Many of the clients that I work with have been using Ivanti Service Manager for many years. When we begin working together on some of the first items, we address how they get their work, how do they process the work, and where they feel their current processes are lacking. Quite often it comes down to customers building out their systems in a way that Ivanti Service Manager was not designed to function. That does not mean what they built is necessarily wrong, but they may be overlooking some key features that come with Ivanti Service Manager right out the gate. Here are three of the most overlooked functions within the Incident workspace.
1. Master Incidents – This is very easily overlooked when setting up Incident because by default it is disabled/hidden. A master incident is an incident that contains information common to one or more incidents. You can link multiple incidents to one master incident. It similar to Problem, but all within the Incident workspace. For example, when you enter resolution details and set a master incident to resolved, all of the linked incidents are also set to resolved and the system adds the same resolution details to each of the linked incidents. Click here to see our blog on Master Incidents!
2. Description Field – This might seem obvious, but the Description Field is used to gather additional details about an Incident. Out of the box this field is a normal plain text field. Most customers don’t realize you can change that field to an HTML field instead. This way you get can capture screenshots of errors sent in via Email Listener, format the descriptions in a more meaningful way and other options. A small change that can make a big difference.
3. Escalation Schedules – Most customers just use the Escalation Schedules to set mini SLA’s on Incidents. But these can do so much more. Escalation schedules can be configured with the use of quickactions. They can send emails out to managers letting them know the incident is about to breach. Update a field with additional information based on a timeframe, fire off a workflow. There are so many different ways you can use escalations to manage your tickets.
So how does your service desk stack up? Are you doing the right things to ultimately provide the absolute best in customer satisfaction? Are your processes aligned with your technology and people? If not, we can help! Contact us today and let us help you lead the way!