Creating service or operational level targets

The following topics provide information about creating service or operational level targets.

• • Overview of creating targets
  • To create a service or operational level target
  • Add Advance Rule Logic
  • Sample Scenario
  • Creating milestones and email templates for SLT or OLT
  • Related topics
  • 
    

Overview of creating targets

A service level or operational level target is a set of criteria that helps you define targets to be achieved for an agreement. To define the target criteria, you can configure the following:

• Qualification – You can configure conditions that must be met to apply the target.
   For example, a service or operational level target must be applied to an incident, service request, task, problem, or change request when the category is Applications.
• Measurement – You can configure conditions for starting, stopping, or pausing the clock to measure the target time.
   For example, the clock must start running when the Status is Assigned; the clock must stop running when the Status is Closed; and the clock must pause when the Status is Waiting for.
• Milestones and Actions – You can set up milestones based on clock conditions and then define the action that must occur when a milestone is achieved.

For example, when the percentage of time remaining on an incident is 50%, an email notification must be sent to the specified recipients.

The following table lists target types that are available for objects on which you can define service or operational level targets:

To create a service or operational level target

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
2. On the Home page, click the Manage Workflows and Other Processes tile, and from the menu select Agreements.
    Alternatively, you can also navigate to Remedyforce Workspaces > Service Level Management > Agreements.
3. In the agreements list view, use one of the following options to select the agreement in which you want to define a service target:
   • Select a field from the Group By list, navigate to the required group, and select the required agreement.
   • Type a search string in the Search field, click Search, and select the required agreement from the search results.
   • Scroll through the list of agreements and select the required agreement.
4. On the agreement form, click the Service Targets or Operational Targets tab for an SLA or OLA respectively. 
    All the targets defined for the SLA or OLA  agreement type are displayed.
5. To add a new target, click .
    The Target window is displayed.
6. In the Agreement Title text box, type the name of the target.
7. From the Applies To list, select the object for which you want to create a service target.
    The options in the Target Type list are displayed based on the option selected in the Applies To list.

8. From the Target Type list, select the required target type.

   Notes

   • The Stop Clock When section does not appear in the Measurement tab of a target when you select Response Time as the Target Type. You cannot configure Stop Clock conditions if you select Response Time as the Target Type.
   • If a service or operational level target is complete, it can be reapplied only when the target satisfies the Open Clock status.
9. From the Support Hours list, select the business hours that you want to set for the target.
    To configure support hours that suit your requirement, navigate to Setup > Company Profile > Business Hours. For more information, see Salesforce Help.

10. In the Target field, specify the time by which the service or operational level target must be completed. Perform one of the following actions:

    • Enter time in days, hours, and minutes in the respective text boxes.
    • Enter the number of business days in the Business Days field.
      When you click the up and down arrows in the Business Days field, the value changes by .25. For example, you create a service or operational level target with a target of two days in the Business Days field and the business hours are 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. (Monday - Friday). If the agreement is applied to an incident created at 10:00 A.M., Monday, 02/07/2012, the Due Date becomes 10:00 A.M., Wednesday, 04/07/2012.
      
      If the applicable record is created outside of the working hours for current day or on a non-working day, the target duration is calculated by adding the work hours corresponding to specified business days starting from the next working day. For example, you have created a service or operational level target with a target of two days in the Business Days field and the business hours are 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. (Monday - Friday). If the agreement is applied to an incident created at 08:00 P.M., Monday, 02/07/2012, the Due Date becomes 06:00 P.M. Wednesday, 04/07/2012. 

    The time that you specify is displayed in the Target Preview field. The time also appears in the Target column in the Targets List view. For example, if you specify the Target as two days and four hours, the Target Preview field displays 02 Day(s) 04:00 (HH:MM). If you specify Target as two and a half business days, the Target Preview field displays 02.5 Business Day(s).

    Note

    If you have created the agreement without selecting a service and account or you have not selected a service, but selected all accounts (by selecting the Agreement applies to all accounts option), ensure that you set up at least one condition for the service target in the Qualification tab. Agreements without service are applied to the records meeting target criteria and those records might contain a service. If a service is selected for the record, the service must not be used in other agreements.

     

11. (For incidents and service requests only) To apply the support hours of the client’s account to the service target, select the Override the service target support hours with the client's account support hours check box.

    Notes

    The service target support hours are overridden by client's account under the following conditions:

    -  If the client used in the record is linked to an account and support hours are configured for that account.

    -  If a client has a linked account which is populated on the record, and you change the account in the record, the support hours of the client's linked account are considered and not the support hours of the account that is changed in the record.

    - This setting is applicable only on the newly created records, not on the records created before upgrading from a version earlier than 20.15.01.

12. To set up the conditions to meet the service or operational level target, click the Qualification tab and perform the following actions:

Add Advance Rule Logic

To add advance rule logic:

1. Click Add Advance Rule Logic link on the Qualifications tab.
   Once you click Add Advance Rule Logic, the logical operator column and the selection picklist field disappears.

2. Add the required rule for the conditions in the box.
   All the conditions are joined by AND operator by default. For example; (1 or 2) AND (3 AND 4) OR (5 AND 6).

   Note

   The total number of rules can be less or equal to the conditions added. If the applied rules are less than the conditions, a warning message will be displayed.

3. If you want to clear the applied rules, click Clear Add Advance Rule Logic.

   Note

   When you click Clear Add Advance Rule Logic, the logical operator column and the selection picklist field are displayed. Also, the default grouping operator AND will be set for all the conditions, except for the last condition, will be set as NONE.

Sample Scenario

Consider the following scenario to understand the working of targets.

If the user wants incidents to be resolved in 8 hours for the following criteria:

• Category = Hardware and Priority = 1
• Category = Applications and Priority = 2
• Category = Email and Priority = 3

Using traditional method, user had to create three different service targets, which had same resolution time as 8 hours.

With Add Advanced Rule Logic, for all the criteria, the user will create only one service target.

Creating milestones and email templates for SLT or OLT

The following topics provide information about milestones and email templates:

• To set up milestones for service or operational level targets
• To create an email template for agreement milestones
• To customize email template for agreement milestones

To set up milestones for service or operational level targets

You can set up milestones for a target that you have created and define the actions to be performed when a milestone is achieved.

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
2. On the Home page, click the Manage Workflows and Other Processes tile, and from the menu select Agreements.
   Alternatively, you can also navigate to Remedyforce Workspaces > Service Level Management > Agreements.

3. In the Service Level Management list view, use one of the following options to select the agreement in which you want to edit a service target:

   1. From the Group By list, select a field, navigate to the required group, and select the required agreement.
   2. Type a search string in the Search field, click Search, and select the required agreement from the search results.
   3. Scroll through the list of agreements, and select the required agreement.

   The agreement is opened in a new tab.

4. Click the Service Target or Operational Target tab based on SLA or OLA respectively.
5. From the list of existing service targets, click the target for which you want to add milestones.
6. Click .
7. In the Milestone section, from the When list, select the condition at which you want to set the milestone.
   For example, you can select Percentage of Time Elapsed from the When list and enter 50%.
   
   Based on the option that you select in the When list, options to capture more inputs, if required, are displayed. For example, if you select Time elapsed, text boxes to accept input in days, hours, and minutes are displayed. However, if you select Service Target is Met, no other option to accept input is displayed.
   
   If you select the Service Target Warning Occurs option, ensure that target warnings are set up on the Remedyforce Administration > Application Settings > Service Target Warnings page.
   
   If you create a Time Remaining or a Time Elapsed milestone and the duration for the milestone is specified in the Days, Hours, and Minutes fields, the duration for milestone is calculated by adding 24 hours.
   
   If you are using the Business Days field to define the time by which the target must be completed, we recommend that you use the Percentage of Time Elapsed or Percentage of Time Remaining type of milestones. If you create the Time Remaining or Time Elapsed milestones for targets where the duration is specified in the Business Days field of the Service Targets or Operational Targets tab, you must ensure that you set a valid duration for the milestone.
   
   For example, you create a service or operational target with a target of 2 Business Days and the business hours are 9.00 A.M. to 6.00 P.M. (Monday- Friday). If the agreement is applied to an incident created at 10:00 A.M., Monday, 02/07/2012, the Due Date becomes 10:00 A.M., Wednesday, 04/07/2012.
   
   For this target, if you create a Time Elapsed milestone and set the duration as 1 Day, the milestone is processed at 4:00 P.M. 04/07/2012, which is after the Due Date has occurred. This milestone is not valid. If you create a Time Elapsed milestone and set the duration as 10 Hours, the milestone is processed at 11:00 A.M. 03/07/2012, which is before the Due Date has occurred. Now, this milestone is valid.

8. In the Actions section, from the Email list, select the template that you want to send when the milestone is met.
   There are out-of-the-box email templates provided to you. However, if you want to create email templates that suit your business requirements, create a custom email template. For more information, see Creating an email template for agreement milestones.
   
   In the out-of-the-box email templates, dates are displayed in the M/d/yyyy h:mm format. However, you can customize it.

   Note

   The date and time in the email templates is displayed only in GMT.

9. In the To field, enter the email addresses of the users to whom you want to send email notification when the milestone is met.
   You can click  to search and select email addresses. When you click , the Select Email Recipients window is displayed and you can select either from the list of involved users or all users. 
   
   From the list of involved users, if you select the owner of a record, such as the Incident.Owner ID user role, and you have configured new records to be assigned to a queue, email notifications are sent to the queue email address, all queue members individually, or both based on the email notification settings (Queue Email and Send Email to Members fields) defined for the queue. For more information about the email notification settings for a queue, see https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewHelpDoc?id=setting_up_queues.htm&language=en_US.
   You can enter a maximum of 1500 characters only in the To field.

   Note

   At least one email address in the To field must belong to BMC Remedyforce staff or client.

   The email address that is used in the From field of the email notification can be specified on the General Application Settings page (Application Settings > General Application Settings ) in the From email address field. If you have not specified an email address in the From email address field, the email address of the user who started the milestone processor (referred to as Context User) by clicking the Start Milestone Processor button is used. If you have selected an unverified email address in the list, email notifications are not delivered. You can refer to the SLA Milestone <Incident or Change> History report to see the status of email notification and error description.

10. (Optional) In the Select Email Recipients window, select the email address and click To.
11. (Optional) In the Cc field, enter the email addresses of the users whom you want to send an informational email notification.
    You can click  to search and select email addresses. When you click , the Select Email Recipients window is displayed and you can select either from the list of involved users or all users.
    
    You can enter a maximum of 1500 characters only in the Cc field.
12. (Optional) In the Select Email Recipients window, select the email address and click Cc.
13. Click Add.
    The action that you have created is displayed in the right section. You can select the action and click Remove to delete the action. To update the action, select it and click Update.
14. Click Save and close the Milestones and Actions window.
    When you click Save, all the milestones and corresponding actions are displayed in the Milestones and Actions tab.

To create an email template for agreement milestones

You can only use Visualforce email templates in the Milestones and Actions tab.

To create an email template for agreement milestones:

1. Click the Remedyforce Administration tab.
2. On the Home page, click the Configure Email tile, and from the menu select Email Templates.
3. Click New Template.
4. In the Step 1. Email Template: New Template page, select Visualforce, and click Next.
5. In the Email Template Information section, from the Folder list, select the folder for your template.
6. Select the Available For Use check box to enable users to use the template when sending emails.
7. In the Email Template Name field, enter the name of the template.
8. In the Visualforce Template Attributes section, in the Email Subject field, enter the subject of the email template.
9. From the Recipient Type list, select User.

10. Select one of the following options from the Related To Type list:
11. Click Save.

To customize email template for agreement milestones

BMC Remedyforce provides out-of-the-box email templates that you can use to send emails when a milestone is met. However, you can customize these email templates to include information that is specific to your organization. The following table provides a list of the out-of-the-box templates and the milestone for which these templates must be used:

We recommend that you clone and then edit the out-of-the-box email templates. 

The out-of-the-box email templates are available in your organization at Remedyforce Administration > Configure Email > Email Templates. 

You can customize the fields that are used in the templates to display the information of your requirement in the email. You can include the fields that are available for the object for which you created the email template. You select the object in the Related to Type field while creating an email template. 

For example, if you created an email template for the BMCServiceDesk__SLA_Milestone_Incident_Transactions__c object, you can use fields available for the object, such as Execution_Time__c, To__c. You must use the API Names to obtain the values of these fields in the email templates. 

To see a list of fields available for an object, navigate to Setup > Create > Objects. From the displayed list of objects, select the required object. The list of fields that you can use in an email template is displayed in the Custom Fields & Relationships section. 

You can also refer to all the fields of a related object for which there exists a lookup or Master Detail data type field in your object (for which you have created the email template). 

To refer to a field that belongs to the related object, use the following syntax:

For example, if you created an email template for the BMCServiceDesk__SLA_Milestone_Incident_Transactions_c object, you can refer to all the fields of the related object using the lookup or Master Detail data type fields, such as BMCServiceDesk__FKSLA__c to fetch the field values of the related agreement. 

To fetch the value of the Agreement Title of the related agreement, use the following syntax in your email template:

Related topics

Creating service level and operational level agreements

Enabling-concurrent-Operational-Targets-on-a-record-during-queue-change

Copying, editing, and deleting service or operational level targets