Assigning and reassigning an incident request
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 assign tickets to yourself
When you create a new ticket, click the Assign to me link to assign tickets to yourself. You can also assign articles to yourself using the Assign to me link.
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 request manager.
- From ticket details, click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket.
- (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. - Select a new assignee from the list by clicking the name.
- Click Save.
Additional ticket assignment scenarios
The following scenarios describe how ticket assignment works in different situations:
- If you belong to a single support group, when you click the Assign to me link, the ticket is assigned to you without opening the Update Assignment pane.
- If you belong to multiple support groups, when you click the Assign to me link:
- If you have selected a support group and are a member of the group, the support group details are added.
- If you have selected a support group and are not a member of that support group, the default support group that has assignment availability set as Yes is added.
- If you have selected a support group and are not a member of that support group, and the default support group has the assignment availability set as No, the first matching support group details are added.
- If you have selected a support group and that support group is not found, an error is displayed.
- If you have not selected a support group, the application first checks for the default support group. If the default support group is found, the group details are added. If the default group is not found, the first matching support group details are added. If a support group is not found, an error is displayed.
If you are unaware of the relevant support group, when you click
under the Assigned group field, BMC Helix ITSM predicts and populates the relevant support group in the field.Susan, the service desk manager at Calbro Inc, notices that incidents related to network security are assigned to wrong support groups by her team. The incidents often take multiple hops before reaching the right support group which delays the resolution.
While creating an incident Failure in security server node, she wants to assign it to the relevant support group to resolve it. However, there are multiple support groups in the organization specialized in certain areas of network security. Susan is unaware of the relevant support group to which the incident needs to be assigned.
She leverages AI to predict the relevant support group based on the historical details of incidents closed by different support groups. To do so, in the incident creation form, she clicks
next to the Assigned Support Group field. AI populates the field with Network security handler A support group which has the relevant experience to resolve the incident.
Instructions for classic interfaces
View instructions for classic Smart IT
To reassign a ticket
- 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.
- (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. - Select a new assignee from the list by clicking or tapping the circle to the right of the name.
- 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 the ticket to self, to other user, or to a support group best suited to resolve the ticket.
The following table describes how you can 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. For security incidents, if the BMC Helix ITSM administrator has performed the configuration settings, the ticket is automatically assigned to the security team. |
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. |
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. |
Edit icon in the assignment section | Click the pencil icon in the assignment section of the ticket. The Update Assignment pane is displayed.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. |
Additional ticket assignment scenarios
The following scenarios describe how ticket assignment works in different situations:
- If you belong to a single support group, when you click the Assign to me link, the ticket is assigned to you without opening the Update Assignment pane.
- If you belong to multiple support groups, when you click the Assign to me link, the Update Assignment pane is displayed in the ticket profile. In this pane, by default the Assign to me check box is selected, and your name is specified in the Search box. The system searches for the support groups to which you belong to across all support companies, support organizations, and support groups, which you can refine. You can then select and save a search result.
- If you and the current assignee of the ticket belong to the same support group, when you click the Assign to me link, even if you belong to multiple support groups, the ticket is directly assigned to you for the same support group without opening the Update Assignment pane.
- Some ticket types such as change requests, release tickets, and problem investigation tickets support multiple functional roles such as Change Coordinator, Change Manager, Work order Assignee, Work order Manager, Release Coordinator, and Problem Coordinator. If you have the functional role specified in these ticket types and belong to the support group to which the ticket is assigned, you can assign the ticket to yourself. For example, if you are a change coordinator for three support groups, on the change request profile, when you click the Assign to me link, the Update Assignment pane is displayed. You must select one out of the three support groups.
- If you are not part of the support group to which the ticket is assigned, the Edit option in the Assignment section of the ticket profile is not available, and you cannot assign the ticket to yourself.
- When you create a ticket, even if you are not part of the support group with the specific functional role, the Assign to me link is available. In such cases, you can assign the ticket to an appropriate user.
- In the Update Assignment pane, when you click the Delete option to clear your name from the search box, the Assign to me check box is automatically cleared. You can assign the ticket to an appropriate group or user.
The following table contains additional scenarios of ticket assignment:
Support groups of the logged in user | Support group assigned to the ticket | Profile status of the logged in user | Assignment availability of the logged in user | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Support Group 1 | Support Group 3 | Enabled | Available | The ticket is directly assigned to the logged in user. |
Support Group 1 Support Group 2 | Support Group 3 | Enabled | Available | The Update Assignment pane displays a list of support groups to which the logged in user belongs — Support Group 1 and Support Group 2. You can select one of the support group. |
Support Group 1 Support Group 2 | Support Group 3 | Enabled | Not available | The Update Assignment pane displays the message "Support person not found." You must select another user. |
Support Group 1 Support Group 2 | Support Group 3 | Offline / Archive / Obsolete | Available | The Update Assignment pane displays the message "Support person not found." You must select another user. |
Support Group 1 Support Group 2 Support Group 3 | Support Group 3 | Enabled | Available | The ticket is directly assigned to the logged in user. |
How Live Chat tickets are assigned to agents automatically
As a support agent, when you create a work order or an incident, the application checks if the ticket is being created from a template. If you are creating a ticket from a template, and assignment information is available in the template, this information is used for assignments. If assignment information is not available in the template, auto assignment rules are used.
If the administrator has set the assignTicketToLiveAgent parameter as false as described in Setting configuration parameters in BMC Helix ITSM, assignment is done on the basis of auto assignment rules. If the assignTicketToLiveAgent parameter is set to true, then the support groups to which the agent belongs are checked.
For more information about auto assignments, see Configuring assignments.
The following graphic shows how the support group details for assignment are determined.
The following scenarios apply for support group assignment:
- If the agent belongs to only a single support group, this support group is used for assignment.
- If the agent belongs to multiple support groups, the application checks if a default support group has been assigned to the agent. This default support group is then used for assignment.
If the agent belongs to multiple support groups, and a default support group has not been assigned to the agent, then a check is done if a default support group has been defined for the company in Live Chat. This default support group is then used for assignment.
To learn how to set the default support group for a company, seeSetting the default support group for a company (Live Chat documentation). If you do not want to define a default support group for a company, delete the entries for Live Chat default support group for that company.- If the agent belongs to multiple support groups, is not assigned to a default support group, and a default support group for the company has not been defined, the Update Assignment pane is displayed. Assignment values are set on the basis of selections done.
After the support group is determined, the ticket is then created and automatically associated to the agent.
View instructions for Mid Tier
Service desk analysts and group coordinators each play a role in assigning incident requests. This topic applies to service desk analysts. If you work as a group coordinator or in another management role, see Working-with-incident-requests-as-a-manager . For information about the group coordinator's role, see Assigning-incident-requests-as-a-group-coordinator.
When you register a new incident request, one of the following actions happens:
- The routing rules that Incident Management uses automatically assign the incident request to the most appropriate group when the incident request record is saved. For more information, see Configuring assignments.
- If the incident request is created from a template that has an assignment group predefined, the incident request is assigned to the predefined assignment group.
If you reopen a current incident request, you must manually reassign the incident request to the most appropriate group. The coordinator of the group to which the incident request is assigned then reviews the request.
The following figure provides an overview of the incident request assignment process:
To reassign a ticket
- Open the incident request record.
- On the Incident form, select the Assigned Group from the list associated with the Assigned Group field.
- From the Assignee field list, select the Assignee.
- Click Save.
You can also use the shortcut in the Quick Actions section of the Incident Request form to reassign an incident to yourself (Assign to Me) or to reassign an incident based on automatic routing (Auto Assign). This shortcut assigns the incident based on predefined mapping. Automated assignment can be based on the customer organization, location, operational categorization, or product categorization.
If you log in as a support agent and belong to multiple support groups, when you open an incident and click Quick Actions > Assign to Me, you must select a group manually. The first row is not selected by default.
To assign or reassign an incident to an internal vendor
- Open the incident request record.
- From the Vendor Group menu, select the vendor.
- If the vendor's ticket number is available, type it in the Vendor Ticket Number field.
If the Vendor Group has a group email address assigned to it, the notification goes to the group email address. If no group email address is configured for the Vendor Group, notifications are sent to the individual email addresses of the Vendor Group members. - Click Save.
To assign or reassign an incident to an external vendor
To send an external vendor an email notification, use the Email function from the Functions area in the Navigation pane.