Configuring support group assignments

When a support group is created for a company, it is available for resolving the company’s tickets. However, configuring valid support groups for a company is necessary in the following scenarios:

A company might have multiple support groups but all the support groups may not be relevant to a ticket. Having an irrelevant support group in the assignment menu might lead to confusion or incorrect assignment.
A company might need to assign its tickets to the support group of another company.

As an administrator or a user with Contact Organization Admin permission, you can configure or define valid support groups for a company by using the Support Group Assignment Configuration form. The Support Group Assignment Configuration form has two configuration modes:

Multiple support groups to single company: Use this configuration mode to do the following:
- Define multiple support groups for a single company.
- Define global support groups so that the defined support groups are available for assignment to all companies.

For details, see To configure multiple support groups for assignment for a single company.

Single support group to multiple companies: A service provider company might have hundreds of companies associated with it. If some of the companies in a service provider organization need to use a specific support group for resolving their tickets, this configuration mode helps in defining a single support group for multiple companies.

For details, see To configure a single support group for assignment for multiple companies.

Before you begin

An administrator or a user with Contact Organization Admin permission need to manually configure an entry in the Support Group Assignment Configuration form for a support group if a support group can be assigned to a company other than the company it belongs to. This includes the - Global - company.

Support Group Assignment Configuration form data

The Support Group Assignment Configuration form contains the following data:

When a support group is created for a company, it is automatically configured in the Support Group Assignment Configuration form.
When you upgrade, the following data is automatically configured in the Support Group Assignment Configuration form:
- Data from auto-assignment form (CFG:Assignment)
  Though auto-assignment data is configured in the Support Group Assignment Configuration form, the auto-assignment data continues to be available on the CFG:Assignment form also.
  The auto-assignment data configured for -Global- is also automatically configured in the Support Group Assignment Configuration form.
- All the support groups within a company
- Assignment data from the template forms such as Change Management, Release Management, Activity, Task Management, and Work Order templates
  The system displays an error message if the support groups defined in the older versions of Incident Management template are not valid per the Support Group Assignment Configuration form. To prevent the error message, you can either assign a valid support group to template assignment or modify the support groups defined in the template assignment data.

Benefits of support group assignment configuration for -Global- company

You can achieve the following benefits with support group assignment configuration:

Users can quickly define a single support group for multiple companies by using the Single support group to multiple companies configuration mode available on the Support Group Assignment Configuration form.
Users can define global support groups which would be available for all companies for assignment.
Whenever a new company is added to a company, the global support groups are available in the assignment menus for the new company as well.
When you select the -Global- option in a company field, the assignment menus display the support groups that are configured for -Global- .

Visibility of support groups in assignment menus

Assignment menus vs assignee fields: While creating or modifying a ticket for a company, the assignment menus and assignee fields display the following details:

Assignment menus	Assignee fields
All the support groups configured for a company Support groups configured for the -Global- company	The assignee fields are used to assign tickets to individuals. The assignee fields display the members of the support groups, which are selected in the assignment menus. However, if the logged in user does not have access permissions to the support group's company, the assignee fields do not display the members of the support group. If the logged in user is unable to assign a ticket to an individual, an administrator can take one of the following actions: Allow the Assignment Engine to automatically assign a ticket to an individual Provide access permissions to the logged in user to the assigned support group's company.

Assignment menus

Assignee fields

All the support groups configured for a company
Support groups configured for the -Global- company

The assignee fields are used to assign tickets to individuals. The assignee fields display the members of the support groups, which are selected in the assignment menus. However, if the logged in user does not have access permissions to the support group's company, the assignee fields do not display the members of the support group. If the logged in user is unable to assign a ticket to an individual, an administrator can take one of the following actions:

Allow the Assignment Engine to automatically assign a ticket to an individual
Provide access permissions to the logged in user to the assigned support group's company.

Scenario for configuring the support groups

The following example shows how to configure the support groups for Apex global by using the Support Group Assignment Configuration form:

Example

Support group	Support group’s company
Support group ABC1	ABC Corp
Support group Inv1	Invention Inc

While creating or modifying an incident for Apex global, Allen from Apex global sees the above support groups in the Assigned Group and Owner Group fields. However, the assignee list fields Assignee and Owner display the individuals based on the assigned support group and Allen’s access to the assigned support group’s company.

Allen has access to support group’s company?	Allen selects the following support group in the Assigned Group or Owner Group fields	The assignee list fields display the following individuals
Yes	Support group ABC1	Individuals from the assigned support group
No	Support group Inv1	The assignee list does not display the individuals from the assigned support group as Allen does not have access permissions to the support group's company, Invention Inc. An administrator can allow the Assignment Engine to automatically assign the ticket to an individual or provide access to Allen to Invention Inc.

Search for tickets: The assignment menus display the support groups based on the logged in user's permissions when you search for tickets from the respective BMC Helix ITSM application menu on the Home page.

Assignment menus for applications of BMC Helix ITSM

The following table displays the list of assignment menus for BMC Helix ITSM applications. The fields that include the support groups on a ticket are referred as assignment menus. The location and customer companies selected while creating or modifying a ticket are referenced as company fields.

The following table describes the company fields and assignment menus for BMC Helix ITSM applications:

Application	Form	Assignment menu	Company fields considered
Incident Management	HPD:Help Desk	Assigned Group Owner Group	Company(1000000001) Company*+(1000000082)
Problem Management	PBM:Known Error	Assigned Group Co-ordinator Group	Known Error Location+(1000000001)
Problem Management	PBM:Problem Investigation	Assigned Group Co-ordinator Group	Problem Location Company+(1000000001) Requester Company*(1000000082)
Problem Management	PBM:Solution Database	Assigned Group	Location Company+(1000000001) Organization Company+(1000000082)
Change Management	CHG:Infrastructure Change	Co-ordinator Group Manager Group	Customer Company(1000003299) Change Location Company(1000000001)
Change Management	CHG:Template	Change Coordinator Support Company Change Coordinator Support Organization Change Coordinator Support Group Change Manager Support Company Change Manager Support Organization Change Manager Support Group Important: The assignment menus display the following support groups: Support groups defined for the location company Support groups with the functional role as Change Coordinator or Change Manager for Change Coordinator Menus Support Groups with the functional role as Change Manager for Change Manager menus	Location Company(1000000001)
Change Management	RMS:Release	Co-ordinator Group	Release Location Company(1000000001)
Release Management	RMS:Template	Release Coordinator Support Company Release Coordinator Support Organization Release Coordinator Support Group	Location Company(1000000001)
Asset Management	AST:PurchaseRequisition	Company (in Assignment Tab)	Requested For Company*+(1000000001)
Service Request Management	WOI:WorkOrder	Support Group Name (Request Manager) Support Group Name (Request Assignee)	Company+(1000003299) Location Company+(1000000001)
Service Request Management	WOI:Template	Request Manager Support Company Request Manager Support Organization Request Manager Support Group Request Assignee Support Company Request Assignee Support Organization Request Assignee Support Company Important: The assignment menus display the following support groups: Support groups associated with a location company Support Groups with the functional role as WOI Assignee and WOI Manager for Request Assignee menus Support Groups with the functional role as WOI Manager for Request Manager menus	Location Company(1000000001)
Knowledge Management	RKM:KnowledgeArticleManager	Assigned Group	Company+(1000003299) Location Company+(1000000001)
Configuration	CFG:Assignment	Assignment Support company	Location Company(1000000001) Contact Company*+(1000000082)
Task Management	TMS:Task	Assignee Company Assignee Organization Assignee Group	Location Company(1000000001) Customer Company(1000003299)
Task Management	TMS:TaskTemplate	Assignee Company Assignee Organization Assignee Group	Location Company(1000000001)
Activity	AAS:Activity	Assignee Support Company Assignee Support Organization Assignee Support Group	Location Company(1000000001)
Activity	AAS:Template	Assignee Support Company Assignee Support Organization Assignee Support Group	Location Company(1000000001)

Error messages

While creating or modifying a ticket, the BMC Helix ITSM applications, BMC Helix Digital Workplace, and any other integration with BMC Helix ITSM applications may display the following error messages pertaining to support groups configuration for assignments:

Code	Message	Explanation
ARERR 51001	The Support Group <name of the support group> is not configured for assignment to Company <name of the location company> on <name of the form> form. Please contact your Administrator.	The error message is displayed when at least one of the following scenarios is true: Location company and customer company are the same. For example, IT Help Desk support group is not configured for Apex global. When creating or modifying a ticket for which Location company and Customer company are the same, and you associate IT Help Desk support group to Apex global. Because the Customer company and Location company are the same, the error message mentions only the location company. Location company is present but customer company is not specified. Customer company is present but location company is not specified.
ARERR 51016	The Support Group <name of the support group> is not configured for assignment to either Company <name of the location company> or <the name of the customer company> on <name of the form> form. Please contact your Administrator.	The error message is displayed when the selected support group is not defined for either the location company or the customer company.

To configure multiple support groups for assignment for a single company

Select Administration Console > Application Administration Console > Custom Configuration > Foundation > Advanced Options > Support Group Assignment Configuration to display the Support Group Assignment Configuration form.
Set the Configuration Mode to Multiple support groups to single company.
From the Support Company list, select a company whose support groups you want to make available for assignment to another company.
From the Select a Company to configure the support groups for assignment list, select a company or - Global -.
If you select - Global -, the support group selected in step 5 would be available for assignment for all companies.
Best practice
You must configure a support group by selecting either - Global - or a company. To configure a support group for - Global -, selected group should be configured only for Global. If you configure a support group for a company as well as - Global - , duplicate support groups will be displayed while assigning support group for a ticket.
From the List of available support group[s] for the selected company:, select the required support groups and click . The support group[s] listed below are available for assignment: table displays the updated list of support groups.
To make a support group unavailable for assignment for a company, select the required support group from The support group[s] listed below are available for assignment: table and click .
Repeat steps 3 and 5 to make support groups of another company available for assignment to the company selected in step 4.
Click Close.

To configure a single support group for assignment for multiple companies

Select Administration Console >Application Administration Console > Custom Configuration > Foundation > Advanced Options > Support Group Assignment Configuration to display the Support Group Assignment Configuration form.
Set the Configuration Mode to Single support group to multiple companies.
From the Select Support Group list, select a support group to make it available for assignment to multiple companies. The selected support group is available for assignment for the companies listed below table displays the companies for which the selected support group is already configured for assignment.
From the Select companies to configure the support group for assignment table, select companies for which you want to make the selected support group available for assignment and click .
The table on the right displays the updated list of support groups.
To make the selected support group unavailable for companies for assignment, select the required companies on the right side and click .
Click Close.
Support Group assignment configuration does not affect what company the support group is a part of. It only defines which companies can use the configured support group to resolve their tickets.
For example, Apex global has three support groups - Backoffice Support, Change Management, and Frontoffice Support. If you define the Frontoffice Support as a valid support group for ABC Corp by using the Support Group Assignment Configuration form, Frontoffice Support continues to be a part of Apex global and is available for assignment to both Apex global and ABC Corp.