Environment
Novell Service Desk 6.5
Situation
NSD Incident assignment follows a complex pathway to determine which Technician is best suited to handle the problem. This is based on Technician location, load or skill set, and on to more extensive parameters. This will help understand the variables within the assignment process.
Resolution
Creating requests via Email
If the Create Incidents feature is turned on, the system will attempt to either create a new request or update an existing one each time a message arrives in the system inbox.
To activate this feature:
To create a request via email, a Customer with a pre-existing account can simply send an email message describing the issue to the appropriate Team email address (refer to Setting Up Team Aliases, below).
When a new message arrives, the system identifies the Customer by matching the sender's email address against the addresses of Customers registered in the database. If it fails to find a match, an email is bounced back to the sender notifying them that they must create an account before creating requests via email. The content of this message is configured in the No Account field under Setup > Email > Messages.
If a matching Customer account is found, and the address that the email was sent to belongs to an existing Team, a request is created in the system. The body of the email becomes the main text of the request description. Any attachments included with the email will also be attached to the request. The new request is assigned a priority type of Medium, and uses the default Classification - General.
If the Customer only owns a single Item, this Item is automatically assigned to the request and the standard system SLA check of Item > Customer > Organizational Unit will be run to verify which SLA should be assigned to the request.
If the Customer owns multiple Items, the system can automatically assign the relevant Item upon request creation if the Customer prefixes the email subject with ‘Item #’ followed by the Item identification number as recorded in the CMDB. If the Customer has an account in the system and is assigned as an owner of the Item, the system will refer to Relationships and Skills configured in the CMDB, resulting in the request being routed to the most relevant Technician for the job.
In the case where the “Item #” is not included in the email subject line, and if the matching Customer is assigned zero or multiple Items, the new request uses the Unknown Item and the system default SLA. It is assigned to the Team or Technician who support the Unknown Item. When the Item is changed from Unknown to a specific Item, the Team or Technician assigned may change based on the Team configured to support the Item. The SLA may also be automatically reset by the system as it applies the SLA derivation logic of Item > Customer > Organizational Unit to assign the relevant SLA. This is the only time the SLA can be changed.
Once the request has been created, an entry is added to the request Audit Trail, stating the request was generated via email. The Customer and the assigned Technician then receive emails notifying them of the request number and details.
If the Create Incidents feature is turned on, the system will attempt to either create a new request or update an existing one each time a message arrives in the system inbox.
To activate this feature:
- Tick the Create Incidents check box under Setup > Email > Setup.
- If all Team members are to receive a copy of the notification that a new request has been received, set the Notify on New option within the Information tab of the Team.
To create a request via email, a Customer with a pre-existing account can simply send an email message describing the issue to the appropriate Team email address (refer to Setting Up Team Aliases, below).
When a new message arrives, the system identifies the Customer by matching the sender's email address against the addresses of Customers registered in the database. If it fails to find a match, an email is bounced back to the sender notifying them that they must create an account before creating requests via email. The content of this message is configured in the No Account field under Setup > Email > Messages.
If a matching Customer account is found, and the address that the email was sent to belongs to an existing Team, a request is created in the system. The body of the email becomes the main text of the request description. Any attachments included with the email will also be attached to the request. The new request is assigned a priority type of Medium, and uses the default Classification - General.
If the Customer only owns a single Item, this Item is automatically assigned to the request and the standard system SLA check of Item > Customer > Organizational Unit will be run to verify which SLA should be assigned to the request.
If the Customer owns multiple Items, the system can automatically assign the relevant Item upon request creation if the Customer prefixes the email subject with ‘Item #’ followed by the Item identification number as recorded in the CMDB. If the Customer has an account in the system and is assigned as an owner of the Item, the system will refer to Relationships and Skills configured in the CMDB, resulting in the request being routed to the most relevant Technician for the job.
In the case where the “Item #” is not included in the email subject line, and if the matching Customer is assigned zero or multiple Items, the new request uses the Unknown Item and the system default SLA. It is assigned to the Team or Technician who support the Unknown Item. When the Item is changed from Unknown to a specific Item, the Team or Technician assigned may change based on the Team configured to support the Item. The SLA may also be automatically reset by the system as it applies the SLA derivation logic of Item > Customer > Organizational Unit to assign the relevant SLA. This is the only time the SLA can be changed.
Once the request has been created, an entry is added to the request Audit Trail, stating the request was generated via email. The Customer and the assigned Technician then receive emails notifying them of the request number and details.
Additional Information
Formerly known as 1000001