Navigating consoles, forms, and modules

In most cases, when you open consoles, forms, and modules from the IT Home page, they open inside the IT Home page view. Similarly, if you open a form from a console, the form replaces the console in the view.

If you open a related record from a form, the related record opens in the view that was occupied by the form. For example, if you are working with a problem investigation (the "parent" record) and from the parent record you open a related incident request, the incident request replaces the parent record in the view. If you then open a change request from the incident request, the change request replaces the incident request in the view, and so on. To help you keep track of the records you are viewing and to help with navigation, there is a breadcrumb bar across the top of the view field.

How do the breadcrumb navigation buttons and bar work?

The breadcrumb bar contains links to the records that you opened from the parent record. When you open a record, the breadcrumb trail expands along the breadcrumb bar to the right, with the new link. If there are more than six links in the breadcrumb trail, arrows appear at one or both ends of the bar that let you scroll back and forward on the bar to see links not currently in the view.

The first link in the breadcrumb trail indicates the place from which you started. It can be a console or a form. For example, if you open a change request record directly from the IT Home page, the first link in the breadcrumb trail takes you to the change request.

The last link corresponds to the record currently in the view. If you open a link to the left of the record currently in view, the system truncates the breadcrumb trail to that link. The history is retained, however, so you can use the back and forward arrows in the navigation controls to move through the bar one record at a time. There is also a history of your most recently viewed records, which you can use to move directly to a record. Click the down arrow to open the history list.

If you are viewing a record from the middle of the breadcrumb trail and then branch off to another parent-type record, the system removes the forward breadcrumb trail from the point where you branched off and starts a new history from there, using the new parent-type record as the starting point. For example: You open a problem investigation, then open a related incident request, and from the incident request you open a related change request. If you go back to the incident request record and then open a second problem investigation, the breadcrumb bar no longer contains a link to the change request. The breadcrumb trail now shows the original problem investigation, the incident request, and the second problem investigation. It then shows any related records that you subsequently open from the second problem investigation.

When you close the parent record, the system removes the breadcrumb history. 

What happens to data as I move back and forth on the breadcrumb trail?

If you are entering information into a record and open another record from the breadcrumb trail, the system prompts you to save the work, if you have not done so. If you do not save the information, the system does not preserve it on the record and you must re-enter it later.

If someone updates a record on your breadcrumb trail that is not currently in the view, those changes are visible to you when you open the record again.

How does the breadcrumb trail behave with forms in Search mode?

If you run a search from a form that is in Search mode, the last entry in the breadcrumb trail is the name of the form.

When you open a record from the search results table, that record does not appear in the breadcrumb trail. However, if you drill down through that record to open other related records, those related records will appear in the breadcrumb trail.

To return to the originating record, use the history list.

To return to the results table, click the name of the form in the breadcrumb trail.

Can I force a second window to open?

If you press the Shift key and then double-click a record entry in any table, the record opens in a second window. Also, if you hold the Shift key and click a link, button, and so on, the form or dialog box associated with the link or button opens in another window.

If you are working in a new record that has not yet been saved and open a new child type record (task, activity, CI, and so on), the system will open a new window automatically to accommodate the new child record. This prevents the information in the new, unsaved parent record from being lost.

Which consoles, forms, and modules open in a new window?

Not all of the consoles, forms, and modules open in the IT Home page's view. The consoles, forms, and modules in the following list open in a new window. If you open one of these from the IT Home page, any unsaved changes to the IT Home page are lost.

• AR System Administration 
• Administration Console
• Service Level Management 
• Analytics 
• Service Management Process Model