Relating problem investigations to other record types

By defining and maintaining relationships among records, you can create a more sophisticated overview of the connections and interdependencies among the problem investigation and additional service issues your system is tracking.

Relationship types

A problem investigation can be related to any of the following record types:

• Configuration item (CI)
• Incident request
• Known error
• Another problem investigation

Additionally, if your environment runs BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management and BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management, a problem investigation can also be related to the following record types:

• Configuration item (CI) unavailability
• Infrastructure change

A known error can be related to any of the following record types:

• CI
• Incident request
• Another known error
• Problem investigation

If you have BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management, a known error can also be related to infrastructure change or a release record.

To define relationships

Work info records are tied to the record on which they are created. This means that when you create a relationship among records, you can view a work info record only from the record where it was originally created.

1. Open the problem investigation record.

2. In the Quick Actions area, click the arrow beside Create Relationship to.

3. From the menu, select the type of record you want to relate the current record to.

   If BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management is installed in your environment, continue with this procedure. Otherwise, go to step 5 and complete that step.

4. In the Search field of the dialog box that opens, type a search string.

   For example, if you are creating a relationship to a problem investigation about a printer that regularly goes off-line, you might type printer off line.
   The search scans multiple fields in each record looking for a match, and returns a list of records that contain the phrase printer off line in one of the scanned fields. The type of search dialog box that appears depends on the type of record you chose from the menu. Try to supply as much information as possible in each type of search to reduce the overall number of records returned by the search. If, after using a more specific search string, the search returns too many records, click Use Advanced Search, which opens a form in search mode that is relevant to the type of relationship you are making.

5. From the search results table, select the specific record to which you want to create the relationship.
6. From the Relationship Type list at the bottom of the search dialog box, select the type of relationship you want to create.

7. Create the relationship by clicking the appropriate relationship type button at the bottom of the dialog box.
   The specific text on the relate button depends on the type of relationship you are creating. For example, if you are creating a relationship with another problem investigation record, the button reads Relate. If you are creating a relationship with a known error, there are two relate buttons: Relate With Solution and Relate Without Solution.

8. Click Close to dismiss the dialog box.

To copy relationships

When you define a relationship between the current record and another record, the other record might already have one or more records related to it. To more thoroughly document all the record relationships, you can relate the other record's related records to the current record. For example, you want to create a relationship between Problem Investigation Record A and CI B. Unknown to you, CI B already has a relationship with Problem Investigation Record C. By using the procedure below, you discover this relationship and decide to make a relationship between Problem Investigation Record A and Problem Investigation Record C. To view the other record's other relationships and relate them to the current incident request record, use this procedure. You cannot use this procedure to copy related CIs.

1. Open the problem investigation record.
2. Click the Relationships tab.
3. From the Relationships table, select the record with the other relationships that you want to copy.
4. From the Quick Actions list on the Relationships tab, select Get Related Relationships, and click Execute. 
   The Copy Related Relationships displays a table of all other records related to the record you selected.

5. From the table of related records, select the other record that you want to relate to the current record.
   To see the details of the other record, select it, and click View. A form appears with detailed information about the selected record. Use this feature to help you determine whether you want to relate the other record to the current record.

6. Click inside the Relationship Type field.

   The contents of the Relationship Type list depends on the type of record you are trying to create the relationship with.

7. Select the type of relationship you want to create, and then click Select.
8. Click OK.
   The newly created relationship appears in the Relationships table.

To modify a relationship

1. Open the problem investigation record.
2. Click the Relationships tab.
3. From the Relationships table, select the relationship you want to modify.
4. From the Quick Actions list, select Modify Relationship Type, and click Execute.
5. Enter the new relationship details according to the onscreen instructions.
6. Click Save.
   You cannot modify the Original of or Duplicate of relationship types.

To indicate an impacted area 

1. Open the problem investigation record.
2. In the Navigation pane, select Functions > Impacted Areas.
3. From the Impacted Areas dialog box, select items from the lists to describe the impacted area appropriate for the problem you are working on, such as Company, Region, and so on.

4. Click Add.
   You can add as many impacted areas as necessary. You can also delete areas that you have previously chosen in this dialog box.

To perform a quick action

1. Open the problem investigation record.
2. Click the Relationships tab.
3. From the Relationships table, select the relationship entry for which you want to perform the action.

4. From the Quick Actions list, select the action you want to perform, such as Get Impacted Areas.
   The following table lists available quick actions for any related item: 
   Effects of general relationship actions

   Relationship action	Effect
   Get Related Relationships	Copies the relationships of the selected record to the current record's relationships
   Modify Relationship Type	Prompts you to modify the relationship type, as described in To modify a relationship above

   More quick actions are available when you select a related configuration item, as indicated in the following table:

   Relationship action	Effect
   BMC CMDB Explorer (see Searching and viewing CIs and relationships in CMDB Explorer )	Opens a graphical relationship viewer that shows a selected CI's relationship with other records
   Create New CI Unavailability	If BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management is installed, creates CI unavailability for the selected CI
   Get CI Impact/Urgency	Copies the impact and urgency of the selected CI
   Get CI Product Categorization	Copies the product categorization from the selected CI to the classification of the current record
   Get CI Resolution Product Cat.	Copies the product categorization from the selected CI to the resolution of the current record
   Get Impacted Areas	If BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management is installed, prompts you to select impacted areas, as defined in the selected CI, into the current record's impacted areas

5. Click Execute.

To remove a relationship

1. Open the problem investigation record.
2. Click the Relationships tab.
3. In the Relationships table, select the relationship you want to remove.
4. Click Remove.
5. Click Yes when prompted to confirm the removal.

Relating a knowledge article to a BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk record

You can create a relationship between a knowledge article and a problem or known error record. When you search for a knowledge article by clicking Search Knowledge Base while viewing a problem or known error, if you click Relate in the knowledge article, a Related to relationship is created with the problem or known error.

Certain field values are copied from a knowledge article to a problem investigation record when you created a Resolved by type of relationship between them. For more information, see  Creating an article in the Knowledge Management Console