Configuring assignments

Ticket or request assignments are based on organization, location, service, and product categorization. Assignments are also associated with the application in which they are used. An assignment can be broadly or narrowly defined, and can apply to all or only specific BMC Helix ITSM applications.

Important

Configure BMC Helix ITSM assignments solely from the Application Administration Console. Do not configure BMC Helix ITSM assignments from either the Assignment Engine Console or from the back-end forms, because this might cause the application to not assign requests as expected.

In BMC Helix ITSM, you can create a group assignment and set up auto assignments as well.

To configure automatic assignment to support groups

In Mid Tier, from the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation > Configure Assignment > Configure Application Assignment, and then click Open.
To change the form to New mode, click New Request on the form in a browser.
In the Event field, select the type of assignment entry.
Select a status for the assignment.
For an active assignment, the status should be Enabled.
(Optional) Select a sort order.
The assignment is placed in order, based on the number selected. When two or more assignment rules match the criteria, the one that has a greater sort order is given preference. Generic assignments should have a lower sort order and specific assignments should have a greater sort order.
In the Assignment area, select the support company, support organization, and assigned group to assign the support group.
In the Routing Order area, as an advanced feature, you can further specify when this assignment entry should be used for the automated assignment. When a BMC Helix ITSM application uses the routing order, which is a feature of many of the main ticketing forms, it uses information from the form to find an assignment entry and, in turn, the support group for assignment.
The Contact Company and Company fields are required. In an incident, the value of the Contact Company and the Company fields relate to the customer company.
Important
We recommend that you configure location or categorization specific assignment rules. A default assignment configuration rule must be available for each company, so that it is applied for generic assignments.
You can map the Assignment entry using the following data structures:
- Organization
- Location
- Operational Categorization (not used in the BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management application)
- Product Categorization
In the Available Systems area, select the BMC Helix ITSM applications and modules to which to apply the assignment entry.
This enables you to select different support groups for assignment, even if the mapping selections are the same. For example, you can create an assignment entry that applies only to the Incident Management feature of the BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk application. If you select the Security Incident option under Incident Management, when you create a security incident, it is automatically assigned to the required security team.
Important
The settings specified in the Available Systems area are applicable only to the events relevant to the systems (also referred as parent systems) listed in this area. If you create an event relevant to a child system, it is considered for auto assignment irrespective of the settings specified in the Available Systems area.
For example, task is a child of Change Management, Incident Management, and Work Order Management. However, when you create a Task Assignee type of event and do not select Yes for Change Management, Incident Management, and Work Order Management, tasks are still considered for auto assignment.
Click Save.

Assignment events

Event	Available systems	Form assignment	Description
- General -	Incident Management feature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure Event	Incident	Used to assign an incident for resolution.
- General -	Problem Managementfeature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Known Error	Used to assign a known error assignee to maintain the accuracy of the known error information.
- General -	Problem Managementfeature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Problem Investigation	Used to assign a problem assignee to investigate the problem.
- General -	Purchase Requisition	Purchase Requisition	Used to assign a purchase requisition.
Incident Owner	Incident Management feature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk User Service Restoration User Service Request Infrastructure Restoration Infrastructure Event	Incident	Used to assign an incident owner for an incident.
Infrastructure Change Coordinator	BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management application	Infrastructure Change	Used to assign a change coordinator for an infrastructure change.
Infrastructure Change Manager	BMC Helix ITSM: Change Management application	Infrastructure Change	Used to assign a change manager for an infrastructure change.
Problem - Coordinator	Problem Managementfeature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Known Error	Used to assign a problem coordinator to a known error.
Problem - Coordinator	Problem Managementfeature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Problem Investigation	Used to assign a problem coordinator to a problem investigation.
Solution Assignment	Problem Managementfeature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Solution	Used to assign a solution database entry.
Task Assignee	Task Management System	Task	Used to assign a task to the task implementer.
Unavailability Assignment	BMC Helix ITSM: Asset Management application	Unavailability Update	Used to define CI unavailability.
Activity Assignee	Release Management module	Activity	Used to assign an activity assignee for an activity.
Release Coordinator	Release Management module	Release	Used to assign a release coordinator for a release request.
Knowledge SME Review	BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management application	Knowledge Article	Used to assign an article assignee when the article status is set to SME Review.
Content Review	BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management application	Knowledge Article	Used to assign an article assignee when the article status is set to Content Review.
Major Incident Manager	Incident Management feature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Incident	Used to assign a major incident manager for a major incident.
Communication Coordinator	Incident Management feature of BMC Helix ITSM: Service Desk	Incident	Used to assign a coordinator who owns communication coordination for a major incident.

Automatic assignments to individuals within a support group

You can configure assignment routing so that the system automatically assigns records, such as incidents, problem investigations, or change requests, to the appropriate support group. To automatically assign issues or requests to a group, use the Group Assignment section. When a BMC Helix ITSM application uses the routing order, it uses form information to find an assignment record and to select the support group for assignment. For example, if you enter the required details in the Group Assignment section and select Security Incident for Incident Management under Available Systems, when you create a security ticket, it will be automatically assigned to the group that you have selected.

By using the Assignment Engine, which is packaged with BMC Helix ITSM, you can define criteria to automatically assign an issue to a specific individual from the available people. For more information about the assignment process in AR System applications, see the following topics:

Configuring incident rules
Configuring change rules
Configuring application settings in the BMC Helix ITSM: Knowledge Management documentation
Configuring release and activity rules
Configuring Problem Management rules
Configuring automatic assignment rules for individuals

For information about Assignment Engine, see Automatic request assignment.

Automatic assignment to individuals

In addition to configuring group assignment, you can use the predefined assignment processes provided with BMC Helix ITSM that use the Assignment Engine for automatic assignment to individuals.

Advanced administrators can also configure custom individual assignment information in the Assignment Engine.

For more information about configuring the Assignment Engine, see Automatic request assignment.

Important

To remove an individual from auto-assignment, set the Assignment Availability field on the People record to No.

To configure ticket assignments to support groups

In Mid Tier, from the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select Foundation > Configure Assignment > Configure Application Assignment, and then click Open.
The Configure Assignment form is displayed.
To change the Configure Assignment form to New mode, click New Request.
In the Event field, select the type of assignment entry.
For example, to assign an Owner Group to incidents, select Incident Owner. The Owner Group is responsible for ensuring that the customer is satisfied with the incident resolution and for closing the incident.
Important
For major incidents, ensure that you configure Major Incident Manager and Communication Coordinator events.
Select a status for the assignment entry.
For an active assignment, the status should be Enabled.
In the Assignment area, select the support company, support organization, and assigned group.
(Optional) In the Routing Order area, you can specify when the assignment entry should be used for the automated assignment.
In the Available Systems area, select the BMC Helix ITSM modules to which you want to apply the assignment entry.
For example, you can create an assignment entry that applies only to the Incident Management module. This enables you to select different support groups for assignment, even if the mapping selections are the same.

For more information about configuring ticket assignments, see Managing-your-work-by-using-Ticket-Console.

To configure ticket assignments to individuals within a support group

The Assignment Engine can automatically assign tickets to individuals. You configure this assignment from the rules form for each ticket type, such as Incident Rules and Work Order Rules.

In Mid Tier, from the Application Administration Console, click the Custom Configuration tab.
From the Application Settings list, select the applicable module, such as Service Request Management, then the ticket type, such as Work Order, then Rules, and click Open.
Select the company for which to configure assignment, or select the Global option.
Selecting Global, configures assignment for all companies.
Set Assignment Engine Integration to Yes.
Along with the other ticket types, the major incident management process follows this assignment method.
For each type of assignee, select an assignment method.
For example, for work orders, you must configure the assignment method for the work order manager and for the work order assignee.
Click Save.

To enable automatic assignment of Live Chat tickets to a support agent

Incidents or work orders in BMC Helix ITSM that are created from a Live Chat conversation can be automatically assigned to the support agent who last handled that chat conversation. This setting can be enabled from Centralized Configuration.

In Mid Tier, from the Application list, select AR System Management Console > AR System Server Group Console > Server Group Configuration.
From the Work on Component Type menu, select com.bmc.arsys.smartit.
Click Load Settings.
From the Global Settings table, select the assignTicketToLiveAgent parameter and click Add To Update Settings under that table.
For information about this parameter, see Centralized configuration.
Set Update Selected Rows With Value to True and click Update.
Click Save All Rows.

Methods for automatically assigning tickets to individuals

The following methods are available from the Rules forms:

Round Robin—Assigns the issue to the user who has gone the longest since receiving an assignment.
For example, if user A was last assigned an issue at 9:00 A.M., and user B was assigned an issue at 10:30 A.M., user A is selected.
Important
You can use this assignment process for Major Incident Managers and Communication Coordinators as well.
Load Balance by Number—Assigns the issue to the user who has the fewest number of issue assignments.
For example, if user A is assigned 2 issues and user B is assigned 3 issues, user A is selected.
Load Balance by Capacity—Assigns the issue to the user who has the lowest capacity ratio.
Consider the following example: If user A has a capacity rating of 10 and is assigned 5 issues, the capacity ratio is 5/10=0.5 (Assigned issues/Capacity rating=Capacity ratio). Similarly, if user B has a capacity rating of 20 and is assigned 8 issues, the capacity ratio is 8/20=0.4. In this case, user B is selected because of the lower capacity ratio. But if user A and user B have a capacity rating of 10 and are assigned 10 issues, in this case, the next open issue is assigned to the user who has gone the longest since receiving an assignment.

To remove an individual from automatic assignment

On the People record for the individual, set the Assignment Availability field to No.