Service Desk configuration

Service Desk configuration enables you to configure alert, interaction categories, workflow, solution matching, and so on.

Create an interaction category

If you are a Service Manager Administrator, you may want to create new interaction categories. You may want to create a category when you require a different worfklow that specifies unique forms and business rules.

Micro Focus Service Manager provides a number of out-of-box category records that you can use or modify. For more information, see Out-of-box Service Desk categories.

To create new category record:

1. Click Service Desk.

2. Click Configuration > Interaction Categories.

3. Click New.
4. Type the name of the category.

5. Specify the Apply To option to indicate the modules that can share this 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", this category will be created in both the interaction category table and the incident category table. Typical shared categories in the out-of-box system include:

   • complaint

   • incident
   • problem
   • request for information
   • request for administration

   For an Interaction Category, the following rules apply:

   • Once a value is specified in the Apply To field and the record is saved, the value cannot be modified.

   • If Apply To is set to "Interaction" only, the Allow Escalation flag becomes read-only.

     The following table describes the Allow Escalation settings for the out-of-box categories that only apply to Interaction.

     Category	Allow Escalation	Notes
     compliment service catalog	Disabled (Read-only)	This is because "Apply To Interaction" means the category is not shared among other modules, and interactions of this category do not need to trigger a record in another module. A compliment can be closed immediately or worked through the phases as a normal interaction. A service catalog interaction can be resolved by ordering items from the catalog.
     complaint incident problem request for administration request for change Request for information	Enabled (Editable)	Although the category is not shared among other modules, an interaction of one of these categories should be allowed to trigger a change request or a service request.

   The Apply To options that are used in Interaction Categories include:

   • Interaction
   • Interaction/Incident
   • Interaction/Incident/Problem
   • Interaction/Problem

6. Specify whether the category is active and whether escalation is allowed.

   Note If the Active check box is unchecked, you cannot use this category when creating a new record.

7. Type the category description.
8. Select a workflow for the category.
9. Click Save to view the Workflow tab and other associated tabs.
10. Click Subcategories tab to create subcategories for the interaction category.

11. Click Service Desk Approval tab to configure approval settings.

    Note The settings in the Service Desk Approval tab are only for service catalog approval. That is, in the out-of-box system, they are only valid for the service catalog category.

12. Click Save.

Add a new interaction subcategory

Applies to User Roles: System Administrator

Subcategories are a way to refine a Service Desk category into smaller groups. For example, the complaint category can have service delivery and support subcategories.

To add a subcategory:

1. Click Service Desk.

2. Click Configuration > Interaction Categories.

3. Click New to create a new category or click Search to select an existing category.
4. In the Subcategories section, 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.

Add a new interaction area

Applies to User roles: System Administrator

Areas are a way to further refine a Service Desk subcategory. For example, the support subcategory in the complaint category can have availability, functionality, and performance areas.

To add an area:

1. Click Service Desk.

2. Click Configuration > Interaction Categories.

3. Click New to create a new category or click Search to select an existing category.
4. In the Subcategories section, click the Link New Subcategories button to create a new subcategory or select an existing subcategory from the list.

5. In the Areas section, click the Link New Areas button.

6. Type a name for the area.

7. Type a description for the area.

8. Click Save to add the new area.

Service Desk solution matching

When you escalate an interaction record to incident, a list of incidents or problems appears based on the pre-defined solution matching configuration. You can then select the matched records and link them to the interaction. Alternatively, you can specify the ID of the existing incident or problem, and then link it to the interaction. The linked records are shown in the Related Records section of the interaction.

In an out-of-box system, the following configurations are provided for Service Desk interaction solution matching:

• Find an incident with a matching configuration item

• Find an incident with a matching service
• Find an incident with a matching title
• Find a problem with a matching configuration item
• Find a problem with a matching service
• Find a problem with a matching title

To modify the out-of-box solution matching configurations, navigate to Service Desk > Configuration > Solution Matching.