Reviewing and changing the status of an incident request

The status shows what stage the ticket is at in its lifecycle. By updating this field when you: begin to work on a ticket, resolve the ticket, and so on, you ensure that the system keeps the applicable Service Level Agreements (SLAs) up-to-date (you can look at the SLA Progress Bar at the top of the ticket to see the current status of the SLA). For example, some SLAs can be configured to stop the clock if you change the Status to Pending, while with other SLAs, the clock continues to run until you change the status to Resolved or Closed.

In addition to keeping the SLAs up-to-date, updating the status is an important part of keeping the customer informed about what is happening with the request and for keeping your personal and group service statistics current. For example, if a ticket is cancelled, it's important to move the status to Cancelled so that the system does not continue to include it in your personal and group statistics and to ensure that the applicable SLA does not appear to be breached.

You cannot change the status of a ticket in certain situations. For example, you cannot change the status of an incident that is Closed. Only the status values for appropriate status transitions are displayed. For example, you cannot change the status of a work order from Rejected to In Progress. You cannot manually change the status of a service request ticket, except to cancel it.

When BMC Helix ITSM is installed with BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk (Mid Tier), and you update the status of a request from BMC Helix ITSM or from any of the following application consoles, a Work Information note indicating the status change is automatically added. 

  • Incident ManagementConsole
  • Problem ManagementConsole
  • BMC Helix ITSM: Change ManagementConsole
  • Release ManagementConsole
  • Task Management Console
  • Work Order Console

This work information note is displayed as an activity note in BMC Helix ITSM. However, if you do not have BMC Helix ITSM, and you update the status from any of the above application consoles, a work information note is not automatically added.

Related topics

Learning-about-Incident-Management

Configuring-incident-rules

Managing your work in BMC Helix ITSM console

Viewing-the-Audit-log

Overview of service requests

Work order status transitions

Stages of a change request

 

To change the status

  1. From ticket details, click the status value near the top of the ticket.
  2. Select the new status value from the list..
  3. Complete any other necessary fields.
    See the following tables for possible fields you need to update, depending on type of ticket.
  4. Click Save.

The following tables list the statuses that are available.

 

Statuses for incidents

Incident status

Comments

Assigned

Change to this status after the incident is assigned to a support group or individual for action, but before work begins on the incident.

Cancelled

Change to this status if work on the incident is cancelled.

Closed

Change to this status when the affected customer verifies the resolution (depending on how the system is configured, it can auto-close incident tickets if the customer has not verified the resolution after a specified length of time).

You can update the resolution note when you close an incident. Click Ask HelixGPT below the Resolution Note field to generate a resolution note using BMC HelixGPT. For more information, see Configuring BMC HelixGPT to generate incident resolution notes.

In Progress

Change to this status when you begin work on the incident.

New

This status is the default assignment value for all newly created incidents before they are assigned to a support group or individual for action.

Pending

Change to this status when you must wait for another action to take place before you can start or resume work on the incident (some SLAs can be configured to pause the clock while the incident is in the pending state).

Resolved

Change to this status when you have resolved the incident.

The Operational Category and Product Category fields are also displayed on the panel. You can update all of the categorization fields when changing the status.

Also, provide entries for the following fields:

  • Status Reason
  • Resolution Note—The Resolution Note is displayed as a tooltip in the ticket header after saving the ticket.

You can use BMC HelixGPT to generate a resolution note. Click Ask HelixGPT below the Resolution note field to generate a resolution note.

When you click the Ask HelixGPT button, BMC HelixGPT uses the Large Language Models (LLM) to analyze the context data like summary, description, and work notes of an incident ticket. A resolution note is generated in natural, human-like language and populated in the field. If you want to modify the incident resolution note further, you can edit the response. You can click Undo to restore the previous version of the content. When you click the Ask HelixGPT button again, BMC HelixGPT uses the modified resolution note also to generate a new resolution note. For more information, see Configuring BMC HelixGPT to generate incident resolution notes.

Ask HelixGPT.png

Reopen

You can reopen an incident that is in Closed or Cancelled status. To be able reopen incidents, you must have the Incident Master permission or the Incident User permission with the functional role of Support Group Manager or Support Group Lead for the assigned group.

Reopen_PV.png

If you click Reopen on a closed or canceled incident, the reopened incident opens in the draft mode, which is related to the existing incident. All information from the closed or canceled ticket is carried over to the reopened ticket except for the Contact field.

Reopen_PV_error.png

A new related item is created in the Related items tab to indicate the relationship between the reopened and closed incident. This related item cannot be deleted.

Reopen_PV_related.png

In classic Smart IT, the Reopen button appears if an incident is in Closed status. If an incident is closed and you click Reopen, a new incident ticket is created and it relates the existing closed incident.

Reopen.png

 

Incident status reason definitions

The content of the Status Reason menu is determined by the selection that you make in the Status field. In most cases, the status reason is for informational use and does not affect how the application behaves. This means that you can assign meanings to the status reasons that are appropriate to your organization's needs. The status reason definitions provided in the following tables, therefore, are recommended definitions only.

Pending status reason definitions

Status reason

Selection code

Explanation

Local Site Action Required

2000

Waiting for some type of action to occur at the location where the incident occurred.

Purchase Order Approval

3000

A purchase that requires approval is needed to move the incident request to the next status.

Registration Approval

4000

The request requires approval from another department before proceeding.

Supplier Delivery

5000

Awaiting the delivery of a good or service from a supplier before the incident request can be moved to the next status.

Support Contact Hold

6000

The help desk agent assigned to the incident request is currently working on other incident requests. Alternatively, the help desk agent is awaiting response from someone in a second- or third-tier support group.

Third Party Vendor Action Required

7000

Some type of action from a third-party vendor must occur before the incident request can be moved to the next status.

Client Action Required

8000

Some type of action from the client (that is, the person indicated in the Customer field on the incident form) must occur before the incident request can be moved to the next status.

Infrastructure Change

9000

The incident request cannot move to the next status until an infrastructure change occurs.

Request

10000

The incident request is pending a generic request for support from some other third party.

Future Enhancement

11000

The incident request cannot move to the next status until an enhancement to some part of the environment takes place.

Client Hold

13000

The client has asked the service desk to temporarily stop working on the incident request.
If you select this status reason and your instance of Incident Management is integrated with BMC Service Level Management, the service level agreement metric collection stops until you change the status or status reason.

Monitoring Incident

14000

The incident that triggered the incident request is ongoing and must be analyzed before further action can take place.

Automated Resolution Reported

19000

The service desk received an automated report that the incident request was resolved, which needs verification.

Pending Original Incident

12000

The duplicate incident can be closed or resolved when the original incident is resolved or closed.

Pending Causal Incident Resolution

21000

This status reason is automatically set by BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management.

Resolved status reason definitions

Status reason

Selection code

Explanation

Future Enhancement

11000

The root cause of the incident request will be addressed by future enhancements to the environment.

Monitoring Incident

14000

The root cause of the incident cannot be determined, but the help desk is monitoring the situation to see if it recurs.

Customer Follow-Up Required

15000

The help desk resolved the incident request, but the customer needs to confirm the resolution.

Temporary Corrective Action

16000

The incident request is resolved, but the action taken is only a temporary resolution, until a more permanent resolution can be implemented.

No Further Action Required

17000

The customer reported that the reported incident is no longer an issue.

Automated Resolution Reported

19000

The service desk received an automated report that the incident request was resolved.

Resolved by Original Incident

18000

When the original incident is resolved, the duplicate incident is also resolved.

Closed status reason definitions

Status reason

Selection code

Explanation

Infrastructure Change Created

1000

You created an infrastructure change request created from the incident request when you closed the incident request.

Automated Resolution Reported

19000

The service desk received an automated report that the incident request was resolved.

Canceled status reason definitions

Status reason

Selection code

Explanation

No longer a causal CI

20000

The CI against which the incident request was created is not the CI that caused the incident.

 

Instructions for classic interfaces

View instructions for Mid Tier

To review the status of an incident request

  1. From the Incident Management console, click Create.
  2. In the Customer or Contact field on the new Incident Request form, type the customer's or the contact's information and then press Enter.
    The application updates the new incident request record with the customer's information.
  3. In the Quick Actions area, click Customer's Incidents.
  4. In the Customer's Incidents window, select the incident request you are reviewing the status for, and click View.
    The Incident form opens in a Modify window.
  5. When you finish reviewing the status, select one of the following actions:
    • Close—Returns you to the Customer's Incidents window. Select this if you need to review the status of another incident request record for the same customer.
    • Close All—Returns you to the Search form. Select this when you finish reviewing the status of incident requests for the customer.

To change the status

  1. Open the incident request.
  2. From the Status list, select the new status.
  3. If prompted, change the status reason. 
  4. Click Save.

These are the available statuses for incident requests.

Incident status

Comments

New

This status is the default assignment value for all newly created incidents, before they are assigned to a support group or individual for action.

Assigned

Change to this status after the incident is assigned to a support group or individual for action, but before work begins on the incident.

In Progress

Change to this status when you begin work on the incident.

Pending

Change to this status when you must wait for another action to take place before you can start or resume work on the incident (some SLAs can be configured to pause the clock while the incident is in the pending state).

Resolved

Change to this status when you have resolved the incident.

Closed

Change to this status when the affected customer verifies the resolution. (Depending on how the system is configured, it can automatically close incident tickets if the customer has not verified the resolution after a specified length of time.)

Cancelled

Change to this status if work on the incident is stopped before the incident is resolved.

 

 

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