Problem Management

This is an ITIL-compatible workspace template for Incident and Problem Management.

• Fields - Custom fields can be created to track the different requests and problems. These fields will help with quick data entry, and help sort and report on different areas and problem types.
  • Built-in Fields:
    • Title – Is used as a brief summary or description of request. If desired, this can be a drop-down list of acceptable request types.
    • Description – Is used for complete description of request or problem, updates, and resolution. Each addition to the description automatically contains a time, date and user stamp.
    • Assignees – The Assignee field automatically lists all agents. Refer to the section below on “Assignment” for more information.

    • Statuses – Request, Open, Closed, Need More Info, Await Approval, Pending, Internal FAQ.

      Warning

      Note

      "Request” status is a built-in status, but only appears when an employee customer submits a Request, prior to it being assigned to an Agent. Open and Closed statuses are also built-in, so only the other 4 need to be created.

  • Priorities
    • Maximum - Set to 5
    • Default - Set to 5
    • Words defined - Critical, High, Medium, Low, Planning
  • Workspace Fields – Up to 100 custom Workspace Fields can be created (no limit in SQL/Access versions) to record information about the problem. Contact information is tracked in the Address Book (see below). Here are some suggested fields.
    • Type (drop-down) - Problem, Known Error
    • Impact (drop-down) - High, Medium, Low
    • Urgency (drop-down) - High, Medium, Low
• Incident Information
  • Type of Incident (drop-down) - Failure, Service Request
  • SLA Due Date (date/time)
• CI Links - CI Links section for FootPrints Configuration Manager. FootPrints Configuration Manager is an add-on module.
  • Time Tracking - FootPrints can track the time spent by Agents working on Issues. This data can be used to create time tracking reports, which can be used for billing, or to track any time-related information, such as how long one or more users spend on certain kinds of Issues. 
    • Recommended configuration – Enabled, Mandatory, Automatic.
      With this configuration, FootPrints automatically tracks the time spent by Agents as they fill out and edit an Issue, for example, as the Agent is speaking on the phone with the user. In addition, the initial Agent (or second/third level Agent) can fill in their time spent on troubleshooting/fixing manually. An hourly billing rate should be specified for each Agent (see Users). In this way, time tracking data can be used for charge-backs to other departments, or to justify increased resources.
  • Address Book – The Address Book is a sub-database that contains all of the contact information for your user base. Each record in the Address Book is called a “Contact”.   Users who are reporting problems are referred to as “Contacts” or  “Employee Customers” in FootPrints. The Address Book can contain up to 100 fields (SQL/Access versions are unlimited) for employee data, including Name, Department, Phone number, Email address, etc.
    • Suggested Address Book Fields:
      • Department (drop-down) – Customer Service, R&D, Executive, Finance, Human Resources, IT, Marketing, Sales
      • Last Name (character field)
      • First Name (character field)
      • User ID (character field)
      • Email address (Email address)
      • Phone (character field)
      • Location (drop-down) – 1st Floor, 2nd Floor, 3rd Floor, 4th Floor, Downtown Office, Remote

      • Service Level (drop-down) – Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze.

        Warning

        Note

        The preceding field should be specified as “Internal”.

    • Address Book Data – Address Book data can be entered manually for each Contact, imported from a text file, or taken dynamically from and LDAP-compliant contact database. Please refer to the section on Address Book Administration for more information.
  • Assignment – Assignment can be handled manually, or the Auto Assign Feature can be used to assign one or more users to a new Issue based on, for example, the “Request Type” field.
  • Escalation – Escalation should be enabled and various rules defined to meet service levels, handle high-priority issues, and set up follow-up reminders. Some rules to consider:
    • One “Instant” escalation rule can be made for each Service Level.  The actions can include changing the priority, to an appropriate priority for that level, assignment, etc.  See the example in the topic on “Escalation”.
    • Escalation rules can be defined for certain high priority issues, such as network outages, etc. 
    • Rules can be made to handle Issues that have been open for a certain amount of time to send a reminder to the assignees that the Issue must be resolved, and/or to reassign them to someone else. 
    • A rule should be set to send an email to the assigned Agent based on the “Follow Up Date” field. The criteria should include:
      • Name:  Per-Issue Reminders
      • Escalation On/Off: Select “On”
      • Actions:  “Send mail to the Assignees” checked, select one or more email types
      • Time Unedited: 5 minutes
      • Criteria:
        • Status=Highlight ”Request”, “Open”, and any custom statuses to get reminders on active Issues, or “Closed” to get reminders on Closed Issues (OR highlight all statuses except for “Solution” to get reminders on any Status Issue)
        • For “Follow Up Date”, choose “equal to” and check the box for “Current Date” (do not fill in any dates).
  • Email – Outgoing email notification rules should be set to send mail to assignees and customers for all changes, or, if you would prefer, only for certain statuses. One or more Agents should also be defined to receive an email each time a new Request is submitted by a Customer. Incoming email can be configured to handle both incoming email submissions and email updates to existing Issues.
    • CCs – Other agents, developers, or other users can be copied on an Issue without actually being assigned. These people will receive email notification, and can optionally respond to the email with comments or suggestions, which will automatically be threaded to the Description of the Issue with a time, date and user stamp. 
  • Queues – Create 1 Saved Search for each “Request Type” (Hardware, Software, Network, etc).  For example, the Criteria for the Hardware Queue would include “Status”=Request, Open, and all other active statuses, “Request Type”=Hardware, Sorting “Date Submitted Ascending” (oldest at the top), Name “Hardware Queue”, Type “Shared”.  
  • Reports – The built-in Metric reports can be used by the Service Desk Manager to get important metrics like Open vs. Closed rates, number of Open Issues by assignee, etc. Custom report templates can be made to show details and stats for things like: All active Issues by assignee, All active Issues by Request Type, All active Issues by Department, Priority, etc. The Auto-run Reports feature can be used to automatically email one or more reports to the Managers every Monday morning, etc.
    • Cross-workspace Reports – The Administrator can create cross-workspace reports to return data from multiple workspaces, such as Service Desk, Development, and Issue Management.  All built-in fields, as well as any common custom fields found in the workspaces, can be included in the report. So, if the Address Book is shared between the aforementioned workspaces, a report can be generated on a particular contact that includes all activity for that user across all departments.
  • Asset Management – The BMC FootPrints Asset Core Add-on Module is highly recommended. All hardware, software, and network information for each PC will be automatically tracked. Other network devices, like servers, routers and printers can also be tracked. Asset information can be included as part of the history of an Issue.
  • Knowledge Base – The FootPrints Knowledge Base feature is very useful for the Internal Service Desk. Frequently Asked Questions, Solutions to common problems, and patches can be made into Solutions.  When a Customer Issue is resolved, it can also be made into a Solution. FAQ categories can be defined to group solutions by problem type, platform, software version, etc.   Both Agents and Customers can have access to Solutions and FAQ categories. Agents can use the Knowledge Base to solve current Issues, searching the FootPrints Knowledge Base by keyword, by FAQ category, and even searching popular online knowledge bases like Microsoft TechNet. 
  • Customer Self Service – The Customer Self Service option allows employee customers to submit and track their Service Desk requests, as well as search the Knowledge Base. Users can log into FootPrints using a common shared ID and password, their email address, or a unique ID and password. Unique Customer IDs and passwords can be linked to their network IDs and passwords (using NT, UNIX or LDAP password authentication and the Auto-Add Customer feature). Customer contact information can be dynamically populated via the Dynamic Address Book Link feature.  Customers can also submit Requests, receive notification, and respond to notification via email.
  • Users – Agent users can set their personal preferences to view a list of their own assignments on the FootPrints home page, as well as set their home page columns to display important information about those Issues on the home page, like “Request Type”, “Department”, “Platform”, etc.
    • Agents can use their network ID and password to log into FootPrints if NT, UNIX or LDAP password authentication is enabled.
    • See more information on Customer users under “Customer Self Service”.

  • File attachments – File attachments are useful for employee customers to provide screenshots of the problem they have having, and for Agents to provide patches, Word documents with step-by-step instructions, etc. Solutions in the Knowledge Base can contain file attachments, allowing easy distribution of patches, procedures, and other files. Incoming email submissions from customers that contain attachments will automatically include those attachments with the Issue that is created in FootPrints.

    Warning

    Note

    File Attachments in FootPrints are kept in the C:\FootPrints\html\tmp\Attachments directory on the FootPrints server. Anti-virus software can be pointed to that directory to ensure that attachments do not contain viruses.

  • Surveys—The Customer Survey feature can be used to gather information about the quality of service employee customers receive from the Service Desk and other IT departments. The survey, created by the Workspace Administrator, is sent automatically to the employee customer each time his or her Request is closed.
  • FootPrints Instant Talk—The Instant Talk feature can be used by the Internal Service Desk to allow customers to chat with available agents, quickening resolution of Issues. Instant Talk can also be used by agents to chat with each other when they are in different parts of the building, different sites, or on the telephone.
  • Remote Control—The Remote Control feature can be used by agents to take control of a user’s desktop to aid in solving a PC-related issue. The VNC Remote Control software can be optionally installed on all PC’s, or can be installed on an as-needed basis.
  • Copy/Move Issue feature—This feature can be used to assign Issues to users in other workspaces. For example, a Service Desk agent could assign an Issue in the Service Desk workspace to the development workspace.
  • Splash screen—The splash screen option can be used to communicate important information and alerts to agents and customers. Different screens can be defined for agents and customers.  Splash screens can include text, HTML, links to other sites or pages, graphics, etc. They can be updated at any time by the Workspace Administrator.