Managing clusters

The Proactive problem management dashboard in BMC Helix ITSM Insights displays recurrent incidents as clusters. The dashboard displays these clusters as a heat map and in a list view. 

As the problem coordinator, you can drill down into a cluster to view incidents. You can then create problem investigations from a cluster. You can also save a set of filters as a custom preset. 

Before you begin

Make sure that the BMC Helix ITSM administrator has provided required permissions to work with incidents and problem investigations.

To view details of a cluster

To view the cluster details, click a cluster in the heat map or the list view. Alternatively, on the Heat Map tab, on a cluster, click the  icon and then click View details.

The drill-down view displays the cluster details. You can view the following details in the drill-down view:

• Number of incidents
• Trend
• Total effort
• Total time to resolution
• Average Priority

The drill-down view shows a line chart that shows the incident trend, that is percentage increase or decrease in the number of incidents. Also, the drill-down view shows a bar chart that shows categorical field and the number of incidents..

The drill-down view also displays a table of incidents that are present in the cluster. You can filter the incidents, sort the table columns, and configure the table columns in this view.

To create a problem investigation

After you analyze clusters, you can create problem investigations from these clusters to understand the root cause.

1. Use one of the methods to create a problem investigation:
   • On the Heat Map tab, on a cluster, click the  icon and then click Create problem investigation.
   • On the List View tab, select a cluster and click Relate to Problem > Create problem. 
   • Drill down into a cluster, select incidents, and then click Relate to Problem > Create problem.
2. The following fields in the problem investigation ticket in Smart IT are pre-filled with information from BMC Helix ITSM Insights: 
   • Summary: This field contains the cluster name from which the problem is being created.
     Example: Created from cluster - host-window-utilization
   • Impact: The value in this field is derived from the average impact of incidents within the selected cluster.
   • Urgency: The value in this field is derived from the average urgency of incidents within the selected cluster.
   • Priority: The value in this field is derived from the average priority of incidents within the selected cluster.
   • Company, Region, Site Group, and Site fields: Based on the logged in problem manager's settings, these fields are populated. 
   • Coordinator and Coordinator group: If the logged in user has the Problem Coordinator functional role, the Coordinator and Coordinator group fields display the logged in user and the associated support group.
   • Related Items: All incidents associated with the selected cluster in the heat map or the list view, or selected incidents from the drill down view are related to the new problem with relationship type as Investigates.
3. Make any changes to the ticket, if needed, and then click Save Ticket.

The problem investigation is created in Smart IT and it goes through the problem management lifecycle.

To relate the incidents of a cluster to existing problem investigations

Get insights about problem investigations that are related to incidents in a cluster. You can also relate incidents to existing problem investigations.

Use the heat map or the list view to see the number of existing problem investigations related to each cluster. Drill down into a cluster to see the related problem investigations to each incident in the cluster.

You can relate one incident to multiple problem investigations and vise versa. 

1. Use one of the methods to relate incidents to an existing problem investigation:
   • On the Heat Map tab, on a cluster, click the  icon and then Relate to existing problem.
   • On the List View tab, select a cluster and click Relate to Problem >Relate to existing problem. 
   • Drill down into a cluster, select incidents, and then click Relate to Problem >Relate to existing problem.
   The Relate to existing problem option is displayed only if there are one or more problems available to relate. 
   When you relate a cluster from the heat map or the list view to a problem investigation, all incidents in the cluster are related to the problem investigation.
   The Relate to existing problem window displays a list of problem investigations created from BMC Helix ITSM Insights and are related to one or more incidents in the cluster. 
   
2. Select one or more problem investigations and click Continue.
    
3. Review the list of incidents and problem investigations that you want to relate, and click Save.

To save a set of filters as presets

You can create a preset, which is a predefined set of filters. You can also customize the heat map attributes and list view column switches. When you select a preset from the list of saved presets, the filters and attributes are applied to the dashboard.

1. To create a preset for the first time, click Create preset.
2. In the Save as preset dialog box, enter a preset name. 
   
3. Apply the filters.
4. You can also specify the parameters for size and colors in the heat map, and the columns in the list view.
5. Click Save.
   The new preset is saved and shown in the list of presets. 

After you create a preset, you can perform the following actions:

• To set a preset as the default, click Set as default.
• To edit a custom preset, click the pencil icon beside the preset name. 
• To delete a preset, click the garbage can icon beside a preset name.