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.

Assigning and reassigning problem investigations and known errors


As a BMC Helix ITSM user, you might have to assign tickets to yourself or to other users. Also, if you are a support agent, some BMC Live Chat tickets are assigned to you automatically.

An assignee is a person that is responsible for overseeing a ticket through its lifecycle, or until it is assigned to another person. Change the assignment of the ticket if you cannot respond to it in time to meet the SLA, or if another person or support group has a more appropriate skill set to resolve the ticket. 

When you create or edit tickets and knowledge articles on the ticket profile or in the article metadata, you can perform these actions:

  • Use the Assign to me link to assign tickets and articles to yourself. 
  • Use the Change assignment button to assign tickets to others.



Before you begin

To ensure that tickets are assigned as expected, the administrator must:

  • Configure assignments according to the needs of the organization.
  • Configure and enable the auto assignment functionality . See Configuring assignments.
  • Provide necessary permissions to support agents to specify ticket assignment. See Roles and permissions.

To specify a Problem coordinator

  • When you create a new ticket, you can assign a problem coordinator and a coordinator group in the assignment section of the ticket.
  • If you want to edit or assign a problem coordinator after the ticket is created, click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket. The ticket opens in edit mode. You can search for problem coordinator or coordinator group, and select a new coordinator from the list by clicking the name.

To assign tickets to yourself

When you create a new ticket, click the Assign to me link in the assignment section of the ticket to assign the ticket to yourself. You can also assign articles to yourself using the Assign to me link.

Problem_assignment.png

To reassign a ticket

When you click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket, the ticket opens in edit mode. You can assign the ticket to another assignee or a request manager.

  1. From ticket details, click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket.

    Problem Coordinator_assignment.png

  2. (Optional) Search for an assignee by name or select a different support group. 
    You can also select a support organization to narrow the list of support groups.
  3. Select a new assignee from the list by clicking the name.
  4. Click Save.

For information about additional ticket assignment scenarios and how Live Chat tickets are assigned to agents automatically, see Assigning-and-reassigning-an-incident-request.


Example of managing a problem investigation in classic Smart IT

Mary Mann is a problem coordinator in the Network Infrastructure group. Mary hosts a monthly incident review in which the review team evaluates incident tickets for the month and identifies recurring incidents for underlying problems with the services they are responsible for. When the team finds an issue with a routing table for network equipment that is causing recurring incident requests, Mary begins the problem investigation process:

  1. Mary locates an incident that was triggered by the problem, and on the Related Items tab, she selects Create > Related Problem Investigation.
  2. The new problem investigation is populated with information from the incident, so for now, Mary updates the Investigation Driver field (a required field), and assigns the problem to a specialist. She sets the Investigation Driver to Re-Occurring Incidents. For the assignee, she clicks the pencil icon in the Assignment group. Here she has the option to automatically assign the best-fit group, from which she can select a specialist. However, she instead selects Bob Baxter from the Backoffice Support group, because he has the most experience in dealing with this type of problem.
  3. After saving the problem investigation, Mary clicks the Share  icon_share.gif icon and emails Bob, informing him that he has been assigned the problem investigation. She also clicks the Follow  icon_follow.gif icon so she can see updates to the problem investigation as it proceeds.
  4. Mary then relates incidents to the problem investigation. She selects the Related Items tab and clicks Relate Existing Item. She searches for routing table and selects related incidents. From the Relationship Type, list she selects Related to and saves the ticket. The related items now appear on the Related Items tab.

Bob then initiates the root cause analysis. He begins by looking for a temporary workaround while he determines a permanent solution. Bob decides to review knowledge articles, where he identifies a workaround to the issue. He then updates the problem investigation ticket with the workaround:

  1. In classic Smart IT, Bob selects Console > Ticket Console to locate and open the problem investigation. Open tickets assigned to him are displayed by default.
  1. On the Resources tab, Bob finds a knowledge article that provides a workaround to the issue and pins it to the problem ticket .  
  2. Bob then updates the Workaround field with a summary of the procedure and instructions to refer to the knowledge article he pinned to the problem investigation. He then updates the status to Under Investigation and saves the ticket.
  3. Bob clicks the Share   icon_share.gif icon and emails Mary to inform her that he has identified a workaround and updated the problem investigation with that information.

With the temporary workaround in place, Bob continues to investigate the root cause. He finds that the solution is to reconfigure the routing table. Before initiating the change process, Bob updates the Root Cause field:

  1. Bob opens the ticket console and selects the problem investigation from the My Tickets list.
  2. The Root Cause field is not visible because it contains no information. Bob clicks the pencil icon to edit the ticket and scrolls down to locate the Root Cause field. He sets the root cause to Infrastructure Issue. When he saves the changes, the field becomes visible on the ticket.
  3. Bob adds an Activity Note describing the root cause. He then emails Mary to inform her that he has identified the root cause. Mary emails Bob back, letting him know that the fix requires a change request.

Now that the root cause has been identified, Mary is ready to create a related known error:

  1. Mary opens the problem investigation, and under Related Items, she clicks Create and selects Related Known Error from the list.
  2. Mary reviews the imported information in the Known Error form and makes any changes or additions that are needed. She then saves the known error, which subsequently appears on the Related Items tab of the problem investigation.

Mary notifies the incident review team that the root cause has been identified and that a change request will be needed to implement a structural solution. After the team evaluates the root cause, Mary creates the change request:

  1. Mary opens the problem investigation and selects the Related Items tab at the bottom of the form.
  2. Mary clicks the Create button and selects Related Change Request.
  3. Mary completes the change request.
  4. When the change is implemented, Mary updates the problem investigation status to Completed.

After the change process is complete, Mary sets the status of the problem investigation to Closed, which completes the problem investigation.


Instructions for classic interfaces

View instructions for classic Smart IT

To reassign a ticket

  1. From ticket details, open the assignee information for editing:
    • (Universal client) Click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket.
    • (Android devices) Tap the menu (three dots symbol), and then tap Edit.
    • (iOS devices) Tap Actions, and then tap Edit.
  2. (Optional) Search for a problem coordinator or an assignee by name or select a different support group. 
    You can also select a support organization to narrow the list of support groups.
  3. Select a new problem coordinator or a new assignee from the list by clicking or tapping the circle adjacent to the name.
  4. Click Save or tap Assign.

When you click the pencil icon in the assignment section of a ticket, the Update Assignment pane is displayed. It provides you options to assign a problem coordinator, assign yourself as the problem coordinator, assign the ticket to yourself, to another user, or to a support group best suited to resolve the ticket. 

The following table describes how you can assign a problem coordinator, or assign other user as a problem coordinator, or assign tickets to yourself or to other users on the Update Assignment pane:

Available assignees

Steps to assign tickets

The best fit group

Select the Auto-assign to the best fit group check box.

The ticket is automatically assigned to a support group that is best suited to resolve the ticket. The group is selected based on the auto-assignment feature configured in Mid Tier. 

Similarly, to assign a Problem Coordinator for the ticket, navigate to the Problem Coordinator tab and select the Auto-assign to the best fit group check box.

Another user

Search for and assign the ticket to another user. Clear the Auto-assign to the best fit group and Assign to me check boxes, and specify the user name in the search box. To search for a specific support group, select an appropriate company, organization, and support group from the Support Company, Support Organization, and the Support Group list. The company, organization, and the support group to which you have access are displayed in the list.

If you do not specify the user name but specify only the company, organization, and support group, the system displays all the users who belong to that support group. Users who belong to multiple support groups are grouped together in a list. You must expand the list to select an appropriate group.

Similarly, to assign a Problem Coordinator for the ticket, navigate to the Problem Coordinator tab, search for user or group and assign the ticket to another user.

To assign tickets to yourself

To assign tickets to yourself in the classic Smart IT screens, use one of the following methods:

Method

Description

Assign to me link

Click the Assign to me link. 
This feature is based on the association between users and their support groups in the CTM:People form in Mid Tier.  You can also assign articles to yourself using the Assign to me link.

Edit icon in the assignment section

Click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket. The Update Assignment pane is displayed.

In the Assignee tab, select the Assign to me check box. The name of the logged-in user (your name) is displayed in the search box. The system displays the names of the support groups to which you belong. You must select an appropriate group to assign the ticket to yourself.

To assign yourself as the Problem Coordinator for the ticket, navigate to the Problem Coordinator tab and select the Assign to me check box.

View instructions for Mid Tier

A problem investigation can be assigned to an individual or a group. Use the same process to assign known errors.

To view unassigned problem investigations

  1. From the Defined Searches list on the Problem Management console, run a search by selecting Defined Searches  > Problem Investigation  > All Open Problems
    For more information about running predefined searches, see Searching for tickets, assets, resources, and people in BMC Helix ITSM.
  2. View the unassigned problem investigations in the Problems table.

To specify a problem coordinator

Problem coordinators have the functional role of Problem Coordinator within the support group to which they belong. For more information, see Functional roles and extended application access.

  1. Open the relevant problem investigation.
  2. From the Coordinator Group menu, select the client company, organization, and support group that will coordinate the problem investigation. 
    After you specify the client company, organization, and support group, only the support group name appears in the Coordinator Group field.
  3. From the Problem Coordinator menu, select the name of the person you want to assign as the problem coordinator.
  4. Click Save.

To assign an investigation to a specialist

  1. Open the relevant problem investigation.
  2. Indicate the appropriate assignee:

    Task

    Actions

    To assign the investigation to yourself

    In the Navigation pane, select Quick Actions > Assign to Me.

    To assign the investigation based on predefined routing

    In the Navigation pane, select Quick Actions > Auto Assign.

    To assign the investigation to a specific person

    1. Click the Work Detail tab.
    2. From the Assigned Group menu, select the support group.
    3. From the Assignee menu, select the name of the person you want to assign as the assignee.
      The Assignee menu displays the list of people that belong to support group you select, irrespective of the permissions they have.
  3. Change the status to Assigned.
  4. Click Save.

To reassign an investigation

  1. Open the relevant problem investigation.
  2. On the Work Detail tab, explain why the investigation is being reassigned.
  3. Reassign the investigation as needed:
    • To assign the investigation to yourself, select Quick Actions  > Assign to Me in the Navigation pane.
    • To let the system assign the investigation, select  Quick Actions  > Auto Assign in the Navigation pane.
      Auto Assign uses the automatic routing to assign the investigation based on predefined system mapping. Automated assignment can be based on the problem location, operational categorization, or product categorization.
    • To reassign the investigation to someone else, select a new assignee from the Assignee list.
    • To change the assigned group, select a new assigned group from the Assigned Group list.
  4. Click Save.


 

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