Use > Incident Management > Incident configuration

Incident configuration

Incident configuration enables you to configure alert, Incident categories, workflow, solution matching, and so on.

Create an incident category

Applies to User roles: System Administrator

If you are a Service Manager Administrator, you may want to create an incident category. To do this, you can modify an existing category record, or you can create a new category record. Service Manager provides out-of-box category records that you can use or modify.

Note When a category is set as the default category in settings, do not delete it to avoid unpredictable issues.

To create new category record:

  1. Click Incident Management.
  2. Click Configuration > Incident Categories.
  3. Click New.
  4. Type the name of the incident category.

  5. Clear the Active check box if you do not want the new category to appear in the category list.

    Note If you clear the Active check box, this category cannot be used to create new incidents.

  6. Type the category description.
  7. Select a workflow for the category.
  8. Click Save.
  9. Optional: Click the Link New Subcategories button to create a new subcategory for the incident category.

Note The Apply To flag indicates whether the category is shared across different modules.

For example, if the Apply To is set to "Interaction/Incident", then this category will be created in both the interaction category table and the incident category table.

Typical shared categories in the out-of-box configuration include Complaint, Request for Information, Incident, and Request for Administration.

For the Apply To flag in Incident Category:

When creating an incident category, the Apply To option is predefined as "Incident" only and cannot be modified. However, an incident category can also be created when creating an interaction category with the Apply To option set as "Interaction/Incident" or "Interaction/Incident/Problem".

When searching for an incident category, all the Apply To values that include Incident can be used.

The following list is used in Incident Category:

1 - Incident

3 - Interaction/Incident

4 - Interaction/Incident/Problem

Note Incident category name is read-only after the category is created.

Create an incident task category

Applies to User roles: System Administrator

If you are a Service Manager Administrator, you may want to create an incident task category. To do this, you can modify an existing category record, or you can create a new category record. Service Manager provides out-of-box category records that you can use or modify.

To create a new incident task category record:

  1. Click Incident Management.
  2. Double-click Configuration > Incident Task Categories.
  3. Click New.
  4. Type the name of the incident task category.
  5. Type a description of the problem task category.
  6. Clear the Active check box if you do not want the new category to appear in the category list.

    Note If you clear the Active check box, this category cannot be used to create new incident tasks.

  7. Select a workflow for the category. The Workflow tab is displayed.
  8. Click Save.

Note Incident task category name is read-only after the category is created.

Add a new subcategory to an incident category

User Roles: System Administrator and Implementer

You can add a new subcategory directly for an incident category.You can view a list of subcategories and their record details associated with the current category.

To add a new subcategory for an incident category:

  1. Click Incident Management > Configuration in the System Navigator.
  2. Click Incident Categories and then click Search in the form that appears.
  3. Select the Incident Category for which you want to add a subcategory.
  4. Click the Subcategories tab in the Incident Category Definition page, and then click the Link New Subcategories button.
  5. Type a subcategory name.
  6. Type a description for the subcategory.
  7. Click Save to add the new subcategory.
  8. Optional: Click the Link New Areas button to create areas for the incident subcategories. When you have finished, click Save.

Add a new area for an incident subcategory

Applies to User roles: System Administrator and Implementer

You can add a new area directly for an incident subcategory.You can view a list of areas and their record details associated with the current subcategory.

To add a new area for an incident subcategory:

  1. Click Incident Management > Configuration in the System Navigator.
  2. Click Incident Categories > Search.
  3. Select the Incident Category for which you want to add an area.
  4. Under the Subcategories section in the Incident Category Definition page, select the subcategory for which you want to add an area.
  5. Type an area name.
  6. Type a description for the area.
  7. Click Save to add the new area.

Incident solution matching

When you create an incident, a list of potentially related incidents appears based on the pre-defined solution matching configuration. You can then select the matched records and update them directly. You can also run solution matching for an existing incident that is not closed. To do this, select the incident and then click More > Solution Matching from the Detail List toolbar.

In an out-of-box system, the following options are provided for Incident solution matching:

  • Find an incident with a matching service or configuration item
  • Find an incident with a matching related service or configuration item
  • Find an incident with a matching title
  • Find a known error with a matching service or configuration item
  • Find a known error with a matching title
  • Find a problem with a matching service or configuration item
  • Find a problem with a matching title

To configure Incident solution matching options, navigate to Incident Management > Configuration > Solution Matching.

Note If you create an incident from Service Desk escalation or link to a new incident from the Related Records section, the above incident solution matching will be ignored.

Incident management downtime record

You can access Incident Management downtime records by using the Incident Management Security Administration Utility to show the availability of a selected device. Availability measures the ability of a device or component to provide service within a measured time frame. There are three downtime measurements.

Type of availability Description
Explicit unavailability The downtime experienced by the failing device.
Implicit unavailability The downtime experienced because of the failure of a parent or controlling device.
Perceived unavailability The explicit or implicit downtime during normal business hours. The total reflects only working hours.

Add a downtime record

Applies to User roles: System Administrator

As part of monitoring the availability of devices in the system, a System Administrator adds downtime records for a specific device.

To add a downtime record:

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Click Incident Management > Configuration > Downtime Records.
    • Click System Administration > Base System Configuration > Monitoring > Downtime.
  2. Type the applicable data in the Logical Name, Location, Contact Name, Type, and Table Name fields.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Click OK.