Creating and modifying ticket templates

Fields you can define in ticket templates

Typically, ticket templates have values predefined in the following key fields and sections:

• Title
• Description
• Template name
• Company
• Categorization details
• Assignment specification
• Template authoring group details
• Tasks 

After applying a template, the predefined values on the ticket profile can be changed by the service desk agent.

To create a template in Mid Tier

Templates that you access in BMC Helix ITSM are created in Mid Tier. As an administrator you can create templates for the following applications:

• Change Management
• Incident Management
• Task Management System
• Work Order (under Service Request Management)
• Release Management
• Activity System

You can use the following procedure to create templates for all applications. To create a template, do the following:

1. On the Mid Tier Home page, select Applications > Administrator Console > Application Administration Console.
2. In the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
3. Depending on the application for which you are creating the template, click on the application. For example, Incident Management.
4. Select Template > Template.
5. Click Open.
6. Specify values in the appropriate fields.
7. Set its status to Enabled and then save the template.

For additional information about how to create templates, see Configuring templates.

As an administrator, you can deploy templates that define default values for forms so that users can more easily create activity, change, incident, and release requests. Before you create templates, make sure you have the appropriate permissions.

To create an Incident Management template

1. In the Application Administration Console in Mid Tier, select the Custom Configuration tab and expand the Incident Management branch.
2. Select Template > Template, and click Open.
3. In the Incident Template Selection window, click Create.
4. In the Template Name field on the Incident Template form, type a brief descriptive name for the template.
5. Set the Status field.

6. Select or create the appropriate template categorizations for Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.
   To create a template categorization, type the category name in the Template Category field. When you save the template, the new category name is also saved and added to the field's selection list.

   Example

   To organize templates related to network incidents, you create a Tier 1 category called Network, a Tier 2 category called Outage, and a Tier 3 category called Router. You then create a template called Router Down. This template appears in the Incident Template Selection dialog box under Network > Outage > Router.

   Next, under the Tier 1 level (Network), you create a second Tier 2 category called Connectivity. Because you do not need a third tier to organize connectivity issues, you leave the Tier 3 category blank and create a template called PC Can't Connect to the Network. This template appears in the Incident Template Selection dialog box under Network > Connectivity.

7. Enter or modify the appropriate settings on the template tabs, as described in Configuring-Incident-Management-templates. 
8. Click Save.

To modify an Incident Management template

1. From the Application Administration Console in Mid Tier, click the Custom Configuration tab.
2. From the Application Settings list, select Incident Management > Template > Template, and click Open.
3. In the Incident Template Selection window, select the template, and click View.
4. Make the necessary modifications.

Template status

When you create a template, its Status field is automatically set to Enabled. While a template is in development, you can set its status to Proposed or Offline. When it is ready to deploy, set the status Enabled. Template status is always set by the person modifying the template and not by any system activity. The following table lists the available statuses:

To filter templates based on the support group

In BMC Helix ITSM, by default, the service agent or the change agent uses the template that is created for the company accessible to them. Though templates are filtered based on the company, incident and change request templates can also be filtered based on the support group. 

The following scenario would help you to understand this setting and its benefits:

Calbro Services has defined 25 incident templates. Out of the 25 templates, 5 templates belong to the support group of which the service agent is a member. If the templateSearchByAuthoringGroup property is set to false, the system displays a list of all 25 templates. If the templateSearchByAuthoringGroup property is set to true, the system displays a list of only 5 templates that belong to the support group. This helps the service agent to quickly search for the required template.

To relate filter incident templates based on the support group and to filter templates based on the support group for change requests, perform the following steps:

1. To relate filter incident templates based on the support group, in Mid Tier, select an incident template.
2. Click on the Authored for Groups tab.
3. From Authoring Company, select the required company.
4. From Authoring Organization, select the required organization.
5. From Authoring Group, select the required support group.
6. Click Update. The support group that has access to the template is saved.
7. (Optional) Restart BMC Helix ITSM to display suggested templates as per your support group.
   If you do not restart the application, the changes reflect when 30 minutes have elapsed from the time you saved the change.

The setting is applied at the tenant level and does not depend on the user's choice. For additional information about how to specify the setting, see Setting configuration parameters in BMC Helix ITSM.