ASM HERMES 10.6

IPK Settings (Partitioned)

You can configure IPK settings for each partition defined in your system.

Configuring Settings for a Specific Partition

You do not need to enable partitions in order to configure these settings. If partitioning is not enabled, settings configured here will apply to the entire system. If partitioning is enabled you can configure these settings differently for each partition. For more information on how partitioning works, see Partitioning.

Ensure you are in the correct partition before applying the settings as these settings will apply to that partition.

You must have IPK Set Up enabled within your General Access Security Role to configure the IPK management settings.

  1. Select Admin > System Administration. The System Administration window appears.

  2. In the Explorer pane, expand IPK Management.

  3. Select IPK Settings (Partitioned) to open the window.

  4. Select the options that you require for your partition.

Closure Method Options

Use the options under the Closure Method heading to indicate the procedures to be followed when calls are closed. Analysts are given authority to close calls as part of IPK Management security role, or by being added to a defined closure group.

  1. Comments - Select to force the Analyst who resolves a call (fixing the issue) to forward the call to an available closing analyst (who has Closure Comments selected in their IPK Management security role). The closing analyst adds comments on closure in the Comments field which are displayed in the call history. Call statuses relating to this option on the Calls Outstanding window are Forward for Closure and Forward to You for Close.

  2. Rules - Select to enable the Closure Rules options below.

  3. Immediate - Select to close calls immediately when the Analyst selects the Close button on a call. The call will be automatically assigned a resolved state. This is the simplest option available and uses the minimum number of windows to close a call.

Closure Rules Options

You can select different rules for call closure. These rules automatically forward the call to an analyst or group when the call is resolved at the Close Call window. There are three Closure Rules options: Logged by, Log Group, and Closure Group. However, in the following circumstances, the call will instead be closed immediately:

  • the logging analyst is flagged as Unavailable, deleted, not an Analyst, not flagged as a call recipient, or is not an IPK Analyst.

  • the Log Group or Closure Group is deleted.

  1. Logged By - Select to enable the Analyst who logged the call to close the call. If the call is forwarded to another Analyst who resolves it, the system automatically forwards the call to the original Analyst to review and close. If the call is opened and resolved by the same Analyst, the call is closed immediately. Call statuses related to this rule on the Calls Outstanding window are Forward for Closure and Forward to You for Close. This option is only available if Rules has been selected under Closure Method.

  2. Log Group - Select to enable a member of the group that logged the call to close the call. If the call is forwarded to an Analyst in another group who resolves it, the system automatically forwards the call to the original group (that is, to all members of that group) to review and close. This option is only available if Rules has been selected under Closure Method.

  3. Closure Group - Select to nominate a group responsible for closing all calls. This forces all resolved calls to be forwarded to the specified closure group for review and closing by an analyst in that group. Any IPK group can be designated as a closure group. The name of the closing Analyst is added to the call history. If Closure Group is selected, an Analyst belonging to the closure group will see only options to Close, Close New, Reopen, and Cancel in resolved calls. If the call is not ready to be closed, the Analyst could reopen the call and then forward it to a group or analyst.

  4. Cascade Closure Status to Child Calls - Select to ensure the status of any linked child calls is consistent with the status of the parent call when Analysts close parent calls manually, or a parent call is resolved when an IPK Workflow Rule triggers an Assignment Workflow on Call Resolve. If any linked child calls are already closed, they will remain closed. Deselect to allow the closure status of linked child calls to be determined only by the Closure Method and/or Closure Rules.

Scenarios for closing calls with linked child calls based on Closure Method

  • If your Closure Method is Immediate/Comments/Rules, and a call is closed, the call changes from Open to Closed. Linked child calls that are Open/Open-Resolved will change to Closed. Those that are Closed will stay Closed.

  • If your Closure Method is Comments/Rules, and the call is forwarded to an analyst/group for comments/closure, the call changes from Open to Open-Resolved. Any linked child calls that are Open will change to Open-Resolved; those that are Open-Resolved stay Open-Resolved; those that are Closed stay Closed.

  • If your Closure Method is Comments/Rules, and the call is closed by the Analyst/group required to do so, the call changes from Open/Open-Resolved to Closed. Any linked child calls that are Open/Open-Resolved will change to Closed; those that are already Closed will stay Closed.

Scenario for closing calls with linked child calls based on IPK Workflow Rules

  • If an IPK Workflow Rule triggers an Assignment Workflow on Call Resolve and forwards the call as Open-Resolved to an Analyst/group to close, any linked child calls that are Open are changed to Open-Resolved; those that are already closed stay closed.

Scenario for closing calls with linked child calls based on Closure Rules

  • A Closure Rule is in place to forward calls to the Problem Management Group to close and the Cascade Closure Status to Child Calls option is selected.

  • Example; An Analyst in the User Service Group closes a call. The call is then assigned to the Problem Management Group as Open-Resolved. This call also has three child calls, which are Closed, Open, and Open-Resolved. When the User Service Analyst selects Yes in the popup to also resolve the linked child calls, the Closed child call stays Closed, the Open child call changes to Open-Resolved, and the Open-Resolved child call stays Open-Resolved. This ensures that the child calls reflect the closure status of the parent call.

  • An analyst in the Problem Management Group now closes the parent call and selects Yes in the popup to resolve all the linked child calls.

  • The parent call changes to Closed, and the Open-Resolved child calls are also Closed.

Closure Reason Linking

Select from the options to specify whether/how the call closure reasons are to be linked.

If your system is partitioned on types or screen sets, the visible list will be based on the active partition.

  • None - Select if you do not wish to link the closure reasons. All available reasons will appear in the Reasons list on the call closure window.

  • Reason to Type - Select to link the closure reasons to call type, as set in the the Type Tiers window. Having selected this option, you must then link the types to the reasons. See System Administration> Link type to Reason**. When an Analyst selects a Type on the Call Details window, only the reasons which have been linked to it will be displayed in the Reasons list when closing the call.

  • Reason to Screen Set - Select to link the closure reasons to screen set. Having selected this option, you must then link the reasons to the screen sets. See System Administration> Link Screen Set to Reason**. Only the reasons associated with a particular screen set are available from the Reasons list on the call closure window.

**This option is only available if the option has been selected in the Closure to Reason Linking Configuration Options section.

Support Skills

The Support Skills options determine how Analysts are profiled; by type, by CMDB type or both.

Selecting one or both the options enables Analysts to be linked to issue types and/or CMDB item types as a means of identifying their skills and experience.

When an Analyst is forwarding a call, they can select the Support Skills explorer option on the Call Details window to see which Analysts have experience dealing with the CMDB item type or issue type they have selected.

  • Type - Select to enable Analysts to be profiled by issue type

  • CMDB Type - Select to enable Analysts to be profiled by CMDB item type

Support Groups

The Support Groups options allow you to indicate the default view for choosing recipients when forwarding a call through the service desk. When an Analyst goes to the Forward Internally window, the Analyst/group options will be selected based on the option selected here.

Analysts can select a different option on the Forward Internally window if they wish.

  • Analysts Default - Select to display all Analysts to whom the call can be forwarded

  • Groups Default - Select to display all IPK groups to whom the call can be forwarded

  • Analyst by Group Default - Select to display all the IPK groups to whom the call can be forwarded, and the analysts in each group.

Quick Solutions

The Quick Solutions options allow you to enable Analysts to use quick solutions. Quick solutions are macros that automatically input details into the Call Details window and are especially useful for recurring issues.

  1. Configured - Select to enable quick solutions to be defined in the system. This activates the Quick Solutions System Administration option, where quick solutions are defined.

  2. Disable Checks - Select to enable a call to which a quick solution has been applied to be closed immediately, bypassing the validation checks, such as User Required, CI Required, Service Required and Type Required. This means that even if mandatory fields are left incomplete, the call can still be closed.

Options

The general Options the IPK Settings (Partitioned) window are described below.

  • Experience Base Default - Select to add calls to the Experience Base on closure unless the Analyst specifically clears the selection before closing the call.

  • User Required - Select to make the User field mandatory when logging a call.

  • CI Required - Select to make the Configuration Item field mandatory when logging a call.

  • Service Required - Select to make the Service field mandatory when logging a call.

  • Type Required - Select to make the Type field mandatory when logging a call.

  • Call Linking - Select to enable the Linking explorer option on the Call Details window, used for linking related calls to one another.

  • History Private - Select to clear the Visible in Self Service Portal checkbox on the Call Details window by default, making call histories unavailable on the Self Service Portal. Analysts can still select the checkbox on the Call Details window if they wish to make a particular call’s history details visible on the Self Service Portal.

  • Call Ref - Select to automatically allocate a reference number to a call, in addition to the automatically assigned, unique call number. Analysts can overwrite the Ref field if they wish, unless it is made read only in the ASM Designer by editing the Call Details screen. Deselect to leave the field blank. The Analyst can still manually enter a value if they wish. This is useful, for example, if a reference number is allocated by an external supplier, or provided by the caller if the help desk is supporting external clients. The same reference may also be used for calls that relate to a specific issue.

  • Reason Forced - Select to make it mandatory for Analysts to select a Reason when closing a call. Usually, this is the reason for closing the call. If a reason is not selected, a warning message appears.

  • Call Notes - Select to enable Analysts to add notes to calls, including calls owned by other Analysts. When selected, the Add Note explorer option appears on the Call Details window, and the Add Note button is enabled on the Analyst’s Outstanding windows.

  • Action with Note - Select to automatically update the Time Last Action value whenever a note is added to a call. You can view the Time Last Action for a call on the Information Panel.

  • Default No. Days to Suspend - Set the default number of days to suspend a call. This value can be changed by the analyst when performing the suspension.

  • Reset Suspension on Take Action - Select this option to automatically un-suspend and reset a call that has been suspended as soon as an analyst takes action on the call.

Call Escalation Options

Customers are able to Chase Calls via the Self Service Portal. When a threshold count of User Chases has been reached, ASM can automatically escalate the request using the template defined here. Analysts are also able to escalate requests from Core when necessary.

This is a physical escalation meant to get the correct resources and attention to the Call when needed. Please see also: Chase and Escalation

Enabling Escalation will create a path for customers to chase tickets outside of normal Service Level Agreements, and for Analysts to escalate.

Analysts can provide an additional Escalation (outside the SLA/SLM agreements) when this option is enabled. Calls and Requests can also be automatically Escalated when they have been chased a defined number of times as configured in the Self Service Portal Settings.

  • Enable Escalation - Select to enable Escalation. You will still need to configure remaining Escalation options. Please see Call Escalation in Configuring Your System for more information.

  • Escalated Call Call Template - Select the call template to use whenever a call is escalated. ASM will create a new call using this template and link the escalated call to it.

Service to CI Linking

When Service to CI Linking is enabled, ASM will automatically populate the Service when a CI is selected in Portal, Core, Nano, through templates and via integrations such as email events.

To configure service to CI linking, enable the following:

  • Enable Automated Service Population - Select to enable the capability

  • Link Type - Select the link type. These will correspond to the link types you have defined in System Administration>CMDB>CMDB Link Types

  • Default Service - Select a Default Service

  • Exceptions - If applicable, enter the exceptions to the rule

A CI can only have 1 Parent Link but a Service can have Multiple CIs linked as its Child.

Use Cases

  1. The administration function to link Configuration Items to Services is enabled and the Administrator has not performed the required actions to add CMDB Link to the Services - No Service will be automatically populated on the Call Details Screens.

  2. If the CMDB Link for Service link is changed during the calls lifecycle and that Configuration Item has a different linked Service what happens? The Service previously selected will be invalid. On Save, the Service will be updated to the new matching value.

  3. If the Service is selected BEFORE the Configuration Item is inputted what is the behaviour? If the selected Service has not been linked to the selected Configuration Item then the call record will automatically update the correct Service matching the selected Configuration Item.

  4. It’s possible to set a resolution Configuration Item when closing a call through the Core interface, this is stored as a resolution CI in the system and can be different to that on the main call page, what happens when the resolution CI on the close screen is selected/changed. The service linked to the Resolution CI will be updated on Close of the Call to the matching Linked Item. If no linked item the Service will not be updated.

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