Note

 

This documentation supports the 20.16.01 version of BMC Remedyforce.

To view the latest or an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Creating service targets, milestones, and email templates

The following topics provide information about creating service targets, milestones, and email templates:

Overview of creating service targets

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

  • Qualification – You can configure conditions that must be met to apply the service target.
    For example, a service 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 service 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.

Note

Users of profiles System administrators or Change Manager can create a service target for the Incident, Task, Problem, and Change Request object types.

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

Object

Target type

Incident

Resolution Time Response Time

Task

Resolution Time

Problem

Resolution Time

Change Request

Completion Time Initiation Time Response Time

Note

A service target and its criteria must be created or updated only by using BMC Remedyforce application. The service targets and the service target criteria conditions created through an external utility, such as data loader, are not supported.

To create a service 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 Target tab.
    All the service targets defined for the agreement are displayed.
  5. To add a new service target, click .
    The Service Target window is displayed.
  6. In the Service Target Title text box, type the name of the service 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.

    Note

    The Stop Clock When section does not appear in the Measurement tab of a service 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.

  9. From the Support Hours list, select the business hours that you want to set for the service 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 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 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 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 Service 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 service 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.

    Note

    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 target, click the Qualification tab and perform the following actions:
    1. From the Field list, select the field on which you want to set the condition.
      By default, all the fields available on the object that you have selected in the Applies To field are displayed in the list, except the Action field. If you have added custom fields on the selected object, all the custom fields are also available, except the custom fields with Multipicklist data type.
    2. From the Operator list, select the required operator.
      The options available in the Operator list are =, !=, LIKE, and NOT LIKE. However, the options available in the Operator list depend on the field that you select in the Field list.
    3. In the Value field, enter or select the value of the field.
    4. (Optional) If you want to set up multiple conditions, from the Logical Operator list, select the required logical operator (AND or OR ).
    5. Click .
      To modify a condition, select the condition and click . To delete a condition, select it and click .
    6. To add another condition, repeat step a to step e.
  13. To configure the clock to measure the time that you have set for the service target, click the Measurement tab and perform the following actions:
    1. From the Operator list, select the operator that you want to set for the condition.
      When you click the Measurement tab, the Start Clock When tab is displayed and a condition with default status of open state for the object, selected in the Applies to field is added by default. Also a condition with default status of Closed state for the object selected in the Applies to field is added in the Stop Clock When tab.

      Note

      You can measure the time spent on a service target based on the Status field only.

    2. From the Value list, select the value of status.
      The status of the object that you select in the Applies To field is displayed. For example, if you selected Incident in the Applies To field, the status defined for incident is displayed in the Value list.
      In the Start Clock When and Pause Clock When tabs, only statuses that are of Open state for the selected object are displayed.

      Note

      If a status of a state is used in one of the tabs, it is not available in the other two tabs for selection.

    3. (Optional) If you want to set up multiple conditions, from the Logical Operator list, select the logical operator and repeat step a to step c.
    4. To set up conditions to pause the clock, click the Pause Clock When tab and repeat repeat step a to step c.
      Whenever an incident, service request, task, problem, or change request clock is stopped, execution time for milestones that are already running for incidents, service requests, tasks, problems, or change requests is recalculated considering the time that is already spent on the service target, time for which the clock was stopped, and the remaining time of the service target.
    5. To set up conditions to stop the clock, click the Stop Clock When tab and repeat repeat step a to step c.
  14. Click Save.

    Note

    Only after you click Save, the Milestones and Actions tab is enabled.

  15. (Optional) To designate the current record as inactive, select the Inactive check box.
    You might need to make a record inactive because the record is no longer valid, but the record is retained in BMC Remedyforce.

    Records marked as inactive are not included in any search performed on the database.

To set up milestones for service targets

You can set up milestones for a service 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 tab.
  5. From the list of existing service targets, click the service 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 service 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 service target must be completed, BMC recommends 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 service targets where the duration is specified in the Business Days field of the Service Target tab, you must ensure that you set a valid duration for the milestone.

    For example, you create a service target with a target of 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 service 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.

Creating an email template for agreement milestones

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

Important

To use the email template that you creating, ensure that you select User in the Recipient Type list.

Additionally while creating the template, select one of the following options in the Relate To Type list:

BMCServiceDesk__SLA_Milestone_Incident_Transactions__c
BMCServiceDesk__SLA_Milestone_Task_Transactions__c
BMCServiceDesk__SLA_Milestone_Problem_Transactions__c
BMCServiceDesk__SLA_Milestone_Change_Transactions__c

Note: BMCServiceDesk is the namespace of the organization.

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:

    Option of the Related To Type list

    Description

    BMCServiceDesk__SLA
    _Milestone_Incident_Transactions
    __c

    To create an email template to be used for a service target applied on an incident or service request

    BMCServiceDesk__SLA
    _Milestone_Task_Transactions
    __c

    To create an email template to be used for a service target applied on a task

    BMCServiceDesk__SLA
    _Milestone_Problem_Transactions
    __c

    To create an email template to be used for a service target applied on a problem

    BMCServiceDesk__SLA
    _Milestone_Change_Transactions
    __c

    To create an email template to be used for a service target applied on a change request

  11. Click Save.

Customizing 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:

Associated milestone

Template name

Percentage of Time Elapsed

Incident Percentage of Time Elapsed
Service Request Percentage of Time Elapsed
Task Percentage of Time Elapsed
Problem Percentage of Time Elapsed
Change Percentage of Time Elapsed

Percentage of Time Remaining

Incident Percentage of Time Remaining
Service Request Percentage of Time Remaining
Task Percentage of Time Remaining
Problem Percentage of Time Remaining
Change Percentage of Time Remaining

Service Target is Canceled

Incident Service Target is Canceled
Service Request Service Target is Canceled
Task Service Target is Canceled
Problem Service Target is Canceled
Change Service Target is Canceled

Service Target is Met

Incident Service Target is Met
Service Request Service Target is Met
Task Service Target is Met
Problem Service Target is Met
Change Service Target is Met

Service Target is Missed

Incident Service Target is Missed
Service Request Service Target is Missed
Task Service Target is Missed
Problem Service Target is Missed
Change Service Target is Missed

Service Target Warning

Incident Service Target Warning
Service Request Service Target Warning
Task Service Target Warning
Problem Service Target Warning
Change Service Target Warning

Time Elapsed

Incident Time Elapsed
Service Request Time Elapsed
Task Time Elapsed
Problem Time Elapsed
Change Time Elapsed

Time Remaining

Incident Time remaining
Service Request Time remaining
Task Time Remaining
Problem Time remaining
Change Time Remaining
BMC recommends 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:

relatedto.<namespace of organization>__<Field Name of the 
lookup field>__r.<namespace of organization>_<API Name of the field of
the related object> 

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:

relatedto.BMCServiceDesk__FKSLA__r.BMCServiceDesk_AgreementTitle__c
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