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Manage incidents and problems in Service Manager

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Service Manager helps your organization manage incidents and problems by implementing and automating help desk ticketing processes so that these processes comply with the best practices that are described in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). For more information about MOF 4.0, see Microsoft Operations Framework.

If you need to add or extend the functionality of Service Manager to implement custom processes for handling incidents and problems, you can use standard Microsoft development tools and the Service Manager SDK.

The procedures in this section are organized according to common problem and incident management scenarios. Even though the sample scenarios refer to a fictitious organization, Woodgrove Bank, the scenarios and steps are based on real use and they describe how to use the problem and incident management features in Service Manager.

At first, the difference between affected items and related items in problem and incident forms might not be obvious. However, the difference describes different relationships. An affected item is something that is directly affected by the problem or incident; for example, your computer. But a related item is something more loosely related but not directly affected. For example, a related item could be any other configuration item that isn't directly affected but connected to another configuration item as a reference.

Sample scenarios to manage incidents and problems in Service Manager

The following sample scenarios for Service Manager help you achieve your goal of managing incidents and problems by using multiple scenarios end to end. You can think of these sample scenarios as a case study that helps put the individual scenarios and procedures in context.

Manage incidents

In the scenario that encompasses incident management, Phil uses incident management to restore regular operations as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible. For example, by using the E-mail Incident template to populate a new email-related incident, he can quickly create an incident and ensure that the correct Impact, Urgency, Assigned Analyst, and Support Tier fields are configured. Carrying the example further, he creates a new incident for a user who is unable to view an email that was sent with restricted permissions. Phil creates an incident view so that he can easily work with all the incidents that are created for email problems. When changes are made to an incident, he edits the incident to reflect the changes.

In another example, an end-user experiences a printer problem, and she sends an email message to the help desk. Upon receipt of the message, Service Manager automatically creates an incident from the message. Phil investigates the problem, in part, by viewing the service. After the underlying problem has been solved, he resolves and closes the incident.

At Woodgrove Bank, connectors are configured in such a way that Service Manager imports configuration items and alerts from, so that some new incidents are created automatically. Phil reviews the automatically created incidents for accuracy.

Troubleshoot incidents

In the scenario that encompasses troubleshooting incidents, Phil is conducting an initial investigation of the problem that Joe is experiencing. Phil suspects that the root cause of the problem is that an update for Microsoft Exchange Server needs to be applied to Joe's Exchange server. However, there are other Exchange servers at Woodgrove Bank that probably also need to be updated. Phil starts his investigation by viewing the service that Garret created for the Exchange service. When any incidents affect a service component, that component is marked with an orange icon resembling a square containing an exclamation point. When a change request affects a service component, the component is marked with a special blue icon resembling a square containing a right-pointing arrow. Phil uses the map view on the Service Components tab to view configuration items and view incidents associated with them. Then, he opens other configuration items and adds them to the open incident.

To further troubleshoot, Phil wants to ping a remote computer that is exhibiting problems. He can use tasks that are part of the Service Manager console instead of having to use various other tools.

Manage problems

In the scenario that encompasses problem management, Phil has created a change request asking the Exchange Administrators group to apply an update, which is expected to resolve the problem. When a root cause is found and mitigated or resolved, the change request is completed and Phil is notified. He then uses the prescribed procedures to resolve a problem and automatically resolve incidents associated with the problem.

Manage Service Manager incidents

Help desk analysts use incident management to restore regular operations as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible by creating new incidents. They also work in partnership with Service Manager administrators to ensure that incidents that are created automatically or by end-users are correctly categorized and reassigned to appropriate personnel. Methods that analysts use to accomplish these duties include:

  • Using the E-mail Incident template to create new incidents.
  • Reviewing automatically created incidents, such as those incidents that are automatically created from System Center Operations Manager using the Operations Manager Alert connector.
  • Reviewing and updating incidents that are created by end-users who have sent requests by email.
  • Combining incidents into parent-child relationships when incidents are related.

Using the E-mail Incident template to populate a new email-related incident, you can quickly create an incident and ensure that the correct Impact, Urgency, Assigned Analyst, and Support Tier fields are configured.

If you configure connectors so that Service Manager imports configuration items and alerts from Operations Manager, some new incidents are automatically created. An analyst reviews the automatically created incidents for accuracy.

In Service Manager, incidents are automatically created from email requests by users. If the user is recognized as a Service Manager end-user, the request that is sent to the help desk email address automatically creates a new incident.

Note

Service Manager can automatically generate new incidents from email requests only after a Service Manager administrator enables inbound email processing. By default, the impact and urgency of every incident created by email submission is set to medium, and no category is assigned.

Normally, you create incidents only for user accounts in your organization that have Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) accounts that are synchronized with Service Manager. However, you might occasionally need to manually create incidents for users. For example, you might need to create an incident for a new user whose account isn't yet in AD DS or if an Active Directory account isn't yet synchronized with Service Manager. You can also manually create incidents to support external vendors who don't have Active Directory accounts. In another example, you might need to open an incident for an on-site technician who doesn't have an Active Directory account but who needs to report an incident. Or, you might need to open an incident for an externally-supported customer who doesn't have an Active Directory account. In all these examples, you must manually create a user in Service Manager. For more information, see How to Add a Member to a User Role.

Depending on the needs of your organization, you might want to have a clear distinction between an incident's Assigned To user and the primary owner. Within Service Manager, neither use has any implied value. For example, although you can choose both of these two users in an incident form, you might want customers to deal with a single person who is your customer focal point. In this case, that person might be the primary owner who also owns other incidents. An Assigned To user might be one of many analysts who might work on an incident temporarily before the incident is assigned to another analyst before it's ultimately resolved and closed.

IDs that are assigned to change requests and incidents aren't created in sequence. However, newer change requests and incidents are assigned IDs with a higher number than the IDs created previously.

Combine Service Manager incidents into parent-child groups

Incidents in System Center - Service Manager are short-lived while help desk analysts investigate and then restore operations. Often, incidents are related and it's useful to group incidents together. You can create a parent incident to group other existing incidents together, which can help provide visibility into them and their relationship to one another.

A Service Manager administrator can define automatic incident resolution settings so that when a parent incident is resolved, all its child incidents resolve automatically, don't resolve automatically, or to let the analyst decide whether to resolve or not. Similarly, an administrator can also define automatic incident reactivation settings so that when a parent incident is reactivated, all its child incidents reactivate automatically, don't reactivate automatically, or to let the analyst decide whether to reactivate the child incidents. Both processes can help you verify that all child incidents are resolved or activated together as a group.

Create a parent incident from an incident form

In System Center - Service Manager, one way a help desk analyst can create a parent incident is when an existing incident is already opened. You can create a parent incident using the following steps. A parent incident serves as a container for several incidents.

The following procedure is performed on an incident that is neither a parent incident nor a child incident. Afterward, a new parent incident is created and the existing incident is converted to a child incident.

To create a parent incident from an incident form, do the following:

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incidents.
  2. Select any Incident Management view that contains active incidents, and then select an incident.
  3. In the Tasks pane, select Edit to open the incident.
  4. In the Tasks pane, select Link to New Parent Incident to open the Link to New Parent Incident dialog.
  5. In the Link to New Parent Incident dialog, select a template to create the new parent incident with, and select OK. For example, select Networking Issue Incident Template, and select OK.
  6. In the Title box, enter a new description or modify the description that is inserted by the template. For example, enter Network Outage in Bldg 773.
  7. In the Affected user box, select the user who reported this incident. For example, select Joe Andreshak.
  8. In the Alternate Contact Method box, enter additional contact information for the affected user (optional).
  9. The Child Incidents tab appears in the form where you view the child incident that the new parent incident is grouped with and where you can add other child incidents.
  10. In the parent incident form, select OK to close it.
  11. In the original incident form, select OK to close it.

The help desk analyst can link open incidents to a parent incident or remove links using the following procedures.

To link open incidents to a parent incident, do the following:

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  2. Select any incident view that contains one or more incidents that you want to link to a parent incident.
  3. Select one or more incidents, and in the Tasks pane, select Link/Unlink to Existing Parent Incident, and then in the submenu, select Link.
  4. In the Link to parent incident dialog, select Link.
  5. In the Select Parent Incident dialog, select the parent incident that you want to link the open incident to, and select OK to create the link and close the Select Parent Incident dialog.
  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  2. Select any incident view that contains one or more incidents that you want to unlink from the parent incident.
  3. Select one or more incidents, and in the Tasks pane, select Link/Unlink to Existing Parent Incident, and then in the submenu, select Unlink.
  4. In the Unlink confirmation dialog, select Yes.

Resolve a parent incident

In Service Manager, the help desk analyst can resolve a parent incident, and then Service Manager will automatically resolve all its child incidents if the Service Manager administrator has configured Incident settings accordingly. This method of resolving incidents can help the analyst quickly close many child incidents. Use the following procedure to resolve a parent incident.

To resolve a parent incident, do the following:

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  2. Select the All Open Parent Incidents view, and then in the list of parent incidents, select the incident that you want to resolve.
  3. In the Tasks pane, select Change Incident Status, and then in the submenu, select Resolve.
  4. In the Resolve dialog, select a Resolution Category, and then in the Comments box, enter a description of the steps that you've taken to resolve the incident.
  5. If you want child incidents to resolve automatically and the option is available, ensure that the Resolve child incidents when resolving this parent incident option is selected, and select OK to resolve the incident-and child incidents, if selected, and then close the Resolve dialog.

While reviewing active incidents in Service Manager, help desk analysts might determine that an incident should have already been resolved because another analyst has already corrected the underlying cause. If there's a closed parent incident, the analyst can use the following procedure to link the incident to the resolved parent and then automatically resolve the active incident.

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  2. Select any incident view that contains the incident that you want to a resolved parent to.
  3. Select one or more incidents, and in the Tasks pane, select Link/Unlink to Existing Parent Incident, and then in the submenu, select Link.
  4. In the Select Parent Incident dialog, select the resolved parent incident that you want to link the open incident to, and select OK.
  5. In the Link to parent incident dialog, select Link to parent and resolve incident.
  6. If you're linking multiple active incidents to a resolved parent, ensure that you select Repeat this option for all conflicts to automatically resolve all the incidents.

Reactivate a resolved parent incident

In Service Manager, the help desk analyst can reactivate a parent incident, and then Service Manager will automatically activate all its child incidents if the Service Manager administrator has configured the Incident settings accordingly. This method of reactivating incidents can help the analyst quickly activate many child incidents. Use the following procedure to reactivate a parent incident.

Depending on the parent incident settings in the Administration workspace, the behavior of automatic child incident resolution and reactivation varies.

Reactivate a parent incident

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  2. Select the All Incidents view, and then in the list of parent incidents, select the incident that you want to reactivate.
  3. In the Tasks pane, select Change Incident Status, and then in the submenu, select Activate.
  4. In the Activate dialog, in the Comments box, enter a description of the reason you're activating the incident.
  5. Select OK to activate the incident and child incidents, if they're available and selected, and to close the Activate dialog.

Create a parent incident template

In Service Manager, a parent incident template is used to create new incidents. Incidents created from a template will include information for fields that you don't have to enter manually. By using a template for new incidents, new incidents are created faster than from scratch.

The template author creates a template for release records by using the following procedure:

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Library workspace, and in the Library pane, select Templates.
  2. In the Tasks list under Template, select Create Template.
  3. In the Create Template dialog, enter a name for the incident template and a description of what the template applies.
  4. Under Class, select Browse; in the Select a Class box, select Incident; and then select OK to close the Select a Class box.
  5. Optionally, you can select the management pack where the template is saved.
  6. Select OK to close the Create Template dialog, and the new incident template form appears.
  7. Enter information on the General tab, and select the Activities tab.
  8. Optionally, you can add, delete, or modify manual activities for the template.
  9. If you add an activity, the activity form opens. Enter the necessary information, and select OK to save the activity.
  10. When you've added all the activities you want, select OK to save the incident template and close it. The incident template then appears in the Templates list.

View a parent incident from a child incident

In Service Manager, the help desk analyst can use the following procedure to easily view parent incidents when a child incident is open. Reviewing parent incident information is often necessary to determine the status of its child incidents. Use the following procedure to view a parent incident from a child incident.

To view a parent incident from a child incident, do the following:

  1. In the Service Manager console, open the Work Items workspace, and in the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  2. Select an incident view that contains a child incident that you want to open, and then select the incident.
  3. In the Tasks pane, select Edit.
  4. In the incident form banner, the parent incident ID and description appears next to Parent incident. Select the linked parent incident to open it.
  5. After reviewing the parent incident information, you can optionally update any information, such as comments, in the Action Log.
  6. If you make changes to the parent incident, select OK. Otherwise, select Cancel.
  7. If you make changes to the child incident, select OK. Otherwise, select Cancel.

When analysts create new incidents, Service Manager automatically notifies you if any parent incidents exist with the same classification category. The purpose of the notification is to help you combine incidents into parent child groups where a common underlying issue exists. Later, you can use the parent incident to manage the group of incidents as a whole and to serve as a single point of resolution.

Use the following procedure to manually create a new incident and then link it to a related parent:

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select an incident view, such as All Incidents.
  3. In the Tasks pane, under Incident Management, select Create Incident.
  4. In the Tasks pane, select Apply Template.
  5. Under Templates in the Apply Template dialog, select an incident template, such as Software Issue Incident Template, and select OK.
  6. When the template applies a classification category or if you manually select a classification category that is in use by an active parent incident, a message appears in the incident form banner. You can optionally select the link to create a link from the new incident to the existing parent. If you're linking the new incident to a parent incident, perform one of the appropriate following substeps:
    • If the parent incident is resolved, in the Link to parent incident dialog, select Link to parent and resolve incident.
    • Select the link to create the link between the new incident and the parent incident.
  7. In the Title box, enter a new description or modify the description that is inserted by the template.
  8. In the Affected user box, select the user who reported this incident.
  9. In the Alternate Contact Method box, enter additional contact information for the affected user (optional).
  10. If necessary, select the Related Items tab.
  11. Optionally, in the Attached Files area, select Add.
  12. Optionally, in the Open dialog, select the file that you want to attach to this incident, and select Open. For example, select the screenshot of an error message that the affected user has received.
  13. Select OK.

Validate the creation of a new incident

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select All Incidents. New incidents appear in the All Incidents view.

Manually create a new incident in Service Manager

In Service Manager, incidents are automatically created from email requests by users. However, you can use the following procedures to manually create a new incident in the Service Manager console and then validate it. For example, you might want to manually create a new incident for a person who is experiencing an email-related problem. You can link other affected items, such as various computers, to indicate that the issue affects more than one computer.

Create a new incident from a configuration item view

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Configuration Items.
  2. In the Configuration Items pane, expand Configuration Items, expand Computers, and select All Windows Computers.
  3. In the All Windows Computers view, filter for the computer for which you want to create an incident, and then select the computer. For example, select Exchange01.woodgrove.com.
  4. In the Tasks pane, select Create Related Incident.
  5. In the Tasks pane, select Apply Template.
  6. Under Templates in the Apply Template dialog, select Software Issue Incident Template, and select OK.
  7. In the Title box, enter a new description or modify the description inserted by the template. For example, enter User unable to open e-mail that has restricted permissions.
  8. In the Affected user box, select the user who reported this incident. For example, select Joe Andreshak.
  9. In the Alternate Contact Method box, enter additional contact information for the affected user (optional).
  10. Select the Related Items tab.
  11. In the Attached Files area, select Add.
  12. In the Open dialog, select the file that you want to attach to this incident, and select Open. For example, select the screenshot of an error message that the affected user has received.
  13. Select OK.

Create a new incident by email

  1. In an email program, create a new email message, and enter the help desk alias or email address in the To box. For example, enter Helpdesk@Helpdesk.Woodgrove.com in the To box.
  2. In the Subject box, enter a subject. For example, enter Unable to print checks.
  3. In the message body, enter additional information that the help desk analyst can use to correct the problem. For example, enter The check printer has a paper jam. I will use a backup printer until the jam is fixed.
  4. Optionally, attach files that the help desk analyst can use to correct the problem.

Validate creation of a new incident

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select All Incidents. New incidents appear in the All Incidents view.

Change an existing incident in Service Manager

In Service Manager, you can use the following procedures to change the urgency of an incident, edit an unassigned incident from Operations Manager, link a knowledge article to an incident, and validate the changes. Users create simplified incidents using the Self-Service Portal based on the Incident portal template. Because user-created incidents are simplified, analysts often need to revise new incidents with additional information. Additionally, there's no functional difference between incidents created with the Self-Service Portal, using either the Need help with a problem or Need repair or fix options.

Note

Incidents are automatically created by System Center - Service Manager when the Operations Manager Alert connector is enabled. You can edit the new incidents that are generated when an Operations Manager alert is raised and then assign the incidents to analysts.

Change the urgency of an incident

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select All Open E-Mail Incidents.
  3. In the All Open E-Mail Incidents view, select the original incident. For example, select the Unable to print checks incident.
  4. In the Tasks pane, select Edit.
  5. In the Incident form, in the Urgency list, select High.
  6. Optionally, enter a comment in the Action Log box. If you don't want end-users to be able to read the comment, select the Private checkbox that is above the Action Log box. For example, in the Action Log box, enter The user called to say that the backup printer is unavailable and that this issue is now urgent. Then, select Add. The new comment appears as a log entry.
  7. Select OK to close the form and to save your changes.

Edit an unassigned incident from Operations Manager

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select All Open Operations Manager Incidents.
  3. In the All Open Operations Manager Incidents view, select an incident that was created automatically from an Operations Manager alert.
  4. In the Tasks pane, select Edit.
  5. In the Incident form, under Support Group, select Tier 1.
  6. Under Assigned to, enter the name of the help desk analyst who will investigate the problem.
  7. Select OK to close the form and to save your changes.

Link a knowledge article to an incident

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select All Open Operations Manager Incidents.
  3. In the All Open Operations Manager Incidents view, select the incident that was created automatically from an Operations Manager alert.
  4. In the Tasks list, select Search for Knowledge Articles.
  5. In the Knowledge Search dialog, enter a search term in the Search for box, and select Go. For example, enter MICR Check Printer Article.
  6. Select the article, select Link to <IncidentName>, select OK to close the informational dialog, and select Close.

Validate incident edits

  • Open the incident, and then verify that your changes appear. For example, verify that the comment you entered appears as a log entry.

Contact a user from an incident form

In Service Manager, you can contact a user by Skype for Business when an incident form is open. The presence indicator is shown in the form next to the affected user's name, and it displays their current status, if known. For the presence indicator to accurately reflect a user's status, the user must have an Active Directory account, and the user must be a member of the same domain in which the Service Manager management server has its computer account. Additionally, the computer running the Service Manager console must have Skype for Business installed.

Note

If a user's account belongs to a domain other than the domain in which the Service Manager management server has its computer account, the presence indicator might not accurately display the user's status.

Contact a user by instant message

  1. In an open incident form, select the presence indicator next to the Affected user box, and select the triangle next to the box.
  2. Select Send Instant Message.
  3. Your instant message program opens. Compose the instant message, and then send it.

Create an incident view and personalize it in Service Manager

In Service Manager, you can use the following procedures to create and personalize an incident view and then validate it.

Views let you group incidents that share certain criteria. For example, the following procedure helps you create a view that lists all the incidents in which the classification has been set to E-mail Problems or to some other classification. When you create a new view, it's saved and becomes available for later use.

You can also personalize a view. However, when you personalize changes to a view, those changes aren't saved. For example, you can personalize the All Incidents view, but if you change column widths, column sorting, or grouping or if you remove columns, the next time you return to the view it displays information in the same manner as it did before you personalized it.

Create an incident view

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management.
  3. In the Tasks pane, select Create View.
  4. In the General section of the Create View dialog, enter a name for the view in the Name box. For example, enter E-mail Incidents.
  5. In the Description box, enter a description. For example, enter All incidents in which the classification is E-Mail Problem.
  6. Select Criteria.
  7. Next to the Search for objects of a specific class list, select Browse.
  8. In the Select a Class list, under View, select Combination classes, select Incident (Typical), and select OK.
  9. In the Related classes box, ensure that Incident is selected. In the Available properties list, select Classification Category, and select Add. You might need to scroll to see the Add button.
  10. At the end of the Criteria section, in the Criteria definition area, select E-mail problems. When the criterion is complete, it resembles [Incident] Classification Category equals E-Mail Problems.
  11. Select Display, and in the Columns to display list, select Status, Classification Category, and Description. Next, under Assigned To User, select Display Name. Then, select OK.

Personalize an incident view

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and then select an incident view. For example, select All Incidents.
  3. Right-click any view column heading to resize the columns, to remove items from the results, or to change column sorting and grouping. Repeat this step until you're satisfied with the results.

Validate the incident view creation

  • In the Work Items pane, ensure that an E-Mail Incidents view exists under Incident Management. Ensure that the view displays all the incidents in the E-Mail Problems category.

    Note

    It might take a few seconds for the new incident view to appear.

Resolve and close an incident in Service Manager

In Service Manager, you can use the following procedures to resolve and close an incident and then validate that the incident was resolved and closed.

After you research a problem and resolve its source, you can resolve and close the incident. An incident is considered resolved when the required change has been made. When the affected user has confirmed that the problem that caused the incident has been eliminated, the incident can be closed.

Resolve and close an incident

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select E-Mail Incidents.
  3. In the E-Mail Incidents view, select the incident you want to resolve and close.
  4. In the Tasks pane, select Change Incident Status and select Resolve.
  5. In the Resolve dialog, select the appropriate category for resolving this incident in the Resolution Category list. For example, select Fixed by higher tier support.
  6. In the Comments box, enter a comment that explains the resolution. For example, enter Resolved by installing Service Pack 1 on the Exchange server, and select OK.
  7. In the Tasks pane, select Change Incident Status and then Close.
  8. In the Close dialog, enter a comment about the closure of the incident, and select OK.

Validate that an incident was resolved and closed

  • In the All Incidents pane, the status for the incident or incidents changes from Active to Resolved when you resolve an incident and from Resolved to Closed when you close the incident.

    Note

    It might take a few seconds for the new status to appear. To immediately view the change, select Refresh.

Troubleshoot Service Manager incidents

You can use the following procedures to troubleshoot an incident in Service Manager using a service map. A service map is a visual representation of a service from the perspective of the business and user that shows critical dependencies, settings, and areas of responsibility. Because a service map can show the relationship between incidents and configuration items, it's especially useful when you troubleshoot issues that might affect multiple incidents and configuration items. For example, if an incident affects one configuration item, other configuration items that are part of the service might also be affected. If necessary, you can add additional configuration items as items that are affected by the same open incident.

Additionally, when you use the Service Components tab to view the service map, you can easily determine whether there are active incidents or change requests open for a service component. When any incidents affect a service component, that component is marked with an orange icon resembling a square containing an exclamation point. When a change request affects a service component, the component is marked with a special blue icon resembling a square containing a right-pointing arrow.

View incidents that affect service components

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Configuration Items.
  2. In the Configuration Items pane, expand Business Services, and select All Business Services.
  3. In the All Business Services list, double-click a business service. For example, double-click Exchange Service.
  4. In the dialog that opens, select the Service Components tab.
    The list of service components includes configuration items. For example, the list might include computers running Microsoft Exchange Server. When a service component is marked with an icon, the icon indicates that an incident is associated with the service component.
  5. Select a configuration item that has a related work item. For example, select the Exchange01.woodgrove.com server.
  6. In the Related work items for the selected item list, select a work item to view, and select Open.
  1. In the list of service components, select an item that has an active incident.
  2. Under Related work items for the selected item, select a work item, and select Open to open the incident.
  3. Under Affected Items, select Add.
  4. In the Select objects dialog, select the configuration item to add to the incident, select Add, and select OK.
  5. Select OK to update the incident, and then return to the Service Components tab for the service.
  6. Repeat the previous steps to add other service components to the open incident.
  7. Select OK to close the service item.

Validate that the service components were added to an incident

  • Open the business service to which you added the incident, and select the Related Items tab. Verify that the new incident appears under Work items affecting this configuration item.

Manage problems in Service Manager

The procedures in this section describe how to manage problems in Service Manager.

In Service Manager, problems are records that are created to help prevent future problems and incidents from happening, to eliminate recurring incidents, and to minimize the impact of incidents that can't be prevented. Analysts can use the Service Manager console to create problem records and to associate incidents with problems.

Create and edit problem records

You can use the following procedures to create new problem records and then edit them by using the Service Manager console. You can create a new problem record from the Service Manager console, from an incident view, or from an incident form.

Create a new problem record from the console

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Problem Management, and select Active Problems.
  3. In the Tasks pane, select Create Problem.
  4. In the Title box, enter a title for the problem. For example, enter Outlook E-Mail Restricted Permissions.
  5. In the Description box, enter a description of the problem. For example, enter Users cannot view e-mail messages sent with restricted permissions.
  6. If you want to assign the problem to an analyst, enter the name of the analyst in the Assigned to box.
  7. In the Source list, select the source of the problem request.
  8. Select the appropriate values in the Category, Impact, and Urgency boxes.
  9. Select OK.

Create a new problem record from an incident view

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Incident Management, and select All Incidents.
  3. In the All Incidents list, search for incidents whose titles match the problem record that you want to create, and select Search. For example, search for restricted permission.
  4. In the search results, select the incidents for which you want to create a problem record. In the Tasks pane under Selected Items, select Create Problem.
  5. In the Title box, enter a title for the problem. For example, enter Outlook E-Mail Restricted Permissions. When you create a problem by using this method, the problem form inherits the title from the open incident if a single incident was selected. If multiple incidents were selected, the Title box is blank. You can change the title of the problem record.
  6. In the Description box, enter a description of the problem. For example, enter Users cannot view e-mail messages sent with restricted permissions.
  7. If you want to assign the problem to an analyst, enter the name of the analyst in the Assigned to box.
  8. In the Source list, select the source of the problem request.
  9. Select the appropriate values in the Category, Impact, and Urgency boxes.
  10. Select OK.

Create a new problem record from an incident form

  1. Ensure that an incident is already open. Then, under Tasks, select Create Problem.
  2. In the Title box, enter a title for the problem. For example, enter Outlook E-Mail Restricted Permissions. When you create a problem using this method, the problem form inherits the title from the open incident. You can change the title of the problem record.
  3. In the Description box, enter a description of the problem. For example, enter Users cannot view e-mail messages sent with restricted permissions.
  4. If you want to assign the problem to an analyst, enter the name of the analyst in the Assigned to box.
  5. In the Source list, select the source of the problem request.
  6. Select the appropriate values in the Category, Impact, and Urgency boxes.
  7. Select OK.

Edit a problem record

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Problem Management, and select Active Problems.
  3. In the Active Problems view, double-click a problem. For example, double-click the Outlook E-Mail Restricted Permissions problem.
  4. In the problem form, edit information that needs to be changed. For example, if a workaround is found for the problem, select the Resolution tab. Then, in the Workarounds field, enter the workaround steps.
  5. Select OK.

Validate the creation of a new problem record

  • In the Tasks list, select Refresh to view the new problem record, or open the problem record to view the revised information.

You can use the following procedures to resolve a problem record and the incidents that are associated with it and then validate the resolution.

Resolve a problem record and the incidents that are associated with it

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Problem Management, and select Active Problems.
  3. In the Active Problems view, double-click the problem record that you want to resolve. Then, in the Tasks pane, select Resolve.
  4. Select the Resolution tab, and select to select the Auto-resolve all incidents associated with this problem checkbox.
  5. In the Resolution Category box, select the appropriate category.
  6. In the Resolution Description box, enter a summary of the resolution for this problem record. For example, enter Application of Exchange Server 2010 SP1 fixed the restricted permission problem that affected users across forests.
  7. Select OK.

Validate problem and incident resolution

  • Verify that the incidents associated with the problem record appear in the All Incidents view and that they have a status of Resolved.

    Note

    It might take a few minutes for the incident status to be updated to Resolved.

You can use the following procedure to link an incident or change request to a problem record if you created a problem record without linking it to an existing incident or change request.

To link an incident or change request to a problem record, do the following:

  1. In the Service Manager console, select Work Items.
  2. In the Work Items pane, expand Problem Management, and select Active Problems.
  3. In the Active Problems view, double-click a problem record. For example, double-click the Outlook E-mail Restricted Permissions problem record.
  4. In the problem form, select Related Items tab.
  5. Under Work Items, select Add.
  6. In the Select objects dialog, either select a work item or search for and select one or more work items to link to the problem record. Select Add, and select OK.
  7. Select OK to close the form.
  • In the Active Problems view, open the problem record to which you linked a work item, select the Related Items tab, and then verify that the items you linked appear under Work Items.

Next steps