Summary
How to Configure Service Manager 7 for Multi-Tenant Implementations
Reference
To retrieve the Instructions document in PDF format, click here
To download the zipped unload files, click here.
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Best Practices for Multi-Tenant Environments
How to Configure Service Manager 7 for Multi-Tenant Implementations.
HP® Software — Service Management
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Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 2
Techniques used in Multi-Tenant implementations.............................................................................. 2
Data Segregation................................................................................................................... 2
Mandanten security............................................................................................................. 2
Data Presentation................................................................................................................... 2
Dynamic forms................................................................................................................... 2
Dynamic sub-formats............................................................................................................ 2
Pre-requisites............................................................................................................................. 4
Tailoring.................................................................................................................................. 4
Setting up Data Segregation..................................................................................................... 5
Plan your Data Segregation strategy....................................................................................... 5
Setting up the Mandanten values............................................................................................ 5
Customizing Service Manager for setting the company context..................................................... 6
Create company specific subformats..................................................................................... 12
Invoking the company context when opening an incident........................................................... 13
Creating dynamic sub-formats..................................................................................................... 16
Setting the system up for dynamic sub-formats............................................................................. 16
Creating the dynamic subform from the company record............................................................... 18
Appendix A............................................................................................................................ 20
Checklist of records to modify to allow for this functionality........................................................... 20
Service and Incident Management........................................................................................ 20
Additional steps to perform on Change Management................................................................ 21
For more information................................................................................................................ 22
From the Service Desk perspective the Service Manager application is designed primarily to provide basic support within an organization. Managed Service Providers (MSP) or Software as a Service (SaaS) who provide Service Desk support to multiple tenants, or large diverse organizations that provide support to multiple clients will need to extend Service Manager functionality. Extending Service Manager functionality to accommodate these complex organizations with multiple tenants requires several modifications to the data presentation and data segregation methodologies.
All steps described in this document should be performed by an experienced system administrator.
Data Segregation is necessary in the multi-tenant environment to ensure that one tenant cannot access data from other tenants. The implementation of Mandanten security to segregate data in Service Manager is needed to perform the segregation.
Mandanten protection should be implemented against tables such as probsummary, company, contacts, category, subcategory, producttype and problemtype, as well as other supporting tables such as device and department. The number of tables that should be protected depends on the environment and the modules implemented.
For additional information about Mandanten table security and the mandant() function, see the Service Manager online help.
Using the mandant() function to implement data segregation
As an extension to the data segregation, we will implement the capability for users who support multiple tenants to be able to choose the tenant environment to work in. Use the mandant() function – the correct syntax is: mandant(2,{array_of_security_groups}) – to set and reset Mandanten values to show either records for all of the user’s security groups, or to show only the security group that is specific to the customer calling in.
When the help desk employee selects the company (or department) from which the customer is calling, the mandant() function sets the Mandanten environment (all Mandanten protected tables) to display only records that are relevant to that company. After the employee finishes supporting a specific tenant and returns to his or her work queue, tickets for all of the employee's security groups are displayed once again.
In Service Manager, form names can be dynamically changed using the Document Engine tailoring tool. For example, if an employee is allowed to view some records and update others, or is allowed only a restricted view of the data, it is more efficient to change the form used to display the data or the I/O condition with a single expression in the Document Engine than by using DVD statements on the form to manipulate the display properties of each element on the form.
Service Manager provides sub-formats to display specialized information. By default, the name of a sub-format is hard-coded using Forms Designer so that the sub-format is static. A dynamic sub-format is a sub-format linked to the main form where a variable is used to specify the name of the sub-format so that it can be loaded dynamically at runtime.
With dynamic sub-formats, generic information such as ticket categorization, contact information, Service Level Agreement (SLA) information, ticket history, and ticket alerting are put into the main form such as IM.template.update. All tenant-specific information can be put onto a single sub-format. As the helpdesk user who supports multiple tenants’ scrolls from ticket to ticket, the sub-format display dynamically changes to the unique information and format required for each tenant.
To reduce the effort of creating these company-specific sub-formats, HP Software created an application to generate them automatically, based on information in the company table. The administrator simply enters the labels, field names and required field types as well as a limited amount of DVD (Dynamic View Dependency) values into the company record and saves the record. A sub-format with the correct naming convention (company.<company_name>.<tablename>.subformat) based on the requested information is automatically generated.
Warning: If a sub-format with that name already exists, it is overwritten.
1. Each Security Group must represent exactly one company.
2. Security Group names must be in upper-case.
3. The Company field must be required in Service Desk interactions as well as all other tables that need to be Mandanten protected.
4. Application Threading must be completely turned off for the user in each module where this is applied. Typically, this is specified in the Profile records for the various modules in the System (Service Desk, Incident Management, Configuration Management, Change Management, etc.).
Several unload files accompany this document in a zip file called MSP_Best_PracticesSM7.zip.
Note: These files were created using Service Manager 7, and should be applied only to Service Manager 7 systems.
Follow the instructions in the tailoring and dynamic sub-format sections for loading the unload files.
Important: Unload files are clearly marked OOBonly if they should be applied only to an Out-Of-Box system. Unload files that do not include OOBonly in their name can be applied to any system.
The following steps show how to tailor the Incident Management module. All tailoring is described in detail, but can be made easier by loading the supplied unloads. A file named SM7TailoringOOBonly.unl is included in the zip supplied with this document. This file should only be loaded into an out-of-box system and will load the following records:
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Table Name
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Record
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operator
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BOB.HELPDESK
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scmandant
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contacts, dept, device, probsummary
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scsecuritygroup
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ACME, Company A, Company B, Company C, GENERICOM, HP, TEST
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formatctrl
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login.DEFAULT
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dbdict
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probsummary
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format
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IM.template.browse.g, IM.template.close.g, IM.template.km.g, IM.template.open.g, IM.template.ro.g, IM.template.update.g, apm.quick.g
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displayscreen
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scm.advanced
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Object
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probsummary
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Process
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cc.create, cc.qopen.create, us.screlate, im.view.init, im.new.incident
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link
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incidents, probsummary
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menu
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IM
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Table Name
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Record
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Process
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company.specific.incident, company.specific.incident2
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Format
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company.prompt.g
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Wizard
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MSP Reset Company, MSP Switch Company, MSP Switch Company 2
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Determine which tables need to be protected and who will have access to which records. This includes making sure that the company field is part of each of these tables.
1. The scmandant table should have records for the probsummary and company tables and for all other tables in your setup that need to be protected based on the value of the company field.
2. Create the scsecuritygroup records to match the companies (see prerequisites 1 and 2)
1. Add a calculation to the login.DEFAULT FormatControl to determine the security groups an operator has upon login. The add condition for the calculation is TRUE, and the expression is:
$G.orig.secgroup=security.group in $file
2. Create a Process named “company.specific.incident” that sets the Mandanten values based on the company selected; and then calls the apm.first application:
On the initial expressions tab enter:
$L.security.token=str(toupper(company in $L.file))
$L.void=mandant(2, {$L.security.token})
On the RAD tab, enter in the area labeled “Expressions evaluated before RAD call”
$G.company.sub.format="company."+tolower(company in $L.file)+"."+filename($L.file)+".subformat"
And then call apm.first with a condition of not null(company in $L.file) as shown below:
3. Create a Process called company.specific.incident2 Process that sets only the Mandanten values.
On the initial expressions tab enter:
$L.security.token=str(toupper(company in $L.file))
$L.void=mandant(2, {$L.security.token})
On the RAD tab, enter in the area labeled “Expressions evaluated before RAD call”
$G.company.sub.format="company."+tolower(company in $L.file)+"."+filename($L.file)+".subformat"
4. Create a form named company.prompt.g that enables selection of the company in the wizard.
Note: Make sure to check the Select Only property of the Company drop-down list shown below
5. Create three wizards. These are used to execute the mandant() function to restore the default login Mandanten settings for the operator, and reset the current company setting.
· MSP Switch Company
On the Wizard Info tab, enter a text such as “Select Company to create Incident for” for Window Title, Title, and prompt.
On the File Selection tab, enter the Initial Expression $L.void=mandant(2, $G.orig.secgroup) and select the $L.file by creating a probsummary type record.
On the Usage tab, request user input in the company.prompt.g form.
On the Actions tab, select to perform all actions on the current file and restart the panel if null(company in $L.file) then call the company.specific.incident Process.
On the Next Wizard tab, call the MSP Reset Company wizard under the condition of not null(company in $L.file).
· MSP Reset Company
On the File Selection tab enter the Initial Expression $L.void=mandant(2, $G.orig.secgroup).
On the Usage tab, select Skip Display.
· MSP Switch Company 2 (which is copy of MSP Switch Company without the call to the company-specific incident Process)
On the Wizard Info tab, enter a text such as “Select Company to create Incident for” for Window Title, Title, and prompt.
On the File Selection tab, enter the Initial Expression $L.void=mandant(2, $G.orig.secgroup) and select the $L.file by creating a probsummary type record.
On the Usage tab, request user input in the company.prompt.g form.
On the Actions tab, select to perform all actions on the current file and restart the panel if null(company in $L.file) then call the company.specific.incident2 Process.
1. Add company-specific fields to the probsummary dbdict (and if paging is used to the problem dbdict). Add some character, some number, some date and some array fields. Give them generic names such as company.text.1, company.number.1, company.date.1 etc.
Note: Modify the company.g form to have a drop down list of these available field names available for the end users to prevent confusion or missing functionality. The provided unload names these fields specific.field.1 etc.
2. Manually create a company-specific sub-format as pictured below for each of the company records in your system using the following naming convention:
company.<company_name_in_lower_case>.<tablename>.subformat.
As an alternative, you can use form settings from the company table and the subform.create application that HP Software provides to create sub-formats dynamically. See the section Creating dynamic sub-formats on page 16 for more information.
3. Modify the apm.quick and IM.template.* forms to include a tab that displays the company-specific sub-format. This is done by:
· Adding a company-specific tab to the existing notebook Objects on these forms; or reusing an existing tab.
· Adding a sub-format Object to the company-specific tab. For the Format property of the sub-format Object, specify the global variable $G.company.sub.format.
1. Modify the scm.advanced display screen to fill the name of the MSP Switch Company wizard into a variable called $wizard.name. Enter in Initialization Expressions: $wizard.name=”MSP Switch Company”
2. Modify the probsummary Object record to call the wizard.run application as the Add/ Open Application, which calls the wizard with the name parameter = $wizard.name).
3. Modify the cc.qopen.create Process to set the Mandanten value based on the setting in the call, and set the correct sub-format:
if (not null(company in $L.file)) then ($L.void=mandant(2, {company in $L.file});$G.company.sub.format="company."+tolower(company in $L.file)+ "."+filename($L.file)+".subformat")
4. Modify the cc.create Process to set the Mandanten value based on the setting in the call, and set the correct sub-format:
if (not null(company in $L.file)) then ($L.void=mandant(2, {company in $L.file});$G.company.sub.format="company."+tolower(company in $L.file)+ "."+filename($L.file)+".subformat")
5. Add the following Initial Expressions in the us.screlate Process to reset the Mandanten value to base settings.
$L.void=mandant(2, $G.orig.secgroup)
6. Modify the im.view.init Process to set the sub-format to the company-specific sub-format. Add the following line in the first available line in Initialization Expressions:
$G.company.sub.format="company."+tolower(company in $L.file)+ "."+filename($L.file)+".subformat"
7. Modify the im.new.incident Process to call the MSP Switch Company 2 wizard. (This Process is called from the im.search State.). In the Initial Expressions add:
$L.wizard2call="MSP Switch Company 2"
On the RAD tab, call wizard.run with the name parameter value of $L.wizard2call and the text parameter of $L.wiz.exit as shown below:
Enter the Post RAD expression of if ($L.wiz.exit="cancel") then ($L.exit="exit") else ($L.exit="new") to correctly handle a user cancelling out of the wizard.
8. Modify the incidents link to allow the display only of categories for the contact’s company. Add the following Post Link Expressions to the contact.name line:
$L.security.token=str(toupper(company in $File)); $L.void=mandant(2, {$L.security.token})
9. (Optional) To limit the probsummary list to display only records with the categories in your Mandanten list, add a build list subroutine to the FormatControl login.DEFAULT to build a list $G.my.categories that contains all categories this user is allowed to see. Then, create an scaccess record for probsummary with the following query:
category isin $G.my.categories.
Note: This step is not necessary in a system where Mandanten protection was set from inception, because users would not have tickets in their queues with categories that are not allowed.
10.Change the IM menu to call wizard.run rather than apm.first, as outlined in the red space highlighted in the following screen:
The subform.create and us.form.builder.advanced applications will be provided with this paper in the subform.create.Apps.unl unload file. The company dbdict, form and FormatControl are supplied in the SM7DynFormOOBonly.unl unload file. This unload file can only be applied to an out-of-box system. For customized systems, follow the steps outlined below.
Content of subform.create.Apps.unl:
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RAD
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us.form.builder.advanced, subform.create
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Content of SM7DynFromOOBonly.unl:
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dbdict
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company
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format
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company.g
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formatctrl
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company
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The subform.create application can create sub-forms dynamically based on information in the custom.fields structured array in the company table. Follow these steps to create a form dynamically:
1. Load the subform.create.Apps.unl unload.
2. Add the following fields to the company dbdict, first add the custom.fields array of structure, then add the other fields to the custom.fields structure
Note: The order of the fields within the structure is important and has to be kept exactly as shown below.
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Field
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Datatype
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custom.fields
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Array
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custom.fields
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Structure
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labels
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Character
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fields
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Character
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types
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Character
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filename
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Character
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ForeColorCond
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Character
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ForeColor
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Number
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VisibleCond
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Character
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Visible
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Number
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ReadOnlyCond
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Character
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ReadOnly
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Number
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3. Add a new table to the company.g format with the following settings:
· Column Names: Labels, Fields, Types, Filenames, ForeColorCond, ForeColor, VisibleCond, Visible, ReadOnlyCond, ReadOnly
4. Adjust the settings of the columns within the table as follows
· Input: custom.fields (same for all columns)
· Field: Enter the field name from the table above that matches the column label.
5. In the company FormatControl record, add the following calculations all with the condition on add / update: true
$company=company in $file
$filename.array={}
for $ind.i = 1 to lng(denull(custom.fields in $file)) do (if (index(4 in $ind.i in custom.fields in $file, $filename.array)=0) then ($filename.array=insert($filename.array, 1, 1, 4 in $ind.i in custom.fields in $file)))
6. In the company FormatControl record, add the following subroutine call:
1. To create a dynamic sub-format, log into ServiceCenter as a SysAdmin user, go to Database Manager and search for records in the company table.
2. In the company form perform a true search. The following screen is displayed:
3. Click the record for the company for which you want to create or modify a sub-format. Scroll down to the Custom Fields table.
4. Make any changes in the Custom Fields table. You can add fields and labels, and change their types to Text (Default), Fill, Multitext, and Checkbox.
5. Click either Save or OK to save the record.
6. Go to the Forms Designer.
7. Search for the form called company.<company_name>.<tablename>.subformat.
You can perform the preceding steps on all other company records, following these rules:
· Text can be put anywhere in fields that do not have the Array datatype.
· Multitext should be placed at the end, and input can be any Character Array field.
· Fill can be used for fields that are associated with a field in a link record.
· Checkboxes can be used for any Boolean field.
If the table of custom fields remains empty, a sub-format containing only the title is created, this helps avoid error messages when tickets for that company are displayed.
If a dynamically created form is changed in Forms Designer, these changes are undone whenever the company record is updated.
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File
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Record
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Notes
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scmandant
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As needed
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operator
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As needed
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scsecuritygroup
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As needed
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wizard
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MSP Switch Company
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Added to allow for company selection with calling the Process.
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wizard
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MSP Switch Company 2
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Added to allow for company selection without calling the Process.
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wizard
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MSP Reset Company
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Added to allow for reset of company selection.
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Process
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company.specific.incident
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Sets mandant values and the sub-format name, and calls the open application.
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Process
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company.specific.incident2
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Sets mandant values and the sub-format name, does not call the open application.
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Process
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cc.qopen.create
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Sets mandant values and the sub-format name.
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Process
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cc.create
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Sets mandant values and the sub-format name.
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Process
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us.screlate
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Resets mandant values.
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Process
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im.view.init
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Sets the sub-format name.
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Process
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im.new.incident
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Calls the MSP Switch Company 2 wizard.
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format
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company.prompt.g
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Selects the company to apply to this incident.
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format
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company.
<company>. <tablename>. subformat |
For company- and table-specific sub-formats
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format
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apm.quick
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Adds a tab for a company-specific sub-format.
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format
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IM.template.*
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Adds a tab for a company-specific sub-format.
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dbdict
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probsummary
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Adds fields for company-specific fields.
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dbdict
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incidents
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see above (if needed)
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dbdict
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company
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Add custom.fields arrayed structre
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formatctrl
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login.DEFAULT
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Adds the calculation: $G.orig.secgroup=security.group in $file1.
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displayscreen
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scm.advanced
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Adds the initialization expression:
$wizard.name=” MSP Switch Company” |
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Object
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probsummary
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Calls the wizard $wizard.name instead of the incident open application.
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link
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incidents
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Allows the display of categories for the contact’s company only. In ServiceCenter version 6 add the following Post Link Expressions to the contact.name line: $L.security.token=str(toupper(company in $File)); $L.void=mandant(2, {$L.security.token})
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menu
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IM
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Calls wizard.run instead of apm.first.
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Table
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Record
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Notes
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Process
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cm.update
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Sets the sub-format name.
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Process
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cm.open
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Calls a Switch Company wizard.
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dbdict
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cm3r
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Adds fields for company-specific fields.
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Object
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cm3r
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Calls the wizard $wizard.name instead of the change open application.
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01/2008