Service Management user interface

The top level menu that points to all the Service Management modules that you can access. The list of modules varies depending on the permissions associated with your user account.

Example: the main menu contains links to Incident, Change, Problem, Service Level, and so on.

If you have administrative permissions, the Administration menu appears in the lower section of the main menu.

Click the New Window/Tab button to open the menu item in a new window or tab, depending in your default browser settings.

Links to sections within an application module. The submenu items appear to the right of the module name.

Example: Problem Management contains submenu links to Problems, Templates, and Hot Topic Analytics.

A list of records that you can view, edit, or delete. This view is typically the starting point to create, edit, or delete a record in a Service Management module.

Select a record to display its details in the right pane.

List view toolbar

The List view has its own toolbar, the contents of which vary according to the record type.

• Click New to create a record.

• Click Details to view the details of the selected record.

• Click Refresh to refresh the screen.

• Click Columns to customize your view of the fields in each record. For more information, see List view columns.

• Click More to display record options, the contents of which vary according to the record type. Options may include:

  • Export to XLS. Click to download the record in XLSX format.

    1. The downloaded file includes the data in the displayed columns, in the same sorted order, taking account of any filter applied. The file also includes filters for each column.

    2. The downloaded file is localized according to the user's language setting in Service Management.

    3. Fields with rich text data cannot be exported using the Export to XLS option.

  • Export to CSV. Click to download the record in CSV format.

    1. The downloaded file includes the data in the displayed columns, in the same sorted order, taking account of any filter applied.

    2. Fields with rich text data cannot be exported using the Export to CSV option.

  • Send by email. Click to display a blank email template.

  • Create operational report and Create operational raw data report. For more information, see Reports.

  • Export for localization. For categories, offerings, service definitions, surveys, and articles, click to export records in the selected languages.

Main toolbar

The following icons are included on the main toolbar:

• The avatar of the signed in user. A green side bar indicates that the user is logged in.

• Opens help for the current area of Service Management Automation. For more information about the Help window, see Navigate the Help Center.

• Displays the most recent discussions that you are participating in. For more information, see Discussions.

• Opens the search bar enabling you to do a global search for records. For more information, see Search.

• The network indication icon. The icon appears when a slow network is detected. If you hover over the icon, a tooltip is displayed indicating the average time of an operation.

  A slow network could be due to poor Wi-Fi reception. Try changing your location or Wi-Fi signal. If the network indication icon appears for multiple users, it may indicate that their location lacks proper Wi-Fi coverage, or that the LAN might be slow. It could also be due to a proxy or firewall issue.

Record form

Every record form displays fields and values that exist in the record. Most forms display tabbed sections, each of which contains part of the record data.

At the top of the form, records display a record toolbar, the contents of which vary according to record type. The record toolbar may include:

• Comments icon. Click this to open discussions or post comments about the records you are viewing.

• Start Discussion icon. Click this to open a chat window.

For more information, see Discussions.

At the top of the form, some record types display a workflow snapshot to show the current workflow metaphase for the record. For example:

The snapshot graphic varies according to the workflow for the record type.

Guidance text to tell you about the current workflow metaphase, displays beside the workflow snapshot.

Automatic transitions to the next metaphase occur when certain conditions are met. The transition is usually transparent. If the next available transition in the workflow requires manual intervention, the next available phases appear on the upper right area of the form. If necessary, click the manual transition button to advance to the next phase.

For example:

The Health Indicator (light bulb icon) displays if there are workflow messages for the record. The number in the icon shows how many messages are available. For example, a message might tell you that you selected a start date that is later than the end date. If you fix the date, the number reduces by one. Or, a message might tell you that a mandatory field is empty. If you complete the field, the number reduces by one.

Provides shortcut links to sections within a record.

Example: when you display a change record, you can click the Workflow, Task plan, or Related records tab to jump to that section of the form.

Displays information related to your current activity. It might be a graph, a list of related articles, a preview of the current record, or reference information that is related to the current task.

If there is a preview pane, you can use this to update multiple records at once. For more information, see How to edit records using the Preview pane.

When you create a new record, you must fill in any field marked with a red asterisk before you save the record.

A field is defined as mandatory in one of these ways:

• The Required property is selected for the field.
• A business rule is defined (with or without conditions) setting the field as mandatory.

There are two types of selectors to populate a field with a value. You can:

• Click the list icon    to display a simple list of eligible values. When the list of values is long, you can type a few characters into the search field ( ) to limit the results.

• Click the expanded list icon    to display a list of eligible values in a record list format. Other field values appear in this view that are useful information.

Select your choice. If you want to remove a field value, click the cancel icon    to remove that selection.

If you hover over certain fields, a popup window is displayed with details and a link to the record in Service Management.

For fields displaying a person or group record, clicking the link in the popup window opens a read-only preview form in the Global Search, with the details of the person or group. If you have permission to edit the person or group record, an Edit link appears next to the record name. Click the link to go directly to the person or group record.

Most forms contain fields that require user information. In some cases, the field has a rich-text editor that enables you to format plain text. You can chose one or more format options:

• Apply bold, italics, underscores, text and background colors to plain text.
• Format bulleted or numeric lists.
• Insert links (URLs) to internal or external content.

• Embed images by:

  • Uploading an image
  • Specifying the URL where an image is stored. In this case, you can provide a width and height for the image, specify where it should be aligned. You can also add tooltip text (Alt Text) for the image.
  • Copying and pasting an image (Mozilla Firefox only)
  • Dragging and dropping an image (Internet Explorer 10 and later only).

  Image formats: Service Management supports .jpg, .gif, .bmp, and .png image formats.

• Select Source mode to edit the HTML code directly.
• Select Full screen mode to maximize the editor to the full screen.