This is an ITIL-compatible (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) workspace template for tracking Incidents and Service Requests.
Fields
- Custom fields can be created to track the different requests and
problems reported to the corporate Service Desk. These fields will
help with quick data entry, and help sort and report on different areas
and problem types.
Built-in
Fields:
Title
– Is used as a brief summary or description of request. If desired,
this can be a drop-down list of acceptable request types.
Description
– Is used for complete description of request or problem, updates, and
resolution. Each addition to the description automatically contains
a time, date and user stamp.
Assignees
– The Assignee field automatically lists all agents.
Refer to the section below on “Assignment” for more information.
Statuses
– Request, Open, Closed, Need More Info, Await Approval, Pending, Internal
FAQ
Note
Request”
status is a built-in status, but only appears when an employee customer
submits a Request, prior to it being assigned to an Agent. Open
and Closed statuses are also built-in, so only the other 4 need to be
created.
Priorities
Maximum
- Set to 5
Default
- Set to 5
Words
defined - Critical, High, Medium, Low, Planning
Workspace
Fields – Up to 100 custom Workspace Fields can be created (no limit
in SQL/Access versions) to record information about the incident.
Contact information is tracked in the Address Book (see below).
Here are some suggested fields.
Type of Incident (drop-down) – Failure, Service Request
Main Category (drop-down) – Hardware, Software, Printer, Network
Sub-category (drop-down) - Acrobat, Excel, Internet Explore, Outlook, PowerPoint, PhotoShop, Word
Printer
Sub-category (drop-down) - Various printer models
Network
Sub-category (drop-down) - Change Authority, Can't Connect to Network, Can't Connect to Internet
Closure Code (drop-down) - Completed successfully, Training required, Documentation needed, No fault found, Monitoring required, Advice given, RFC needed
Resolution - Multi-line text entry field for describing the resolution.
Service Level
Impact (drop-down) - High, Medium, Low
Urgency (drop-down) - High, Medium Low
SLA Response Time (date/time)
SLA Due Date (date/time)
CI Links - For FootPrints Configuration Manager. FootPrints Configuration Manager is an add-on module.
Time
Tracking - FootPrints can track the time spent by Agents working
on Issues. This data can be used to create time tracking reports,
which can be used for billing, or to track any time-related information,
such as how long one or more users spend on certain kinds of Issues.
With this configuration,
FootPrints automatically tracks the time spent by Agents as they
fill out and edit an Issue, for example, as the Agent is speaking on the
phone with the user. In addition, the initial Agent (or second/third
level Agent) can fill in their time spent on troubleshooting/fixing manually.
An hourly billing rate should be specified for each Agent (see Users).
In this way, time tracking data can be used for charge-backs to other
departments, or to justify increased resources.
Address
Book – The Address Book is a sub-database that contains all of the
contact information for your user base. Each record in the Address
Book is called a “Contact”. Users who are reporting problems
are referred to as “Contacts” or “Employee Customers”.
The Address Book can contain up to 100 fields (SQL/Access versions are
unlimited) for employee data, including Name, Department, Phone number,
Email address, etc.
Suggested
Address Book Fields:
Department
(drop-down) – Customer Service, R&D, Executive, Finance, Human Resources,
IT, Marketing, Sales
Service
Level (drop-down) – Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Note
The preceding field should be specified as “Internal”.
Address
Book Data – Address Book data can be entered manually for each Contact,
imported from a text file, or taken dynamically from and LDAP-compliant
contact database. Please refer to the section on Address Book Administration
for more information.
Assignment
– Assignment can be handled manually, or the Auto Assign Feature can
be used to assign one or more users to a new Issue based on, for example,
the “Request Type” field.
Escalation
– Escalation should be enabled and various rules defined to meet service
levels, handle high-priority issues, and set up follow-up reminders.
Some rules to consider:
One “Instant” escalation
rule can be made for each Service Level. The actions can include
changing the priority, to an appropriate priority for that level, assignment,
etc. See the example in the topic on “Escalation”.
Escalation rules
can be defined for certain high priority issues, such as network outages,
etc.
Rules can be made
to handle Issues that have been open for a certain amount of time to send
a reminder to the assignees that the Issue must be resolved, and/or to
reassign them to someone else.
A rule should be
set to send an email to the assigned Agent based on the “Follow Up Date”
field. The criteria should include:
Name:
Per-Issue Reminders
Escalation
On/Off: Select “On”
Actions:
“Send mail to the Assignees” checked, select one or more email types
Time
Unedited: 5 minutes
Criteria:
Status=Highlight
”Request”, “Open”, and any custom statuses to get reminders on active
Issues, or “Closed” to get reminders on Closed Issues (OR highlight all
statuses except for “Solution” to get reminders on any Status Issue)
For “Follow
Up Date”, choose “equal to” and check the box for “Current Date” (do
not fill in any dates).
Email
– Outgoing email notification rules should be set to send mail to
assignees and customers for all changes, or, if you would prefer, only
for certain statuses. One or more Agents should also be defined to
receive an email each time a new Request is submitted by a Customer.
Incoming email can be configured to handle both incoming email submissions
and email updates to existing Issues.
CCs
– Other agents, developers, or other users can be copied on an Issue
without actually being assigned. These people will receive email
notification, and can optionally respond to the email with comments or
suggestions, which will automatically be threaded to the Description of
the Issue with a time, date and user stamp.
Queues
– Create 1 Saved Search for each “Request Type” (Hardware, Software,
Network, etc). For example, the Criteria for the Hardware Queue
would include “Status”=Request, Open, and all other active statuses, “Request
Type”=Hardware, Sorting “Date Submitted Ascending” (oldest at the top),
Name “Hardware Queue”, Type “Shared”.
Reports
– The built-in Metric reports can be used by the Service Desk Manager
to get important metrics like Open vs. Closed rates, number of Open Issues
by assignee, etc. Custom report templates can be made to show details
and stats for things like: All active Issues by assignee, All active Issues
by Request Type, All active Issues by Department, Priority, etc.
The Auto-run Reports feature can be used to automatically email one or
more reports to the Managers every Monday morning, etc.
Cross-workspace
Reports – The Administrator can create cross-workspace reports to return
data from multiple workspaces, such as Service Desk, Development, and Issue
Management. All built-in fields, as well as any common custom fields
found in the workspaces, can be included in the report. So, if the
Address Book is shared between the aforementioned workspaces, a report can
be generated on a particular contact that includes all activity for that
user across all departments.
Asset
Management – The BMC FootPrints Asset Core Add-on Module is highly recommended. All hardware, software, and network
information for each PC will be automatically tracked. Other network
devices, like servers, routers and printers can also be tracked.
Asset information can be included as part of the history of an Issue.
Knowledge
Base – The FootPrints Knowledge Base feature is very useful
for the Internal Service Desk. Frequently Asked Questions, Solutions
to common problems, and patches can be made into Solutions. When
a Customer Issue is resolved, it can also be made into a Solution.
FAQ categories can be defined to group solutions by problem type, platform,
software version, etc. Both Agents and Customers can have
access to Solutions and FAQ categories. Agents can use the Knowledge
Base to solve current Issues, searching the FootPrints Knowledge
Base by keyword, by FAQ category, and even searching popular online knowledge
bases like Microsoft TechNet.
Customer
Self Service – The Customer Self Service option allows employee customers
to submit and track their Service Desk requests, as well as search the Knowledge
Base. Users can log into FootPrints using a common shared
ID and password, their email address, or a unique ID and password.
Unique Customer IDs and passwords can be linked to their network IDs and
passwords (using NT, UNIX or LDAP password authentication and the Auto-Add
Customer feature). Customer contact information can be dynamically
populated via the Dynamic Address Book Link feature. Customers can
also submit Requests, receive notification, and respond to notification
via email.
Users
– Agent users can set their
personal preferences to view a list of their own assignments on the FootPrints
home page, as well as set their home page columns to display important
information about those Issues on the home page, like “Request Type”,
“Department”, “Platform”, etc.
Agents can use
their network ID and password to log into FootPrints if NT, UNIX
or LDAP password authentication is enabled.
See more information
on Customer users under “Customer Self Service”.
File
attachments – File attachments are useful for employee customers to
provide screenshots of the problem they have having, and for Agents to
provide patches, Word documents with step-by-step instructions, etc.
Solutions in the Knowledge Base can contain file attachments, allowing
easy distribution of patches, procedures, and other files. Incoming
email submissions from customers that contain attachments will automatically
include those attachments with the Issue that is created in FootPrints.
Note
File Attachments in FootPrints are kept in the C:\FootPrints\html\tmp\Attachments directory
on the FootPrints server. Anti-virus software can be pointed
to that directory to ensure that attachments do not contain viruses.
Surveys—The Customer
Survey feature can be used to gather information about the quality of
service employee customers receive from the Service Desk and other IT departments.
The survey, created by the Workspace Administrator, is sent automatically
to the employee customer each time his or her Request is closed.
FootPrints
Instant Talk—The
Instant Talk feature can be used by the Internal Service Desk to allow customers
to chat with available agents, quickening resolution of Issues.
Instant Talk can also be used by agents to chat with each other when they
are in different parts of the building, different sites, or on the telephone.
Remote
Control—The
Remote Control feature can be used by agents to take control of a user’s
desktop to aid in solving a PC-related issue. The VNC Remote Control
software can be optionally installed on all PC’s, or can be installed
on an as-needed basis.
Copy/Move
Issue feature—This
feature can be used to assign Issues to users in other workspaces.
For example, a Service Desk agent could assign an Issue in the Service Desk
workspace to the development workspace.
Splash
screen—The
splash screen option can be used to communicate important information
and alerts to agents and customers. Different screens can be defined
for agents and customers. Splash screens can include text, HTML,
links to other sites or pages, graphics, etc. They can be updated
at any time by the Workspace Administrator.