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SupportDesk ITSM: Quick Guide
Introduction
If as part of your SupportDesk system you have purchased the ITIL-Pack you will have the
functionality to handle IT Service Management as prescribed by the IT Infrastructure Library
(ITIL) ®.
Below is a series of sections explaining how the ITIL-Pack is configured to support the
various elements of ITIL Service Management.
The Main Window
Clicking on the call Folderi will display the Live Calls view where you can access all live
calls, search for particular calls and log new onesii.
Folders
The ITIL-Pack comes with different Folders already pre-configured for your Incidents,
Problem & Change Management processes. Below is a discussion of these different Folders
and their Folder types.
Fig1: ITIL Settings on Folder Management Fig2: SupportDesk ITSM default Folder setup
Click NEW to open a new
call dialogue
Select a view to apply to
the main window
Double-click to open any
call and view full details
Sort by any heading, or
use the Find tool to search
for keywords or reference
numbers
Folder list: select different
folders to display different
ITIL call types.
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Incident & Problem Management
For years, the lifecycle of receiving, recording, resolving and reporting on issues or requests
was referred to as ‘problem management’. The ITIL framework makes a useful distinction
between two related processes, previously lumped together under the problem management
banner.
Incident Management refers to the calls or requests that your service desk deals with on a
day-to-day basis. Problem Management in contrast is to do with the resolution of underlying
issues that may cause some of your day-to-day incidents.
Having a dedicated Problem Management Folder separate from Incident Management allows
us to monitor these records’ differing life cycles more effectively; but we can also linkiii
incidents and problems together to closer monitor the cause and effect relationships that may
exist between these call types.
The Incident & Problem Management Folders work in much the same way, however the
dialogues differ in a couple of minor ways.
With separate Folders for Incident & Problem Management you are free to configure the
workflow for each Folder differently. You can also configure the individual call fields and
actual terminology to be used in each Folder in their respective Data Dictionaries.
Change Management
ITIL best practice makes another distinction between the tracking and resolution of Problems
and the characteristically more rigidly structured processes of Change Management.
A Request for Change (RFC) can be raised independently of a Problem (such as a change
brought about from above by the business) but are often related directly to the successful
resolution of problems (for example the implementation of a new email server to resolve the
problem of intermittent email access for multiple users).
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As a result of RFCs often relating to the physical IT environment and possible repercussions
of a change therefore, RFCs need to be able to be related to multiple CIs. The Change
Management Folder therefore has special functionality to enable Changes to be raised
relating to more than one CI <Inventory> or User <Customer>.1
Fig5: Launching a Change Request for multiple PCs
By selecting multiple CIs and then selecting *ew Change Request from the QuickCalls!
menu, it is possible to launch a Call in the Change Request folder that is linked to each of
those CIs via Activities2.
Fig6: Activities sub-tab on a Change Request
CMDB ITIL also impresses the need to utilise a CMDB, and specifically the cause and effect
relationships between incident, problems, change requests, customers and CIs. Central to this
is the idea of linking records together to represent these relationships. In SupportDesk ITSM
it is possible to link incidents, problems & changes, CIs and Customers in numerous
combinations. Below is a discussion of the various relationships that can be configured.
1 All SupportDesk systems are built around the same default terminology. In SupportDesk ITSM the
Customer and Inventory fields have been renamed as CI and User to better fit an ITSM environment.
Wherever possible in this document the original (Data Dictionary) name for each field will accompany
the SupportDesk ITSM name for each field in triangular brackets. 2 For general information on how to use and configure Activities please consult the SupportDesk
Documentation Suite.
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Linking Calls Together at the Same Level
The principal of linking Calls together allows you to easily keep track of related
issues.
e.g. Incident A: I cannot access Outlook on my PC today
Incident B: I cannot send or receive email since this morning
Assume that the CIs (in this case PCs) related to both incident A and B need to access
Server A to perform email functions. This would make a relatively strong argument
for linking Incidents A & B together, seen as they may well turn out to have the same
root cause.
Linking Calls Together Hierarchically
Consider the example above; perhaps after further investigation (and further incidents
with similar subjects) it is discovered that Server A is unreliable and spends an
unacceptable amount of time offline. In this situation it is reasonable to raise a
Problem to record this server’s unreliability.
e.g. Problem: Server A is sporadically going offline
With the logging of this problem you will not want to link the related Incidents to
each-other but to the Problem record via hierarchicaliv links.
Linking Calls: How it’s done
Linking Customers & CIs
Your customer and CI records will either need to be manually inputted, imported from
a CSV file or spreadsheet or populated using some of SupportDesk’s available
optional modules such as LDAP, SMS or LANDesk integration. Either way you will
likely want to record which customer ‘owns’ which CIsv.
Select which Folder to search
for related Calls
Use chevron buttons to link
and un-link records to current
Call
Select your search term from
the pulldown of related items
or write in a keyword
Click whether to show
parents or children. Calls you
create will be logged in line
with the way this button is
toggled i.e. parent or child of
current call.
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This can be done through adding CI records on the Customer record and selecting the
Product to be added as inventoryvi.
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Linking CIs together
Returning to our previous example, Server A has been identified as unreliable. If you
spend the time to link CIs together you can at this point identify all CIs that may be
affected by unreliable Server A.
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On the Search & Link Related CIs tab you can do just that. Use the chevron buttons to
link and remove relationships between CIs as with calls before.
Categories & Service Level Management As well as customising the field layout for each Folder (via the Data Dictionary), you
can also configure the pulldowns for the six Category pulldowns via Categories &
SLA Management.3
SLAs the ITIL Way: Impact, Urgency & Priority
The SupportDesk ITIL pack comes with a preset SLA structure based on ITIL’s
suggested Impact + Urgency = Priority model. Priority will automatically adjust
depending on the sum of the former two fields:
3 This option can be accessed from the Setup menu
2. Minor + 0. High = 2. Medium
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Impact: measure of the significance of this issue to the business
Urgency: measure of how quickly this issue should be dealt with
Priority: rank giving an indicator of the order in which issues should be addressed.
Each priority has deadlines associated with it that can be edited from Service Level
Management on the Setup menuvii.
You can further edit impacts, urgencies and priorities from within Service Level
Management on the Setup menu. For more information contact Support.
Respond within: the point where a call
should have been first responded
represented by a status change.
Warning after: milestone warning of
impending Action/Fix breach. Often set at
an arbitrary point between other two
deadlines.
Action/Fix within: the point where the
call should be resolved or closed.
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Types & Sub-types
Each Folder in SupportDesk ITSM comes with a set of categories that have been locked into
only appearing in one Folder. These can be edited through using the Folder and Folder Type
pulldowns on each category (Fig8).
Use the Folder pulldown if the category in question only applies to one Folder. Use the
Folder Type pulldown if you intend to have more than one Folder of each Folder Type.
Status
Statuses are a way of keeping track of the lifecycle of your different call types.
SupportDesk ITSM comes with separate statuses for incidents, problems & changes
already loaded in; however you will more than likely find that you will want to edit
these to reflect your service desk workflow.
Use the Parent Category pulldown to
parent a sub-type to a type.
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Activities
Activities are unusual in that they are not simply a value recorded by means of a field
on the call dialogue, but are a ticket in themselves. The most common way to utilise
Activities is for recording sub-tasks of an incident.
Using Activities to track OLAs
Another use for activities is for tracking Operational Level Agreements, including
SLAs you hold with your suppliers. This also proves as a very good example of how
activities may be of use.
First create a new activity to record one of the SLAs you hold with one of your 3rd
parties and give it a name to reflect this e.g. ‘Azlan Technical SLA’.
Lock a status into one
folder type
Mark whether the status is
a Responded, Resolved or
Closed status
Parent the status to another
status to preserve a rigid
workflow
Use these fields to record the
details of the SLA you hold
with the 3rd party.
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If you create a status you can parent it to the activity, meaning any time you select it
the activity will also be launched and visible from the call dialogue.
Scheduled date indicates the point where the OLA breaches. At this stage
notifications can be triggered, via email and pop-up, to the assignee of the call or even
the 3rd party itself
viii.
Select the Activity to
be auto-launched
Give the status a
suitable name to reflect
its use
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Analysis
The analysis pulldown is designed to record the reason for closure (or Closure Code).
The Analysis is a way to re-evaluate the call at point of closure and is closely
associated with the solution. As a result the value selected in this pulldown may be at
odds with the value in the type pulldown. For example:
Type: Fault Hardware
Sub-Type: Printer
Analysis: User Error
In the example above the cause of the incident turned out to be that the end-user did
not know how to correctly load paper and had been attempting to load it into the
wrong tray!
Closing Calls the ITIL Way
According to ITIL you can never close an Incident until the related Problem has been solved
and a Change has been implemented, however, we’ve elected to give you the choice!
To close a Call without closing linked calls (either because you don’t want to or there aren’t
any); simply select the closed status on the Call dialogue.
To close all linked calls to the call you are currently viewing go to the Search & Link Related
Calls tab and click Close All Linked Recordsix. You will then be asked to enter a solution
which will be applied to all of the call to be closed.
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Fig11: Close All Linked Records tick box on Search & Link Related Calls dialogue
If you are using the SupportDesk Email Module, all automatic emails set to be sent on the
closure of a call will be sent for all related calls, further reducing the need for further contact
with each customer.
Further Information
We hope this guide proves useful and helps you to understand SupportDesk ITSM’s Service
Management framework. However, if you require further assistance, or to request additions
to the guide or SupportDesk ITSM program please contact [email protected]
iThe concept of Folders is discussed in the next chapter ii Depending on privilege levels set by an administrator in Login Management
iii See section on Linking Record types
iviv In this situation you would link the incidents as children to the Problem record. Normally a Change
Request would be raised as a parent of a problem record. This keeps a logical hierarchy to all linked
records and enables you to use the ‘close linked records’ button from the top level call to close all calls
below. v If you have the LDAP and Auditor modules some CI’s and customers can be automatically linked. vi If the product you want to add does not appear in the pulldown you can check the product archive for
this item, or create a new product record. vii Be aware that priorities are locked into ITIL Folder types. You need to be sure to edit the correct
Folder’s priorities. viii Requires SupportDesk Escalation & Email modules
ix The ‘Close All Linked Records’ button only closes calls hierarchically lower than the call you have
chosen to press it on. Therefore, is parented as previously suggested, a change will result in problems
and incidents being closed, but a problem with only close incidents and leave any associated changes
open.