SupportDesk ITSM: Quick Guide

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1 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 Folder i will display the Live Calls view where you can access all live calls, search for particular calls and log new ones ii. Click NEW to open a new call dialogue Select a view to apply to the main window Sort by any heading, or use the Find tool to search for keywords or reference numbers Double-click to open any call and view full details Folder list: select different folders to display different ITIL call types. 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 1

2 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 link iii 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 server to resolve the problem of intermittent access for multiple users). 2

3 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 Activities 2. 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. 3

4 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 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 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 hierarchical iv links. Linking Calls: How it s done 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. 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 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 CIs v. 4

5 This can be done through adding CI records on the Customer record and selecting the Product to be added as inventory vi. 5

6 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. 6

7 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: 2. Minor + 0. High = 2. Medium 3 This option can be accessed from the Setup menu 7

8 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 menu vii. 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. You can further edit impacts, urgencies and priorities from within Service Level Management on the Setup menu. For more information contact Support. 8

9 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. Use the Parent Category pulldown to parent a sub-type to a 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. 9

10 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 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 3 rd parties and give it a name to reflect this e.g. Azlan Technical SLA. Use these fields to record the details of the SLA you hold with the 3 rd party. 10

11 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. Give the status a suitable name to reflect its use Select the Activity to be auto-launched Scheduled date indicates the point where the OLA breaches. At this stage notifications can be triggered, via and pop-up, to the assignee of the call or even the 3 rd party itself viii. 11

12 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 Records ix. You will then be asked to enter a solution which will be applied to all of the call to be closed. 12

13 Fig11: Close All Linked Records tick box on Search & Link Related Calls dialogue If you are using the SupportDesk Module, all automatic s 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 itil@houseonthehill.com i The 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 & 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. 13