Problems Widget

The Problems widget presents the problems related to the selected CI, either according to their numbers (in CI Overview mode) or by their details (in Widget Details mode). A problem is considered related to a CI if it meets one of the following conditions:

  • It is linked directly to the CI through a Membership link. Note that IT Service Manager connects a Problem to its affected Business Service in the same manner (that is, a Membership link connects the Problem CI with the Business Service CI).
  • If the selected CI is a Model, all problems linked to all the contained CIs in that model (meaning, any other contained model or CI) are considered related to the selected CI.
  • In all other cases, all problems linked to the selected CI's composition/membership connected CIs (probably a Node) are considered related to the selected CI.

Note  

  • This widget appears only when it is enabled in UCMDB. For instructions on how enable this widget, see Enable the Problems Widget.
  • If you are connecting to a UCMDB Server that has Content Pack 10 or an older version installed, you must perform the instructions in the section Problems Widget below so that the Problems widget functions properly.

All presented data is taken from UCMDB Federated Problems CI (and its relationships).

Note The Create Time for federated CIs will show the Open Time of the Problem in SM. Using non federated Problems CIs (populated with other integrations) will cause the Create Time to be the time when the Problem was created in UCMDB and not the time when the Problem was opened in the external data source.

CI Overview Mode

This mode presents the total number of Open problems, categorized by their Internal Priority. Open problems are all problems with a Status (a Service Manager attribute, federated to UCMDB) that is within a configured set of values. If a problem’s Status does not belong to that set of values, it is not considered open.

Internal Priorities are a set of UCMDB Browser values (1-4), where each value has a configurable label and is mapped to a set of Service Manager Priorities (these are Service Manager attributes that are federated to UCMDB). For instance, a valid configuration could be four Internal Priorities (Urgent, Major, Minor, None), where each is mapped to a specific unique set of Service Manager Priority values.

Configuring the set of values to define when a Problem is open and configuring the four UCMDB Browser Internal Priorities should be performed only by the UCMDB administrator.

The UCMDB Browser’s mapping between Internal Priorities and Service Manager priorities should be defined once and be used by all relevant Widgets (that is, the same configuration settings are used for both the Incidents and Problems Widgets). If a Problem’s priority does not map to a UCMDB Browser Internal Priority, it is not counted in the CI overview or presented in the widget details.

For instructions on how to configure the UCMDB Browser Internal Priorities, see Configure Browser Internal Priorities (for the Incidents and Problems Widgets).

Widget Details Mode

This mode displays all relevant problems according to their Internal Priority. The internal sort within each priority group is by alphabetic order. The following information is presented for each problem:

  • Problem ID: This is a clickable field that refocuses on the Problem CI when selected. The ID is taken from the reference_number attribute.
  • Title: Taken from the name attribute.
  • Status: Taken from the problem_status attribute.
  • Impact: Taken from the impact_scope attribute.
  • Urgency: Taken from the urgency attribute.
  • Priority: Taken from the priority attribute.
  • Affected CI: Only a single CI is presented with a link to show all results. The CI presented is either the node to which the problem is linked (if it is not the current CI) or a Business CI affected by the problem (if the current CI is directly linked to the Problem CI). If there is a Business Service connected directly to the Problem, it should be displayed as an affected CI. Affected CIs can be refocused.
  • Affected Service: The first BusinessService CI connected to the Problem CI through a membership link. If no such CI exists, the Affected Service header is not displayed. The Affected Service can be refocused.

  • A direct link to the Service Manager system with the context of the selected problem is presented per each problem, if this link is configured. For instructions on how to configure this direct link to Service Manager, see Configure a Direct Link to Service Manager for a Selected Problem, Incident, or Change Request.

Enable the Problems Widget

To enable the Problems widget in UCMDB:

  1. In UCMDB, go to Administration > Infrastructure Settings Manager > UCMDB Browser settings.
  2. In the Name column, choose Enable Problems widget.
  3. In the Value column, choose True from the drop-down list.
  4. Click Save .