Problem Management interface

The following consoles provide access to all or a part of Problem Management:

Problem Management console
Overview console

The Problem Management console is the main console for the application. It provides problem coordinators and specialists with a single point from which they can create known error entries. It also provides a place from which they can monitor the progress of problem investigations as the investigation moves through its lifecycle, and record work that was performed during the investigation.

Using the Overview console, specialists can view problem investigations that were assigned to them through the Problem Management application. The specialist role is fulfilled by all IT employees and long-term contractors, except Service Desk Analysts and IT Operators. Specialists can also view work that was assigned to them through the other BMC Helix ITSM applications with which Problem Management integrates:

BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk: Incident Management
BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management
BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management

The following table describes the functional areas of the Problem Management console.

Problem Management console functional areas

Functional area	Purpose
Problem Management console header
Plus sign	Adds a new record.
Magnifying glass	Opens the Search feature.
Breadcrumb bar	A navigation aid that contains links to related records that you opened from the current problem investigation. For more information about the Breadcrumb bar, see Accessing BMC Helix ITSM application console in the BMC Helix ITSM documentation.
Breadcrumb navigation controls	Back button takes you back one link in the breadcrumb trail. Forward button takes you forward one link in the breadcrumb trail. The Forward button is visible only if you have returned to a record on the breadcrumb trail that you previously viewed. Drop-down menu contains links to all the records that you viewed from the current problem investigation, including records that are not currently visible in breadcrumb trail. Home icon takes you to the IT Home page.
Refresh	Updates the data in the tables.
Search	If you have BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management installed, the Global search feature lets you search across multiple forms for records that match a key term. For more information about this feature, see Searching for records in the application consoles in the BMC Helix ITSMdocumentation.
Show Filter By By Role More filters	The Show, Filter By, and By Role fields combine to control which problem investigation records appear in the Problem table. Show—Select the basic criteria by which you want to filter the contents of the Problem table. Options include: Submitted by me—All problem investigations created by you. All—All problem investigations, regardless of who created them. Assigned to me—All problem investigations assigned to you. Assigned to my group—All problem investigations assigned to a specific support group of which you are a member. If you select this option, you are prompted to select the support group. Assigned to all my groups—All problem investigations assigned to all of the support groups of which you are a member. Filter By—Places further conditions on the basic criteria that you chose in the Show and By Role fields. This helps you manage the number of records returned by the search. For example, if you select Assigned To All My Groups in the Show field, Problem Coordinator in the Role field, and All Open > Critical Priorities in the Filter By field, the Problems table contains open problem investigations assigned to your groups for which you are the problem coordinator and that have a critical priority. The magnifying glass icon opens the Manage My Searches dialog box from which you can edit, save, and delete custom searches. Saved custom searches appear in the My Searches list under the Filter By field. For more information about Manage My Searches, see Searching for records in the application consoles in the BMC Helix ITSM documentation. By Role—From this field, select a Problem Management assignment role: Assignee, Problem Coordinator, or All (meaning Assignee, or Problem Coordinator, or both). The Role selection combines with the Show selection to limit the records presented in the Problem table. For example, if you select Assigned To All My Groups from the Show field and Problem Coordinator from the Role field, all records assigned to the groups that you belong to, for which the group is the assigned problem coordinator, appear in the Problem table. You can configure a default Role field selection using Application Preferences. The By Role field is unavailable when you select one or more of the following conditions: All or Submitted By Me from the Show menu All Types from the Filter By menu More Filters—If you still have a large number of records after using the Show, Role, and Filter By fields, click More Filters to open a dialog box that contains fields in which you can indicate even more precise information, such as product or operational categories. For example, you can add the product category Hardware to the filter. The funnel icon beside the More Filters link is active when a filter from this area is used.
Navigation pane
View Broadcast, or New Broadcast	Click this link to open the broadcast dialog box, from where you can view, create, modify, and delete broadcasts. When there are unread broadcast messages, this area displays a New Broadcast message along with the number of new messages. When there are new broadcast messages, the area also turns red. For more information about broadcasting messages, see Broadcasting messages to users. If you open the Problem Management console with no new broadcast messages, but the View Broadcast link is red, open the Application Preferences dialog box and make sure that a Console View preference has been selected. For information about how to view and select Console View preferences, see Selecting your application preferences.
Counts	This area shows the number of open, unassigned, and unacknowledged problem investigations and the number of open known errors according to the selection in the Show field. The count categories are: Open Problems —Refers to problem investigations that have a status of Under Review, Request for Authorization, Assigned, and Under Investigation. Unassigned Problems —Refers to problem investigations that are not assigned to an individual. Unacknowledged Problems —Refers to problem requests that have a status of Assigned or Pending. An investigation is no longer considered unacknowledged after you change its status to In Progress. Open Known Errors —Refers to known errors that have a status of Assigned, Scheduled for Correction, and Assigned to Vendor.
Functions	Use the links in this area to do the following actions: New Problem—Create a new problem investigation record. See Creating a problem investigation. Search Problem—Search the database for problem investigation records. See Searching for records in the application consoles in the BMC Helix ITSM documentation. New Known Error—Create new known errors. See Creating and reviewing known errors. Search Known Error—Search the database for known errors. See Searching for records in the application consoles in the BMC Helix ITSM documentation. My Profile—Set your profile. See Managing your profile. Application Preferences—Set your application preferences and application options. See Selecting your application preferences. Reminders—View and create reminders. See Creating reminders about incidents. Reports—Create and run custom reports. See Generating reports with BIRT from the BMC Helix ITSM documentation. Manage CIs—Search for information about specific CI types and access the CI records. See Managing configuration items. Manage Inventory—Access the Manage Inventory form of BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management. See Managing inventory. KPIs —Select and view the Problem Management KPI flashboards. The flashboards that appear represent (in graphical format): Process KPI—See Viewing KPI and ROI indicators in flashboards for information about how to use these flashboards. Total Open Problems—Click All Open or By Status and Priority.
Applications	Contains links to other BMC applications, consoles, and modules. The contents of this area depend on what other applications are installed. Click the double greater-than sign (>>) to open or close this panel.
Problems table	Displays high-level details about the records that match the criteria specified in the Company and Assigned To fields, or that were found by the most recently completed search.
Create	Opens a dialog box from which you can create a problem investigation and known error record.
Create for Company (Hub and Spoke environments only)	Opens a selection list from which you select the company you are creating the record for. You then select to create a problem investigation and known error record.
View	Opens the problem investigation and known error record selected in the Problems table.
Print	Prints the details of the problem investigation and known error record selected in the Problems table.
Process overview	Opens a high-level diagram of the problem management process.
Service Context	Opens the Service Context Summary view for the record selected in the console table. The Service Context button is available only when a business service CI is associated with the problem investigation. (The CI name appears in the Service column of the Problems table.) For more information about Service Context, see Viewing CI and service relationships in the Service Context .
Preferences	Opens a menu from which you can add or remove columns from the table, set the rate at which the application refreshes the table contents, and restore the default table preferences.
Details and Tasks	Details—When selected, contains detailed information about the record selected in the Problems table. To see Details when the Tasks table is showing, click Show Details. The Create, View, and Report icons relate to work information notes. For information about work information notes, see Creating Work Information entries. You can sort the table by clicking any of the column headings, except Notes. The table does not sort on the Notes column. Tasks—When selected, displays tasks associated with the record that is selected in the Problems table. To see Tasks when Details is showing, click Show Tasks.

Problem Management interface

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