siemens it solutions and services south africa (pty) ltd itsm 7.6.4 training manual

BMC Remedy ITSM 7.6.4

User Training Manual

BMC Remedy ITSM 7.6.4

User Training Manual

Siemens IT Solutions and Services South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Table of contents

LOGGING INTO REMEDY USER VIA THE WEB......................................................................................................... 5

LOGIN................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

OVERVIEW OF HOME PAGE BUTTONS (SERVICE DESK) ........................................................................................................ 7

Customising your Home Page ......................................................................................................................................... 7

How to access ITSM modules and applications .............................................................................................................. 9

OVERVIEW OF THE ITSM 7.6 SUITE ........................................................................................................................... 10

APPLICATION ADMINISTRATION CONSOLE .......................................................................................................... 11

RESETTING PASSWORDS ..................................................................................................................................................... 11

WORKING WITH THE OVERVIEW CONSOLE.......................................................................................................... 12

SEARCH OR CREATE RECORDS FROM THE OVERVIEW CONSOLE.......................................................................................... 13

USING THE ‘VIEW BY’ BUTTON........................................................................................................................................... 14

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT........................................................................................................................................... 15

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROCESS.......................................................................................................................... 15

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE ........................................................................................................................ 15

KPI TAB ON THE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE ........................................................................................................ 16

OPENING THE INCIDENT REQUEST FORM ............................................................................................................................ 18

Quick Actions................................................................................................................................................................. 18

Submitting an Incident................................................................................................................................................... 19

To create an incident request record using the Best Practice view............................................................................... 20

Adding or modifying a customer profile ........................................................................................................................ 27

First Call Resolution ..................................................................................................................................................... 27

Re-assigning Incidents................................................................................................................................................... 30

Recording Effort and Time Spent on an Incident........................................................................................................... 31

WORKING WITH TASKS ....................................................................................................................................................... 34

Adding tasks using task templates ................................................................................................................................. 34

Creating ad hoc tasks .................................................................................................................................................... 35

Accepting task assignments ........................................................................................................................................... 36

SLM Status..................................................................................................................................................................... 37

USING THE NAVIGATION PANE BUTTONS............................................................................................................................ 38

View Audit log ............................................................................................................................................................... 38

Financials ...................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Categorizations.............................................................................................................................................................. 39

Reminders...................................................................................................................................................................... 40

Email system.................................................................................................................................................................. 40

Paging ........................................................................................................................................................................... 41

Decision Trees ............................................................................................................................................................... 42


Scripting ........................................................................................................................................................................ 42

Impacted Areas.............................................................................................................................................................. 42

Assignment Scripting ..................................................................................................................................................... 42

Advanced Searches........................................................................................................................................................ 42

RESOLVING AN INCIDENT ................................................................................................................................................... 43

CLOSING AN INCIDENT........................................................................................................................................................ 44

FILTERING RECORDS..................................................................................................................................................... 45

FILTERING OPTIONS ON THE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE ....................................................................................... 45

SERVICE TARGET TIME RENEGOTIATION ............................................................................................................. 46

HOW TO LOG AN IMACD CALL ................................................................................................................................... 46

ROLES IN CHANGE MANAGEMENT...................................................................................................................................... 48

The Requester ................................................................................................................................................................ 48

The Change Manager .................................................................................................................................................... 49

The Change Coordinator............................................................................................................................................... 49

The Task Implementer ................................................................................................................................................... 49

Change Approvers and the CAB.................................................................................................................................... 49

LIFE CYCLE OF CHANGE MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................................. 50

THE NORMAL LIFE CYCLE OF A CHANGE REQUEST CONSISTS OF FIVE MAJOR STEPS: ........................................................... 50

STAGES AND APPROVAL PHASES OF A CHANGE REQUEST (STATUSES) ................................................................................ 52

Review Phase................................................................................................................................................................. 52

Business Approval Phase............................................................................................................................................... 52

Implementation Phase ................................................................................................................................................... 53

Close down approval Phase .......................................................................................................................................... 53

Final Review Complete Phase....................................................................................................................................... 53

STATE TRANSITIONS OF CHANGE REQUESTS........................................................................................................................ 54

Additional status values for change requests ................................................................................................................ 55

CREATING A CHANGE REQUEST ......................................................................................................................................... 55

Change Management Console and its Functional Areas............................................................................................... 56

Initiating a Change Request .......................................................................................................................................... 56

SEND CHANGE FOR APPROVAL........................................................................................................................................... 61

Approval Phases............................................................................................................................................................ 64

Approving using the Approval Central.......................................................................................................................... 66

Using the Process Flow Status bar to approve requests ............................................................................................... 67

PLANNING AND SCHEDULING ............................................................................................................................................. 68

IMPLEMENTING THE REQUEST ............................................................................................................................................ 72

CLOSING A REQUEST .......................................................................................................................................................... 73

VIEWING THE AUDIT LOG................................................................................................................................................... 74

USING THE CHANGE CALENDER ......................................................................................................................................... 75

Filtering options on the Incident Management Console................................................................................................ 79

Searching all records..................................................................................................................................................... 79


Save Searches ................................................................................................................................................................ 80

Recall Saved Searches ................................................................................................................................................... 81


Web Reporting ............................................................................................................................................................... 81

Logging into Remedy User via the Web

Note: Your AR System user name and password are space and case sensitive.

Enter your user name and password, and then click Login. – This brings you to the Home Page – see

Home Page.

Login

You start Remedy by clicking on the start button of your computer.

Click on the Programs option, select the Action Request System value and then you click on the BMC

Remedy User Icon.

This opens the Remedy User Tool, whereby the login details are displayed. The two fields displayed

are the Username and Password. Fill in both fields and click on the ok button to access the system.


1. When you use the Remedy application for the first time, you will be prompted to change your

password to one that suits you.

2. On the right upper side of the screen, you will find the change password button for future

purposes.

3. You need to fill in your current password and then select a new password.

4. You are required to confirm your new password by re‐typing in the new password.

5. Click on save to confirm

6. The system prompts you with the note: Your password has been changed.

7. Click on OK to dismiss the confirmation note.

8. The system opens the home page

On the right‐hand upper corner of the screen, you will see the logout button. It is important to logout

to free the floating licence you are using. If you do not log out, the license will be held for an hour

and you will prevent another user from working.


On the left hand side of the home page there is the applications list.

Overview of Home Page Buttons (Service Desk)

The list of Entry points on the Home Page will differ with each profile or set of permissions you have.

1. Approval Central – Used by Approvers of a Change

2. Application Administration Console – Configuration detail

3. Consoles – Primary links from where all other consoles you have permission to will be accessed.

Once you are logged in to Remedy, you are met with the Home Page. (The out‐of‐the‐box landing point is a view of all your calls via a view of the Overview Console.

You can customise your own Home Page with up to 4 separate windows to display any number of graphs or tables. This can be changed and updated at any time.

Customising your Home Page

1. Click on the + button (add content to Layout button) in the top right hand corner of you Home

page


2. This will add four additional windows to your Home Page layout.

3. From the ‘Show’ dropdown buttons you can now select the conten you want to add to your home page. (The content show is available le out of the box, and additional views can be generated by you Remedy Specialist)

4. After selecting content for you four different screens, you can edit at any time. You can also

remove and add windows at will. (Four is the maximum)

5. Please remember to SAVE your preference. Available also in the top right hadn corner.


How to access ITSM modules and applications

1. In the left hand corner of your Home Page screen you can maximise your access point menu

by clicking on the Applications tab.

2. From here you can access all the modules you have permission to.


Overview of the ITSM 7.6 Suite

The BMC ITSM suite consists of five applications that are integrated with one another but can also

function on their own.

These are:

BMC Remedy Asset Management

BMC Remedy Change Management

BMC Remedy Problem Management

BMC Remedy Incident Management

BMC Remedy IT Service Level Management

BMC Remedy Release Management

BMC Remedy Service Request Management

These applications help you to manage your IT assets, activities and processes, as well as handle

customer requests.

The BMC Remedy Asset Management assist you in tracking and managing your Configuration Items,

where the BMC Remedy Change Management assist in implementing, creating and managing your

company’s change items and requests.

BMC Remedy Incident Management and BMC Remedy Problem Management (Also known as the

Service desk), is used to track and manage any interruptions (Incident Management) in the

organization.

You use the BMC Remedy Problem management to proactively prevent the occurrence of such

incidents or errors and other problems. With BMC Remedy Problem management you can investigate

and determine the actual root cause of the interruption in your organization. You can then initiate

actions to correct these problems. With BMC Remedy IT Service Level Management is used to

review, enforce and report on the level of service of an IT organization.


The applications in the ITSM suite runs on AR System Server 7.0 or higher and it also share a common

database.

Application Administration Console

Resetting Passwords

1. Open the Application Administration Console, and use the Custom Tab.

2. Click on People, Reset Passwords to open the Password Console.

3. Start the resetting process by typing a new password and following the on screen prompts.


Please note that in order to change another user’s password, you would need the SECURITY

permission added to your people profile.

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. Please note that all the

functionality of the Overview Console is NOT available from the view on your IT Home Page. This is

just a view of the Overview Console. In order to access all the functionality, go to Foundation

Elements, and then Overview Console.


Navigation pane Provides display filters, links to functionality.

Assigned Work

area

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:

CRQ Identifies change requests.

TAS Identifies tasks.

INC Identifies incidents.

PBI Identifies problems.

PKE Identifies known errors.

SDB Identifies solution database entries.

PR

RLM

Identifies purchase requisitions.

Identifies release requests

Refresh Button After you create or modify a record, click the Refresh button to see the latest

changes in the Assigned Work table.

Search or Create records from the Overview console

From the Overview console, you can create or search records from the various ITSM applications

installed on your system. The types of records you can create or search depend on the applications

you have installed.

1. To Search / Create on the Overview Console, Click on the Search for Ticket hyperlink or the

Create button.

2. The Select Request Type dialog box appears.

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

4. Click Select.

5. A search form appropriate to the type of record for which you are searching appears.

6. Enter search criteria needed to search the record on the opened ITSM module form.

You can also use the View By and Company fields at the top op the Overview Console to filter the

calls you see in your overview console. (By having the Company field ‘blank’, that will show ALL the

companies’ calls)


Using the ‘View by’ button

‘View by’

field

The console view fields populate the Assigned work area:

All Shows all the records

Submitted by Me

Shows all the calls that were logged by you.

Assigned to Me All the calls where you are the assignee

Assigned to my

selected groups

All the calls assigned to your selected support

groups (you can filter to view only 1 out of your 4

groups for example)

Assigned to All

My Groups

Shows all the calls assigned to all the support groups

you belong to


Incident Management Incident Management Process

Incident Management Console


Functional Areas:

Navigation Pane – Quick overview on the Incident counts, Defined Searches and functionality

Incident Console area – Show, Filter By and additional filters to filter the results in the Incidents Table

Incidents Table – Requests assigned to you

Incident Detail and Tasks – Detail of the highlighted request

Navigational Pane:

Functions:

Incident Counts ‐ Unopened, Unassigned, Unacknowledged and

Breached

Defined searches –You can run a series of predefined searches

New Incident—Create a new incident request record

Search Incident—Search the database for current incident request

records

My Profile—View or edit your profile

Application Preferences—Set your application preferences and

application

options.

Reminders—View and create reminders

Reports—Create and run custom reports, as well as out‐of‐the‐box

Crystal reports, or any other reports that was developed for your

company

Manage CIs—Search for information about specific CI types and gives

you access to the CI records.

Manage Inventory—Access the Manage Inventory form of BMC

Remedy Asset Management.

KPI’s‐‐‐Here you can view or


KPI Tab on the Incident Management Console

Click the KPIs link under the Functions Menu to select and to view the incident management

flashboards. In the navigational area you can select.

You can “drill down” to see the actual requests in a modify window. You might not have modifying

rights on the requests, but you will be able to view the requests.


Opening the Incident Request form

Quick Actions

View Broadcast – view any new broadcasts

submitted

Assign to me – Assigns the Incident to current

user

Auto assign – Follow the assignment rules

Broadcast Incident – Broadcasts a high priority

incident (You need a functional role to broadcast)

Create relationship to –

Create Related Request – Create a related ITSM

request (Incident, Change, Problem etc)

Customer’s Incidents – Display all the open

incidents of the current user / client / customer)

Incident Matching – match current incident with a

previous recorded incident. You can also related

duplicates from here.

Process Overview—View the incident

management process as a diagram

Select Operational and Select Product ‐ the

submitter can select operational and product

categorizations for the Incident


Submitting an Incident


Field Name Requirement

Incident ID This is the unique number that is assigned to each and every record logged.

Company Company the call is logged for

Service Here a service CI can be related. What service (i.e. Payroll is affected by an

outage for example.)

Note: This field can be made optional on the Incidents Rules, depending on

company rules.

CI What CI, linked to that specific service, is responsible for the outage (if

known).

Impact The combination of the value selected in Impact field and Urgency will set

the Value for Priority field.

Only Service Desk and Service Management team are to have permission to

change this field.

When this field is changed by the Service Desk (after submit), a Work Info

entry “Priority Change” must be auto created.

Field Name Requirement

Urgency Only Service Desk are to have permission to change this field.

Priority The valued selected in Impact field and Urgency field will set the value for

the Priority field.

Incident Type User Service Restoration. Use this service type for typical service restoration requests (for example, a request to restore printing services).

User Service Request. Use this service type if the incident request is a simple question or a request for information (for example, a request for “how to” information).

Infrastructure Restoration. Use this service type if the incident request is more focused on the restoration of infrastructure service. Typically, these types of incident requests are reported by system management tools (for example, if an incident is detected on a piece of network infrastructure by system monitoring software).

Infrastructure Event. Use this service type when a system management tool registers an event that does not require infrastructure restoration.

To create an incident request record using the Best Practice view

1. On the Incident console, click Create or the New Incident option on the navigation pane.

2. Select the company from the Company list.

3. In the Customer or Contact field on the new Incident

Request form, type the Customer’s or the contact’s

information. Note: Make sure the customer’s profile

has an email address.

Depending on how the Customer and Contact fields

are configured, you can search for a customer based

on Corporate ID, First Name, Last Name, Internet

Email, or Phone Number.

Clicking the plus button (+) to the right of the

Customer and the Contact fields opens the People

form, where you can create a customer profile record, if one does not exist. The minus


button (‐) to the right of the Customer and the Contact fields clears the fields contents. It does

not delete the customer profile.

4. Type the incident request details in the Notes field.

5. Type a brief description in the Summary field. In the template field, select the template you

are using.

6. Select the CI from the CI list where applicable. IF there is no CI related to the user, you can

always create a normal CI relationship to the Incident.

7. Once the CI has been selected, you need to select the Product and the Operational

Categorisation. This is available from the Quick Actions menu to the left of the incident

screen.

Click on Select Operational. The following window will appear.


You can sort the list, or use the keyword search to select the correct operational

categorisation. Highlight the one you want to select, and click on select.

Click on Select Product Categoristion. The following window will open:

You can use the 3 tier dropdown to narrow your results list, or use a keyword search.

Highlight the product categorisation you want to select, and click on select.

To check your categorisations, or as an alternative menas of inputting the information, under

the links tab, click on Categorisation.

The following window will open:


9. Select values from the Impact and Urgency lists.

10. Select the incident type from the Incident Type list.

11. Assign the incident to a specific support group or vendor group, whichever is applicable. You

can also use the ‘type ahead’ functionality when selecting an assignee group.

12. Click Save.

The Work Detail tab


The Work Info form is used to insert regular updates pertaining to the incident.

Field Name Description

Notes Free text field where detail description of the work info can be

captured

Attachment 1, 2 and 3 Any electronic file format can be attached to the work info.

Attachments Any electronic file format can be attached to the work info.

Locked If a work information entry has been locked, no one can edit it

after it has been submitted.

Work Info Type Drop down menu where you can select what type of note or

additional info you are adding to the ticket

View Access Internal – only viewable by support organisation

Public – viewable by support organisation and end users that

have access to the application

How to add a work info entry

1. Open the incident request record.

2. On the Work Details tab, click the Create icon.

3. Type the information in the Notes field at the bottom of the tab.

4. Click the button to the right of the Attachment field.

5. The Add Attachment dialog box opens.

6. Click Browse and then navigate to the file you want to attach.

7. Select the file, click Open, and then click OK.


8. The file name appears in the Attachment field.

The Relationships tab

By defining and maintaining relationships among records, you can create a sophisticated overview of

the connections and interdependencies among the current record and additional service issues being

tracked by BMC Remedy Incident Management.

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

Configuration item

Another incident

Solution database entry

Release

Known error

Problem investigation

CI unavailability

Infrastructure change


Figure 1 : Incident Form - Relationships

To define a relationship


2. In the Quick Actions area, click the arrow beside Create Relationship to.

3. From the menu, select the type of record to you want to relate the current record to.

4. In the Search field of the dialog box that opens, type a search string. For example, if you are

creating a relationship to an incident request about a printer that regularly goes off‐line, you

might type printer off line. The search scans multiple fields in each record looking for a

match, and returns a list of records that contain the phrase "printer off line" in one of the

scanned fields.

5. From the search results table, select the specific record to which you want to create the

relationship.

6. From the Relationship Type list at the bottom of the search dialog box, select the type of

relationship you want to create.

7. Create the relationship by clicking the appropriate relationship type button at the bottom of

the dialog box.

The Date / System tab


On this tab you can view all the dates pertaining to the incident. Also, who the submitter was, who

last modified the incident and who the Incident Owner is.

Adding or modifying a customer profile

1. Before you can record an incident, the customer must be listed in the People database.

Customers are usually added to the People database by your administrator. However, if a

customer is not listed in the database, you can add a customer’s profile from the Incident

Request form.

2. You can also modify the customer and the contact phone number and site directly on the

Incident Request form. (This is subject to certain system permissions)

3. To update the People database permanently, you can open the People form from the Incident

Request record, as described in the following procedure. Click on the button next to the large

4. To ADD a new contact, click the search button to the right of the Customer or Contact field

5. To update the Customer or Contact phone and site information, click the double arrow link

above the Incident ID field. This toggles to an area that opens these fields.

6. Click the pencil icon beside the field you are modifying. In the resulting dialog box, make the

required changes. Click OK to save the changes and to close.

First Call Resolution


1. Before you assign an incident request, determine if you cannot resolve the incident yourself.

To do this, use the BMC Remedy Incident Management’s Incident Matching feature, or the

BMC Remedy Knowledge Management application, or your knowledge of the environment.

2. If you have access to it, to look for matching, or similar, incident requests, problem

investigations, known errors, and solution entries. You can also do first call resolution without

doing the above, like for example a password reset to a system you have access to.

If you cannot resolve the incident request, assign the incident request to a specialist. This would

be a normal assignment to a support team that would handle that request. If there are auto‐

assignments setp up, you can click on Auto Assign, or save the request without and assignee

group. This will then trigger the auto assignment if it is available.

Incident Matching

1. Open or create an incident request.

2. Use one of the following methods to search for a solution:

Incident Matching feature. To use this method, continue with step 3

BMC Remedy Knowledge Management application.

3. Open the Incident Matching dialog box from the quick actions menu.

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.

6. To search using the incident’s product categorization, in the Search By Product Categorization

area, click Current Product.

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 appear in the

tabs at the bottom half of the dialog box.

9. To view details of a matching record, perform the following steps:

a. On the bottom half of the form, 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 form, 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 matching 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. Alternatively, to relate the record without the solution, click Relate

without Solution.

Searching for similar incident requests

A tool you can use for finding similar incident requests is the Advanced Search feature that is

available when an incident request record is open.

1. With the incident request record open, from the Navigation pane, choose Advanced Functions

> Advanced Search.

2. In the Advanced Search Selection dialog box, select the type of search you want to perform,

then click Select.

Search incident request by Work Info: Searches for incident request using fields from the

Work Info tab.

Search incident request by Relationships: Searches for incident requests using fields from

the Relationship form.

Search Incidents by Assignment Logs: Searches for Incidents using fields from the

Assignment Log form.

3. On the search form, provide as much information as possible, and then click

a. Search.

4. View the incident requests that match the search criteria in the table that appears.

Relating Incidents as duplicates

It does sometimes happen that a duplicate incident might be logged. (Please keep in mind that this is

not the same as multiple incidents, logged by different people for the same incident!)


You can relate an incident request to another as a duplicate. The original incident request resolves all

its duplicates. When someone resolves or closes the original incident request, its Operational and

Product Categorizations and Resolution fields are copied to the related duplicates, marking them

with a status of Resolved.

1. Open the incident under investigation.

2. Click the Relationships tab.

3. From the Request Type list, select Incident, and then click Search.

The Incident Relationship Search dialog box appears.

4. Enter the search criteria to find the original incident, then click Search.

Incidents matching the search criteria appear on the form’s bottom half.

5. Select the duplicate incident according to the following choices:

If the current incident is a duplicate of the original incident, from the Relationship

Type list, select duplicate of.

If the current incident is the original incident, from the Relationship Type list, select

Original of.

6. Click Relate.

The Incident Relationship Search dialog box closes. The incidents are related as duplicate and

original. The status of the duplicate incident is Pending, with a status reason of Pending

Original Incident

Re‐assigning Incidents

You can re‐assign an incident to either an individual or a support group. It is recommended to rahter

assign to a group, than an individual.

To re‐assign to another support group:

1. Open an incident.


2. Select the required Support Organisation and Assigned Group from the list. (3 tier menu)

3. Add a descriptive work info entry

4. Click Save

Recording Effort and Time Spent on an Incident

You must keep track of the time that you spend working on an incident request.

If the incident request record is open on your desktop while you are working on it, you can use a

timer to keep track of the time. Or, you can enter the time manually.

If you receive assistance from someone else, you can also keep track of their time through the

Incident Assignment Log. The Incident Assignment Log contains a record of who created the current

incident request as well as individual records for each group and person who was subsequently

assigned to the request. Each record contains the total effort duration for each assignee (that is, the

amount of time each group or person worked on the incident request), as well as other information.

You can also update the amount of time you spent working on an incident request after it has been

assigned to another assignee.

To record your time



2. In the Work Detail area, click the clock graphic beside the Assignee field to open the Effort

Time Spent window.

3. Next, click on the Update assignment log button.

4. Select the Support Company, Support organisation and the Assigned group you belong to, and

yourself as the assignee.

5. Click on the ADD button.

6. Enter the time you spent on the incident request in the Effort Time Spent (Minutes) field.


7. Highlight your entry, and on the update assignee effort duration, add the time you spent and

click the + button.

8. You can use the automatic timer to keep track of your time anytime you work on the incident

request while the incident request record is open on your desktop. To start the timer, click the

Stopped button (the text on the button changes to Started —the button’s text reports the

timer’s current status). When you finish working on the incident request, make sure you click

the Started button (the text on the button changes to Stopped).

9. Click on save.


The Effort Time Spent Minutes field is a data entry field only. When you click Save, the time value that

you provided in Effort Time Spent Minutes is written to a database field called Total Time Spent, which

totals the time spent on the incident request for the current assignee. After the BMC Remedy Incident

Management writes the time value to Total Time Spent, it resets Effort Time Spent Minutes to zero. If

you reassign the incident request or resolve it, the cumulative time is written from Total Time Spent to

the Assignment Log and Total Time Spent is reset to zero.

Working with tasks

You can assign tasks to one or more people without changing the assignment of the incident. A task is a unit of work that needs to be completed as a step in resolving an incident request. If the

solution to an incident request involves more than one action, procedure, or process, consider

dividing the solution into separate tasks. Dividing the solution into separate tasks can help you to

better manage and to monitor the incident request as it moves toward resolution.

You can assign the tasks to the same person, to several people, or to a support group.

The person or support group to whom the task is assigned is the task implementer.”

When the group coordinator sets the task status to In Progress, the task implementers are notified of

the tasks assigned to them by email, BMC Remedy Alert, pager, or some additional means. After a

task is assigned to the task implementers, they can log their progress as they complete each task.

You can use a task template to add a task to an incident, or you can add an ad hoc taks. Task

templates are predefined tasks that you can quickly add to an incident.

Adding tasks using task templates

To save time, you can use a task template to add a task to an incident request record.

Task templates are created by your system administrator. A task template is a predefined task;

usually for the most commonly performed tasks that your service desk handles. Because the Task

form is predefined (that is, the fields are already completed), you do not need to spend time

manually completing the form.

The following are the types of tasks that you can add to an incident request record when using

templates: Task Template” and Task Group Template.” Task templates associate a single task to the

incident request record. Task Template tasks can be either Manual or Automatic. Manual tasks must

be performed by a person.

Automatic tasks are performed by a computer or automated system, but you must still assign

automatic tasks to a person, so there is someone to monitor the task.



2. From the Navigation pane, select Links > Tasks.

3. From the Request Type list, select either Task Template or Task Group Template, and then

click Relate.

4. From the list of tasks in the Select Template dialog box, select the template for the task you

are adding, and then click Relate. When you click Relate, the Task form closes.

5. Repeat the steps to add more tasks

6. Redefine the numeric sequence if necessary

7. Click Close, and SAVE the Incident.

Creating ad hoc tasks

Ad hoc tasks are tasks that are not predefined by a task template and, therefore, must be created manually.



3. Click Relate. The Create Task form appears. Certain fields in the form are already filled in with

the data for the incident.

4. In the upper region of the form, fill in the following required fields:

■ Name—Enter a descriptive name of the task.

■ Summary—Enter a brief description of the task.

The Type field is set to Manual by default when you create an ad hoc task.

5. On the General tab, fill in information about the company. The Company field defaults to the

contents of the Incident Location field in the Incident Request form. Your task can be assigned

to an different department or a different company.

6. On the Requester tab, fill in information about the person creating the task

(Requester) and the intended target of the task (Requested For).

Some information is set by default from the Requested By information of the incident.

7. On the Classification tab, fill in information about the product and operational

categorizations.


8. In the Assignment/Dates tab, assign the task by completing the following fields:

■ Assignee Group—Optionally, select a task implementer group from the list.

■ Assignee—Optionally, select a task implementer from the list.

The BMC Remedy Assignment Engine automatically assigns the task when the task is created

according to how the administrator has configured BMC Remedy Incident Management, but

you can override this if necessary.

■ Scheduled Start Date—Optionally, enter an estimated start date.

■ Scheduled End Date—Optionally, enter an estimated end date.

You can set the Start Date and End Date to be different from the dates of the parent incident.

9. On the Relationships tab, search for and then relate configuration items that are needed with

this task.

You can perform quick actions that are with the task, for example, get related relationships.

10. When you finish creating the task, click Save. The task information form closes and returns

you to the Incident Request form. The task management subsystem enforces the

dependencies between tasks. These relate to any Sequence order you might have specified in

the Incident Request form.

11. Click Save on the Incident Request form.

Accepting task assignments

You receive notification of assigned tasks by way of BMC Remedy Alert, email, and so on. You can

also use the Overview console or the Incident Management console to view all tasks assigned to you.

Tasks are identified by the TAS prefix. To access the Incident Management console, the task

implementer must have Incident Master, Incident User, Incident Submitter, or (at minimum) Incident

Viewer permissions.



3. Select the task that you want to accept.

4. Click View


SLM Status

You can view request‐based service targets that have been attached to incident requests. This

enables you to see whether the service target has been met, missed, or is in a warning state.

To view the service targets related to Incident Requests

1. From the Incident console, open the relevant incident request record.

2. View the BMC SLM Status icon from the Navigation pane.

No service target was attached.

Attached ‐ SLA’s connected are still within compliance.

Warning ‐ Service Target is at risk.

Breached ‐ At least one service target was breached.

The status gauge on the SLM:Integration Dialog form shows

the current status of the selected service target.


3. Depending on the SLM Status, click Details or the icon to display the SLM:IntegrationDialog form to

see in depth information about the incident in relation to the applicable service targets.

Using the Navigation Pane buttons

View Audit log

Form Audits Tab ‐ A log of changes on a ticket can be viewed from the Audit Log. The fields that were

changed are listed on the left hand side with a date and time stamp. On the right hand side the

changes are visible.

Notification Tab – All the notifications that went out are listed.

Financials

Financial data can be kept on the financials tab.


Categorizations

Adding operational and product categorization to an incident record

The product categorization fields are automatically filled out based on the business service CI (Or

Asset CI) you select in the Service field or the CI field. This reduces registration time and ensures the

correct information is used to determine the assignment of the incident request.

1. To view, record, or update categorizations (Operational Categorization and Product

Categorization), click Categorizations in the Links area.

2. This opens a dialog box where you can enter categorization information.

3. Alternatively,. You can click on the links in the Quick Action block in the top left hand corner

of your screen.


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 are sent. You can create generic reminders, or you can

create reminders that are associated with a specific request.

Email system

Support Persons can send an e‐mail from the Remedy application. The e‐mail and content will be

stored as a Work Info entry on the ticket. You can use this function to send email to any valid email

address. This might include an SMS recipient or a wireless PDA user, if you can send email to the

device.

To send an e‐mail:

1. Open the incident form

2. Select “Functions” from the Incident navigation menu

3. Select “Email System”

4. A Work Info entry for this e‐mail will automatically be inserted.


You will be able to view incoming emails related to the incident in the Email log.

Paging


You can page individuals or the on‐call member of a group about the current record using the Paging

System feature. If SMS integration is built in, this can be used to send SMS’s to a valid cellphone

number.

Decision Trees

When Submitting a request, Decision trees and Scripting can be used.

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.

Scripting

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.

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.

Assignment Scripting

These scripts need to be pre set‐up. 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.

Advanced Searches

As discussed earlier by Work Info, Relationships or Assignment logs


Resolving 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.

1. Click on the ‘Resolve’ button at the bottom of your incident screen

2. The resolution window will open up.


3. You need to populate the Resolution, the status reason and the cause field.

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.

1. Fill in the Status Reason

2. Select the appropriate Closure Source

3. Select Status Closed and Click Save


4. If the incident was broadcast, the broadcast is removed.

Filtering Records

Filtering options on the Incident Management Console

Both the navigation pane and the Search Criteria provide options to filter the Assigned Work on the

console, as summarized in the following table.


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.

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.

Service Target Time Renegotiation

This functionality is still available on an incident that adheres to the necessary criteria. (Being a Request for

Service call, with more than one service target attached.)

To access the functionality, select the SIS Requests link.

How to log an IMACD call

The task template that has been used for IMACD calls is still available for selection. This process

remains exactly the same. You can add a task template (or ad hoc task) at any point in the Incident’s

life cycle.

1. Under ‘Links’ click on tasks.

2. Next, you need to select ‘Task Template’


3. Click on Relate

4. Select the necessary template, and click on the Relate button. You can search for the template

in the ‘Name’ column. (The workflow for IMACD’s is set to fire when a task’s summary

contains the word ‘IMACD’)


5. Remember to check if the assignment of the task is correct.

Change Management

Change Management Process

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.

Roles in Change Management

The Requester


This is a user who submits a Request for Change (RFC) to the support staff. While any user can enter

change requests into the system, change requests are likely initiated by a change manager or

coordinator or support staff. (Please note that line manager approvals will be based on the support

group you belong to)

The Change Manager

This is the member of the support staff who is responsible is to oversee the planning, tracking, and

implementation of the change request.

The Change Coordinator

This is the person that belongs to a support group responsible for planning, implementing, tracking

and closing assigned changes.

The Task Implementer

This is a support person or group responsible for executing the tasks that make up a change request.

This role is most likely going to be fulfilled by the Change Assignee.

Change Approvers and the CAB

The Change Advisory Board (CAB) should approve all changes to the IT infrastructure. The CAB is a

cross‐functional group that is set up to evaluate change requests for their business need, priority, and

cost benefit, and other potential impacts to systems or processes. In BMC Remedy Change

management, approvers are notified of change requests that require their review.


Life cycle of Change Management

NOTE: The cycle shows assignments given to multiple change implementers, but in a smaller

company, the same person could function as change manager, approver, and task implementer.

The normal life cycle of a change request consists of five major steps:

Step 1


Initiate — In the Initiate stage the requester must classify the change request, add relevant

information, and assign the request to a support group or change manager. When change requests

are assigned to them, support staff members are notified. When the request moves into a new

status, the application generates notifications to the assignee group.

The need for a new change request can arise in several ways.

Problem managers can create a change request from a Known Error.

Using the SRM, a user can request a service that generates a change request.

The discovery process detects that a system does not have the latest patches loaded.

BMC Remedy Asset Management determines that the company has exceeded the maximum

number of installed applications under an existing software license contract.

A technician needs to make changes to a database server during non‐work hours.

BMC Performance Manager can automatically generate a change request if it detects that a

mirrored web server has failed and needs to be replaced.

If the change request requires tasks, the requester can create and schedule tasks at this stage.

Step 2

Review and Authorize — Change requests bypass the Review & Authorize stage, if no approvers are

mapped. But if the application administrator added approvers, each level of approvers must review

the request and approve it before it can move to the next stage. After the request is approved, the

change coordinator can move the change request to the Plan & Schedule stage.

Step 3

Plan and Schedule — The change manager uses collision detection tool to verify if there are other

change requests scheduled for the same CI related to the change, after resolving such conflicts plans

a forward schedule of changes (FSC) . The manager opens the Change Calendar and views the current

schedule of change activities and business events. And then blocks out a time segment to work on

the change request by targeting the scheduled start and end dates. The change manager then assigns

the change to a change coordinator. If the change request needs additional tasks, the change

manager can create and schedule these tasks.

Step 4


Implement — The change coordinator, receives notification that he is assigned to the change

request. The coordinator logs their progress as they work to implement the change request and the

tasks that comprise it. When a task is completed, the implementer for the task with the next number

in the sequence is notified of their task assignment. Task implementers can calculate the cost of

implementing their tasks.

When the requester has verified that the change request was resolved satisfactorily, the requester

can set the change request to Closed. If the requester does not close the change request, the request

is auto‐closed after a preconfigured time. The change manager for the next change request in the

sequence is notified if the closed change request is part of a dependent sequence.

The Actual start and Actual end dates need to be entered by the change manager or the change

coordinator before the change can move out of the Implement stage. They will also have to assign

performance rating to the work done on the change.

Step 5

Closed — The change request enters the Closed stage. The change manager must verify that the

change request was completed. The manager might analyze key performance indicators (KPIs), for

example, whether the change successful, or how many incidents were eliminated by the change

request. Reviewers should also analyze the accuracy of the BMC Atrium CMDB.

Stages and approval phases of a change request (Statuses)

Draft:

Verify that all the required fields to create the change request are entered in the Change form. When

a change request is in Draft status the change is still not submitted to the Change Management

process. That means only the requestor of the change knows of that change request.

Review Phase

Request for Authorization:

Change is in the Review approval phase. If it is approved, only then does it move forward to the

Review & Authorize stage.

Business Approval Phase

Request for Change

Change is in the Business Approval phase. Enables approvers to review the request and authorize it.


Planning in progress

Tasks can be created and assigned to the task implementers.

Scheduled for Review

Change Manager reviews and validates the change plans.

Implementation Phase

Scheduled for Approval

Change is in the Implementation Approval phase. Each level of approvers must review the change

and approve it.

Scheduled

Change is included in the Change Calendar.

Implementation in Progress

Task implementers can now start working on the tasks as the first task is in status In Progress/

Pending.

Close down approval Phase

Completed

Change is in the Close down Approval phase. The change has been completed but needs approval for

it to be closed.

Final Review Complete Phase

Completed

Reviewers verify change was implemented and all required tasks have been completed.

Closed

Post Implementation Review has been completed and any necessary Closedown Approvals have been

granted. No further activities can be performed on the change.


State transitions of change requests

Stage Role Approval Phase Status

Initiate The requester submits a

request

Review Draft

Until approvers approve. Request for Authorization

Review &

Authorize

Change manager makes

risk assessment and

determines the impact of

the change.

Business

Until approvers approve. Request For Change

Plan &

Schedule

Change Coordinator Plans

the whole change move it

to next stage

Implementation Planning in Progress

Change manager reviews

change before it goes for

approval

Until approvers approve Scheduled for Approval

Implement Change Coordinator work

on the request. And all

Task Implementers work

on pen tasks until last

task is completed

Implementation in

progress

All Approvers – to ensure

tasks went as planned

Close Down Completed

Final review is completed Completed

Closure Closed


Additional status values for change requests

Rejected

The whole change request is in status rejected if it was rejected by an approver at any approval

phase. Please note that it can be setup to revert back to draft status.

Cancelled

The change is no longer required.

Creating a Change Request

From the IT Home Page, click on the applications tab, and hover over Change Management. Then

click on Change Management Console.

The Change Management Console provides a dedicated workspace for managing change requests.

This console enables change managers and change coordinators to use BMC Remedy Change

Management to plan their days more effectively.


Change Management Console and its Functional Areas

Change console header Assigned work table

N

Initiating a Change Request

When a Change request is created, some information gets copied from the original request (Eg.

Incident record) The Coordinators information defaults to the user initiating the request.

Creating a Change from a template

Templates are available for standard change processes. The Change Template function allows you to

select any templates that can be made available for your support group. You use change templates to

quickly and efficiently create “standard” changes with a minimum of mouse clicks and keyboard

entry.


avigation

ane

a) On the BMC Remedy Change Management Support Console, click Create. The Change form

appears. In the Initiate stage, the change request initially appears in Draft status. The change

request has not yet been submitted to the Change

Management process.

b) The Change Template function allows you to select any templates that can be made available

for your support group. You use change templates to quickly and efficiently create changes

with a minimum of mouse clicks and keyboard entry.

c) Press Enter on the Template field, and Select the template you want to use.

Classify the Change Request

The Operational Categorization and Product Categorization are needed in order to correctly diagnose

the change.

To categorize your change you click on Select Operational for operational categorization and Select

Product for product categorization on the Quick Actions navigation

.


Select the correct assignment

If there is no appropriate assignment routing, assign the change request on the work detail tab.

You can automatically assign the change using the Auto Assign icon; this will assign the change to the

correct change manager group and the change coordinator group.

Impact, Urgency and Priority

Impact reflects the extent to which the change affects the business. Impact can be measured by the

number of people affected, the criticality of the system affected, and the loss of revenue as a result

of the service degradation or disruption.

Urgency defines the importance the requester assigns to the change request, and reflects how

quickly a change must be implemented, or the time available to reduce the impact of the change on

the business.


Priority identifies the importance you (as support staff) assign to the change request. Priority

indicates the relative order in which to address the changes. It is influenced by considerations of risk

and resource availability, but is primarily driven by the combination of Urgency and Impact.

Risk Assessment

In the Risk Level field on the Change form, select the appropriate level of risk for the change

Request, and then click Save.

The range of risk runs from Risk Level 5, the highest risk, to Risk Level 1, the lowest risk. You can also

select a computed risk value, based on your answers to a series of predefined questions (as described

in the section that follows).

Computing risk levels

a) Click the Risk Level Icon

The Risk Assessment Questions dialog box appears


b) Answer the question, and click Save.

c) Click Save to generate the change request.

Capture Schedule Start and Schedule End Dates


Click the Date/System Tab. In the Date Information region of the form, provide dates for the

Scheduled Start Date and Scheduled End Date fields.

When planning a change request, use the Date/System tab to track the requested, scheduled, and

actual start and end dates of changes.

The Earliest Start Date is determined by the Submit Date. If the Requested Start Date is earlier than

the Earliest Start Date and the change status is not Draft, the Class is automatically set to Expedited,

and you are prompted to select a Timing Reason.

Send Change for Approval

In BMC Remedy Change Management, application administrators can define an approval process in

which a series of people must review and approve a proposed change request. Only after approval is

granted can the change request be moved to the next status.

A change request goes through several phases as it progresses through its lifecycle. Approvers are

responsible for reviewing their assigned change requests, and for approving or rejecting them.

Approvers are configured by the application administrator and are responsible for change requests

with a specific categorization and location. The application administrator also determines which

types of change requests need approval, and what type of approval process they require.


NOTE: You reach an approval stage only if an approver is mapped for the company. If no approvers

are mapped, the request moves to the next status.

The read‐only Current Approval Phase field displays what approval phase the change is in during its

life cycle. The Approvers table also displays the following important information:

Approval status

Signatures of groups and individuals who must approve the change request

Alternate approvers

Approval

Approvers are responsible for reviewing their assigned change requests, and for approving or

rejecting them.

A change request goes through several phases as it progresses through its life cycle. The

Process Flow Status area prompts users to approve the change request. To approve the

change request, the required users must click the accelerator in the Initiate stage and then

approve, cancel, or reject the change request before it can then move to the next stage.


If the change is approved by all approvers, the approval process is complete.

If the change is rejected by any approver, the approval process is stopped. The supervisor can

then cancel the change or update it and resubmit it for approval.

Approvers can also be created on an ad hoc basis for existing change requests by the Change

Manager, Change Coordinator, or the Requester of the change request.

Change managers and change coordinators can approve the change on behalf of approvers.

If Work Info is updated after Implementation approval, a notification be sent to approvers at

Implementation approval phase

Adding an Ad hoc Approver

1. Select Add from the Work detail tab

2. Select the Group you want to add as approvers (Best Practice)

3. Select the Support group

4. Click on Save


Approval Phases


Approval Process (Phase) Definition

Review In the Initiate stage, when a change

Request moves out of Draft status and into

Request For Authorization status, the Review approval phase starts.

If the change request is approved, the request moves to the

Business Approval phase and its Status becomes Request For

Change.

If the change request is rejected, its Status changes to Draft

again.

If there are no approvers defined for the request, its Status

changes to Request For Change and requires the change

manager or the change assignee to move the request forward.

If the Timing of the change is Latent, it moves to the

Completed status.

Business Approval – No

Impact

The Change Ad Hoc approval process is used in the No Impact

Business Approval phase with the Change Manager login as the first

approver. By default, this Ad Hoc approval process applies only to

changes with a Timing setting of No Impact. When the change moves

through the process flow and Change

Manager approves the change in the Business Approval – No Impact

phase, it then moves to the Scheduled status. You use this process for

pre‐approved No Impact changes where the change is automatically

scheduled after the approval phase is satisfied.

If the change is approved, it moves to the Scheduled status.

If the request is cancelled, it moves to the Cancelled status.

If the request is rejected, its status changes to Draft.

Business Approval The Review & Authorize stage focuses on risk assessment and impact

analysis. The Business Approval Phase starts when the change request

is placed in Request for Change status. The

Business Approval phase requires that the business case for the

change be approved before it can move forward.

If the change is approved, it moves to the Planning in Progress

status.

If no approvers are mapped to the Business Approval phase,

the change moves to the Planning in Progress status and

requires the change manager or change assignee to move the

change forward.

If the request is cancelled, it moves to the Cancelled status.

Implementation Approval In the Plan & Schedule stage, the implementation Approval phase

starts when their Status moves into Scheduled For Approval status. At

this phase, the system notifies you that the change must be approved

before it can be implemented.

If the change request is approved, its Status changes to

Scheduled.

If there are no approvers defined for the change, its Status

changes to Scheduled.

If the change request is rejected, its Status changes to Draft.

Close Down Approval In the Implement stage, the Close Down approval phase starts when

their Status moves into Completed status (with a status reason of

Final Review Required). At this phase, the system notifies you that the

request must be approved before it can be closed down.

If the change request is approved, its Status Reason becomes

Final Review Complete. You can then move the request to the

Closed stage.

If the change request is rejected, its Status changes to Draft.

If there are no approvers defined for the change, its Status is

Completed. You can then move the request to the Closed

stage.


Approving using the Approval Central

You can use the Approval Central to approve change requests. This is especially important if the

Approve functionality in the Process Flow Status bar is not available under your current access

permission for the change request. Not all approvers have access to the BMC Remedy Change

Management application through their home pages, yet still have the role to approve change

requests before they can move forward.

a) Open Approval Central, from the IT Home Page.


Approval Central displays all pending change requests that are assigned to the current user. If there

are many requests, you can filter them by using the fields in the Search Criteria area.

b) Approve, reject, hold, reassign, or view the change request.

After you approve the change request, it no longer is displayed in the Approval Requests table.

To view the change request details from the approval central you highlight the record that you wish

to view and then click on the button.

Using the Process Flow Status bar to approve requests

When a change request reaches an approval phase, the Process Flow Status bar prompts you to

approve, cancel, or reject the approval. To approve the change request, the required approvers must

click the accelerator, and then approve, cancel, or reject the change request before it can then move

to the next status.

You cannot move the change request to the next status unless you first receive an approval. The

change remains in the approval phase and will not move to the stage until it is approved.

When a change requires an approval, its approvers are notified.

a) Open the change request.

b) Use the Process Flow Status bar to move the change request to an approval phase.


c) Click the accelerator in the Process Flow Status bar, and then approve, cancel, or reject the

change request.

d) From the Work Detail tab, at the bottom of the Approvers table you can approve or reject a

change by selecting the approver record on the table then click approve or reject.

e) On the Work Detail tab you can view the current approval status or any other approval

signatures required to approve the change request. The Show menu enables you to filter the

approval signature entries on the table.

f) Save your work

Planning and Scheduling

In the Plan & Schedule stage, the change manager (or change coordinator) plans the change. This

involves planning all the requests approved for implementation, setting target dates, and estimating

the risks and costs involved. Once planning the request is done, and all the relevant information has

been supplied for the approvers to review the request, you can submit it to the approval process.

Plan for the following important details:

Set the Change request’s status to Planning, and specify the schedule dates.

Estimate the time that the project will take.

Estimate any applicable down time associated with the request.

Register an available or unavailable time segment to perform the request.

Review the risks and impact of the request.

Specify the business justification for the request if necessary.


Create and assign the tasks.

Calculate the costs associated with the request.

Submit the change request for approval.

Approvers require this planning information to decide whether to approve or reject the change

request.

Creating Relationships

Change requests can affect and can be affected by configuration items (CIs) and other types of

records (changes, incidents, or problems). By defining these relationships, you can define a more

refined overview of the connections and interdependencies between the current request and other

service issues being tracked by your system.

The Relationships tab shows the relationships between the current change request to CIs and to

other types of requests.

a) On the Relationships Tab select the request type that you want to relate as the Request Type

from the drop‐down menu.

b) Select Search

c) The Relationships form opens up

d) Fill in the needed criteria to search for the record to relate

e) Highlight the record and select the Relationship Type from the drop‐down menu


f) Click on the Relate button to complete the relationship with the change

You use request types to define these relationships. The following table displays a list of request

types to which you can relate changes and their available actions, along with their start and end

dates.


a) Open the change request from which to define the relationship, and then click the Relationships

tab.

b) From the Request Type list at the bottom of the Relationships tab, select the type of record to

which to relate the current record.

c) Click Search.

d) In the search window for the request type, enter information about the search criteria tabs, and

then click Search.

e) From the search results table, select the change request with which to define the relationship.

f) From the Relationship Type list at the bottom of the search dialog box, select the type of

relationship to define.

g) Click Relate, and then click OK.

h) Close the search window.

The original change request and the related request types appear in the Relationships table. To

refresh the table, click Refresh.

Creating Tasks

You can relate a predefined task or task group template to the change request.


a) Click the Tasks tab.

b) Select Task Group Template or Task Template from the Request Type field, and then click

Relate.

c) The Select Template dialog box appears, listing all template types for all categories

d) Define a numerical sequence of the tasks.

e) When you finish adding templates, save the change request.

f) Click View Flow to see a read‐only view of the task flow in the task group.

The Task Flow Viewer uses colour codes to illustrate the different stages of the tasks. For example, a

blue stage indicates that its status is Closed, and a yellow stage shows its status is Staged. The Viewer

also shows you the flow between tasks

Implementing the Request

At this stage, the change coordinator takes over responsibility for working on the change request.

The Change coordinator is a support staff member with the abilities to handle the details of the

change request.

The change request remains at the Implement stage until all tasks are completed, all required

approvals are granted, and reviewers verify that the change was implemented.

Working with Tasks

The task remains in status Staged until the change request reaches the Implement stage.

When a change request is set to Scheduled and a task is not assigned, the task status is set to

Pending. If the task is assigned, its status is set to Assigned.


a) Open the Change Management Support Console.

b) In the Assigned Tasks table, select the task to accept, and then click View.

Tasks are identified by the prefix of TAS.

c) If you are ready to begin working on the task set the Status field to Work in Progress

d) Click the Work Info tab, and then enter the progress you have made on the task.

e) Click Save.

If this is the first task to be moved to Work in Progress status, the following changes are

automatically made to the change request:

The entire change request’s status is also moved to Implementation in Progress.

In the Task Date Information region of the Change form, the Actual Start Date field is filled

with the date and time at which the task was saved.

Closing a Request

In the Closed stage the change manager reviews the implemented change request. When all the tasks

related to a request are closed due to success, cancellation, or failure, the requester and the change

manager are notified that the change is resolved.

In this final stage, the process of closing the change request varies based on whether the request

requires Close Down approval or not.

If no approval is required, the requester can set the request to Closed after confirming that

the request was resolved to his or her satisfaction. If the requester does not close the change

request within the allowed response time of it being resolved, the request is closed

automatically after a specified period of time. The Status Reason for the request indicates that

the request was automatically closed. The default is 15 days. If the requester is not satisfied

with the change request, the requester can reopen it. The change manager is notified that the

request is reopened, and must respond.


If the request requires Close Down approval, the change request is automatically set to

Completed a Status Reason of Final Review Required. After the change is approved the status

of the change becomes completed with status reason of Final Review Completed (The status

depends on how it was configured by the system administrator). If the Change requester is

satisfied with the change then they can close the request by taking it to the next stage. The

status of the change will be changed to Closed with a default status reason of Successful.

Viewing the Audit Log

Viewing audit logs enables you to view field and notification audits against the request. When certain

fields are changed, when the status is changed, or when system notifications are sent, an audit entry

is generated to track the modification. The Login ID of the individual making the change appears next

to the audit entry.

NOTE: The View Audit Log function is not available until you create and display the request.

a) Open the change request, from which to view the log.

b) From the left navigation pane, choose Functions > View Audit Log.

c) Click the Notification Audit tab to view notification audit entries against the request.


The audit trail displays all the notifications that were generated.

Using the Change Calender

The Change Calendar is a console for managing change requests. The change calendar can be used

during a CAB meeting. It provides a graphical view of change requests and business events occurring

in the organization.

The Change Calendar uses the graphical view to show change requests, and scheduled business

events.

With the links to investigative and analysis tools, you can better understand the risk and impact of

changes. This will help the change managers to better plan the changes can make more productive

decisions about the forward schedule of changes (FSC). The Change Calendar helps you consider the

interdependencies and potential conflicts made visible through the Calendar console.


Click the day picker to focus the main calendar with the specified day as the start day. This enables

you to view the day’s scheduled changes or business events. From the Show menu, choose to view

one day’s worth of data, to see scheduled changes by the hour.

You can select a change request from the calendar and view its essential details. You also can click

View Full Details. The request then appears in the Change form.

a) Use one of the following methods to open the Change Calendar:

On the IT Home page, click the Calendar View link.

On the Change Management Console, choose Advanced Functions > View Calendar.

On the Change form, choose Quick Links > View Calendar.

b) Choose to view Change Requests.


c) From the Show field, select how many days’ worth of requests and business events to show.

Each day is colour‐coded to indicate the risk associated with carrying out the changes or requests

that are scheduled for that day. Only changes appear in the one day view.

NOTE: The data for all views is gathered by querying requests that have Requested Time, scheduled

times, or actual times in the interval.

d) If you do not want to view business events, click the collapse button. The calendar then shows

only change requests.

e) Select a request.

A summary of the most important details about the change requests appears at the bottom of

the change calendar. Click the View Full Details link to open the request.

f) Click a day in the calendar day picker to select the change requests and business events for a

specific day.

The day picker shows the days of the month in which the currently shown activities occur. You can

change the month in which activities appear on the calendar day picker by moving forward or

backward a month at a time, or by selecting a day in the month.

Each day is colour‐coded based on the “maximum risk rule” computation of the aggregated change

requests scheduled for that day. In this way, you can focus the activity chart time line around (for

example, a high risk day to see what activities are scheduled then).


Next to the day picker is a legend that shows what the various bars and the colour coding mean in

the change calendar.

g) In the navigation pane, select a filter option for displaying change requests.


Select which business events to show.

Searching for Records

Filtering options on the Incident Management Console

You can use these filtering options to customise how you view the assign incidents.

Searching all records

The following procedure describes how to search all incidents in your Company.

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.

1. From the navigation pane in the Incident Management console, choose 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.

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

criteria.


Searching all records

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

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

Save Searches

You may require to save some of the searches that you will regularly perform.


To save searches:

1. Perform actions 1 – 4 from Error! Reference source not found.

2. Select Searches from the Menu Bar

3. Select “Save Search”

4. Enter a descriptive name for the saved search.

Recall Saved Searches

To run searches that have previously been

saved:

1. Select “Searches” from the Menu Bar

2. Select “Load My Searches”

3. Select the descriptive name of the search

Web Reporting

You can run ad hoc reports through the web. It can either be an out‐of‐the‐box Crystal (pdf) report,

or you can export data to excel.

To run ad hoc Excel reports

1. Do a search on the Incident form, or run a saved search

2. From your results list, select all the entries you want to report on, or click on the ‘Select All’

button

3. Next, click on the ‘Report’ button


4. The ITSM Report Console will open up. Click on the New button

5. The Type will default to web, keep it on Web reporting. The form you are reporting on will

also be auto popuolated. Give your report a name. (Once you save your report, you will

always be able to select is, as well as other users)

6. Click on OK

7. You can now build your report. Give a description of your report, and add all the fields you

want to include in your dropdown. You can also build qualifications, and include a chart in

your report.


8. Once you have added all the fields you want in your report, click on PREVIEW. This will give

you a preview of the data in a report format.

9. You can print straight from the preview view.

10. Close the popup window, and SAVE your report.

11. From your main reporting console window, you can now select whether to run a report that’s

out of the box, or created by another colleague, or a report that you have created.


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Documents

incident management

overview console

incident management

incident request record

incident request form

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