Service Portfolio Notification and Escalation

Throughout the Service Manager suite, several ways of providing alerts and escalations are provided. The Service Portfolio items and configuration management module workflows control the requesting behavior notification and alerts while the appropriate fulfillment module controls notification and escalation for fulfillment.

Throughout the Service Manager suite, there are several ways of defining and providing alerts and escalations. The Service Catalog items and Configuration Management module workflows control notification and alerts associated with requests, while the appropriate fulfillment module controls notification and escalation for fulfillment.

1. Notifications: Service Manager provides a broad and deep solution to deliver notifications to stakeholders whenever the request or fulfillment is opened, updated or closed. The notification engine allows administrators complete control over
   1. What notification vehicle (for example, email) and format to deliver
   2. On what conditions to send the notification
   3. To whom the notification should be sent
2. Alerts: The Service Desk module includes the ability to set criteria for the generation of alerts. For example the administrator can set rules for three stages of alert and a deadline condition. When these targets are met, specified users receive alerts and notifications through the Service Manager tool, email or other method. Fulfillment records in Request Management or Change Management have even more robust notification and alert capabilities.
3. Escalations. Business rules can be used to trigger automated escalations of records under various conditions. Examples include: should the status remain unchanged for too long; the record is “reassigned” too often between assignment groups; or for other rules as defined. In addition to documenting the violation of these rules, the administrator can configure Service Manager to act in certain ways should these rules be breached. For example, if a record remains in open state for too long, reassign it to the assigned user’s manager. Fulfillment records in request management or change management have even more robust notification and alert capabilities.

Out-of-box Service Manager provides various notifications during the lifecycle of services. Service Manager also provides notification controls are activated for CIs or for Service Catalog items. The alert and escalation capabilities are not enabled out-of-box. However, these capabilities can be added quickly and easily via simple configuration settings.