Creating vendor companies and granting access

You can configure restricted access for operating and vendor companies that provide support for other companies.

• Assignment of tickets to an operating company providing support
• Assignment of tickets to a vendor company providing support
• The company providing support to create tickets for the customer company

Any operating company or vendor company can provide support for customers in any other company. Support staff at the company providing support can be assigned tickets, such as incident requests and change requests. The support company's staff can work on assigned tickets without being given access permission to the customer company or the contact company. As a result, the support company's staff can access only tickets that they have been assigned.

Setting restricted access for support companies

Optionally, you can grant the support company access to create tickets for a customer company.

This section follows the example of setting up the vendor company Vendorco to provide support for Calbro and ABC Corp. Both Calbro and ABC Corp purchase Microsoft products and support from Vendorco. Support staff at Calbro sometimes assign tickets, such as incidents and problem investigations, to Vendorco. Sometimes Vendorco must create a related incident or change request. Support staff at ABC Corp also assign incidents to Vendorco. However, ABC Corp policies do not allow Vendorco to create new incidents on behalf of ABC Corp customers.

To configure a vendor company

Support staff in the vendor company can access the vendor company's records, including tickets that are assigned to them, you must grant them access to the vendor company.

In addition, this access gives the support staff access to CIs that are supported by the vendor company, and also gives support staff access to processes that are set up for the vendor company, such as templates and scripts.

1. From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
2. From the Application Settings list, select Foundation> Organizational Structures> Companies and Organizations, and then click Open.
3. On the Company form in the Company field, type the company's name.
4. For the Type, select Vendor.

5. Click Save. This clears the vendor company details from the form.

6. In the user interface, above the Company form, click New Search.
7. On the Company form, in the Company field, type the company's name, then click Search.
8. From the search results list at the top of the page, select the company that you just created.
9. Finish configuring the vendor company by providing any other information on the Company form that your organization requires for the tracking of vendor companies.

To grant access to a vendor company

1. From the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
2. From the Application Settings list, select Foundation > People and click Open.
3. Search for and select the appropriate person.
4. Click the Login/Access Details tab.
5. In the Access Restrictions area, click Update Access Restrictions.
6. In the Access Restriction field, select the type of company and then the company for which you are granting access.
7. Click Add/Modify.
   
   
8. Select and add other companies for which you are granting access.
9. Click Close.
10. On the People form, click Add.

Configuring support company access to create tickets

Use this feature to set up one company as a support company for another company. This feature enables members of the support company to create tickets for customers in the other company. In the following example, consider Vendorco is a support company for Calbro. Support staff at Vendorco can create tickets for customers at Calbro. Vendorco support staff cannot, however, create tickets for customers in ABC Corp.

To configure support company access to create tickets

1. From the Custom Configuration tab of the Application Administration Console, select Foundation > People > Support Company Access Configuration, and then click Open.

   Tip

   If you are not sure whether the mapping exists, you can search for it. In the Company field, select the company that is being supported and click Search.

2. If the mapping you need does not exist, click Create.
3. In the Add Support Company dialog box, in the Company field, select the company being supported. 
   For example, select Calbro.
4. In the Support Company field, select the company that is providing support. 
   For example, select Vendorco.
5. Click Save.

6. To update permissions on current People records for the support company, select the same customer company from the list next to the Update button, and then click Update. 
   For example, select Calbro in the Company field, and then click Update.
   You must perform this step to activate these settings for current people records.

The People records are updated with the company access permissions. When you create new people for the support company, this company access permission is automatically created. For example, if you create William Wenda as a member of Vendorco, the support company access is set for William.