Tailoring Smart IT consoles for your work

To filter and sort items

By default, the consoles show the open tickets, articles, or assets (items) assigned to you (or managed by you). In the universal client and tablets, counts of items assigned to you (My Tickets or My Articles), along with tickets and articles in other categories, are shown above the lists of tickets and articles. These counts apply to the tickets and articles currently displayed, so the numbers can change when you apply a filter. Click or tap a count to show only the tickets or articles you want to see in the table (for example, Critical Tickets or Published articles).

You can sort a console table by tapping or clicking one of the column headings (tablets and universal client), or by selecting a sorting option from a menu (phones).

You can apply a minimum of two filters to a console table; for example, to show only certain types of tickets with a particular status. In the Ticket Console, when you filter by the type of ticket, such as Change or Incident, the rest of the available filters dynamically change so that only the filters appropriate for that ticket type (or type) are listed. For example, if you select Incident, the filters for Change Manager, Change Class, and so on are not displayed.

In the Asset Console, there are advanced filters specifically for Computer System assets. For example, you can filter for all computers that have a minimum of 2 CPUs and a Windows operating system.

To search for specific tickets on the Console (all three consoles), you can select multiple filters and click Apply. The system displays the result according to the filters that you specified. When selecting filters if you select Cancel, the system cancels your selection and displays the result according to the filters that were previously applied. Note that you must select minimum two filters for the system to display the result. If you have set preset, and additionally specified filters, the system displays the result as per the preset and filters. To clear all the filters, click the Clear Filters option. The system now displays the result according to the default preset. The Apply button will remain disabled if you clear the filters and again select the same filters.

In the Ticket Console. the ticket statistics are not displayed by default. When you click the Show Ticket Statistics button, you can view the number of tickets assigned to you, critical tickets, tickets that need attention, new tickets, open tickets, and all tickets.

In the Ticket Console, if you click Security Tickets, the filter of Security Incident is applied. Additionally, the Security Incident option is selected under Filter > Incident Type. This option is displayed only if the Smart IT administrator has configured the required settings. For more information, see Configuring-settings-for-managing-security-incidents.

You get an additional and quicker ticket search capability in the Ticket Console. After adding the filters in the Ticket Console, you can narrow down the search result further by entering a keyword in a search box. The keyword is highlighted in the search result and this is not case sensitive. If your search keyword contains wildcard, then the keyword is not highlighted in the search result. The keyword search is done on the Summary, Description, and Display ID columns. This quick text search cannot be saved as a Preset. Wildcard is allowed only after you enter three or more characters. You can enter a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 100 characters in the search box. The search result is displayed based on the database collation level.

To filter items based on attention flag

To filter tickets that need your attention, select the Needs Attention filter:

To filter items by Region, Site Group, and Site fields in Asset console

In the Asset console, when you filter by the Region, Site Group, and Site fields, it works as an OR condition for these three filters. For all other filters (Asset type, Status, Keyword, Supplier, Used by, etc) in the Asset console, it works as an AND condition.

To work with columns in Universal Client (UC)

In the universal client, you can select columns to show in a console, such as the Assignee or Status columns. Click the menu that appears below the ticket or article counts to display the Change and Order Columns panel.

For example, from Available Columns in the Ticket Console, select Columns that Apply to All Tickets, or choose one or more ticket types (such as Change or Incident) to show the available columns for that ticket type. Add columns by double-clicking each column name, or by dragging columns from Available Columns to Visible Columns. Arrange the order in Visible Columns by dragging.

apply a filter on custom column only if that custom column is added in the visible column list.
2.    In edit preset blade, if user removes a custom column from the visible column list then all the filters which were already applied on that custom column will be removed after saving the preset

To create preset filters

Each console includes at least one pre-defined set of filters, called a preset. When you choose a preset from the list, the filters are applied to the console. (See number 2 in the following figure.) For example, the Ticket Console has the following out-of-the-box presets:

• My Security Tickets
  • Security filter includes All Incident type as Security & Assigned Group: My Support Groups.
  • If you select this option, the Security Incident option is selected under Filter > Incident Type. Additionally, the Security Tickets option on the console displays the number of security tickets in the Ticket Console.
  • When you open any security ticket, theicon is displayed. This icon distinguishes the security tickets from regular tickets.
• My Assigned Tickets (default)
  • Applies the All Open and Assignee:Me filters to the console.
• My Groups Assigned Tickets
  • Applies the All Open and Assigned Group:My Support Groups filters to the console.

From the universal client, you can also create custom presets. Custom presets allow you to save different filter selections, visible columns, or both, depending on the different perspectives you need for each of your roles in the organization. For example, if you are both a change approver and a service desk manager, you can save different preset perspectives for each role, and then quickly toggle between them. (See numbers 1 and 2 in the following figure.) You can delete presets that you created that are no longer needed by hovering the mouse over the name and clicking the x.

From the universal client, you can choose any preset as your default. In addition, you can now edit any of your custom presets. (See number 2 in the following figure.) Your default preset is displayed every time you log in from the universal client or from your mobile device. After you edit a preset or change the default, your changes are displayed immediately in the universal client. For mobile clients, you must log in again to see the updates.

Also in the universal client, you can click Refresh to see the latest list of results based on your current filters and column configurations. (See number 3 in the following figure.)

To display custom status reasons in the Ticket Console

On UC, the custom status reason specified for ticket status is displayed in the Ticket console under the Status Reason column. The custom status reason only appears in Smart IT if the administrator has added the custom status reason to all the corresponding ticket forms in BMC Helix ITSM. In the following table, forms that must be updated are listed as per ticket types:

Example

For incident tickets, you can add the Custom Reason 1 (ID - 33000) to the following forms:

• HPD:Help Desk form - Add Status_Reason_Hidden to any view panel for example, the Category panel, and then add Custom Reason 1 (ID - 33000) to the Status_Reason_Hidden field.
• HPD:IncidentInterface_Create form - Add Custom Reason 1 (ID - 33000) to the Status Reason field.
• INT:HPDSLM:HelpDesk_SLM_Join_Outer to show this custom reason in Smart IT.
• SMT:UnionSmartIT_TicketConsole form - Add Custom Reason 1 (ID - 33000) to the ConsolidatedStatusReason field.
• Rebuild the View of Smart IT, by performing Build/Rebuild database Union Structure from the SHR:Union_ConfigurationConsole form.
• Refresh the Smart IT server cache to reflect the changes.
• Add the Status Reason Column in the Ticket Console of Smart IT.

If the same custom status reason is used across multiple ticket types, their ID must be same across those ticket types. In other words, no two ticket types should have two different custom status reasons having same ID, because as part of consolidation on the Ticket console, the system cannot distinguish them without having different IDs.

Status reasons with same ID in multiple ticket types are considered as a consolidated value that is shown on the Ticket console across those multiple ticket types. The ID must not be used for another status reason of any other ticket type. To add same custom status reason to multiple ticket types, use the same ID. For example, in BMC Helix ITSM, the Admin adds Custom Status Reason 1 with the ID - 33000 to incident, work order, and change request ticket. In Smart IT, when a service desk agent specifies Custom Status Reason 1 for incident, work order, and change request tickets, on the Ticket console, Custom Status Reason 1 can be seen under the Status Reason column. In another instance, Admin adds Custom Status Reason 2 with the ID - 34000 to incident ticket type. When this custom status reason is selected for an incident, it is also seen under the Status Reason column.