This documentation supports the 25.1 version of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk.To view an earlier version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Relating items to problem investigations and known errors

From the Related items tab, you can relate an existing ticket or asset to the current ticket, or create a new ticket and relate it to the current ticket. For example, you can create a work order from within the context of an incident, and important metadata (such as customer information) from the incident copied to the new work order. In addition, Created and Created by relationships are automatically established between the two tickets.

Related topic

Overview-of-ticket-creation

Creating-a-problem-investigation-and-known-error

Relating-items-to-incident-requests

To relate items to a ticket

  1. On the Related items tab for a problem investigation or known error, add a related item.
    If you want to relate a change request, select Infrastructure change.
  2. Specify the related item type, such as Work Order, Incident, or Outage.
  3. Specify search criteria and initiate the search.
    You must specify some search criteria, such as a company name, status value, or keyword. To search for all records, enter the % wildcard character.
  4. Select related items and specify the relationship type.
  5. Click Save.

All the related tickets are shown on the Related items tab. However, if you click a ticket to which you do not have access, an error is displayed.

To relate configuration items to a ticket

An asset is referred to as a configuration item (CI). Use the Configuration items tab to view related CIs or to add new ones.

  1. On the Configuration items tab, add a related configuration item.

  2. Specify search criteria and initiate the search.
    You can search multiple configuration items (CI) at the same time by entering comma-separated CI names in the search box.

    Important

    While searching for CIs, you must enter at least three characters in the search box to find matching results. There is no limit for the number of CIs that you can search using comma-separated CI names.

  3. Select related CIs and specify the relationship type.
    Based on the requirement, you can select all CIs listed in all pages of the search result.
    image-2024-10-17_13-2-11.png
  4. Click Save.

To create a related item

  1. On the Related items tab, create a related ticket, such as a Related Incident or Related Work Order. For a change request, you can use a template to create a related change request.
    A new ticket opens in draft mode with some information populated from the original ticket. 
  2. Update the new item as needed and save it.
    Relationships between the items appear in Related Items. The original ticket has a Created relationship that links to the new item, and the new item has a Created by relationship that links to the original ticket.
    If you select Relationship type as Duplicate of when relating an incident to another, you can select multiple incidents in the table. But on clicking Save, you are asked to specify an incident only.

Information copied to a related ticket

The following minimum information is copied to the related incident, problem, known error, work order, or change request:

  • Customer and Customer Company
  • Summary
  • Notes
  • Affected Service
  • Priority

The following additional information is copied only to related work orders and incidents:

  • Contact and Contact Company
  • Categorization (including Product and Operational Categorization, Location Company) — Copied from a work order to a work order, and from an incident to an incident. 

Important

When a work order is created from a different ticket type, such as an incident, the Product Categorization is not copied but is populated based on the affected service.

Additional information might be populated automatically in the new ticket. For example, the assignee might be populated based on the customer company.

To create a related knowledge article

In addition to creating related items, you can also create related knowledge articles from problem investigations and known errors. In the related article, important information is populated in the article content and metadata.

  1. Use one of the following methods to navigate to the option to create a related knowledge article.
    • On the Resources tab of the ticket, under Recommended Knowledge, click Search for knowledge resources and then click Create a new article. 
    • Open the ticket, and click the Related items tab. Click + Create related > Knowledge article.
  2. On the Create Knowledge page, select an article template.
  3. After you preview the selected template, click Use selected Template.
  4. Review the information that is populated into the article, and add more content as required.
  5. Click Submit Changes.

When the article is created, it is pinned to that ticket in the Resources tab under Recommended Knowledge. The article is not listed in the Related items tab of the ticket.

Important

In Progressive Web Application screens, when BMC Helix Knowledge Management by ComAround is configured as a knowledge provider, you cannot create a knowledge article from the Related Items tab. The Knowledge article option is not visible when you click Create related.


To filter knowledge articles

While working on an incident, problem investigation, or known error, the ticket assignee can pin the knowledge articles that they found useful for resolving the ticket. You can view the pinned knowledge articles to understand how an incident was resolved by the ticket assignee.
The filter also appears in the BMC Helix ITSM ticket preview.

Use the appropriate filter in the Recommended knowledge section under the Resources tab based on your requirement:

Filter

Description

All

View all Pinned and unpinned knowledge articles from all pages.
By default, the All filter is selected for incidents with any status except for Closed.

 image-2024-9-18_12-38-48.png

Pinned

View the pinned knowledge articles together from all pages. 
By default, the Pinned filter is selected for incidents with Closed status.

image-2024-9-18_12-36-37.png

Unpinned

View the unpinned knowledge articles together from all pages.
image-2024-9-18_12-40-35.png


Information copied to a related knowledge article

When you create a related knowledge article, the following information is copied from problem investigation and known error to knowledge article templates:

Information copied from Problem investigation and Known error

Information copied to Knowledge article

Known Error template

Summary

Title

Notes

Error

Root Cause

Root Cause

Workaround and Resolution

Workaround/Fix

KCS template

Summary

Title

Description, Workaround and Resolution

Problem

All types of Knowledge article templates

Summary

Title

In all types of knowledge article templates (other than incident profile) including custom knowledge templates, the text in the Notes, Resolution, and Workaround fields of the problem investigation and known error is copied, with a line break, to the first field of the custom knowledge article template.

The following information is copied from problem investigation and known error record to the article metadata:

Information copied from

Information copied to

Problem investigation

Known error

Knowledge article metadata

Location company

Location company

Company

Affected service

Affected service

Business service

Operational category Tier 1, 2, & 3

Operational category Tier 1, 2, & 3

Operational category

  • Product category Tier 1, 2, & 3
  • Product name
  • Model/Version
  • Product category Tier 1, 2, & 3
  • Product name
  • Model/Version

Product category

Impacted area details

Note: If there are multiple impacted areas, the values are not added to the Site/Organization.

NA

Site/Organization

The following default values are populated in the knowledge article:

  • Author: Logged-in user (assuming correct permissions and functional roles)
  • Language: Language of the logged in user


Instructions for classic interfaces

View instructions for classic Smart IT

To relate items to a ticket

  1. On the Related Items tab, add a related item.
  2. Specify the related item type, such as Work Order, Incident, or Outage.
    When you relate an existing outage to a change request, some filters are applied by default. For example, the system searches for scheduled outages for CIs related to the change request. If you want to search for other outages or for all outages, clear the default filters and add new filters as needed.
  3. Specify search criteria and initiate the search.
    You must specify some search criteria, such as a company name, status value, or keyword. To search for all records, enter the % wildcard character.
  4. Select related items and specify the relationship type.
  5. Click Save.

The related items are displayed on the Related Items tab. You can view only those items to which you have access. 

To create a related item

  1. On the Related Items tab, create a related ticket, such as a Related Incident or Related Work Order. For a change request, you can also create a Related Outage. 
    A new ticket opens in draft mode with some information pre-populated from the original ticket. Outages created from change requests require specific information.
  2. Update the new item as needed and save it.
    Relationships between the items appear in Related Items. The original ticket has a Created relationship that links to the new item, and the new item has a Created by relationship that links to the original ticket.
    If you select Relationship type as Duplicate of when relating an incident to another, you can select only one incident in the table. 
View instructions for Mid Tier

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

Tip

You can configure the Problem Investigation form to automatically populate the fields in the Impacted Areas dialog box. Then, the application takes that information from the location provided in the Problem Location field. If you later change the contents of the Problem Location field, the application automatically updates Impacted Areas to show that change. For more information, see Configuring-Problem-Management-rules.

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

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

    Relationship action

    Effect

    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 knowledge articles for sharing information

 

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