the source of this information.

Information sources can include, for example, email, phone, or the Web.

5 Enter the details of your work information record in the Summary and Details fields.

6 To add an attachment to the record, right-click in the attachment table and select Add from the menu that appears.

7 From the Locked list, select Yes or No to lock the log.

Important: If you select Yes, you cannot modify the work log after you save it.

8 From the View Access list, select Internal or Public.

! Internal—If you want users within your organization to see the entry.

! Public—If you want everyone with access to the application to see the entry, including requesters from the Requester console.

9 Click Save.

10 To see a report of selected work information entries, select one or more entries, and click Report.


User’s Guide

Creating reminders

Use reminders to create notes for yourself and others. You can send the reminders by email or by BMC Remedy Alert, and can specify when they will be sent. You can create generic reminders, or you can create reminders that are associated with a specific request.

For example, you can send yourself a note about a specific incident to remind yourself to follow up on it.

You can create and view reminders from either the Incident Management console or from within a specific incident. The location from which you create or view a reminder determines which reminders you see:

! Incident Management console—You can view all reminders that you created.

! Incident form—You can view all reminders associated with that incident. This includes reminders created by other users of Incident Management.

" To create a reminder

1 To open the Reminders dialog box, perform either of the following steps:

! From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose General Functions > Reminders.

! From the navigation pane in the Incident form, choose Functions > Reminders.

Note: If you create a reminder from the application’s main console, the reminder is general in nature. If you open a record and create a reminder, the reminder is specific to the open record.

2 Click the Create Reminder tab.

Creating reminders ! 53


Figure 2-13: Completed Create Reminder tab

Note: If you are creating the reminder from the main console, skip the next step.

3 To remove the link between the reminder you are creating and the open record, select, then delete the contents of the Link to Request-ID field. The Request-ID and Form fields are populated automatically by the application. The Request-ID field links the reminder to the open record.

4 From the Notify list, select either Individual or Group, depending on whether you are sending the reminder to a single person, or a support group.

5 In the Recipient field, type the name of the person or group to whom you want to send the reminder.

If you type a person’s name and press ENTER, the application automatically populates the AR Login field. If the application discovers multiple matches with the name you entered, another dialog box appears that allows you to specify which of the matching names you want to receive the reminder.

6 In the Time field, enter the date and time you want the application to send the reminder.

You can type the information directly into the field, or you can click the button next to the field and select the date and time from the calendar that appears. By default, the Time field contains the current date and time.

7 In the Subject field, enter information about the reminder.

If you need more space to type the entry, click the Browse button next to the field. A larger text entry box appears.


User’s Guide

The information in this field appears in the subject line if the reminder is sent by email.

8 In the Message field, type the reminder message text.

If you need more space to type the entry, click the ellipsis button next to the field. A larger text entry box appears.

9 Click Save.

A confirmation message appears.

10 Click Close to close the Reminders dialog box.

The reminder is sent at the time you specified.

Broadcasting messages

This feature lets you send messages to your entire organization, selected groups within the organization, and to external customers as well. You can use this feature to send messages about work in progress, system status, planned work, and so on. You can also use this feature to view messages that were broadcast to you from other groups in your organization.

Creating broadcast messages

This section describes how to create a broadcast message using theNew/Modify dialog box. To create a broadcast, you must have the functional role of Broadcast Submitter. See the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide for details.

" To create a broadcast message

1 You can open the New/Modify Broadcast dialog box from two locations, as follows:

! From the Incident Management console, click Create, which appears below the Broadcast table. If you create a broadcast from the main console, it is not related to a specific record.

! From the current record, in the navigation pane, choose Functions > Broadcast Incident. If you create a broadcast from an incident, a relationship is created between the broadcast and the incident.



Figure 2-14: Completed New/Modify Broadcasts form

2 Enter information in the required fields.

Required fields appear in bold on the Broadcast Details tab.

! Company—Select the company to which this broadcast pertains. Only users with access to this company will see the broadcast. If you select Global from the Company list, the broadcast is sent to everyone.

The Company field is mandatory. If you complete the other location fields, however, you can indicate a very specific part of the company. For example, you can specify the site, organization, or department.

! Subject—A short description of what the broadcast is about.

! Broadcast Message—The text of your message.

! Broadcast Type—Select a broadcast type from the list.

! Broadcast Start Date and Broadcast End Date—To start the broadcast now, click in the Broadcast Start Date field, and press ENTER. To select a date from the calendar, click the Browse button next to the field, then use the calendar that appears to select the date on which the broadcast is to start and the date on which you want it to end. You can also specify times of the day using the Time feature at the bottom of the calendar.


User’s Guide

! Broadcast Originated From—This field is completed by the system. The contents depend on where you are creating the broadcast. If you broadcast from an incident, this is set to Incident.

! Broadcast Originated From ID—This field is populated by the system, but only when you create a broadcast from within a record. If you create a broadcast from the main console, the field appears disabled.

! View Access—Select Internal if you want the broadcast visible only to members of your organization. Select Public if you also want the broadcast visible from the Requester console.

! Notify—Select Yes if you want a broadcast notification automatically sent to an individual or group.

If you select Yes, an Email button and the Notify Support area appears.

! Use the Manual Email button to manually send an email about the broadcast to a person or group. When the Email System form appears, enter the recipient’s email address in the Internet Email field, then click Send Email Now.

! Use the Notify Support area to indicate the group you want to notify of the broadcast. You must complete all three fields, Support Company, Support Organization, and Support Group. The notification is sent at the time and on the date specified in the Broadcast Start Date field.

! Priority—Select a priority level for the broadcast. The choices are Low, Medium, and High.

3 To add an attachment to the broadcast message, right-click inside the table and choose Add from the menu that appears.

The Add Attachment dialog box appears. Use this to indicate the file you want to attach. Click Open to attach the indicated file. You are limited to one attachment for each broadcast.

4 If you want members of another group to be able to modify the message, perform the following steps:

a Click the Authoring Groups tab.

b Click Manage Authoring Groups.

The Authoring Group dialog box appears.

c Indicate the group that you want to have authoring rights by selecting from the menus. Click Add when you are finished.



Note: The support group you belong to appears in the table by default.

You can indicate another group, or click Close to dismiss the dialog box.

5 Click Save to save the broadcast message and close the dialog box.

Viewing broadcasts

This section describes how to view broadcast messages. While viewing broadcasts, you can modify the message (if you belong to an authorized authoring group), create a new broadcast message, and under some circumstances (when viewing the message from the current record) relate the broadcast message to the current record.

When viewing a broadcast from either the Incident Management console or the Incident form, you can create a new incident from the broadcast. If the broadcast was created from a problem investigation, CI (configuration item), CI unavailability, or another incident, the application asks whether you want to relate the new incident to the originating record.

" To view broadcasts

1 You can view broadcast messages from two locations, as follows:

! From the Incident Management console, select the message you want to view from the Broadcast table, then click View.

! From the current record, in the navigation pane, choose Quick Links > View Broadcasts. The View Broadcasts dialog box appears. Select the message you want to view from the broadcast messages table; the Broadcast Details tab displays the details of the selected broadcast.

Note: When viewing broadcast messages from the current record, you are looking at all of the broadcast messages, not just the ones related to the current record. If the list contains a large number of messages, use the Broadcast Search Criteria tab to limit the number of messages. For information about how to do this, see “Limiting the number of messages” on page 59.

2 To view another message, perform either of the following steps:


User’s Guide

! When viewing from the main console, close the View Broadcasts dialog box, select the broadcast message you want to view from the table, then click View.

! When viewing from the current record, in the broadcast messages table, click the message you want to view. The message details appear.

Creating or modifying a broadcast message

To create or modify a broadcast message from the View Broadcasts dialog box, click either Create or Modify. Both actions open the New/Modify Broadcast dialog box.

! If you are creating a new message, follow the instructions provided in “Creating broadcast messages” on page 55.

! If you are modifying the message, edit the fields according to the changes you want to make. Click Save when you finish making your changes.

Limiting the number of messages

When viewing broadcast messages from the current record, you can limit the number of messages that appear in the Broadcast table by opening the Broadcast Search Criteria tab and defining a set of criteria that filters out messages that do not match.

" To limit the number of messages


2 Click the Broadcast Search Criteria tab.

This tab contains search fields where you can specify criteria to reduce the number of broadcast messages displayed in the table.

3 Complete the fields in the tab.

To return the smallest number of broadcast messages, complete as many of the fields as possible.

4 When you finish specifying the search criteria, click Search.



Sending pages and email messages

Incident Management gives you two methods of sending messages to either individuals or organizations:

! Pages

! Email

This section describes how to send both types of messages manually.

Note: Notification messages to individuals, based on incident assignments and other events, can be sent by the application as pages or emails. For information about configuring notification to be sent as pager or email messages, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

Paging a person or on-call group

You can page individuals or the on-call member of a group about the current record using the Incident Management Paging System feature.

" To page a person or an on-call group

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident from which you want to send the page.

2 In the navigation pane, choose Functions > Paging System.

The Paging System dialog box appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 2-15: Paging System dialog box

3 Select either:

! Page By Person—To page an individual.

! Page By On-Call Group—To page the on-call member of a specified group.

4 Select the recipient.

To do this, complete the fields in the Search Criteria area, then click Search. When the search finishes, click the recipient’s name in the search results table, then click Select.

If you are sending a page to a person (instead of an on-call group) and need help determining the correct person, you can see more information about an individual by selecting his or her name from the list, then clicking View. This opens the People form, which contains detailed information about the recipient.

5 Complete the fields in the Paging Information area, as follows, then click Send Page Now.

Sending pages and email messages ! 61


! Pager Service Provider—Select the recipient’s pager service provider from the list.

If you are sending a page to a person, you can find this information by selecting the person’s name from the search results list, then clicking View (as described in step 4). When the People form appears, click the Notifications tab and look for the Pager Service Provider field.

Note: To learn more about the service provider, click the button with the globe icon beside the field to open a link that takes you to the service provider’s website. This link is configured by your administrator, as described in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

! Pager Type—The application populates this field automatically, using information about the recipient already in the application.

! Pager Number—The application auto-populates this field with the pager’s telephone number, when possible. If the pager number is unavailable to the application, you must enter the pager number manually. See Manual Pager Number.

! Pager Email—If the pager has an email address, type it here. If you are sending the page to a person, this information is available on the Notifications tab, as described previously.

! Manual Pager Number—If the pager’s telephone number is not available automatically from the paging system, type the pager’s telephone number here.

! Alphanumeric Pager Message or Numeric Pager Message—Type your message in this field. Be aware that only one of these fields is enabled, depending on the type of pager the recipient carries.


User’s Guide

Sending email

You can send messages about the current record using the Incident Management Email System.

You can use this function to send email to any valid email address. This might include an SMS recipient or wireless PDA user, if you can send email to the device.

" To send an email message

1 From the Incident Management console, open the incident from which you want to send an email message.

2 In the navigation pane, choose Functions > Email System.

The Email System dialog box appears.

Figure 2-16: Completed Email System dialog box

Sending pages and email messages ! 63


3 Indicate the recipient by selecting one of the following options:

! Current Contact—When you open the Email System form, if there is a current contact assigned to the record, the contact’s name with contact information appears in the table and is the default recipient.

! Current Assignee—To select the current assignee, click Select Current Assignee. The current assignee’s name with contact information appears in the table.

4 To select another recipient, perform the following steps:

a Complete the fields in the People Search Criteria area.

b Click Search.

c When the search finishes, select the recipient’s name in the search results table.

If you need help determining the correct name in the list, you can see more information about an individual by selecting their name from the list, then clicking View. This opens the People form, which contains detailed information about the recipient.

5 Complete the email information fields. See the list that follows for a description of the fields.

! Internet Email—This displays the recipient’s email address.

When you select the email recipient, as described in steps 3 and 4, the internet email address updates from the people record.

! Email Subject Line—By default, the subject line contains the incident ID number, to which you can append text or over-type.

! Email Message Body—You type the message text here. A series of buttons, to the right of the Email Message Body field, lets you automatically insert text from the record into the message text; these buttons let you insert the following values:

! Status

! Summary

! Details

! Resolution


User’s Guide

Note: If one or more of these buttons appear disabled, it means the corresponding field in the record contains no information.

! Email Attachment—You can attach a file to the email message (you are limited to just one attachment). To do this, right-click inside the Email Attachment table, then click Add. The Add Attachment dialog box appears. Navigate to, and then select, the file you want to attach. Click Open. Details of the attached file appear in the table.

6 Click Send Email Now.

Working with reports

Incident Management provides a variety of predefined reports to give you quick and easy access to information the application. You use the Report console to generate these reports. If the predefined reports return more information than you need, you can manage the scope of the report using qualifications. For information about using qualifications, see “Using qualifications to generate a report” on page 67.

Important: If you use Crystal Reports software to modify the prepared reports supplied with Incident Management, Customer Support can provide only limited assistance if you have a reporting problem. In addition, there is no guarantee that problems resulting from these modifications can be solved. The standard reports included with Incident Management are designed to be used without modification.

Generating a report

Use this procedure to generate a standard report without using qualifications (for information about generating reports with qualifications, see “Using qualifications to generate a report” on page 67).

" To generate a report

1 From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose General Functions > Reports.

The Report console appears.

Working with reports ! 65


Figure 2-17: Report console

2 From the Report Name list, select the report you want to generate.

3 If you select a report that requires a date range, the date range field appears.

Select a start date and end date for the report.

Report Description

Incidents by Activity Time This report lists all open incidents and the amount of time since the reported date.

Open Incident Volume by Assignee This bar chart displays the number of open incidents for each assignee.

Resolved and Closed Incident Volume by Assignee

This bar chart displays the number of resolved and closed incidents for each assignee.

Group Assignment to Incidents This report lists incidents and their assigned support groups for a specified date range.

Change Induced Incidents This report lists incidents that were caused by changes.

Note: This report is available only if Change Management is installed.


User’s Guide

4 From the Destination list, select one of the following output destinations:

! Screen—Your report appears in a separate dialog box.

! Printer—The report is sent to the printer you specified in the Print Setup dialog box.

! File—The report is saved to the path and file you specify.

5 Click Run Report.

Using qualifications to generate a report

You can manage the scope of a report by adding qualifications to the criteria used by the report engine to generate the report content. You can tell the report to search only certain specified fields for particular values, or build advanced qualifications using field names, keywords, and operators. By saving the qualifications, you can rerun the qualified report without having to re-specify the qualifications.

The following procedure describes how to create basic report qualifications from the Define Report Qualification area of the Report console. To create a report using advanced qualifications, see “Using advanced qualifications to generate a report” on page 69.

" To use qualifications to generate a report





Figure 2-18: Report console

2 From the Report Name list, select the name of the report you want to generate.

3 In the Define Report Qualification area, create your qualifications from the lists.

For example, to create the qualification “Cost Center = 001” select “Cost Center” from the list in the left column, select “=” from the operand list (middle column), then type “001” in the right column.

You can use all five rows in the area to define qualifications.

4 To save the qualification, click Save Qualification.

You are prompted to name the qualification.

Note: By saving the qualification, you can rerun this report without defining the qualification again. See “Generating a report using saved qualifications” on page 70.

5 In the Qualification Name field, enter a name for your qualification, and click OK.

A message appears stating that your qualification is saved.

6 Click OK.


User’s Guide

The Report console reappears.





8 Click Run Report.

Using advanced qualifications to generate a report

The following procedure describes how to generate a report using advanced qualifications.

" To generate a report using advanced qualifications



2 From the Report Name list, select the name of the report you want to generate.

3 Click Advanced Qualification.

The Advanced Qualification Builder dialog box appears.

Figure 2-19: Advanced Qualification Builder dialog box

4 Using the buttons in the qualification builder, construct your qualification.

5 Click Save.




Note: By saving the qualification, you can rerun this report without defining the qualification again. See “Generating a report using saved qualifications” on page 70.





7 Click Run Report.

Generating a report using saved qualifications

You can generate a report using qualifications that you created and saved previously.

" To generate a report using a saved qualification



2 Click Select Saved Qualification.

The Saved Qualifications dialog box appears.

Figure 2-20: Saved Qualifications dialog box

3 Select the qualification from the table, and click Return Selected.



User’s Guide





5 Click Run Report.


Chapter

3
Working with the Requester console
The Requester console serves as the front end for the BMC Remedy Change Management and BMC Remedy Incident Management applications. It provides an easy, user-friendly interface that allows users to quickly submit requests for change or incidents to IT through the two back-end applications.


! Requester role (page 74)

! Service Request Management users (page 74)

! Understanding the Requester console (page 76)

! Working with service requests (page 80)

! Working with service requests as the Request Master (page 91)

! Service Request form (page 98)

! Working with the Solution database (page 101)

! Viewing broadcast messages (page 102)

Working with the Requester console ! 73


Requester role

Requesters are usually employees who need assistance from the IT support staff. The requester is typically an employee in the organization who must have a change implemented or an incident resolved. Any member of your organization can be a requester.

However, the user might not be an employee. Non-employees can also be requesters, since non-registered users can also submit a service request.

Traditionally, after a requester made a telephone call to a central help desk, a support staff member logged the request. The BMC Remedy Incident Management and BMC Remedy Change Management applications provide user self-provisioning. Using the Requester console, requesters can submit, track, and (in some cases) resolve their own requests, and, as a result, improve the overall efficiency. Out of the box, the Change Management and Incident Management applications are preconfigured to work with the Requester console. However, the Requester console is not enabled if your organization turns off this option.

The Requester console is the primary interface from where requesters can create and view their requests. From the Requester console, you can create a request and submit it to the back-end application, view previously created requests, and respond to a survey form after the request has been resolved.

Service Request Management users

There are currently three types of user permissions for accessing the Requester console to submit service requests:

! Request Master—This user is responsible for troubleshooting service requests. The request master can view all the requests submitted by other users and open the Service Request form directly to view the details of a record. This user is more of an administrator, than a support user.

! Registered User—This user has a record in the People form, and the user’s AR login information is in the Login/Access Details tab of the People form or in the AR System User form.

! Unknown User—All other users are considered to be unknown users even if the user has a record in the People form. If a user’s login information does not exist in the People record, then the user is considered a unknown user.

74 "Chapter 3—Working with the Requester console

User’s Guide

Important: For unknown users who do not have an AR System login to be able to access the Requester console, the AR System server option “Allow Guest User” option must be turned on. The Allow Guest User option is available only when the server is set to single-tenancy mode. Also the AR Submitter locked mode must be enabled for users with read-only license to respond to surveys. The Incident Management and Change Management applications must also set up a default People record with a valid AR System login to be used for unknown users. For more information, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

If a user meets any of the following conditions, the user type is “unknown user”:

! The user has entries in the People form and in the AR System User form, but does not have an AR System Login ID in the People form.

! The user has an entry in the People form, but has neither an entry in the AR System User form nor an AR System Login ID in the People form. This type of user is also an AR System Guest User.

! The user does not have an entry in the People form, but has an entry in the AR System User form.

! The user does not have an entry in the People form or in the AR System User form. This type of user is also an AR System Guest User.

Some other factors that control allowing unknown users access to the Requester console follow:

! Unknown users are not allowed access if the multi-tenancy option is turned on. Multi-tenancy provides restricted access of data from different companies or business units. This feature makes it possible to host multiple companies and their data on a single server. Multi-tenancy is limited to the company level. Configuration can differ on a per-company basis. Multi-tenancy from the user’s perspective is accessed by selecting the appropriate company from the list next to the Company field.

The Tenancy Mode has to be set by a user with administrator and general access permissions on the System Settings form. For more information about ITSM foundation settings, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

Service Request Management users ! 75


! In addition to setting the Tenancy Mode to Single-Tenancy, the Allow Unknown Users option must be set to Yes and the login information added. This is set by a user with Request Config permissions on the Application Settings form.

! Unknown users are only allowed within the Requester console framework, which means that if the Change or Incident form is directly accessed, it does not allow unknown users.

Understanding the Requester console

The Requester console serves as the front end to the Change Management and Incident Management applications.

Figure 3-1: Requester console

The console is the entry point for users to create, view, update, or cancel their own service requests. For more information about the Requester console, see the following topics:

! Opening the Requester console (page 77)

! Functional areas and tasks (page 78)


User’s Guide

Opening the Requester console

You can view the Requester console through the BMC Remedy User client or through a browser. See the following instructions for information about opening the Requester console.

" To open the Requester console from BMC Remedy User

1 Log in to BMC Remedy User using your AR System Login information.

Unknown or guest users need to log in using the default set up by their company.

2 From the IT Home page, click Requester console.

The Requester console appears.

3 Create, view, modify, print, or cancel a request as needed.

For more information, see “Working with service requests” on page 80.

" Using a browser to open the Requester console

1 To open the Requester console from a browser, type the following URL in to your browser’s address bar:

http://<web_server>:<port>/arsys/apps/<arsystem_server>/Home Page

where:

<web_server> is the fully qualified name of the BMC Remedy Mid Tier system, specified in the format server_name.company.com.

<port> is an optional port number, which is needed if the web server is not on the default port (port 80).

<arsystem_server> is the name of your BMC Remedy AR System server.

For a list of supported browsers, see the compatibility matrix at:


2 Enter your user name and password, then click Login.

3 When the IT Home page opens, click the Requester Console link in the navigation pane.

Understanding the Requester console ! 77


Functional areas and tasks

The Requester console has the following functional areas.

Console Area Function

View Requests Use the View Requests links to filter the requests in the Requests table. Requests can be sorted by the following options:

! Open

! All

For more information, see “Filtering service requests” on page 83.

General Functions Use the General Functions links to do the following actions:

! Update the information in your requests, by creating a new work info entry. See “Modifying a service request” on page 85.

! Search for requests by Request ID. See “Searching for service requests by Request ID” on page 86.

! Save the console view.

! Work on a survey. See “Completing surveys” on page 88.

Request Errors If you have Request Master permissions, the Request Errors function appears in the navigation pane.

For more information, see “Viewing service requests with errors” on page 90.

Refresh button Refreshes the Broadcasts and My Requests tables.

Click Refresh to refresh the data in the tables.

Broadcasts Displays broadcasts or bulletin board messages. The View button displays the selected broadcast in a dialog box, from where you can view details about the broadcast.

Note: No internal broadcast messages appear in the Requester console.

For more information, see “Viewing broadcast messages” on page 102.


User’s Guide

Create a New Request button

Click this button to display the New Request wizard, from where you can create a new service request.

For more information, see “Creating a service request” on page 80.

My Requests Displays the requests submitted by the logged in user.

When performing Request form searches, only administrators and users who have Request Master permissions can view other users’ submitted requests.

Request Details Displays details about the request that is selected from the My Requests table.

View button Displays the record that is selected from the My Requests table.

For more information, see “Viewing a service request record” on page 84.

Print button Prints the record that is selected from the My Requests table.

For more information, see “Printing a service request” on page 86

Cancel button Cancels the service request that is selected from the My Requests table.

For more information, see “Canceling a service request” on page 87.

Reopen button Lets you reopen requests that are in Completed or Rejected state.

For more information, see “Reopening a service request” on page 87.

Close button Closes the console window.

Console Area Function

Understanding the Requester console ! 79


Working with service requests


! “Creating a service request” on page 80

! “Filtering service requests” on page 83

! “Viewing a service request record” on page 84

! “Modifying a service request” on page 85

! “Printing a service request” on page 86

! “Canceling a service request” on page 87

! “Reopening a service request” on page 87

! “Completing surveys” on page 88

Creating a service request

You can create service requests from the New Request wizard, which is the recommended way to create a service request. The New Request wizard is a simplified user interface for submitting your service requests. You can also create service requests from the Change and Incident forms.

A user with Request Master permissions can directly open the SRM:Request form from the File > Open > Object List menu to view service requests. However, service requests cannot be created from the SRM:Service Request form.

For more information about the Service Request form and the role of the Request Master, see “Working with service requests as the Request Master” on page 91.

" To create a service request

1 From the Requester console, click Create a New Request.

The New Request wizard appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 3-2: New Request wizard

Pay careful attention to the following items for the Requester section:

! If you are a registered user, the fields in the Requester section are populated from the user’s People record. All the fields are read-only, except the Phone and Email fields, which are editable.

! If you are an unknown user, the First Name and Last Name fields are pre-populated with their login information. The Company is pre-populated with the single-tenancy company name. Unknown users must enter information in the Phone and Email.

2 Complete the required fields:

Note: Required field names are in bold with an asterisk. You must enter information in the required fields to be able to successfully submit the request.

a Select a definition from the Summary list that best describes your issue from the Summary list.

Working with service requests ! 81


If the list does not list the specific request you want to log, enter a summary of the request manually in the Summary field.

Note: Manually entering a summary or “ad hoc request” always creates an incident request if Incident Management is installed. If Incident Management is not installed, a change request is created.

If you select a summary definition that is an incident, then related solution database entries appear in the Possible Solutions table, based on the categorization of the summary. Possible solutions do not appear for manually entered summaries.

Important: The Possible Solutions table appears only if the Problem Management application is installed.

If a matching solution appears and you choose to use this solution, the solution entry is related your request and the request is resolved automatically. See “Working with the Solution database” on page 101.

b Select an Urgency level for your request from the list.

c If you do not have a record in the People form, then the Company, First Name and Last Name fields might not be populated, but you must complete them.

3 (Optional) Click Add Attachment to enter request work information.

You can include a note or an attachment. For more information about the Request Work Info dialog box, see “Modifying a service request” on page 85.

4 Complete the optional fields:

! Date Required—Enter a date by when you require that this request be completed.

! Phone—Enter or edit your phone number.

! Email—Enter or edit your email address.

Note: Unknown users must enter information in the Phone or Email fields

5 Click Save to save the request.


User’s Guide

The New Request wizard closes, and the request you just saved appears in the My Requests table.

Service request states

For changes and incidents, the My Request table console lists the status of its underlying service request. Users are notified whenever a service request undergoes a status change, for example, when a service request is moved from In Progress to Completed after an incident or a change request reaches the Completed state.

The notification method is always by email.

Filtering service requests

When registered and unknown users access the Requester console, they can see a list of only their own service requests.

" To filter your service requests

1 Open the Requester console, as described in “Opening the Requester console” on page 77.

2 Filter your service requests by clicking the appropriate link from the View Requests section, located on the left navigation pane of the Requester console.

The options are:

! Open—Displays all your open requests.

This is the default view. You can choose to change the default view by selecting another sort option, then clicking Save As Default View.

! All—Displays all your requests.

The My Requests table displays the requests that fall under the selected status.



Viewing a service request record

From the Requester console, you can view your submitted service requests. The My Requests table displays only the requests that the logged in user has submitted. Change requests are prefixed with CRQ and Incident requests are prefixed by INC.

" To view a service request record


2 If necessary, sort the service requests to display the ones that you want to view, as described in “Filtering service requests” on page 83.

3 From the My Requests table, select the service request record that you want to view.

4 View some details of the record in the Request Details section of the console.

Figure 3-3: Request Details

5 Click View to display the record.

! To update the service request, see “Modifying a service request” on page 85.

! To print the service request record, see “Printing a service request” on page 86.

! To cancel a submitted service request, see “Canceling a service request” on page 87.

6 Click Close.

1. Select a record.

2. View some details in the Request Details section.

3. Click View to display the record in the Request Details window.


User’s Guide

Modifying a service request

There are limited updates you can make to your service request after you have submitted it. You can make only the following changes:

! Cancel the request—See “Canceling a service request” on page 87.

! Update the work information—See “To update the work information of a service request” on page 85.

! Reopen the request—You can reopen a service request, but only when it is advanced to a certain state. For information, see “Reopening a service request” on page 87.

" To update the work information of a service request


2 From the list of your requests in the My Requests table, select the record that you want to modify.

3 Perform one of the following actions:

! Click the Add Work Info link from the Console Functions section on the left navigation pane.

! Click View, click the Work Info tab, and then click Add Work Info.

The Request Work Info dialog box appears.

Figure 3-4: Request Work Info dialog box

4 Enter a summary of the work log in the Summary field.



5 Optionally, you can do the following steps:

a Enter additional information in the Notes field.

b Add an attachment. You are limited to one attachment for each work information entry. If you need to add multiple attachments, you can add multiple work information entries.

6 Click Save.

Searching for service requests by Request ID

You can quickly search for a service request by its Request ID.

" To search by Request ID


2 Click Search by Request ID.

3 Enter the complete Request ID or the numeric part of the ID.

The matching request appears in the My Requests table.

Printing a service request

To enable the print functionality, be sure to follow steps 1 through 4.

" To print a service request

1 Log in to BMC Remedy User with your server name in the Preference Server field.

2 Choose Tools > Options.

The Options dialog box appears.

3 Click the Advanced tab.

4 Make sure that ODBC Use Underscores is checked.


6 Select the record you want to print from the My Requests table.

7 Click Print.


User’s Guide

The report appears in the Report Preview window.

8 Review the report, and then click the Print icon on the toolbar.

Canceling a service request

You can only cancel a service request that is open. You cannot reopen a canceled service request until it reaches the Completed or Rejected state.

" To cancel a service request


2 If necessary, sort the requests to show all Open requests, as described in “Filtering service requests” on page 83.

3 Select the service request record that you want to cancel.

4 Click Cancel.

You are prompted if you are sure you want to cancel to request.

5 Click Yes.

6 Refresh the My Requests table, if necessary, to view the status of all your service requests.

Reopening a service request

You can only reopen service requests that are in the Completed or Rejected state.

" To reopen a request


2 If necessary, sort the requests to show all Open requests, as described in “Filtering service requests” on page 83.

3 Select the service request record that you want to reopen.

Note: The Cancel button changes to Reopen when you select a completed or rejected record.



Figure 3-5: Reopening a record

4 Click Reopen.

Note: You can only reopen records that are in Completed or Rejected state.

The following note appears: The selected request has been reopened.

5 Click OK to dismiss the note.

The request now appears as In Progress or Open. The status shown depends on whether the request is a change or an incident

Completing surveys

You will be notified through email to respond to a survey after your service request is marked Completed. Each service request generates a separate survey.

Note: Surveys must be set up for your company and the option must be turned on. If surveys are not set up and the survey option is not turned on, no surveys are generated.

" To complete a survey


2 Click View Survey.

1. To reopen a canceled record, select the record.

2. Click Reopen.


User’s Guide

The Survey dialog box appears.

Figure 3-6: Survey dialog box

3 Select a survey, and then click Respond.

4 Type your responses to the questions.

Figure 3-7: Requester survey

5 Click Save.



Viewing service requests with errors

If you have Command Event Master and Request Master permissions, you can view which service requests contain errors, for example, if there is a problem with a back-end application.

" To view requests with errors


2 From the navigation pane, choose Request Errors > View Requests with Errors.

The Service Request form opens. It displays those service requests that contain errors of various types.

Figure 3-8: Service Request form—Entries containing errors

3 To view the error status and its possible source, click the Change/Incident Data tab.

4 If you have Command Event Master permissions, click Reset Error to restart the service request.


User’s Guide

Users can now continue to work on the service request.

5 If you have Command Event Master permissions, click View Events to review the event log and troubleshoot the service request.

For more information, see “Viewing the event log and troubleshooting” on page 97.

6 Save any changes.

Working with service requests as the Request Master

Only users with Request Master permissions can access the Service Request form directly. All other users need to use the New Request wizard to create service requests.

The Service Request form is accessed by the Request Master users to troubleshoot system errors. See “Opening a service request record” on page 92. For information about the Service Request form, see “Service Request form” on page 98.

Request Masters can do the following actions with the Service Request form:

! Add Work Info entries for service requests—See “To view or add work information” on page 94.

! Use the accelerator links on the navigation pane to reopen a request, cancel a request, and so on—See “Canceling a service request” on page 87 and “Reopening a service request” on page 87.

! View the event log if a service request event has failed or is in error state, and either retry the event or ignore the event—See “To view the event log” on page 97.

Note: The Request Master user must have Request Master permissions.

Request Masters, however, cannot directly update any other form fields. Only users with AR System Administrator permissions are allowed to delete service request records.

Important: Delete service requests with caution. They cannot be recovered.

Working with service requests as the Request Master ! 91


Opening a service request record

Note: Only Request Masters can directly access the Service Request form. This user needs Request Master and Command Event Master permissions.

Figure 3-9: Service Requests form

Note: Request Masters can view records that they have access to, granted by company access in the People form. Request Masters with unrestricted access (that is, they have access to all companies) can view all service requests, as can the AR System administrator.

" To open a service request record

1 Log in to the AR System.

2 Choose File > Open > Object List.

The Object List dialog box appears.

3 Click the Find tab.

4 Enter Service Request in the Search what keywords? field, and then click Find.


User’s Guide

5 Select the service request entry, and click Search.

Note: New service requests are created from the Service Request console, using the New Request wizard. If you try to select the service request entry and click New, you get an error message.

The Service Requests form appears in Search mode. For more information about the service request form, see “Service Request form” on page 98.

6 Enter search criteria, and then click Search.

7 Select the service request record you want to view or troubleshoot from the search results.

8 Follow these steps as needed:

! “Reopening a service request” on page 93

! “Viewing or adding work information” on page 94

! “Viewing the event log and troubleshooting” on page 97

9 Click Save.

Reopening a service request

You can reopen a completed or rejected service request. You can cancel a Pending, In Progress, or Staged request.

" To reopen or cancel a request

1 Complete steps 1 through 7 from the procedure “To open a service request record” on page 92.

2 On the appropriate record, take the appropriate action:

! Click Reopen Request if you need to reopen a completed or rejected request.

! Click Cancel Request if you need to cancel a request.

Note: The appropriate action link is enabled, depending on the state of the service request.



The service request shown has a Status of Completed, so the Reopen Request link is enabled.

Figure 3-10: Service Request form—Completed Status

3 Click OK to dismiss the confirmation message.

! If you clicked Reopen Request, the Status changes to New, Staged, or In Progress.

! If you clicked Cancel Request, the Status changes to Canceled.


Viewing or adding work information

You can quickly add to the Work Info dialog box of an existing service request by clicking View Work Info or Add Work Info from the left navigation pane.

" To view or add work information

1 Do steps 1 through 7 from the procedure “To open a service request record” on page 92.

2 Click the appropriate link:

! View Work Info—Displays the Request Work Info dialog box and existing work information. Select the entry in the History table that you want to view, and view its details. (The View Work Info link is enabled only if there is existing information for the selected record.)

Reopen Request action is enabled when Status is set to Completed.


User’s Guide

Figure 3-11: Request Work Info dialog box

! Add Work Info—Displays the Request Work Info dialog box and allows you to add information.

See “Adding or viewing work information from a service request” on page 95.


Adding or viewing work information from a service request

The Request Work Info dialog box has a different view when the Request Master opens it from the Service Request form than when the user accesses it from the Requester console.

" To add or view work information from a service request

1 Complete steps 1 and 2 from the procedure “Viewing or adding work information” on page 94.

The Work Info form appears. It looks slightly different, depending on whether you clicked View Work Info or Add Work Info.



Figure 3-12: Request Work Info form—Adding Work Information

2 View or add information to the fields (field names in bold with asterisks are required fields).

3 Click Save.

Field name Description

Date+ Date and time when work information was created.

Source Where work information came from, for example, Email, Web, or some other source.

Summary A brief description of the Work Info entry. This character field contains a maximum of 100 characters.

Notes A more complete description of the Work Info entry.

View Access Sets the View Access to the work information.

! Public—Lets the requester view the work information.

! Internal—Only the request master can view the work information.

Attachments Includes any attachments that pertain to the Work Info entry. Only one attachment can be added per Work Info entry.

Submitter System-generated field containing the login name of the person who submitted the Work Info entry.

Submit Date System-generated field that contains the date the Work Info entry was created.


User’s Guide

Viewing the event log and troubleshooting

If the service request cannot be completed because of an error from the back-end application, you can review the event log and troubleshoot the service request. Overall event status is indicated by the App Event Status on the Change/Incident Data tab.

Note: You need Command Event Master permissions in addition to Request Master permissions.

" To view the event log

1 Complete steps 1 through 7 from the procedure “To open a service request record” on page 92.

2 Click View Events.

The Event History dialog box appears.

Figure 3-13: Event History dialog box

3 View the event details:

! Protocol

! Access Mode

! Error Code

! Error Message



4 Take any of the following actions for events that are in error:

! Retry

! Ignore

It is best to retry each event in the order the events are created. By default, the event table is sorted with the recent event on top, in reverse chronological order. Typical events should be retried when the problem indicated by the error message has been fixed.

5 Click Close.

Service Request form

Only users with Request Master permissions can open the Service Request form directly and perform certain actions. For more information, see “Working with service requests as the Request Master” on page 91.

Note: You cannot create a service request from this form.

This section describes the form fields for reference.


Summary Summary of the request. This is populated from the New Request wizard.

Requesters can select a summary definition from the Summary list. This list displays a list of summary definitions that have a status of Active. If a summary value from the Summary list is selected, the following fields are automatically completed: Category Tiers, Service Type, and Impact.

Users can also enter data in the Summary field without making a selection from the Summary list. If summary data is typed in, the following values are set:

! Categorization Tiers 1 through 5 = NULL

! Impact = 3-Moderate/Limited

! Service Type = User Service Request

Note: Categorization data is mapped in the Operational Catalog Setup form.


User’s Guide

Request ID A unique identifier for the service request. User-defined prefixes are not supported. After a service request is submitted from the New Request wizard and the appropriate back-end application entry is created, the service request Request ID is updated with the back-end application’s Request ID. This provides consistent IDs for reference across the Requester console and the back-end application.

Category Tiers 1 through 3

Classification of the request based on the Summary. If the user does not select a summary from the preconfigured summary list, the value is set to NULL.

Request Type This value is derived from the selected summary definition (each summary definition has been mapped to an appropriate request type, either change or incident). If the user does not select a summary from the preconfigured summary list, the value is set to Incident. If only Change Management is installed, the value is set to Change.

Impact Impact of the request based on the selected summary definition. If the user does not select a summary from the preconfigured summary list, the value is set to 3-Moderate/Limited.

This setting indicates the impact to IT operations, not the impact to the user requester.

Urgency The importance of the service request to the requester:

! Urgency—Selected by the user when creating the service request.

Date Required The date by which the requester requires the service request be completed.

Note: This field is for informational purposes; there is no service level workflow related to this field. The only workflow associated with this field is that an error message appears if the Required Date is set to a date earlier than the current date.

Notes Further details about the service request.

Status The status of the service request. This is a system field (Field ID 7). All of the state transition data for SRM:Request is stored in the SYS:Status Transition form. Whenever the service request Status data is changed, SRM:Request Form workflow retrieves the appropriate entry from the SYS:Status Transition Lookup form for the previous state and current state and determines if the transition is valid.


Service Request form ! 99


Status Reason A further description of the Status.

Date Submitted The date and time the service request was submitted. This is a system-generated field.

SLA Responded Service level data pushed from back-end SLM forms. If set to Yes, change request must be responded to. This is particularly important in the case of a response-time goal, where a blank SLA Responded field might indicate that the service target goal has been missed.

Not applicable if SLM is not installed.

Requesters tab The two tabs, Requested For and Requested By/Service Location, contain the same information, or information of the user who submitted the service request.

Requested By/Service Location data is automatically copied to the Requested For fields based on the type of Submitter.

! If the Submitter is an Unknown User (a user who is not registered in the People form with an AR System Login and People ID), the Submitter's data is copied to the Requested For fields. The Requested By fields are set to default user data set in Application settings.

! If the Submitter is not an Unknown User (the user is registered in the People form with an AR System Login and People ID), the Submitter's data is copied to the Requested For as well as the Requested By fields.

Only service requests for individuals are supported, so the Add Request For field is automatically set to Individual.

SLM tab Displays the service targets and milestones for the restoration of the unavailability. Service targets and milestones are defined from within the Service Level Management applications. Escalations can be set up to notify the assignment group prior to acknowledgement or resolution breach times.

Change/Incident Data tab

Provides information from the back-end application for the service request record. The actual back-end Change or Incident request information appears.

Manager tab Provides manager information for the service request record. This value is pushed from the change or incident and indicates the owner of the request. This person is notified if the SLA is breached. The service request itself does not populate this field.

Work Info tab Displays work information for the service request record.



User’s Guide

Working with the Solution database

If you are creating a service request that falls into the request type of Incident, you might be able to resolve the request immediately if a valid solution exists in the solution database. After you select a summary, possible solutions appear only if they exist in the solution database under the same category.

Note: The Solutions table only appears if Incident Management and Problem Management are installed. If you have only Change Management installed, this table does not display.

" To resolve an incident request by using the Solution database


2 Click Create a New Request.

The New Request wizard appears.

3 Select a Summary that can be classified as an incident.

Figure 3-14: Possible Solutions entry

Working with the Solution database ! 101


If there is a solution database entry that matches the summary definition, it appears in the Possible Solutions table.

4 If the solution entry appears to be valid, select the entry and then click View.

5 Review the solution entry.

6 If the solution entry resolves your request, click Use Solution.

The following AR Note appears:

Your request has been submitted and will be marked Resolved.

7 Click OK to dismiss the note.

The request appears in the My Requests table as Resolved.

Viewing broadcast messages

Broadcasts (or bulletin board messages) appear in the Broadcasts table. Broadcasts are filtered by the logged-in user’s company. If the logged-in user’s company cannot be determined, then only Global broadcasts appear. The View button opens the Broadcasts form in dialog mode, where you can see details of the broadcasts, depending on your permissions. If you have sufficient permissions on this form, you can create, modify, or delete broadcasts.

For more information about working with broadcasts, see “Viewing and creating broadcast messages” on page 36.

" To view broadcasts from the Requester console


2 View the broadcasts in the Broadcasts table.

3 To refresh the list of broadcasts, click the Refresh button above the table.

4 Select a broadcast entry, and click View to view more details.


Chapter

4
Working with Incident Management as support staff
This section describes functions that are available to support staff. Managers can also perform these functions from the Support Console tab.


! Understanding the Support Console tab (page 104)

! Setting application preferences (page 106)

! Recording a new incident (page 108)

! Understanding assignments (page 120)

! Investigating and diagnosing an incident (page 132)

! Resolving an incident (page 141)

! Closing an incident (page 147)

! Creating known errors and solutions (page 149)

Working with Incident Management as support staff ! 103


Understanding the Support Console tab

The Incident Management Support console tab has been redesigned for version 7.0. It includes:

! Navigation pane—Provides display filters, links to functionality, and links to other applications.

! Search Criteria area—Provides area where you can search for assigned work.

! Broadcast area—Displays broadcasts and provides broadcast functionality. For details, see “Broadcasting messages” on page 55.

! Assigned Work area—Displays a summary of assigned incidents. The color of the incident indicates whether the response and resolution time are within the Service Level Management (SLM) agreed-upon service targets. When you select an incident, the summary details appear below it.

Figure 4-1: Incident Management console—Support Console tab

Navigation pane

104 "Chapter 4—Working with Incident Management as support staff

User’s Guide

Both the navigation pane and the Search Criteria provide options to filter the Assigned Work on the console, as summarized in the following table.

Table 4-1: Options to filter display of assigned work

Option Explanation

Company If you support multiple companies, leave this field in the navigation pane blank to display work for all companies, or select the appropriate company to display work for a single company.

Console View This menu in the navigation pane provides you with options to look at the Personal view for work assigned to you, or to view work assigned to your support groups. You can display work assigned to all your support groups or to selected support groups.

Status Instead of viewing All Open Incidents, you can view all incidents, or all that are pending, resolved, or closed. When you view All Open Incidents, you view incidents available for you to work on, which includes assigned, in progress, and pending incidents.

SLM Status To view incidents regardless of SLM status, leave this blank. Otherwise, select the appropriate SLM status. The SLM Status filter is available only if SLM is installed.

Dates You can view incidents that were opened Any Time. You can also restrict the display to incidents opened within the selected time, such as within the last 24 hours.

Role You can view incidents for which you are the Assignee, the Owner, or both at the same time.

Advanced search You can specify one or more values on the form to search for specific incidents. For details, see “Using the Advanced Search feature” on page 40.

Understanding the Support Console tab ! 105


Setting application preferences

You can set preferences to:

! Automatically use decision trees, if available, whenever you record a new incident.

! Set defaults for the consoles.

! Determine the action that occurs after you save an Incident form.

" To set your preferences

1 On the Incident Management console, click the Support Console tab if it is not selected.

2 From the navigation pane, choose General Functions > Application Preferences.

The Application Preferences form appears.

Figure 4-2: Application Preferences form

3 Update the form as appropriate.


User’s Guide

The following table describes the settings available on the form.

Setting Description

Console View The default console view, in conjunction with the search criteria, controls which incidents appear in the Assigned Work area. You can temporarily change this setting from the navigation pane of the console. The following selections are available from this list:

! Personal—Displays incidents assigned to you.

! Selected Groups—Prompts you to select any support groups to which you belong. You can select to display all incidents assigned to your group, or incidents assigned to your group that are not yet assigned to an individual.

! All My Groups—Displays incidents assigned to all of your support groups. You can choose to display all incidents, or incidents that are not yet assigned to an individual.

Manager Console If you select Yes, when you open the Incident Management console, it opens to the Manager Console tab. Otherwise, it opens to the Support Console tab.

Data Set Name If there are multiple data sets, such as production and training data sets, select the appropriate data set.

Search Criteria Default

Search criteria, in conjunction with the console view, control which incidents appear in the Assigned Work area. You can temporarily change these settings from the Search Criteria area on the console. You can set the default values for the following settings:

! Incident status—Select whether to display open, pending, resolved, closed, or all incidents. Open incidents include assigned, in progress, and pending incidents.

! SLM status—Select whether to display incidents with no service target assigned, within the service target, with a service target breached, or with all service targets breached. Clear this selection to display incidents regardless of SLM status.

! Role—Select whether to display incidents where you are the assignee, the owner, or either.

! Task status—This selection controls which tasks are displayed on the Tasks tab of the console. Select whether to display open tasks, closed tasks, or all tasks.

Setting application preferences ! 107


4 Click Save.

Recording a new incident

This activity is the starting point of the Incident Management process. The purpose of this activity is to accurately record and recognize disruptions to services provided by IT to its customers. When recording a new incident, you classify the incident and record customer information, configuration item (CI) information, and a description of the incident. The key to this activity is the accuracy and completeness of the information recorded.

This section describes several tools to assist you in recording a new incident:

! “Using the Process Flow Status wizard to record a new incident” on page 109

! “Using a template” on page 112

! “Using the decision tree” on page 114

! “Using scripts” on page 114

After New Save This setting controls the action after you click Save on the Incident form. The following selections are available from this list:

! No Action—Leaves the Incident form open and it is ready for you to record a new incident.

! Reopen in New—Opens the current incident in modify mode in a new window. The original window is ready for you to record a new incident.

! Reopen in Current—Leaves the Incident form open. If this is a new incident, the form changes from New to Modify.

Enable Auto-Decision Tree

If you select Yes from this list and a decision tree is set up, you are prompted by the decision tree when you record a new incident. For more information about decision trees, see “Using the decision tree” on page 114.

Tab Views You can choose whether to show the Vendor, Financials, or Date System tabs.

Overview Console

You can choose whether to show incidents or incident tasks on the Overview console. For information about the Overview console, see “Working with the Overview console” on page 31.

Setting Description


User’s Guide

This section also describes activities you might need to perform while recording a new incident:

! “Relating incidents as duplicates” on page 114

! “Recording CI unavailability” on page 116

! “Adding or modifying a customer profile” on page 117

Using the Process Flow Status wizard to record a new incident

By using the Process Flow Status wizard when recording a new incident, you are prompted to enter the required fields and optional recommended fields to move the incident to the next stage.

Tip: The Process Flow Status wizard provides one method of recording and updating incidents. All fields in the dialog box are also available on the Incident form. You can complete these fields directly from the form, if you prefer.

" To record an incident with the Process Flow Status wizard


2 From the navigation pane, choose General Functions > New Incident.

The New Incident form appears.

3 In the Process Flow Status area, click the arrow in the Identification and Recording box.

4 Choose Next Stage > Investigation and Diagnosis.

You can move directly to the Resolution and Recovery stage or the Incident Closure Stage by selecting the appropriate stage.

Recording a new incident ! 109


Figure 4-3: Selecting the next stage from the Process Flow Status wizard

The Create Incident form appears. The two tabs on this form prompt you to enter required and optional information.

Note: This is a dynamic form. The fields on the Required and Optional tabs depend on the information to move from the current stage or state to the selected stage or state.

Figure 4-4: Create Incident form displaying completed Required Information tab

5 Type the customer’s last name in the Last Name field and press ENTER.


User’s Guide

If there are multiple customers with the same last name, you are prompted to select the appropriate customer. The Company, First Name, and Phone Number fields are completed from the customer record. The company drives the selection on other menus, such as Operational, Product, and Resolution Categorization.

6 Type a brief description in the Summary field.

7 You can type additional details in the Notes field.

8 Select values from the Impact and Urgency lists.

9 If appropriate, select a different service company.

When you select the customer, the service company is set to the customer’s company.

10 If appropriate, change the service type from the default value of user service restoration. You can select user service request, infrastructure restoration, or infrastructure event.

11 To enter optional recommended information:

a Click the Optional Information tab.

Figure 4-5: Create Incident form displaying completed Optional Information tab

b Select the appropriate operational categorization.



Operational categorization is based on a three-tier hierarchy that is defined in the Operational Catalog configuration form.

c Select the appropriate product categorization.

Product categorization is based on a five-tier hierarchy that is defined in the Product Catalog configuration form.

12 Click Save.

If you did not assign the incident, the incident is automatically assigned based on predefined assignment routing. If there is no appropriate predefined assignment routing, you are prompted to assign the incident.

13 If prompted, assign the incident, then click Save.

Using a template

You can use templates to populate the incident with standard information that is entered on a regular basis. A template can also set a relationship to a CI. Your administrator can create templates for commonly occurring incidents, as described in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

" To use a template


2 From the navigation pane, choose General Functions > New Incident.

The New Incident form appears.

3 In the Process Flow Status area, in the Identification and Recording box, choose Select Template.

If you belong to more than one support group, you are prompted to select the appropriate support group first.

A list of templates available to your support group appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 4-6: Incident Template Selection dialog box

4 Highlight the appropriate template, then click Select.

Part of the incident is completed, as defined by the template.

Figure 4-7: Incident form partially completed by template

5 Complete the incident as appropriate.

6 Click Save.



Using the decision tree

A decision tree takes you step-by-step through a questionnaire, and, based on your answers, completes part of the form for a new incident. Each element in the decision tree displays a list of items. Your final selection completes part of the incident.

Decision trees are built by a manager or administrator at your company.

You can set up your preferences to use available decision trees whenever you start a new incident. For details, see “Setting application preferences” on page 106.

Using scripts

Scripts are detailed instructions that have been set up at your company to help you record important information about an incident. You have access to scripts that have been set up for your support group. Scripts might include a list of questions to ask the customer. These questions can assist you in resolving or assigning the incident.

There are two types of scripts:

! Initiator scripts—Select an initiator script when you record an incident after you indicate the customer.

! Assignment scripts—Select an assignment script when you assign or reassign an incident after you indicate the assignee. The assignment scripts correspond to the group to which you are assigning the incident. For example, a networking group might have specific questions for you to ask the user when you assign the incident.

Relating incidents as duplicates

You can relate an incident to another as a duplicate. The original incident resolves all of its duplicates. When someone resolves or closes the original incident, its Operational and Product Categorizations and Resolution fields are copied to the related duplicates, marking them with a status of Resolved.

" To relate an incident as a duplicate


2 From the navigation pane, open an incident currently being investigated.


User’s Guide


4 From the Request Type list, select Incident, then click Search.

The Incident Relationship Search dialog box appears.

5 Enter the search criteria to locate the original incident, then click Search.

Incidents matching the search criteria appear on the bottom half of the form.

Figure 4-8: Incident Relationship Search dialog box with results displayed

6 Select the duplicate incident.

7 If the current incident is a duplicate of the original incident, from the Relationship Type list, select Duplicate of.

8 If the current incident is the original incident, which the selected incident duplicates, from the Relationship Type list, select Original of.

9 Click Relate.

The Incident Relationship Search dialog box closes. The two incidents are related as duplicate and original. The status of the duplicate incident is Pending, with a status reason of Pending Original Incident.

10 Click Save.



Recording CI unavailability

CI unavailability is the actual down-time of a CI. You can record CI unavailability due to an unexpected circumstance from the incident.

Note: You can record CI unavailability only if Asset Management is installed.

" To record CI unavailability


2 Open an incident.


4 To search for a CI, choose Quick Links > CI Search.

The CI Relationships Search form appears.

5 Select the CI in the CIs table.

Figure 4-9: CIs table

6 In the Relationship Type field, select the relationship type.

7 Click Relate with Unavailability.

Note: Relate with Unavailability is available only when you are searching for CIs to relate to an incident.

The Configuration Item Unavailability form appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 4-10: Configuration Item Unavailability form

8 In the Unavailability Type list, select whether the unavailability is scheduled or unscheduled, and whether it is full or partial unavailability.

9 Select the actual start date of the unavailability.

10 Complete other fields of the form, as appropriate.

11 Click Save.

12 Close the CI Relationship Search dialog box.

13 On the Incident form, click Save.

Adding or modifying a customer profile

Before you can record an incident, the customer must be listed in the People database. This access is configured by your administrator, as described in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

Adding a new customer profile

If a customer is not listed in the database, you can add a customer’s profile.

" To add a new customer profile




2 Open an incident.

3 Click the Contact tab.

4 Click Create.

The People form appears.

Figure 4-11: People form used to add a customer profile

5 Complete the required fields.

You do not need to add all of the information for this individual’s profile, only what is necessary to submit the record.

Note: You cannot define a Support Person record here. See the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide for further details.

6 After you have finished entering the information, click Save.

The status of the person you added has a default value of Proposed. Your People/Contact administrator must verify those in proposed status, update them to Enabled, and add any other information that is necessary.


User’s Guide

Modifying a customer profile

To modify a customer profile, you require access to the People database.

Note: You can modify the customer and contact phone number and location on the Incident form without modifying the customer profile. A modification on the Incident form, however, applies only to the current incident.

" To modify a customer profile


2 Open an incident.

3 Search for and select a customer in the Contact Information section.

4 Click Modify.

The People form appears, displaying the customer’s profile.

Figure 4-12: People form used to modify a customer profile

5 Change the information, as required.



Accessing the individual’s People Profile this way gives you limited information that you can change. You can change the information in the top of the form and the information in the General and More Details tabs.

6 Click Save.

Understanding assignments

An incident can be assigned to an individual or a support group. The Assignment tab displays details of the current assignment.

Version 7.0 adds tasks to Incident Management. You can attach tasks to an incident and assign them to individuals without changing the assignment of the incident.

Figure 4-13: Assignment tab

This section includes the following topics:

! “Receiving notification of assignments” on page 121

! “Working with assignments” on page 121

! “Reassigning an incident” on page 124

! “Working with tasks” on page 127


User’s Guide

Receiving notification of assignments

When an incident is assigned to you, you can receive notification through:

! BMC Remedy Alert

! Email

You configure how you receive each notification from the People form, as described in the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.

All incidents assigned to you or your support groups appear in the Incident Management and Overview consoles.

For additional information about notifications sent from Incident Management, see “Understanding notifications” on page 160.

Working with assignments

When you work on open incidents, you are working on incidents assigned to you or to your support group. You can also assist with an incident assigned to another support group when a task is assigned to you.

This section includes the following topics:

! “Viewing incidents assigned to you” on page 121

! “Accepting an assignment” on page 122

! “Recording time worked on an incident” on page 122

Viewing incidents assigned to you

You can view the summary and detail of incidents assigned to you.

" To view incidents assigned to you


2 From the navigation pane, choose Console View > Personal.

Understanding assignments ! 121


3 To view additional details about an incident, perform any of the following actions.

Accepting an assignment

You can accept any incident assigned to your support group.

" To accept an assignment


2 Open an incident.

3 Change the Status to In Progress.

4 In the navigation pane, choose Quick Links > Assign to Me.

5 Click Save.

Recording time worked on an incident

On the Assignment tab, use the Current Assignee Effort Time area to track the effort time that you spend on an incident. You can enter the time in the Effort Time Spent Minutes field, or you can use the automatic timer. Your total effort time is then saved in the Assignment Log.

If you are not assigned to an incident, you can record that you have assisted with the incident.

The Total Time Spent Minutes field displays the total effort time spent on the incident per session.

" To record time worked on an incident


2 Open an incident.

Action Result

Click the incident. The Details tab displays details about the selected incident.

Click the incident, then click View. The Incident form appears, displaying the incident. You can modify the form and perform other actions, as appropriate.


User’s Guide

3 Click the Assignment tab.

4 Click Update Assignment Log.

The Incident Assignment Log dialog box appears.

Figure 4-14: Incident Assignment Log dialog box

5 Complete the form as appropriate.

You can change the Effort Time Spent (Minutes) field for your own assignment logs, but not for those of other support groups or individuals.

Alternatively, you can use the automatic timer while you perform work. While an incident is assigned to you, effort time is being tracked by the application. To stop the clock when you are not working on the incident, click Stopped on the Assignment tab. To restart the clock, click Start.

6 Click Add to save your total effort time in the assignment log.

Note: Nobody can delete a completed assignment log.



Reassigning an incident

You can reassign an incident to either an individual or a support group. You can also assign an incident to a vendor. Use the shortcut in the navigation pane to reassign an incident to yourself (Assign to Me) or to reassign an incident based on automatic routing (Auto Assign).

" To reassign an incident


2 Open an incident.

3 To assign the incident to yourself, in the navigation pane, choose Quick Links > Assign to Me.

Figure 4-15: Navigation pane links to assign incidents

4 To reassign the incident based on automatic routing, in the navigation pane, choose Functions > Auto Assign.

This assigns the incident based on predefined mapping. Automated assignment can be based on the customer organization, incident location, operational categorization, or product categorization.

5 Otherwise, follow these steps to reassign the investigation.

a Click the Assignment tab.

b Reassign the investigation.

You have several options available, as follows:

! Select the Assigned Group from the list.

! After selecting an Assigned Group, select the Assignee from the list.

Click here to assign an incident to yourself.

Click here to reassign the incident based on automatic routing.


User’s Guide

! Select from Set Assignment using, as indicated in the following table.

6 Click Save.

Understanding incident ownership

Incident ownership is set when the incident is submitted. The incident owner depends on the support group membership of the person submitting the incident, as well as the support group being assigned the incident.

For example, consider the following three support groups:

! Support Group A has a support group role of Help Desk. Person A is in Support Group A.

! Support Group B does not have a support group role of Help Desk; for example, it might have a support group role of Tier 2. Person B is in Support Group B.

! Support Group C does not have a support group role of Help Desk; for example, it might have a support group role of Tier 3.

Set Assignment using Description

My Default Group Assigns the incident to you and your default group.

My Group List Opens a list of all groups to which you belong. Select the appropriate group from this list.

Favorite Groups Assigns the incident to the typical groups to which your support group assigns incidents.

Auto Assign The same as the Auto Assign link in the navigation pane, this assigns the incident based on predefined mapping.

Current Owner Resets the incident assignee to the incident owner. For example, if several people have worked to resolve the incident, you might assign the incident back to the owner to communicate the resolution to the customer. For details on the default value for the Incident owner, see “Understanding incident ownership.”



Based on these support groups, the following example events show how the incident owner is set:

! Person A submits an incident. Because Person A is a member of a support group with the role of Help Desk, ownership of the incident is set to Support Group A, regardless of who is assigned this incident.

! Person B submits an incident and assigns it to Support Group A. Ownership of the incident is set to Support Group A because the group has the role of Help Desk.

! Person B submits another incident, and assigns the incident to Support Group C. Support Group B becomes the owner, because Person B is the submitter.

Assigning an incident to a vendor

When you work with a vendor to resolve an incident, you can indicate that the incident is assigned to the vendor. The following procedure is used to track incidents that require vendor support.

" To assign an incident to a vendor


2 Open an incident.

3 Click the Vendor tab.

Figure 4-16: Vendor tab

4 To assign the incident to a vendor support group, select the vendor company, organization, and group.


User’s Guide

Note: If you select a vendor company, organization, and group, the application sends email notification to the vendor. Otherwise, you must must communicate with the vendor as appropriate.

5 If you selected the vendor from the menus, you can press ENTER in either of the vendor name fields to select the vendor contact. If the vendor is not listed, you can type the vendor contact information.

If you type the vendor contact, the Vendor Email field is for information only; Incident Management does not send email to this contact.

6 Enter any other information you need to track, such as the vendor incident number.

7 Click Save.

The Vendor Assignment Status field is set to Assigned. The Reported to Vendor Date is set to the current date and time, if you did not specify otherwise.

Working with tasks

You can assign tasks to one or more people without changing the assignment of the incident.

Creating tasks

You can create tasks for open incidents, as appropriate.

" To create a task


2 Open an incident.

3 Click the Tasks tab.

The Tasks tab displays tasks associated with the incident.



Figure 4-17: Tasks tab

4 Click Create.

The Task form appears.

Figure 4-18: Completed Task form

5 Type a brief description of the task in the Name field.

The task name appears in the summary on the Tasks tab, as well as in notification messages.

6 Type a detailed summary of the task to be performed in the Summary field.

7 Complete other fields on the form, as appropriate.

8 To record work information for this task:

a On the General tab, click Create Work Info.


User’s Guide

The Work Info form appears.

Figure 4-19: Completed Work Info form

b Complete the form, as described in “Adding work information” on page 51.

c Click Save.

9 Click Save again.

The task is assigned based on the location and organization. Notification is sent to the task assignee.

Manually assigning a task

You can manually set the assignment for any task, if appropriate.

" To assign a task


2 Open a task, as described in “Creating tasks” on page 127.

3 On the Task form, click the Assignments tab.

If you manually assign the task when creating the task, the Assignment and Dates tabs are combined as the Assignment/Dates tab.



Figure 4-20: Completed Assignment tab

Figure 4-21: Completed Assignment/Dates tab

4 Select the company, organization, assignee group, and assignee.

5 If appropriate, schedule the start and end dates.

6 Click Save.

Recording work performed on tasks

You might be assigned tasks to perform for incidents not assigned to you. When a task is assigned to you, notification is sent to you.

" To record work performed on a task


2 Open an incident.

3 Click the Tasks tab.

4 Select the task.

5 Click View.

The Task form appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 4-22: Assigned task

6 Select the appropriate status.

Tasks can be staged, assigned, pending, work in progress, waiting, closed, or bypassed.

Note: The waiting status is used only for automatic tasks, which are not applicable to incident management.

7 Select the appropriate status reason.

If you close the task, you must select whether you are canceling the task or completing it as a success or failure.


Figure 4-23: Tracking effort on the Assignment tab



9 To track effort spent on the task:

! When you start working on the task, click Start Clock.

! When you stop working on the task, click Stop Clock.

! To record additional details about the effort, to manually record time spent working on a task, or to view details of past effort, click Effort Log. The Task Effort Log dialog box appears. Close the dialog box when you are finished.

10 Click the Work Info tab.

11 Complete the Work Info tab, as described in “Adding work information” on page 51.

12 Click Save.

Investigating and diagnosing an incident

In this activity, you search existing information to identify a possible solution. After you identify the possible solution, you can resolve it, as described in “Resolving an incident” on page 141.

If the incident cannot be resolved or a root cause analysis is required, the incident can be escalated to Problem Management. You can launch a problem investigation in conjunction with the incident to discover the root cause and solution. Keep in mind that the incident is managed as a separate process, and remains open until it is resolved.

The following topics describe work you might perform while investigating and diagnosing an incident:

! “Viewing an incident” on page 133

! “Adding work information” on page 51

! “Searching for a solution” on page 135

! “Recording the cost of working on an incident” on page 139


User’s Guide

Viewing an incident

You can view an incident from the Assigned Work area.

" To view an incident

1 In the Assigned Work area, select the incident.

2 Click View. The Incident form appears.

Figure 4-24: Incident at investigation and diagnosis stage

Fields on the form display the incident status and information that has been collected about the incident.

Process flowstatus

As the incident moves through its life cycle, the Process Flow Status area displays the current stage of the incident. In Figure 4-24 the incident is at the second stage, which is the investigation and diagnosis stage. The stage is highlighted in white and includes the label Normal. If the incident were pending further action, the current stage would be highlighted in yellow and include the label Pending.

For more information about the incident process flow, see “Process flow and the life cycle of an incident request” on page 24.

Investigating and diagnosing an incident ! 133


Service LevelManagement

(SLM)

If SLM is installed, the Incident form displays both overview and in-depth information about the incident in relation to applicable service targets.

The SLM Status area shows whether the incident breaches service targets defined in SLM, as described in Table 4-2. An incident can have service targets for response time and resolution time.

If the incident was recorded directly from an email, fax, voicemail, or web self-serve request, the Responded field appears next to the Service Target indicator. After you respond to the incident, select Yes.

Important: If you respond to an incident and leave the Responded field set to No, the incident might breach the response service terms.

For additional information about the relevant service targets, click the SLM tab. The Service Targets table displays all service targets applicable to the incident. Select a service target to see the status, next target date, exception details, and applicable milestones.

Figure 4-25: SLM tab

Table 4-2: Service targets indicator colors and SLM status

Color SLM status Description

Green Within the Service Target Incident does not violate the conditions of the service targets.

Yellow Service Target Breached At least one service target has been breached.

Red All Service Targets Breached The terms of all service targets have been breached.

Gray No Service Target Assigned Incident has no applicable service targets.


User’s Guide

The Next Target Date field indicates the next deadline out of all the service targets attached to the incident. The SLM Status displays the status corresponding to the Service Target indicator on the top of the form.

If the service terms have been breached, select the breach reason and breach exception.

For more information about service targets and milestones, see the BMC Service Level Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

Searching for a solution

You can search for information that might help resolve the current incident. You can search for this information in other incidents, problem investigations, known errors, and solution database entries.

" To search for a solution


2 Open an incident.

3 In the navigation pane, choose Functions > Incident Matching.

The Incident Matching dialog box appears.

4 Select the appropriate check boxes to search for incidents, problem investigations, known errors, or solution database entries.

5 To search using the incident’s operational categorization, in the Search By Operational Categorization area, click Current Operation.

The operational categorization fields populate with the current incident’s operational categorization.

6 To search using the incident’s product categorization, in the Search By Product Categorization area, click Current Product.

The product categorization fields populate with the current incident’s product categorization.

7 To further filter the search results, you can specify the other fields in the search criteria pages.

8 Click Search.



Matching incidents, problem investigations, known errors, and solutions are listed in the tabs at the bottom half of the dialog box.

Figure 4-26: Incident Matching dialog box displaying search results

9 To view details of a matching record, perform the following steps:

a On the bottom half of the screen, click the appropriate tab, such as the Known Errors tab.

This tab lists matching records, such as matching known errors.

b Select the appropriate record.

c On the top half of the screen, click the appropriate Search and Solution tab, such as the Known Error Search and Solution tab, then within that tab click the solution tab, such as the View Known Error Solution tab.

This tab displays details of the selected record.

10 If the record resolves the current incident, from the Relationship Type list, select Resolved by.

11 To relate the record and copy the solution to the resolution of the incident, click Relate with Solution.


User’s Guide

12 Alternatively, to relate the record without the solution, click Relate Without Solution.

13 If a solution or work-around is available, then continue with “Moving the incident to the resolution stage.”

Moving the incident to the resolution stage

When you find a possible solution or work-around for the incident, you are ready to move it to the resolution stage.

" To move the incident to the resolution stage


2 Open an incident.

3 In the Process Flow Status area, in the Investigation and Diagnosis box, choose Next Stage > Resolution and Recovery.

Figure 4-27: Selecting resolution and recovery

.

The Modify Incident form appears, displaying the required and optional fields to move the incident to the resolution and recovery stage.



Figure 4-28: Completed required fields on Modify Incident form

4 If the incident is not assigned, the Modify Incident form also prompts you to assign the incident.

5 Type the proposed resolution in the Resolution field.

6 Summarize the work you performed to find the proposed resolution by completing the fields in the Add Work Info area.

7 To prevent changes to this record of your work performed, change the Locked status to Yes.

8 If this incident is linked to a request, to allow the customer to see this summary of work performed, change the View Access status to External.

9 To complete recommended optional information:

a Click the Optional Information tab.


User’s Guide

Figure 4-29: Completed optional information

b Select the appropriate product categorization.

Product categorization is based on a five-tier hierarchy that is defined in the Product Catalog configuration form.

c Select the appropriate resolution categorization.

d Click Save.

Recording the cost of working on an incident

You can record the cost involved in working on an incident on the Financials tab of the Incident form.

" To record the cost of working on an incident


2 Open an incident.

3 Click the Financials tab.

4 Click Create.

The Costs form appears.



Figure 4-30: Completed Costs form

The Cost Category field is set to Incident. This indicates the form from which you are entering the charge. You cannot change this value.

5 Select the appropriate cost center code from the list.

This is the code name for the business unit or organization within the company to be charged for servicing the incident. When you select the cost center code, the Company and Cost Center Name fields display the values attached to the cost center code.

6 From the Cost Classification list, select either Actual or Budget.

7 In the Related Cost field, type the rate, and select the currency from the list.

8 If appropriate, you can also:

! Select the cost type. Cost types are defined by your organization for reporting purposes.

! Enter a description.

! Select the unit type. The unit type indicates whether cost is measured as a flat rate, or in hours or minutes. If you select a unit type of hours or minutes, you must type the number of hours or minutes in the Related Units field.


User’s Guide

! Enter the date the charge was incurred. If you leave this field blank, it is set to the current date when you save the cost.

9 Click Save.

The totals for budgeted and actual costs appear at the bottom of the table.

10 Repeat steps 4 through 9 for each cost associated with the incident.

Resolving an incident

The main purpose of this activity is to resolve and recover from the service disruption to enable the customer to resume work.

" To resolve an incident


2 Open an incident.

3 In the Process Flow Status area, in the Resolution and Recovery box, choose Next Stage > Incident Closure.

The Modify Incident form appears.

Figure 4-31: Modify Incident form

Resolving an incident ! 141


The Resolution field shows the resolution that was proposed when the incident was moved to the resolution and recovery stage.

4 If appropriate, change the resolution.

The resolution is included in the email notification sent to the customer. If you leave this field blank, you must specify the resolution categorization on the Optional Information tab.

5 Select the appropriate status reason.

The status reason can indicate action required before the incident is closed.

6 In the Add Work Info area, specify the work performed to resolve the incident.

7 You can click the Optional Information tab to enter additional information as follows:

a In the Resolution Product Categorization area, select from up to five lists to specify the product categorization of the underlying CI that caused the incident.

The default value is the same as the incident product categorization.

b In the Resolution Categorization area, select either:

! Actions taken to resolve the incident.

! Service categories of the underlying causes.


User’s Guide

Figure 4-32: Completed Optional Information tab

8 Click Save.

The status of the incident is set to Resolved.

If CI unavailability was created from this incident and your support group is responsible for the CI unavailability, then you are prompted to update the CI unavailability.

Figure 4-33: Selecting CI unavailability to update



! To update the CI unavailability, for example, if the CI is now available, click Update. For details on CI unavailability, see “Recording CI unavailability” on page 116.

! To continue resolving the incident without updating the CI, click Close and Continue Save.

! To return to the Incident form without saving, click Close and Cancel Save.

9 If appropriate, you can complete additional fields on the Resolution tab of the Incident form as follows.

10 If you complete additional fields on the Incident form, remember to click Save to save your changes.

11 If appropriate, publish the resolution into the solution database, as described in “Creating known errors and solutions” on page 149.

Creating a problem investigation from an incident

If you are not able to resolve the incident, you should escalate it to the problem management process. For example, root cause analysis might be required to identify the underlying problem. If you have access to Problem Management, you can create a problem investigation from an incident.

If the incident is still open when the related problem investigation is completed, the assignee is notified. If the problem investigation results in a known error, the incident assignee is notified when a work-around or permanent solution is found.

" To create a problem investigation from an incident


2 Open an incident.


Resolution Method Method to resolve the incident, such as Service Desk assisted.

Cause Cause of the incident.


User’s Guide

3 In the Process Flow Status area, in the Resolution and Recovery box, choose Generate Problem.

Figure 4-34: Selecting Generate Problem

A Problem Investigation form appears. The Description, Impact and Urgency, Product and Service Categorization, and Resolution fields from the incident are copied to the problem investigation. A relationship is created between the problem investigation and the incident.

Figure 4-35: Problem investigation generated from incident

4 Complete the Problem Investigation form.

For information about recording problem investigations, see the BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

5 Click Save.



Creating infrastructure change from an incident

If infrastructure change is required to permanently resolve the incident, you should initiate the change management process. If the Change Management application is installed and you have permission to use the Change Management application, you can create an infrastructure change from an incident.

If the incident is open when the change is completed, the assignee is notified.

" To create infrastructure change from an incident


2 Open an incident.

3 In the Process Flow Status area, in the Resolution and Recovery box, choose Generate Change.

A Change Request form appears. The Product and Operational Categorization are copied from the incident to the infrastructure change. A relationship is created between the change and the incident.

Figure 4-36: Change generated from incident

4 Complete the Change Request form.

For information about recording change requests, see the BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

5 Click Save.


User’s Guide

Reopening a resolved incident

If the recorded resolution did not resolve the incident, you can reopen the incident. This moves the incident back to the resolution and recovery stage.

Note: If the incident is closed, it can be reopened only by a support group lead or support group manager for the group that owns the incident, or by someone with Incident Master permission.

" To reopen a resolved incident


2 Open an incident.

3 In the Process Flow Status area in the Closure box, choose Reopen.

The incident moves back to the resolution and recovery stage, and the status changes from Resolved to In Progress.

Closing an incident

The main purpose of this activity is to make sure that the incident has successfully restored the service to the customer and that the customer is satisfied with the outcome. When the customer agrees that the incident can be closed, review the incident record for completion and, if appropriate, create a solution database entry.

If you leave an incident as resolved, after 15 days the Incident Management application closes the incident.

Note: After you close an incident, it can be reopened only by a support group lead or support group manager for the group that owns the incident, or by someone with Incident Master permission. You can continue to add Work Info entries, but you cannot modify the incident.

" To close an incident


Closing an incident ! 147


2 Open an incident.

3 Review the Incident form to make sure that it is complete and accurate.

Figure 4-37: Incident being reviewed for closure

Optional fields include:

! Status Reason—If appropriate, select Infrastructure Change Created.

! Closure Source—This list is located on the Resolution tab. Select Support Agent. If the customer closes an incident from the Request console, this field is set to Customer. The system might be configured to close an incident a number of days after the incident is resolved; when this happens, the Closure Source value is System.

! Satisfaction Rating—Select the customer’s reported satisfaction with the handling of the incident.

4 In the Process Flow Status area, in the Incident Closure box, choose Close.

The status to now set to Closed. If the incident was broadcast, the broadcast is removed.

5 Click Save.


User’s Guide

Creating known errors and solutions

If the incident resolution is a known error or a good candidate for the solution database, you can propose an entry.

Creating a known error from an incident

If you have access to Problem Management, you can create a known error from an incident.

" To create a known error from an incident


2 Open an incident.

3 In the navigation pane, choose Create Other Requests > Create Known error.

The Known Error form appears. The relevant details from the incident are copied to the known error.

Figure 4-38: Known error created from incident

4 Complete the Known Error form, as described in the BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

5 Click Save.

Creating known errors and solutions ! 149


Creating a solution database entry from an incident

If you have access to Problem Management, you can publish the resolution from an incident into the solution database.

" To create a solution entry from an incident


2 Open an incident.

3 Click the Resolution tab.

Figure 4-39: Incident form open to the Resolution tab

4 Click Create and Edit Solution.

The Solution form appears. The resolution details are already copied into the form.


User’s Guide

Figure 4-40: Solution created from incident

5 Edit the form as required.

6 Click Save.

Tip: To avoid editing the Solution Database form, click Quick Create Solution. This copies the resolution details into the form, submits the solution entry as Inactive, sets the view access to Internal, and assigns the solution entry to the appropriate support group.

Creating known errors and solutions ! 151

Chapter

5
Working with Incident Management as a manager
This section describes functions that are available to managers. An individual is defined as an incident manager by giving the user the functional role of incident manager or Support Group Manager for the support groups to which he or she belongs. For details, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.


! Understanding the Manager Console tab (page 154)

! Managing assignments (page 155)

! Reopening a closed incident (page 159)

! Understanding SLM calculations (page 160)

! Understanding notifications (page 160)

! Viewing the audit log (page 162)

Working with Incident Management as a manager ! 153


Understanding the Manager Console tab

With Incident Management version 7.0, managers now have a separate console. This console includes:

! Navigation pane—Provides display filters, links to functionality, and links to other applications.

! Search Criteria area—Used to search for assigned work.

! Broadcast area—Displays broadcasts and provides broadcast functionality. For details, see “Broadcasting messages” on page 55.

! Assigned Work area—Displays a summary of assigned incidents.

! Flashboards area—Provides a high-level graphical overview.

Figure 5-1: Incident Management console—Manager Console tab

Navigation pane

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Both the navigation pane and Search Criteria area provide options to filter the assigned work on the console, as summarized in the following table.

Managing assignments

An incident can be assigned to an individual or a group.

Viewing unassigned incidents

An incident can be assigned to your support group without being assigned to an individual. View the unassigned incidents, then assign them as described in “Assigning an incident” on page 156.

" To view unassigned incidents

1 On the Incident Management console, click the Manager Console tab if it is not selected.

2 From the navigation pane, perform one of the following steps:

! Choose Console View > Select My Groups > Show Unassigned.

! Choose Console View > All My Groups > Show Unassigned.

Table 5-1: Options to filter display of assigned work

Option Explanation

Company If you support multiple companies, leave this blank to display work for all companies, or select the appropriate company.

Console View You can look at the personal view for work assigned to you, or you can change to view work assigned to your support groups. You can also view work that has been assigned to your support group, but is still unassigned to an individual.

SLM Status To view incidents regardless of SLM status, leave this blank. Otherwise, select the appropriate SLM status. The SLM Status filter is available only if SLM is installed.

Dates You can view open assigned incidents that were opened any time. You can also restrict the display to incidents opened within the selected time, such as within the last 24 hours.

Role Incident managers can select either the Incident Manager or Assignee role.

Managing assignments ! 155


3 If you are viewing unassigned incidents, from the Selected Groups list, you must confirm the selected groups, as follows.

The My Group Selection dialog box appears.

Figure 5-2: My Group Selection dialog box

a In the View Group column, for each group, select Yes to indicate display incidents assigned to that group.

b Click Update.

The Assigned Work area shows unassigned incidents for the selected support groups.

Assigning an incident

You can assign the incident to anyone within your support group. To reassign the incident to another support group or to an assignee in another support group, see “Reassigning an incident” on page 124.

" To assign an incident


2 Open an incident.



User’s Guide

Figure 5-3: Completed Assignment tab

4 Select the appropriate assignee or support group.

5 Click Save.

Monitoring an incident's status

You can monitor an incident’s status through process flow, the Status field, and the assignment log. Process flow indicates the current stage and state of an incident. The Status field provides additional information. The assignment log indicates the history of assigned work that has been performed on the incident.

Process flow Process flow provides a quick visual indicator of the current stage and state of an incident. When you open an incident, the Process Flow Status area appears toward the top of the form.

Figure 5-4: Process Flow status area

For additional information, see “Process flow and the life cycle of an incident request” on page 24.

Managing assignments ! 157


Status field The Status field changes during the life cycle of the incident.

Assignmentlog

The assignment log displays a list of all the groups and individuals that were assigned to work on the incident during its life cycle. One unique entry is generated for each individual and group assigned to work on the incident, but they are not arranged chronologically. To access the assignment log, click the Assignment tab, then click Update Assignment Log.

Figure 5-5: Incident Assignment Log dialog box

Table 5-2: Significance of the status field

Status Description

New The incident is unassigned. You can see this status only while completing a new incident. After you save the incident, the status changes to Assigned.

Assigned The incident has been assigned to a support group or individual but has not yet been acknowledged.

In Progress The assignment has been accepted and the assignee is working toward resolution.

Pending Work on the incident has been temporarily suspended.

Resolved A resolution or work-around to restore the service has been determined and is awaiting customer validation.

Closed A resolution or work-around has restored the service and the customer has validated the resolution.

Canceled Restoration of service is no longer required.


User’s Guide

There are three types of assignment logs:

! Initiated—This assignment log is generated by the application when the incident is submitted. It indicates who generated the incident and how long it took for the incident to be submitted to the application.

! Assigned—This assignment log is generated by the application when the incident is reassigned or resolved.

! Assisted—This assignment log is manually generated when a user follows the procedure described in “Recording time worked on an incident” on page 122. It tracks the amount of time spent by an individual who assisted with the incident, but who was not officially assigned to the incident.

The fields for Group Transfers, Individual Transfers, and Total Transfers track the reassignments of the incident.

Reopening a closed incident

If you are a support group lead or support group manager, you can reopen closed incidents that your support group owns. If you have Incident Master permission, you can also reopen incidents owned by other support groups.

If an incident is resolved, but not yet closed, anyone with access to the incident can reopen it, as described in “Reopening a resolved incident” on page 147.

" To reopen a closed incident


2 Open an incident.

3 In the navigation pane, choose Functions > Reopen Incident.

This creates a new incident, copying information from the closed incident to the new incident, and defining a relationship between the two incidents.

4 Make any required changes to the new incident.

5 Click Save.

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Understanding SLM calculations

From the Incident form, you can view incident service targets defined in SLM, as described in “Viewing an incident” on page 133. Service targets can be defined in SLM for response time, and resolution time. Service targets for an incident can be determined by related CIs, product and service categorization, and many other criteria.

The service target response time applies when an incident is recorded from an email, fax, voicemail, or web self-serve request. In this case the Responded Date is blank until someone indicates that the incident has been responded to (in the Responded field next to the SLM status indicators). When support staff record an incident, the Responded Date is set to the date that the incident is recorded.

In general, the service target resolution time is calculated from when the incident is recorded until it is resolved. The following scenarios can affect the calculated resolution time:

! When an incident is in a pending state, it might not be included in SLM calculations, depending on the Status Reason.

! When a resolved incident is reopened, the SLM calculations account for time spent in the resolved state.

Understanding notifications

The purpose of the notification policy is to inform key IT support staff and customers about incidents that have caused a service disruption. Notifications from the application are automated and driven by events of the application. There might be some circumstances when you must manually send a notification.

Automated notifications are sent to individuals or groups, such as when an incident is created, assigned, or resolved. If you are using SLM, escalating notifications can be sent, as described in “Notifications defined in SLM” on page 161.

Individual and system-wide preferences indicate whether to send notifications by alert, email, or pager. The administrator can configure the notification method, as to whether business hours and holidays are respected, and whether to send individual or group notifications. For details on configuration, see the BMC Remedy IT Service Management 7.0 Configuration Guide.


User’s Guide

The following scenarios are examples of notifications sent from Incident Management:

! Customers are notified by email when the incident is resolved. The email includes the resolution.

! The incident owner is notified when an incident is resolved, if the assignee group is different from the owner group.

! The Problem assignment group or assignee is notified when a solution entry is created from an incident.

Assignees of incidents related to problem investigations, known errors, and change requests can receive notification from Problem Management or Change Management. See the BMC Remedy Service Desk: Problem Management 7.0 User’s Guide and BMC Remedy Change Management 7.0 User’s Guide for details.

Notificationsdefined in SLM

Notifications can also be sent out based on milestone actions that are defined as part of service targets in the SLM application. Service target escalations occur when the incident’s responded date is in danger of breaching the service terms. For example, this happens when:

! The target response time has elapsed and the incident is still assigned.

! The target resolution time has elapsed and the incident is still open (not resolved, closed, or canceled).

You can view the Responded Date on the Date/System tab. For details on service target calculations, see “Understanding SLM calculations” on page 160.

You can configure SLM to send notifications to incident assignees, assignee group managers, incident owners, or owner group managers by using templates included with the Incident Management integration with SLM. For details on configuring service targets and notifications in SLM, see the BMC Service Level Management 7.0 User’s Guide.

Understanding notifications ! 161


Viewing the audit log

You can view field changes and notifications for the incident. The application generates an audit entry when notifications are sent, and also when the record is modified; it creates an audit entry for each field and relationship that is modified. The Login ID of the individual making the change appears next to the audit entry.

" To view the audit log


2 Open an incident.

3 In the navigation pane, choose Functions > View Audit Log.

The Incident Audit Log dialog box appears. Changes to fields appear on the Form Audits tab.

Figure 5-6: Incident Audit Log dialog box

4 To filter the list, select the appropriate audit type.

The Audit Type list provides selections for fields, such as Status, and groups of related fields, such as Key Dates. The filter displays audit records for changes to the selected field or fields.

5 To see notifications, click the Notification Audits tab.

All notifications that are sent from an incident are audited. The notifications appear on the Notification Audits tab.


Chapter

6
Managing configuration items
A configuration item (CI) is any component of an infrastructure, for example, hardware or software components, a service, an inventory location, a network (LAN or WAN), and so on.

You can use the information in CIs to diagnose user problems or to determine if a change to a CI or the IT infrastructure must be made. For example, if a user calls in with a printing problem, a staff member can check to see if the printer (CI) is down or in repair.

To record information against CIs, such as CI unavailability or relating an incident to a CI, the CI must be recorded in the CMDB. If you do not have BMC Remedy Asset Management, then Incident Management provides limited ability to manage CIs and inventory.

Note: This functionality is available whether or not BMC Remedy Asset Management is installed. If you have BMC Remedy Asset Management, you have access to additional functionality, as described in BMC Remedy Asset Management 7.0 User’s Guide.


! Creating a CI (page 164)

! Managing inventory (page 170)

Managing configuration items ! 163


Creating a CI

To create a CI, you must have Asset Admin permission. If you have Asset User permission and you need to modify a CI, your administrator must open the appropriate CI, and then relate your support group to the CI.

The fields on the CI form vary with the CI type. This section provides examples of creating three types of CIs:

! “Creating a computer system CI” on page 164

! “Creating a bulk inventory CI” on page 167

! “Creating an inventory location CI” on page 169

Creating a computer system CI

The following procedure is an example of creating a computer system CI. For creating other types of CIs, the general procedure is similar, with the exception of specific fields on the CI form.

" To create a computer system CI

1 From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose General Functions > Manage CIs.

The Select a CI Type dialog box appears.

Figure 6-1: Select a CI Type dialog box

2 From the CI Type list, select System > Computer System.

3 Click Create.

The Computer System form appears.

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Figure 6-2: Completed Computer System form

4 In the CI Name field, type a name for the CI.

When creating a CI name, you should follow a consistent naming convention. According to ITIL guidelines, identifiers should be short but meaningful, and for hardware, not based on supplier device names. For example, the name could include an indicator of the CI’s function (such as “Workstation” or “Monitor”) followed by a numeric code, such as MONITOR100.

5 In the CI ID field, type a unique alphanumeric value for the CI.

6 Specify whether the CI is supported by selecting Yes or No from the Supported list.

7 Select the company to which this CI belongs.

8 From the Primary Capability and Capability lists, select the roles this CI performs in your company’s topology.

9 Select a status from the Status list.

Creating a CI ! 165


The default value is Ordered. You can select one of the following options.

10 Select what impact or urgency this CI will have if it goes down.

11 In the Users Affected field, specify the number of people who use this CI or will be affected if it goes down.

12 Complete the other fields in this area.

Status Description

Received The CI was received in shipping.

Being Assembled The CI is being assembled.

Deployed The CI was installed.

In Repair The CI is down for maintenance.

Down The CI is down, but not yet in maintenance.

End of Life The CI is no longer being deployed.

Transferred The CI was transferred to another location.

Delete The CI is marked for deletion. You must be a member of the APP-Management or APP-Administrator group to mark a CI for deletion.

In Inventory The CI is in inventory but not yet deployed. When you select this status, you are prompted to select the inventory location.

On Loan The CI is on loan to another location.

Disposed The CI is no longer available and was disposed of.

Reserved The CI was reserved and taken out of inventory.

Return to Vendor

The CI must be returned to the vendor as damaged or unwanted.


Tag Number The CI tag number. This is the number usually placed on the product by a member of your IT department to track the CI.

Serial Number The CI serial number.

Part Number The CI part number.


User’s Guide

13 Click the General tab.

14 Categorize your CI using the lists and fields in the Product Categorization area.

15 Specify the location of the CI using the lists and fields in the Location area.

16 Enter the dates of the CI in the Lifecycle area.

17 Click the Specifications tab.

18 Add additional information about the CI.

19 Click Save.

Creating a bulk inventory CI

Use the following procedure to create bulk inventory CIs.

" To create a bulk inventory CI


The Manage CI Information dialog box appears.

2 From the CI Type list, select Inventory > Bulk Inventory, and click Create.

The Bulk Inventory form appears.

System Role The role this CI plays in your company.

Status Reason The reason this CI has the status it does.


Creating a CI ! 167


Figure 6-3: Completed Bulk Inventory form

3 Complete the following required fields.

4 Click Save.


CI Name Enter the name of the bulk inventory item, for example, Microsoft Windows XP.

Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 Categorize the item.

Received Quantity Enter the number of items received.


User’s Guide

Creating an inventory location CI

The following procedure uses the example of creating a location CI. Location CIs can be used when managing inventory. Use them to indicate where bulk inventory and other CIs are located.

" To create a location CI


The Manage CI Information dialog box appears.

2 From the Type list, select System > Inventory Location, and click Create.

The Inventory Location form appears.

Figure 6-4: Completed Inventory Location form

3 In the CI Name field, enter the location name.

4 Complete the other, optional fields.

5 Click Save.

Creating a CI ! 169


Managing inventory

You can use the Manage Inventory function to track bulk inventory items and other CIs that are available for deployment.

Before you can track inventory, you must:

! Create inventory location CIs.

! Create bulk inventory CIs, or other CIs to be tracked as inventory.

! For bulk inventory, specify the received quantity and the inventory locations.

! For non-bulk inventory CIs, set the inventory status to In Inventory, and select a location.

Note: For instructions on creating CIs, see “Creating a CI” on page 164.

After items are in inventory, you can use the Manage Inventory function to view, relocate, and reserve and use CIs and bulk inventory items.

Viewing inventory locations

You can view the location of inventory from the Manage Inventory dialog box.

" To view inventory locations

1 From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose General Functions > Manage Inventory.

The Manage Inventory dialog box appears.


User’s Guide

Figure 6-5: Search results in the Manage Inventory dialog box

2 Enter your search criteria, and click Search.

Results matching your search criteria appear in the table.

3 Select a CI or bulk inventory item from the table, and click View Location.

The Inventory Location form appears.

Figure 6-6: Inventory Location form

Managing inventory ! 171


4 View the CIs in the inventory.

5 Click Close.

Relocating CIs

You can relocate CIs or bulk inventory items from one location to another.

" To relocate assets



2 Search for inventory in the current location.

3 Select the CI or bulk inventory item you want to relocate, and click Relocate CIs.

The Search Inventory Locations dialog box appears.

Figure 6-7: Search Inventory Locations dialog box displaying results

4 For the location where you want to relocate the CI, specify search criteria, and click Search.

Results matching your search criteria appear in the table.

5 Select the location where you want to relocate your CI.


User’s Guide

6 In the Quantity field, enter the number of CIs you want to relocate.

7 Click Relocate.

Reserving and using inventory

You can reserve and use the CIs and bulk inventory items that are in inventory.

" To reserve and use inventory



2 Select the CI or bulk inventory item you want to reserve and use.

3 Click in the Transaction Qty column and enter the number of assets or bulk inventory items you want to use.

Figure 6-8: Manage Inventory dialog box with transaction quantity

4 Click Reserve/Use Inventory.

The number of CIs or bulk inventory items in the Qty in Stock column is reduced by the number reserved and used.

Enter the number of assets you want to use, and click Reserve/Use Inventory.

Managing inventory ! 173

Glossary

This glossary contains terms for all of the ITSM applications.

For a list of AR System terms, see the glossary in BMC Remedy Action Request System 7.0 Concepts guide.

For a list of CMDB terms, see the glossary in BMC Atrium CMDB 2.0 Concepts and Best Practices Guide.

accelerated depreciationAny method of depreciation that allows greater deductions in the earlier years of a CI’s life cycle. See also depreciation and configuration item (CI).

access permissionSee permission group.

actionA mechanism, such as an alert or a Set Fields action, for making sure that SLM commitments are met. You can define one or more actions that will be associated with a milestone.

administrator See application administrator.

Administration consoleSee Application Administration console.

agreementA documented understanding between two parties. An agreement can be one of three types: service level agreement, operational level agreement, or underpinning contract. See also service level agreement (SLA), operational level agreement (OLA), and underpinning contract (UC).

agreement ownersA feature that allows you to select which individuals or groups of people to notify at certain times, for example, when an SLA is at risk or when an SLA is going to expire.

application administrator An individual responsible for the management of the ITSM applications, including setting up forms, setting access rights for users, and creating configurations.

Glossary ! 175


Application Administration consoleThe main interface for configuring ITSM applications. The console works like a control panel from which administrators can perform common configuration activities and activities specific to different ITSM applications and subsystems.

approvalA process that generates electronic signature lines for items that require approval, and tracks who has approved or rejected a given request.

asset managerThe manager responsible for both strategy and day-to-day CI management functions, for example, updating CIs and configurations, running reports, or negotiating contracts.

assignee The person assigned the responsibility of working on any of the following activities: change request, incident ticket, problem investigation, known error, solution database entry, and so on.

assignmentAutomatically or manually assigning a group or individual the responsibility of resolving an issue or request. ITSM applications use the Assignment form for group automatic assignment and the Assignment Engine for individual automatic assignment.

audit scheduleA schedule used to perform periodic audits that check for differences between the information in the CI database and the CIs that are deployed in the company.

availability service targetA service target that measures the time that an asset or service is available or unavailable. This service target applies specifically to data that is tracked in an application based on AR System, such as Asset Management.

BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (BMC Atrium CMDB)

An infrastructure built on AR System and used to build data models and define datasets.

book valueThe value of a CI equal to the purchase cost minus the accumulated depreciation.

broadcast messageAn application feature that enables users to create messages that can be viewed by the entire organization or by users in specific groups.

BSMSee business service management (BSM).

bulk inventory Assets that you order in quantity, such as power cables.

bulk items Items that are not tracked by an individual record for each unit. Bulk items in inventory are tracked by quantities of an item type. For example, items such as cables do not require individual records but rather, one record for a bulk quantity of the specific cable type.

Bulk Performance Manager NodeA feature that allows the administrator to add multiple nodes to a service target at one time. This feature is specific to collection nodes for BMC Performance Manager. See also collection node.

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business service management (BSM)A flexible, comprehensive management approach that links IT resources and business objectives. BSM makes sure that everything IT does is prioritized according to business impact, and enables IT organizations to proactively address business requirements.

CABSee change advisory board (CAB)

CCMSee Change and Configuration Management.

change advisory board (CAB)A group that advises change management on the implementation of significant changes to the IT infrastructure. This group is often made up of representatives from various IT areas and business units.

Change and Configuration ManagementAn application feature that proactively manages both IT and business-driven changes, and protects the IT environment. It does this by using planning and decision-making data contained in a dedicated BMC Atrium CMDB.

change authorityThe name of a group with the authority to approve changes. This group can also be called the Change Advisory Board. See also change advisory board (CAB).

change managementAs a concept, the process of planning, scheduling, implementing, and tracking changes to the IT infrastructure, or any other aspect of service, in a controlled manner. By using change management, you can implement approved changes with minimal disruption to the business environment.

change manager A person responsible for filtering, accepting, and classifying all change requests. The change manager is also responsible for planning and coordinating the implementation of the changes. Sometimes known as a change supervisor.

change request The controlled process for the addition, modification, or removal of approved, supported, or baselined hardware, networks, software, applications, environments, or systems. A change request can involve multiple change activities.

charge-backThe process of charging departments or cost centers for the IT infrastructure required to support their business processes.

charge-back invoiceA detailed list of charges to cost centers, including any charge-back percentage.

charge-back percentageA percentage used to calculate charge-back costs.

charge-back reportA report used by a cost manager to track information and find entries that might need to be adjusted.

charge-back summaryThe total charges made to cost centers, including charge-back percentage. For split cost centers, it also provides information about how charges are allocated for source cost centers and target cost centers.

CISee configuration item (CI).

Glossary ! 177


CI browserA component of ITSM. The CI browser lets you search for and view CIs and their relationships.

CI unavailabilityThe downtime of a CI.

CI unavailability recordThe time when a CI is either partially or completely unavailable to perform its required function. CI unavailability records can be broadcast or related to other records.

classMetadata in the BMC Atrium CMDB that defines a type of object, usually a configuration item (CI) or relationship.

client tier The architecture level where AR System clients operate within the multitier system.

CMDBSee BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (BMC Atrium CMDB).

Reconciliation EngineA component of the BMC Atrium CMDB. The Reconciliation Engine merges data from different discovery services based on identification and precedence rules.

collection nodeThe data source for the information that is forwarded to the collection points. Some examples of data sources are BMC Performance Manager Classic, BMC Performance Manager Express, BMC Application Response Time, and SNMP data sources.

collection pointThe component in the SLM application that is responsible for collecting the data. You can add multiple collection points with different port numbers.

collectorThe component in the SLM application that manages the collection points and retrieves data.

Company fieldA field in ITSM that controls multi-tenancy. It shows only data for the companies for which you have permission. See also multi-tenancy.

compliance at risk targetA target (such as 99.5 percent) that identifies when the agreement's compliance reaches a point that is nearing a breach state and should be identified as a potential risk. See also compliance-only service target and compliance service target.

compliance-only service targetA service target that enables you to access data already processed by another product for use in compliance calculations. Using the compliance-only service target, SLM calculates compliance results at the agreement level only, by accessing service target results that were already processed by another application. See also compliance at risk target and compliance service target.

compliance service targetA target (such as 99 percent) that tracks the performance of the agreement to see the percentage of time the agreement was met over specific time periods. See also compliance at risk target and compliance-only service target.

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configurationSets of CIs that are required by different groups of people in the company.

configuration catalogA feature of Asset Management that stores your standard configurations (such as a standard desktop, laptop, server, and so on) for management purposes.

configuration item (CI)An infrastructure component or an item associated with the infrastructure that is (or will be) under the control of configuration management, for example, a Request for Change. A CI can be complex or simple, large or small. CIs can include entire systems or be a single module or minor component. CIs can also include records of people (users and customers) and locations.

configuration managementThe process of maintaining detailed IT inventory records. It involves identifying and defining the CIs in a system, recording and reporting the status of all CIs and requests for change, and verifying the completeness and correctness of all CIs. See also configuration item (CI).

Configuration Management DatabaseSee BMC Atrium Configuration Management Database (BMC Atrium CMDB).

contractA documented relationship between two parties that identifies details about each party, accounting and budget codes, purchase cost, and expiration dates, and ties one or more SLAs, OLAs, or underpinning contracts to the interested parties. The contract also makes it possible to segment and restrict access to the compliance and service target results so that results can be viewed by contract.

cost centerAn entity tracking cost information within an organization. See also split cost center.

cost managementAll of the policies, procedures, and deliverables required to fulfil an organization’s costing and charging requirements.

currency codeThe three-letter code that represents a currency type, such as USD for United States Dollars.

dashboardWeb-based, graphical user interface using flashboards where compliance and service target results can be viewed by service level managers, service delivery managers, other IT professionals, and customers or line of business owners. See also service level agreement (SLA), service target, and flashboard.

data consumerAn application that works with data in ITSM. It might view the data or modify it. See also data provider.

Glossary ! 179


data providerAn application that loads data into ITSM. This is often a discovery application. See also data consumer.

datasetA logical group of data in ITSM. A dataset can represent data from a particular source, a snapshot from a particular date, and so on. The dataset used by BMC products for reconciled production data is named BMC Asset.

decision treeA step-by-step guide set up by an administrator. It guides the user through a questionnaire and, based on the user’s answers, completes part of the form for a new incident.

declining balance depreciationA method of calculating depreciation in which CIs depreciate at a constant rate per year, accelerated by a factor of 150 percent. In this method of accelerated depreciation, 150 percent of the straight-line depreciation amount is taken the first year, and then that same percentage is applied to the undepreciated amount in subsequent years. See also double-declining balance depreciation.

definitive software library (DSL)A central repository of approved product dictionary entries (PDEs). See also product dictionary entry (PDE).

dependent change requestA change request that must be completed in sequence, as defined by the change manager.

depreciationThe loss of an asset’s value resulting from the passage of time.

double-declining balance depreciationA method of calculating depreciation in which CIs depreciate at a constant rate per year, accelerated by a factor of 200 percent. In this method of accelerated depreciation, double the straight-line depreciation amount is taken the first year, and then that same percentage is applied to the undepreciated amount in subsequent years. See also declining balance depreciation.

down CIA CI out of service for repairs or not working.

DSLSee definitive software library (DSL).

escalation A workflow component that searches at specified times or at regular intervals for requests matching a specified condition, and performs specified operations on all matching requests. Escalations are generally used to find records that have exceeded desired business rules or processes, and take appropriate action. They run on the AR System server.

federated dataData linked from a CI in ITSM but stored externally. Federated data might represent more attributes of the CI or related information, such as change requests on the CI.

flashboard A real-time visual monitoring tool that shows you the state of your service operations, warns you about potential problems, and collects and shows trend data.

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form A collection of fields that represents a record of information in the AR System. AR System administrators can define and change the fields and workflow associated with a form. An AR System application can include many forms.

functional roleA defined role used for notifications and to extend access granted by permission groups.

globalA setting that applies changes or defines certain parameters for all companies in a multi-tenancy environment. See also multi-tenancy.

goalMeasurement method that allows you to track the time taken to resolve an issue or track how often an asset or service was available. Goals are used to determine whether service targets are met.

guest user

Users who have not been configured with login information in the People form. Guest users cannot create change requests.

impacted areaCompanies, locations, or organizations affected by changes or updates to CIs.

incidentAny event that is not part of the standard operation of a service and that causes an interruption to or reduction in the quality of that service. See also incident management and problem investigation.

incident managementAs a concept, a reactive process typically initiated in response to a customer’s call. The primary goal of the incident management process is to restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and with minimum disruption to the business.

incident managerA person who monitors incident tickets and activities to help plan resources and to identify incident trends. The incident manager also handles assignments.

incident matchingA search process in Incident Management that can be used to search for other incidents, problem investigations, known errors, and solution database entries that share some of the same characteristics as the current incident, such as product categorization.

incident ownerThe user who records the incident. This user might differ from the current incident assignee. See also assignee.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

A set of guidelines for the management and provision of operational IT services.

instanceA record in ITSM. An instance is an object of a particular class. Both CIs and relationships are considered instances.

inventoryThe quantity of CIs available.

ISO currency codeSee currency code.

ITILSee Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

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key performance indicator (KPI)A data point used to measure whether performance-monitoring service targets meet their goals. See also service level agreement (SLA).

known errorA problem that has been successfully diagnosed and for which a temporary work-around or permanent solution to the known error has been identified. See also problem and work-around.

KPISee key performance indicator (KPI).

life cycle asset managementManaging the life of a CI through its purchase, deployment, and disposal.

maintenance scheduleA schedule used to perform maintenance on CIs.

measurement The metric by which supervisors measure the ability of the support staff to meet their agreements.

milestoneA point in time that triggers a set of actions as you progress toward an agreement compliance target or service target goal. The triggered actions are to make sure your goals are being met.

multi-tenancyA feature in ITSM that uses the Company field to limit access by individuals. The Company field can be used to represent a company, department, or other group. The Company field also can be used to control access in a hosted environment. By default, ITSM applications operate in multi-tenancy mode. See also single-tenancy.

navigation paneAn area on the left side of consoles that provides links to functionality and links to other programs.

New Request WizardA simple form for requesters to submit service requests. Requesters use the New Request Wizard interface to submit service requests to IT, which is the only way to submit a service request from the Requester console.

non-bulk CIsStand-alone configuration items, for example, a single server or laptop.

notification A message sent to a user by workflow. Notification can be in the form of an alert, email message, or other method using integrations.

OLASee operational level agreement (OLA).

operational catalogA feature in which operational categories for service requests are defined.

operational categorization A three-tier hierarchical representation of operations as defined in the Operational Catalog configuration form. This categorization is included in records to specify the range of operations to which a record applies.

operational level agreement (OLA)An internal agreement used to define and track the level of service provided for an IT organization. An example is an agreement between the network management team and the service desk.

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operator One of a number of functions that enable you to define advanced searches or build qualifications.

Overview consoleA central console for ITSM applications. The console works like a control panel from which users can access all assigned work and perform their primary activities.

parent/child contractA parent, or main, contract that has other children, or subcontracts, associated with it.

PDESee product dictionary entry (PDE).

peer change requestA dependent change request that can be completed at the same time as another change request.

peer-to-peerDevices that are on the same level in an organization’s network (for example, two workstations). See also notification.

performance-level service targetA service target that compares a service level to the goals defined in the service target to determine whether the goal is met. Allows you to monitor whether a critical application that you are using has responded within the time period specified in the goals. See also goal.

performance-monitoring service targetA service target that compares a goal to a defined threshold to determine if the goal is met. For example, it allows you to monitor whether a critical application that you are using responds within 4 seconds or if the application meets other criteria such as being in a state of “OK.”

permission groupA feature of the ITSM applications that controls what areas of the application a users can access. Each permission group can access only certain areas of the application. A user can belong to more than one permission group.

problemThe root cause of an incident or potential incident. After a resolution or work-around is identified, the problem becomes a solution database entry or known error. See also incident, known error, solution database, and work-around.

problem investigationA process that helps an IT organization diagnose the root cause of incidents and potential incidents. It initiates actions that help to improve or correct the situation, preventing the incident from recurring.

problem managementAs a concept, a process that identifies the cause of problems and initiates actions that help to improve or correct the situation, preventing an incident from recurring or occurring in the first place. The cause identified by a problem investigation can be documented in a known error or solution database record. See also incident, known error, solution database, and problem.

problem managerA person who reviews problem investigations and known errors to maintain the quality and integrity of the problem management process. This person coordinates the assignment of problem investigations and known errors to support staff, and also reviews problem investigation requests and performs business impact analysis.

Glossary ! 183


process flowShows the progress of a request as it moves through the stages of its life cycle. It does this within a form, such as an incident request. A diagram shows the stages of the process, as indicated by best practices, rooted in ITIL processes. It indicates the current stage and state of the request. The process flow diagram also serves as a wizard, guiding the user through the life cycle.

product categorization A five-tier hierarchical representation of products as defined in the Product Catalog configuration form. This categorization is included in records to specify the range of products to which the record applies.

product dictionary entry (PDE)An entry in the Definitive Software Library that represents the master name of a software application. See also definitive software library (DSL).

push fieldAn advanced action that allows you to push information from the “Applies To” form for which you are creating an SLA to another form on the same server. See also service level agreement (SLA).

reconciliationA feature in Asset Management that checks for duplicate CI records and enables the user to delete one and keep the other.

registered userA user who has an entry in the People form with an AR System login ID.

relationshipA type of BMC Atrium CMDB class that defines the relationship between two CIs.

reminderA message similar to an AR System notification, except that you can define the content of a reminder and specify when to send it.

request-based service targetA service target that measures how long a process takes, such as the time to respond to or resolve a service desk request, or the time to respond to or resolve a change request.

requesterA person in the organization who needs assistance from the IT support staff. A requester is usually an employee in the organization who needs to have a change implemented or an incident resolved.

Requester consoleThe front end for the Change Management and Incident Management applications. It provides an easy, user-friendly interface that allows users to quickly submit requests for change or incidents to the two back-end applications, and to view their submitted requests.

residual valueThe value you can purchase an item for after its lease expires.

return on investment (ROI)A method of calculating when the capital cost of implementing a project, product, or service will be recovered through the savings that result from completing the activity. The ROI can be expressed in terms of internal savings, increased revenue from external sources, or some combination of these types of savings. See also service level agreement (SLA) and service level management (SLM).

184 "Glossary

User’s Guide

review periodA period of time over which the compliance of an agreement is monitored on a regular basis. The following review periods are provided in SLM: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly. For example, if a Monthly review period is added to a service level agreement, then the SLA's compliance target needs to be met on a monthly basis. If a Daily review period is also added, then the SLA's compliance target needs to be met on both a daily basis and a monthly basis. See also service level agreement (SLA) and service level management (SLM).

ROISee return on investment (ROI).

role A set of responsibilities, activities, and authorizations, usually within the context of a single application or a business system.

Note: Access to Remedy ITSM applications is based on user roles. Depending on your role in the organization—requester, support, management—you work with a different application (or view) on your desktop.

root causeThe underlying cause of an IT-related problem experienced by a customer.

row level locking See multi-tenancy.

salvage valueThe estimated value that a CI will realize at the end of its useful life. See also useful life.

scriptDetailed instructions that have been set up by an administrator to prompt users with questions that can assist in resolving or assigning an incident.

service catalogA list of IT services, default levels, and options.

service level agreement (SLA)An agreement between a service provider and its customers or lines of business that formally documents the needs of the customer and makes sure the correct level of service is received from the service provider.

service level management (SLM)As a concept, the continuous and proactive process of defining, agreeing, monitoring, reporting, and reviewing the performance of IT services to make sure that adequate levels of service are delivered in alignment with business needs and at acceptable cost.

service managerA manager who uses Asset Management to create service objects used for interpreting business problems, for example, cost of unavailability of services to a business area.

service requestA request for service to the IT organization. Service requests can be requests for change or requests to resolve incidents that impact the user.

Service Request consoleSee Requester console.

Glossary ! 185


service targetThe individual level of service to achieve. A service target includes terms and conditions, goals, costs, and milestones. Examples of service target goals include incident resolution time of 30 minutes, application response time of 4 seconds, and an application being in a state of “OK.” See also availability service target, performance-monitoring service target, request-based service target, and compliance service target.

set fieldAn advanced action that allows you to pull information from other forms to set in the form for which you are creating the agreement.

single-tenancyA feature that allows selection of a default company for company fields in ITSM. Single-tenancy mode is required to give unknown users access to the ITSM Requester console. See also multi-tenancy.

SLISee software library item (SLI).

SLMSee service level management (SLM).

software library item (SLI)The physical storage locations of the master copy of a software application and its versions.

software license complianceKeeping track of what software your company has and that it has the legal right to use it.

solution databaseA repository that stores reusable solutions to customer product problems in an easy-to-retrieve format.

solution entryA reusable solution to a customer product problem. This is stored in the solution database.

split cost centerA cost center that enables a department to split its costs with other departments. For example, a project management group might split its costs with an engineering department and a sales department. The project management department would be a split cost center, and the engineering department and sales department would be target cost centers.

straight-line depreciationA method of calculating depreciation in which CIs depreciate at a constant value per year. The annual depreciation is calculated by subtracting the salvage value of the CI from the purchase price and then dividing this number by the estimated useful life of the CI.

submitterA person who reports a problem, makes a request, or enters information into a database. See also change request.

submitter group One of several special access control groups that the AR System provides. Users automatically belong to this implicit group for requests they have submitted. See also assignee.

sum-of-the-year’s digits depreciationA method of calculating depreciation in which CIs lose more of their value early in their lifetime. This method of calculating depreciation of a CI assumes higher depreciation charges and greater tax benefits in the early years of a CI's life.

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User’s Guide

taskA unit of work that needs to be completed as a step in implementing an incident or problem investigation. In the Change Management application, you can also group a number of activities for requests with a number of actions that need to be completed before the request can be resolved. Your administrator creates task templates and task group templates that you can reuse for the same types of requests. Tasks can be manual or automatic.

task management system (TMS)A sub-system that is used to create task templates and task group templates. Besides the ability to set up predecessor-successor relationships, TMS supports branching and multiple task paths as well as the data exchange between activities.

TCOSee total cost of ownership (TCO).

template1. A set of predefined criteria or settings that can be used by many agreements or service targets. See also service level agreement (SLA).2. A form set up by an administrator that a user can select to complete an incident ticket or a change request with information consistent with the user’s support group and the type of incident or change request.

terms and conditionsThe conditions that specify whether a service target should take effect. For example, the terms and conditions could specify that the service target applies only to incidents in which the priority is urgent and the service is email. Or the service target applies only to a specific set of KPIs. See also service target.

time-based service targetA service target that measures the time taken, for example, to resolve an incident from the time the incident was reported to the time it was resolved. Any time that falls within the “Exclude when” qualification is ignored and not measured.

TMSSee task management system (TMS).

topologyThe pattern of links connecting pairs of nodes of a network.

total cost of ownership (TCO)A method of calculating all expenses associated with a CI over its lifetime. The calculation considers depreciation, maintenance, staff costs, accommodation, and planned renewal.

UCSee underpinning contract (UC).

underpinning contract (UC)A contract that is used to track performance against prearranged goals that the IT organization has with an external service provider or supplier.

useful lifeThe number of years that a depreciable CI is expected to be in use.

wildcard A character that users can type to represent other characters in a search. For example, in search statements in character fields, users can specify wildcards to match single characters, strings, or characters within a range or set.

work info A record describing work performed.

Glossary ! 187


work-aroundA temporary resolution to an incident, problem, or known error.

workflowThe automated set of business processes used to run a company.

188 "Glossary

Index

Aaccelerators for process flows, best practice 24ad hoc requests 82adding

customer profiles 117work information 51

advanced qualifications, using to generate reports 69

Advanced Search, using to find records 40answers. See solutionsapplication preferences, setting 106–108Asset Management, about 11Assigned Work area

about 32defined 104filtering 105, 121refreshing 35

assigningincidents 156tasks 129

assignment logabout 158deleting 123

assignmentsSee also incidentsabout 120–132accepting 122incidents, reassigning 124incidents, viewing 121logged 158

assignments (continued)managing 155–159receiving notification of 121recording time worked 122vendors 126working with 121–123

associations. See relationshipsAtrium CMDB. See CMDBaudience 13audit log, viewing 162auto-filling fields 38

BBest Practice icon 10best practices

CI naming conventions 165retrying events in order 98using CIs to diagnose user problems 163using process flow accelerators 24

BMC Atrium CMDB. See CMDBBMC Remedy User, opening Incident

Management console with 28Broadcast area, defined 104broadcasts

creating 55limiting 59location in Overview console 36viewing 58, 102

Index ! 189


browsersentering main console URL 77using to open Incident Management

console 30bulk inventory CI 167Bulk Inventory form 168bulletin board messages. See broadcastsBulletin Board. See broadcasts

Ccalculations 160canceling service requests 87categorization, defined 20Change Management

about 11creating changes from incidents 146requester role 74

Change Request Information form 146CIs

bulk inventory example 167computer system example 164creating 164–169inventory location example 169naming conventions, best practice 165problem diagnosis and, best practice 163recording unavailability 116relocating 172status 165

closing incidents 147CMDB, about 10colors of service targets, explained 134Command Event Master permission 97computer system CI 164Computer System form 165Configuration Item Unavailability form 117consoles

changing view of 36Incident Management

Manager Console tab 154–155Support Console tab 104–105

Overview 31Report 66Requester 76

copying relationships 46Costs form 140

costs, recording 139–141Create Incident form 110creating

broadcasts 55CIs 164–169customer profiles 117incident records 108–112infrastructure change from incidents 146known errors from incidents 149problem investigations from incidents 144records 34reminders 53–55service requests 80solution entries from incidents 150tasks 127–129

customer profilesadding 117modifying 119

Ddecision trees

defined 20using 114

defining relationships 43diagnosing incidents 132documents available for ITSM 13–16duplicating incidents 114

Eemail, sending messages about CIs with 63–65enhanced problem management, defined 20errors, known, creating 149event logs, viewing 97

Ffeatures, new 18–21Flashboards area, defined 154forms

Bulk Inventory 168Change Request Information 146Computer System 165Configuration Item Unavailability 117Costs 140Incident Creation 110Inventory Location 169, 171

190 "Index

User’s Guide

forms (continued)Known Error 149Modify Incident 138, 141New/Modify Broadcasts 56People 118Problem Investigation 145Request Work Info 95Service Request 92, 98Solution Database 151Task 128Work Info 85, 129

Ggenerating reports

about 65with advanced qualifications 69with qualifications 67with saved qualifications 70without qualifications 65

Guest User permission 22

HHelp Desk, new features 20

Iicons

Best Practice 10New 10

impacted areas, indicating 47Incident Management console

Manager Console tab 154opening from a browser 30opening with BMC Remedy User client 28Support Console tab 104

Incident Management, about 11incidents

See also assignmentsaccepting assignments 122assigning 156

to vendors 126assignment log 158closing 147costs, recording 139–141

incidents (continued)creating

infrastructure from 146known errors from 149problem investigations from 144solution entries from 150

diagnosing 132five stages of request 26investigating 132life cycle of 24–26matching 20, 135monitoring status 157moving from investigation to resolution 137ownership, about 125process flow status 133reassigning 124recording 108–120recording time worked 122records 108–112relating as duplicates 114reopening 147, 159resolving 135, 141–147resolving with Solution database 101status 158templates 21unassigned, viewing 155using decision trees 114using templates 112viewing 133–135

assignments 121changes through audit logs 162

infrastructure changes 146inventory

bulk inventory CI 167location CIs 169managing 170–173reserving 173using 173viewing locations 170

Inventory Location form 169, 171investigations 132IT Service Management, about product

family 10–13

Index ! 191


KKnown Error form 149known errors, creating 149

Llife cycle of an incident 24–26limiting number of broadcast messages 59location of CIs 169logs

assignment 158audit 162event 97

Mmain consoles

URL for browser 77Manager console, about 154–155manager role 23managing inventory 170–173Modify Incident form 138, 141modifying

customer profiles 119incidents 137profile 37records 42relationships 48service requests 85

multi-tenancyunknown users 75

multi-tenancy, defined 20

Nnavigation pane

about 36–38defined 20, 104

new features 18–21New icon 10New Request Wizard, defined 80New/Modify Broadcasts form 56Notes field. See Work Info formNotes Log field. See Work Info form

notificationsabout 160assignments 121in SLM 161viewing through audit logs 162

Oopening

Incident Management console from a browser 30

Incident Management console from a desktop 28

other applications 36Requester console 77service request records 92service requests 87, 93

Overview console 31about 31–38functions 36opening from a browser 32opening from a desktop 32

ownership for incidents 125

Ppaging

on-call groups 60–62one person 60–62

People form 118permissions

Command Event Master 97Request Console Master 22Requester console 74User, with Requester console 22

printingrecords 41service requests 86

prioritization, defined 21Problem Investigation form 145problem investigations, creating 144Problem Management, about 12process flow

about 24–26accelerators, best practice 24monitoring incident status with 157status area 133

192 "Index

User’s Guide

Process Flow Status wizard 24, 25recording new incidents with 109

profile, viewing and modifying 37

Qqualifications, generating reports with 67quick actions

about 49using 38

Rrecording

CI unavailability 116incident with Process Flow Status wizard 109new incidents 108–120work performed on tasks 130

recordsadvanced searching for 40creating 34modifying 42printing 41relating and unrelating 43searching for 35, 38searching for all 41searching for personal 39

refreshing data 35Registered User permission 22registered users 74relationships

copying 46defining 43impacted areas 47modifying 48quick actions 49relating and unrelating records 43removing 51

relocating CIs 172Remedy User. See BMC Remedy Userreminders, creating 53–55removing relationships 51reopening

closed incidents 147, 159resolved incidents 147

Report console 66

reportsabout 65generating 65

with advanced qualifications 69with qualifications 67with saved qualifications 70without qualifications 65

Request Console Master permission 22request masters

adding work information 94canceling service requests 93Command Event Master permission 97defined 74opening service request records 92reopening service requests 93using Service Request forms 91viewing Work Info tab 94working with service requests 91

Request Work Info form 95, 96Requester Console

See also service requestsRequester console

functions 78opening 77user permissions

Command Event Master 97Registered User 74Request Master 74Unknown User 74

using 76–79requester role 21, 74reserving inventory 173resolution stage, moving incidents to 137resolving incidents 135, 141–147retrying events in order, best practice 98roles

manager 23requester 21, 74support staff 22

Sscripts

about 114defined 21

Search Criteria area, defined 104

Index ! 193


searching forall records 41records 35, 38records associated with people or groups 39service requests 86solutions 135–141

Service Level Management. See SLMService Request form

about 98accessing 91adding work information 95search mode 92viewing work information 95

service requestsSee also Requester Consoleaccessing Service Request form 91ad hoc requests 82adding work information 94, 95canceling 87, 93completing surveys 88creating 80finding 86modifying 85opening records 92printing 86reopening 87, 93request IDs 86resolving with Solution database 101Service Request Wizard 80sorting 83states 83troubleshooting 97updating work info 85viewing

event logs 97records 84Work Info tab 94work information 95

service targets, indicator colors explained 134SLM

about 12calculations 160notifications 161service target indicators 134–135status and indicators 134

Solution databasecreating entries 150resolving incidents 101

Solution Database form 151solutions

creating solution database entries 150searching for 135–141

sorting service requests 83status values

changes during life cycle of incidents 158selecting 37

Support console, about 104–105support staff role, about 22surveys, service request 88

TTask form 128tasks

assigning 129creating 127–129recording work 130working with 127

templates, using 112terminology changes

Help Desk terms 21Incident Management terms 19

troubleshooting service requests 97

Uunassigned incidents, viewing 155unknown users

defined 74multi-tenancy 75

URLto Incident Management console 30to main console 77

usersregistered 74request master 74roles 21–23unknown 74

using inventory 173

194 "Index

User’s Guide

Vvendors

assigning incidents to 126communicating assigned incidents to 127

viewingbroadcasts 58, 102event logs 97incidents 133–135incidents assigned to people 121inventory locations 170profile 37request details 79service requests 78, 84unassigned incidents 155user requests 79Work Info tab 94work information 95

Wwizards

Process Flow Status 24, 25, 109Service Request 80

Work Info form 85, 129Work Info tab

viewing 94work information, adding 51Work Log Assignments. See tasks

Index ! 195


196 "Index

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