Launching Ops Swarmer for collaboration
Use the Ops Swarmer chat from an incident screen to collaborate with stakeholders in Microsoft Teams. You can search for incidents, find incident-related information, and when integrated with BMC Helix AIOps, also get situation-related information.
With the Start Ops Swarmer (earlier called Launch ChatOps) button, you can start a chat in Microsoft Teams. You get an improved experience with additional capabilities with Ops Swarmer.
Chat participants
When a chat is started, the incident assignee is automatically added to the Ops Swarmer chat. If the incident is a major incident, the Major Incident Manager and Change Coordinator are also automatically added. A user with edit access to the incident can request to join the chat from the incident details page.
Participants in the Teams chat can add more participants directly from Microsoft Teams without navigating to the incident details page.
Ops Swarmer capabilities
The following table lists the capabilities that are available in the Ops Swarmer chat to collaborate on incidents:
| Capability | Description | Sample prompt |
|---|---|---|
| Search for incidents |
|
|
| View incident details |
|
|
| View timelines |
|
|
| Add work notes |
|
|
| Get participant recommendations |
|
|
| Add participants to the chat |
|
|
| Get situation details |
|
|
Scenario
Carl is a service desk agent at Apex Global, responsible for managing incident tickets and coordinating with various teams during outages and technical issues.
A major VPN outage affects remote employees across Europe, and Carl is assigned to the incident. He clicks the Start Ops Swarmer button to create a Microsoft Teams chat group, adds the core IT support and network administrators to the group, and clicks Launch Ops Swarmer to begin troubleshooting.
Maria, a security analyst, identifies a possible security concern related to the outage, and wants to join the chat. Maria has edit access to the incident. She clicks the Request Ops Swarmer button.
Carl and the other group members receive an instant notification in Teams, and Carl approves Maria’s request with a single click. Maria is added to the chat group and can contribute to the real-time discussion.
Carl also wants to add another team member, John, to the chat. He adds the member to the chat without having to access the incident details page. When John joins the chat, he views the timeline of the incident in the chat and gets a visual representation of all the important events of the incident.
Maria and John work together to resolve the incident by collaborating through the Microsoft Teams chat.
Before you begin
To launch the BMC Helix Ops Swarmer agent to start a Microsoft Teams chat, the following prerequisites must be completed:
- Configuring a Microsoft Teams bot and publishing an application in the Microsoft Azure Portal
- Configuring Microsoft Teams bot in BMC Helix ITSM for streamlining incidents
- View and edit access to an incident to launch or request to join Ops Swarmer.
To start a Microsoft Teams chat from an incident
An incident assignee, major incident manager, or communication coordinator can start the Microsoft Teams chat. They are automatically added to the chat.
- From the ticket console, open an incident.
- On the incident details page, click Start Ops Swarmer.
- In the Start Ops Swarmer window, add members that you want to include in the Microsoft Teams chat, and click Create.
The Start Ops Swarmer button automatically changes to Launch Ops Swarmer. - To start chatting with the members in Microsoft Teams, click Launch Ops Swarmer.
- In the Launch Ops Swarmer window, add members that you want to include in the chat, and click Launch.
The Microsoft Teams chat opens, and you can start collaborating with the chat members to resolve the incident.
To request to join an Ops Swarmer chat
If you have edit access to an incident, and want to join an Ops Swarmer chat, you can request to be added to the chat. When you send the request, a member of the chat must manually add you to the chat group.
- From the ticket console, open an incident.
- On the incident details page, click Request Ops Swarmer.
A notification is displayed in the Microsoft Teams chat about your request. After your request is approved, the button name changes to Launch Ops Swarmer. - On the incidents details page, click Launch Ops Swarmer.
The Microsoft Teams chat opens, and you can start collaborating with the chat members to resolve the incident.
Related topics