Helpdesk processes

Incident management

Incidents are the initial requests from contacts that are processed.

This process is structured through 4 steps:

1. Reporting an incident
   • Receipt via email, form in the CM/Track customer portal or monitoring software
   • Automatic calculation of the SLA based on priorities and type
2. Processing at the 1st level
   • Acceptance and classification of the incident
   • Assignment of assets from the integrated CMDB
   • Forwarding within the team or transfer to the 2nd level
   • Setting follow-ups and pausing the SLA
   • Combining multiple incidents into one major incident
3. Processing at the 2nd level
   • Processing by the specialist team
   • Communication between the 1st level, 2nd level and contact
   • Opening a problem or change
   • Return to 1st level
4. Solution
   • Accepting the implementation or reopening the ticket
   • Communicating the solution to the contact via the CM/Track customer portal or by email
   • Documenting solution times for reporting
   • Creating an FAQ article

Activities in the incident process

The following general activities are available depending on the status of the ticket:

View Dispatch

• Accept ticket: Opens a form in which the ticket is categorised. Select the type of request and set the impact and urgency to calculate priority and SLA time. The Selection from creator's IT assets table automatically contains the assets assigned to the ticket contact. In the Free search for assets table, you can search globally across all assets.
• Discard - close ticket: Closes the ticket permanently.

View 1st Level | Active and 2nd Level | Active

• Forward to: Opens a form where you can forward the ticket. Select a team from the list and describe what needs to be done in the rich text editor.
• Put ticket on hold: Opens a form where you can select the date on which the resubmission should automatically end. You can also decide whether to pause the SLAs and whether to remove the agent assignment. The ticket is moved to the follow-up and automatically returns to the active process when either the follow-up date is reached, an email is received for the ticket, or the contact has written a comment in the portal. You can also manually retrieve the ticket from the follow-up at any time.
• Assign assets: Opens a form where you can select the assets assigned to the ticket. The Selection from creator's IT assets table automatically contains the assets assigned to the ticket contact. In the Free search for assets table, you can search globally across all assets.
• Create task: Opens a form for creating a new task. Tasks are used to track individual steps required to process the incident. They can be assigned to different agents. The task is automatically linked to the incident.
• Email has been read: Removes the email overlay that appears when an email is received for the ticket
• Adjust timebooking: Opens a form in which you can edit the time entries entered for the transaction, see Time booking.
• Close ticket: Opens a form to close the ticket. You can decide whether you want to create an FAQ entry, automatically close the linked sub-tickets and/or automatically inform the contact about the closure:

The following activities relate to linking to other tickets, e.g. parent and child tickets, issues and changes. The activities corresponding to the current links are available in each case:

View 1st Level | Active and 2nd Level | Active

• Refresh similar tickets: Opens a form where you can select a time period for searching for similar tickets. Similar tickets are determined based on the subject, first history entry and category, and are displayed in the detailed data.
• Select parent ticket: Opens a form with a ticket search. The selected ticket is linked to the current ticket as a parent ticket. If there are multiple incidents on the same topic, you can work on the parent ticket and automatically close the sub-tickets after the parent ticket is completed and notify the contacts that the problem has been resolved.
• Change parent ticket: Opens a form where you can remove the relationship to the parent ticket or select a new parent ticket.
• Add child ticket: Opens a form with a ticket search. The selected ticket is linked to the current ticket as a sub-ticket. If there are multiple incidents on the same topic, you can work on the parent ticket and automatically close the sub-tickets after the parent ticket is completed and notify the contacts that the problem has been resolved. The sub-tickets are displayed in the Details and Related tickets sections.
• Remove child ticket: Opens a form with a list of linked sub-tickets. For tickets whose links you want to delete, check the Remove box to delete the links when you confirm the form.
• Assign multiple subtickets: Opens a detail search where you can select the tickets you want. Then click on the activity Assign tickets to a parent ticket and select the parent ticket in the search.
• Create additional ticket: Opens a form for creating a new incident ticket. This is useful, for example, if a contact has reported more than one incident in the same email. Depending on the selected team, the ticket is created in the 1st or 2nd level.
• Create News: Opens a form for creating a news item. This can then be published via the news process.
• Create new problem: Opens a form for creating a problem. The problem ticket is used to analyse and resolve the cause of the incident. The problem is automatically linked to the incident so that the incident can be automatically closed when the problem is resolved and the contact can be informed. You can decide whether the assets from the incident should be transferred.
• Relate to existing: Opens a form with a problem search. The search can be restricted to known errors and open problems. The selected problem is linked to the incident.
• Set on hold until related problem is resolved: Opens a form to put the ticket on hold until the linked problem is resolved. In the form, you can decide whether the incident should be automatically closed after the problem is resolved and the contact informed, or whether the ticket should simply be reactivated and the agent informed of the activation. You can also reactivate the incident manually at any time.
• Create new change: Opens a form for creating a new change. Changes are used to initiate and track the changes required to resolve an incident or problem. The change is automatically linked to the incident so that the incident can be automatically closed when the change is completed and the contact can be informed.

Problem management

A problem is the cause of one or more incidents. It has no contact, as communication always takes place via the incident.

This process comprises three steps:

1. Creation of a problem
   • Opening from an incident ticket or manually
   • Automatic prioritisation
2. Evaluation and analysis
   • Creation and linking of known errors
   • Identification of causes and assignment of assets from the integrated CMDB
   • Assignment of tasks
   • Setting of follow-ups
   • Documentation of workarounds
   • Opening of a change
3. Solution
   • Release of the known error and monitoring of the success of the change
   • Classification and description of the

Activities in the problem process

The following activities are available depending on the status of the ticket:

View Dispatch

• Accept ticket: Sets the current editor as the assigned editor for the problem.
• Discard - close ticket: Closes the ticket permanently.

View Problems | Active

• Put on hold: Opens a form in which you can select the date on which the follow-up should automatically end. The ticket is moved to the follow-up queue. It automatically returns to the active process when either the follow-up date is reached or an email is received for the ticket. You can also manually remove the ticket from the follow-up queue at any time.
• Assign assets: Opens a form where you can select the assets assigned to the ticket.
• Create task: Opens a form for creating a new task. Tasks are used to track individual steps required to resolve the issue. They can be assigned to different agents. The task is automatically linked to the issue.
• Mark as known error: The issue is published in the list of known issues on the dashboard.
• Unmark as known error: The problem is removed from the list of known problems on the dashboard.
• Document workaround: Opens a form where you can enter the description of the workaround. You can decide whether all users and the linked incident tickets should be informed about the workaround
• Create change: Opens a form for creating a new change. Changes are used to initiate and track the changes required to resolve an issue. The change is automatically linked to the issue so that the issue can be automatically closed when the change is completed and the contact can be informed.
• Set to wait state for related change: Opens a form where you can decide whether the ticket should be automatically closed after the change has been resolved or simply reactivated. The issue can also be manually reactivated at any time.
• Email has been read: Removes the email overlay that appears when an email is received for the ticket.
• Problem solved, document solution: Opens a form for closing the ticket. Here you have the option to enter a description of the solution to the problem

Change management

A change is a modification that is necessary to resolve an incident or problem. Since changes can also be implemented independently of a specific incident or problem, they have contacts with whom communication can take place.

This process comprises four steps:

1. Creation and analysis of a change
   • Opening from an incident or problem ticket or manually
   • Definition of urgency, impact, and risk level
   • Acceptance and processing in different teams
2. Planning
   • Review of the initial analysis
   • Creation of an implementation plan
   • Creation of tasks
   • Request for approval
3. Approval
   • Automatic sending of emails to the defined approvers
   • Approval of the change by one or more of the approvers
   • Logging of approval or rejection
4. Implementation and review
   • Logging of implementation
   • Completion of individual tasks
   • Completion and review
   • Automatic notification of tickets awaiting the change
   • Automatic notification of tickets awaiting the change

Activities in the change process

All Views

• Put change on hold: Opens a form in which you can select the date on which the resubmission should automatically end. You can also remove the assigned agent. The ticket is moved to the resubmission and automatically returns to the active process when either the resubmission date is reached or an email has been received for the ticket. You can also manually retrieve the ticket from the resubmission at any time.
• Create task: Opens a form for creating a new task. Tasks are used to track individual steps required to process the change. They can be assigned to different agents. The task is automatically linked to the change.
• Discard change: Closes the ticket permanently.
• Email has been read: Removes the email overlay that appears when an email has been received for the ticket.

View Dispatch

• Accept change: Opens a form in which the basic data of the change can be modified. Sets the current processor as the assigned processor for the change.

View Changes | Active

• Edit implementation plan: Opens a form where you can change the basic data of the change. You can also set the start and end dates for change processing. In the table, you can define the tasks to be completed. These tasks are automatically created as task tickets and linked to the change. They can be viewed in the detailed data and in the area for related tickets.
• Start implementation: Skips the approval request for pre-approved changes.
• Request approval: Opens a form where you can select the approvers for the change. All agents with the respective role are available for selection. You can decide whether it is sufficient for one of the selected approvers to approve the change or whether all selected approvers must approve the change. In both cases, the change is considered rejected if one of the approvers rejects it.
• Implementation completed: Completes the implementation of the change. When the change is completed, the system does not check whether all tasks related to the change have been completed. The processor must check the completion of the tasks in the detailed data beforehand.
• Change implementation successful: Closes the change if it has been successfully implemented.
• Change implementation unsuccessful: Closes the change if it has not been successfully implemented.

View Changes | Approval

• Approve change: Approves the change. A green icon is displayed under Approval Status in the detailed data.
• Reject change: Rejects the change. A red icon is displayed under Approval Status in the detailed data.