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This section focuses on Incidents processing by the agents.
Assigning and Updating Incidents
Once the incident is registered, it has to be assigned to the responsible person to be processed. To assign an incident, please complete the following steps:
- Open the incident you want to work on;
- Find the Assignment Group field, then click the magnifier icon to select a group to assign the incident to;
- (Non-mandatory step) complete the same step for the Assigned User field.
The incident is assigned.
To perform any updates in the incident, please complete the following steps:
- Open the incident you want to work on;
- Change the desirable field(s);
- Click Save.
Your changes will be displayed in the Activity log, that is located in the Notes tab (scroll down the page).
The following information is displayed:
- Update author;
- Field updated;
- New field value;
- Old field value.
Activity view
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Create a "parent-child" relationships between incidents
Create a such relationship links two or more incidents between each other in a "parent-child" model.
To create a child ticket, please complete the following steps:
- Start creating a new incident in a way as it was described here;
- Fill in the form, then scroll down the page and open the Related Records tab;
- Unlock Slave Incidents. For this, click a lock icon.
- Click a magnifier icon to select an incident that will be slaves for this one. You can choose over one incident, in this case, all of them will be slaves for it.
- Click the lock icon again and then click Save.
If you need to make an existing incident child for another one, then you can skip step 1.
To create a parent ticket, please complete the following steps:
- Start creating a new incident in a way as it was described here;
- Fill in the form, then scroll down the page and open the Related Records tab;
- Click a magnifier icon on the Master Incident field;
- Select incident you want to be a parent for this one and then click Save.
If you need to make an existing incident parent for another one, then you can skip step 1.
Create an Incident Task
If solving of incident requires the participation of different departments, then you can create Incident Task for each of them. They will be related to the parent incident, but not like in the "master-slave" model. The better example is the "parent-child" model.
To create an incident task, please complete the following steps:
- Open the incident you want to work on;
- Scroll down the page, then open the Incident Task tab;
- Fill in the form:
- Number - filled automatically;
- State - leave it in the Pending state;
- Incident - filled automatically with the number of the parent incident;
- Assigned user - choose a responsible person you wish to assign a task to;
- Assigned group - choose a department you want to assign a task to;
Subject - describe the task here in a brief manner;
- Description - put there the detailed task.
- After you have entered task details, you can move to the Schedule tab. Here you can specify start and end dates for working.
- Actual Start Date - the date when the assigned person started to work on this task. This field must be filled by the agent;
- Actual End Date - the date when the assigned person finished the work on this task. This field must be filled by the agent;
- Planned Start Date - the date when you want the assigned person to start working on this task;
- Planned End Date - the date you want this task to be finished (completed and closed).
- Click Save.
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You can create as many Incident Tasks as you need. |
Create Relationships
You can create relationships between incidents and other types of tasks. For this, please complete the following steps:
- Open the incident you want to work on;
- Scroll down the page, then open the Related Records tab;
- You can create these types of relationships:
- Solved by Change;
- Caused by Change;
- Related Problems;
- Known Error;
- Related Inquiry;
- Slave Incidents;
Master Incident;
- Related Request;
- Related Article.
- To create relationships for the Solved by Change, Caused by Change, Related Problems, Related Inquiry, Slave Incidents, Related Article, please complete the following steps:
- Click a lock icon, then click a magnifier icon;
- In the new window appeared choose a necessary option;
- Click the lock icon again and then click Save.
- To create relationships for the Known Error, Master Incident, Related Incident, please complete the following steps:
- Click a magnifier icon;
- In the new window appeared choose a necessary option;
- Click Save.
Relationship types
Solved by Change
The incident is solved / can be solved by the Change specified.
Master Incident
The incident has a master incident (this essence is opposite to the child incidents).
agents. You can see the incident state model on the diagram below.
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Role required: incident_manager. |
Anchor state model state model Image Added
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Infrastructure Incidents do not have the Rejected by User state. |
The states of Incident Processing can be divided into:
- State Flow. When the incident is in the State Flow state, for example, In Progress, SLA indicators count down the time related to the incident processing until the SLA breaches.
- Waiting. When the incident is moved to the Waiting status (for example, Information Needed), all SLA indicators related to the incident stop the countdown.
State flow
State Flow includes the following procedures and states:
Procedure | State | Description | Available Transitions |
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Logging | Registered | The incident is recorded (via phone/email/Self-Service Portal) but not yet categorized. |
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Categorization | Assigned | The incident is categorized and assigned to a relevant person or group. |
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Resolution | In Progress | A person started working on the issue. |
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Closure | Completed | An incident is resolved when the agent provides temporary workarounds or permanent solutions. The agent changes the state to Completed so that the caller could decide on the results. The caller receives a notification. They are asked to evaluate the agent's job and the service level. If the user is satisfied with the solution, the incident is marked as Closed; otherwise, it is Rejected by User. |
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Closed | There are Agent Satisfaction and Service Satisfaction fields on the form to evaluate the agent performance. Each field has three following values:
On the Self-Service Portal, the caller can evaluate results. Values of these evaluations are connected to the values of choice options.
If an incident is not closed after it was marked as Completed, it can be closed automatically over an adjustable timeframe that is set in system properties. |
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Only the incident caller has the right to close the incidents. But in SimpleOne, this rule does not affect infrastructure incidents. The incidents of this type can be closed only by the responsible person after examination. |
Waiting
Waiting includes the following procedures and states:
Procedure | State | Description | Available Transitions |
---|---|---|---|
Investigation and diagnosis | Information Needed | If the issue description is not clear enough, the agent can request additional information by changing the incident state to Information Needed. Once the information is received, the agent should change the state to the previous one. |
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Resolution | Postponed | The incident can be marked Postponed if the resolving incident should be postponed for a known period. If the incident moves to this state, the agent should specify resolving date in the Resubmission field. But if the incident affects business functions, then it should have at least a temporary workaround. |
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Functional escalation | External Processing | If the incident solving requires 3rd party engaging, then, after reassignment, the incident state should be changed to External Processing. After the 3rd party engaging is over, the agent should change the incident state and the assigned user to the previous ones. |
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Resolution | Rejected by User | If the caller is not satisfied with the agent working on the incident after completing it, they can change the state to Rejected by User to address the defects. |
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Incidents prioritization
Incident priority can be figured out based on the incident impact and urgency using a priority matrix.
The impact of an incident indicates the damage that may be caused to the business user. In SimpleOne, the impact can be categorized as:
- Low
- Medium
- High
- Very High.
The urgency of an incident indicates the measure of time until an incident impacts on the business. In SimpleOne, the urgency can be categorized as:
- Low
- Medium
- High
- Very High.
Based on the priority, incidents can be categorized as:
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Critical.
Anchor matrix matrix Excerpt Include Priority Management Priority Management nopanel true
Assigning and updating incidents
Once the incident is registered, it should be assigned to a responsible person for further processing. To assign an incident, please complete the following steps:
- Navigate to Incident Management → All Incidents and open the incident you want to work on.
- Add a user to the Assignment User filed by clicking the magnifier icon
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- (Optional) Complete the same step for the Assigned Group field.
The incident is assigned.
There is also a quick way to assign an incident to a current user. To do so, click the Start work button in the right top corner to become the Assigned User. The state of the incident changes to In Progress automatically. The assigned group field remains unchanged (either with a group specified or empty). This button is available for all users who are not assigned to the incident and who have the itsm_agent role, or belong to the assigned group.
To perform any updates in the incident, please complete the following steps:
- Open the incident you need to work on.
- Change the necessary fields.
- Click Save or Save and Exit to apply changes.
Your changes will be displayed in the Activity Feed, in history.
The following information is displayed:
- Update initiator
- Field updated
- New field value
- Previous field value.
Activity view
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Escalation rules
There are two possible types of escalations:
Functional. When 1st level service agents cannot solve an incident for some reason (lack of authority or competence), they escalate it to the 2nd level service agents.
Hierarchical. This escalation is typically required when an incident is of a serious nature, or a set of incidents may take a lot of time. It is an escalation up to the management
.
Closure information
Based on the SimpleOne state model, when the incident was is resolved, it must should be marked as Completed, that . It will denote the incident closure. Also, the agent must should provide the following details:
- Closure Code
- Closure Notes.
Closure notes
In the Closure Notes field, you need to put down information on works performed and other information related to this incident.
Closure
Codecode
This code specifies an option of for the closure. SimpleOne has SimpleOne has the following options:
Option | Description |
---|---|
Solved 1st1st level | The incident was solved by the 1st 1st level of service agents withoutagents solved the incident without functional escalation. |
Solved 2nd2nd level | The incident was solved by the 2nd 2nd level of service agents solved the incident (the 1st level of service agents (1st levelwas notunable to solve it). |
Not Solved ( Unable To reproduceRefused) | The agents couldn't Agents could not reproduce the incident and didn'tdid not find any disfunction. |
Not Solved (Dropped) | This closure code is chosen when the request is not an incident at all (, for example, it 's a Change Request)is a Change Request. |
Not Solved (No User Reaction) | This closure code is chosen when the user didn'tdid not provide additional information after he wasthey were asked about this induring the Information Needed Incidentphase. |
Not Solved (Other) | This closure code is for all other reasons. |
Not Solved (Workaround) | This closure code means that the incident has no permanent solution, but a temporary workaround related to the Known Error. |
Not Solved (Other) | This closure code is meant to be for all other reasons. |
Closure Notes
In this field you need to put down information on works performed, and maybe other information related to this incident.
Escalation Rules
There are two possible types of escalations: functional and hierarchical.
- Functional escalation is when 1st level service agents are unable to solve an incident due to any reasons (lack of authority or competence), they escalate it to the 2nd level to address.
- Hierarchical escalation is typically required when an incident is of a serious nature or a set of incidents that may take an excessive amount of time. It's an escalation up to the management.
In SimpleOne, automatic incident escalation is implemented. How it works:
- If the incident have not been processed for a certain period, and there is a risk of the SLA breach, then assigned person or group manager is being notified about this;
- If the things has not been changed, then incident urgency increases, the incident rises up in line;
If it didn't help, then incident urgency increases again, the incident rises up in line, the assigned person or group manager is being notified about this repeatedly.
Also, you can keep the line manager of the assignee informed about the incident activities by turning on the "Attention Required" checkbox.
One of the examples of the hierarchical escalation:
If the incident solution was rejected by the caller (state Rejected by User was set) two times, then the automatic notification is sent to the assignee' manager.
Indication
Every incident has SLA indicators quantized and tied up. They can be found at the bottom of the incident page, in the Indication Tab. This tab displays the following information:
- Start time;
- Has breached;
- Stop time;
- Business Elapsed Time;
- Business Time Left;
- Breach Time;
Pause Time.
SLA Indicators
Indicator
Description
Processing infrastructure incidents
Since infrastructure incidents are created without the involvement of a business user, their state model is different from other incidents. Infrastructure incidents do not have the Information Needed and Rejected by User states. When such incidents are closed, it is not required to fill in the Agent Satisfaction and Service Satisfaction fields.
In SimpleOne, SLA indicators can be determined based on three entities: field, operator and value.
You can create your own SLA indicators using the Condition Builder. To create it, navigate to the Service Level Management → Timepoint Indicator and click New.
For example, you can create different SLA indicators for incidents having an impact from "Low" to "Very High" and set different "Breach Time" value for them, based on your SLA agreement.
Priority Management
The priority of the Incident can be figured out based on its impact and urgency using a priority matrix.
The impact of an incident indicates the level of damage that will be caused to the business user. In SimpleOne, the impact can be categorized as:
- Low;
- Medium;
- High;
- Very High.
The urgency of an incident indicates the measure of time until an incident has an impact on the business. In SimpleOne, the urgency can be categorized as:
- Low;
- Medium;
- High.
Based on the priority, incidents can be categorized as:
- Low;
- Moderate;
- High;
- Critical.
The priority matrix
Impact / Urgency
Very High
High
Medium
Low
High
Critical
Critical
High
Moderate
Medium
Critical
High
Moderate
Low
Low
Critical
Moderate
Low
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