CCS SERVICE REQUEST 5.0

Configuration and Administration Manual

Crow Canyon Systems, Inc.

http://www.crowcanyon.com

support@crowcanyon.com

Service Areas

Overview

A “Service Area” is a set of folders under the Service Request system where one group or department will assign, work on, and manage their own set of tickets. Each area has its own settings, permissions, utilities, Named Seats, and licensing. Each area represents a functional area, such as Help Desk, Customer Support, Customer Service, HR, Facilities, etc.

The Trial Version (and the Upgrade files before the license is entered) comes with the option to set up four Service Areas. One, two, three, or all four can be set up at this point. Service Areas can be added or removed with ease from within the program after installation. A full license will allow whatever number of Service Areas that are purchased.

The “System Service Area” is used in configurations where the tickets are first entered in one location and then dispatched by staff to individual Service Areas. In most installations, the users will submit tickets directly to the Service Area that deals with the type of request. But in some installations, all tickets will go to a central location (the System Service Area) and then be distributed by one or more staff members who “dispatch” the tickets to the proper Service Area.

Service Area Usage Scenarios

Service Areas can be used in any of these models:

Does not require System Service Area:

• Requests go to specific Service Areas – the user gets a screen where he or she selects a Service Area. The request is sent directly to that Service Area.

Requires System Service Area:

• Requests could go to one Service Area, several Service Areas, or a generic System Service Area – the user selects a category of ticket request, but the request could either go to one Service Area, be split into multiple tickets to different Service Areas, or go to a generic System Service Area, as explained below:
• One ticket is created in one particular Service Area
• Tickets are created in more than one Service Area for the one request. This would be likely for a New Hire Request, for example, that might go to IT, HR, and Facilities. A Linked Tickets folder in the System Service Area allows the multiple tickets to be managed from one location.
• Ticket is created in a generic Service Area. This would be used in cases where not every request could be mapped to a specific Service Area. The System Service Area would be used to receive the generic requests. These requests could be either resolved within the System Service Area or sent on to a specific Service Area for processing.
• Central Dispatch Model – all tickets go to the System Service Area. A “dispatcher” (any staff member) would then either resolve the issue immediately or send it to an individual Service Area. This is for cases when users do not decide which Service Area the tickets should go to. They would just submit it to the one System Service Area request folder and then it would be staff’s job to decide which Service Area it should go to.

Service Area Templates

The configuration of a Service Area (the lists, the utilities, the settings) can be stored in an XML file. We provide a number of Service Area Templates free for download at our Downloads page. These are ones that either we generated or our customers generated and shared with us. They provide examples of how Service Areas can be configured. However, a Service Area can be added to the system without a template. This will have generic settings oriented toward IT Help Desk, but it can easily be modified for its specific purpose using its Service Area Utilities. A Service Area Template can also be imported into the Service Area after it is created by using the Utilities Import/Export utility in that Service Area.

Utilities Import/Export is also used to generate Service Area Templates. This is done by exporting the utilities to a config.xml file, which is a Service Area Template file. See Utilities Import/Export.

Service Area Utilities

Once a new Service Area is added, it can be configured. CCS Service Request provides a number of utilities in each Service Area that enable the system to be customized and configured to meet the needs of that group or department. These utilities are in the Utilities folder in that Service Area. In addition, each Service Area includes the Knowledge Base in the Knowledge Base folder and the Report Builder and Ticket Export utility in the Reports folder.

Setting up Service Areas during Installation

Please see the Install Manual for details on this.

Setting up Service Areas after Installation

In the Service Area Manager utility in the Service Area Manager folder, the right-hand pane is used to manage Service Areas. Service Areas can be added or removed in this utility.

When adding a Service Area, there are two options:

• “User-defined Service Area” -- for the User-defined Service Areas, a name is entered. Also, a “Template File path” can be entered. This would be the path to the XML file that is the template for a Service Area. A template file path is not required. If the path is left blank, the Service Area will be added with generic IT Help Desk settings. This can easily be configured later using the Service Area’s utilities.
• “System Service Area” – this is created simply by selecting this option. No name or template file path is used.

To remove a Service Area, check the box next to it and press the Remove button. This cannot be undone, so caution is advised when removing a Service Area.

Utilities Export

The Utilities Export in the bottom right is used for a very specific purpose in conjunction with the Web Pages that use our Event Sink Parser. If these web pages are not in use, this section can be ignored. It exports out all the Service Request configurations so that the web pages can read them into the web pages and show them on the web forms (that is, lists and other settings).

Configuration of the System Service Area

As mentioned above, the System Service Area is used in certain configurations of the Service Request system. It is not needed in many Service Request set ups. But if in use, this section gives guidance on setup and configuration of this Service Area.

The System Service Area is used for specific purposes and therefore has a different configuration than the other Service Areas. Tickets can be created in the System Service Area and then can be either closed within the Service Area (in which case they are moved to the Completed Tickets in the System Service Area) or forwarded to one or more other Service Areas.

There is no ticket assignment in the System Service Area. All tickets are either completed directly or sent (“dispatched”) to one or more Service Areas.

Mapping of Request “Categories” to Service Areas

The List Manager in the System Service Area General Utilities folder is used to map Categories of ticket request types to one or more Service Areas. This means the users will see a list of Categories, rather than just a list of the Service Area folder names. These Categories can be listed in terms that make more sense to users and how they submit tickets than the Service Area folders names would. Also, one Category can be mapped to multiple Service Areas, which is not possible with just a list of Service Area folder names.

In a new Service Request Ticket, the users will get the list of the Categories to choose from:

The Category list is pulled from the System Service Area List Manager. If the System Service Area is NOT in use, this list will be just the Service Area folder names.

System Service Area List Manager

This List Manager differs from the List Manager in the other Service Area folders. It is used specifically to map Categories to Service Areas. See examples below.

• A Category can be mapped to one Service Area. A ticket will be created in that one Service Area. In the example below, a “Building Repair” request would create a ticket in the Facilities Service Area. Other Categories can be mapped to the same Service Area. In the example below, Landscaping, Sprinkler System and any of the others could also go to Facilities, if desired.

• A Category can be mapped to more than one Service Area. A ticket will be created in each of these Service Areas and a Linked Ticket item will be created in the Linked Tickets folder under System Service Area. In the example below, “Key Entry” will create a ticket in Facilities, in HR, and in IT.

• A Category can be left unmapped, in which case a ticket will be created in the System Service Area (such as “Parking Lot” in the example below).

System Service Area “generic” Ticket

If a Category that is not mapped to any Service Area(s) is chosen, the ticket will be submitted to the System Service Area folder. When it is opened, it will look similar, except that the Category will now be a drop list. At this point, the staff can:

• Leave the Category as is and complete the ticket (in which case it will be moved to the Completed Tickets folder under the System Service Area).
• Change the Category and then it will be moved to the Service Area mapped to that Category in the System Service Area List Manager. If the Category is mapped to multiple Service Areas, tickets will be created in each of those Areas, and a Linked Ticket item will be created in the Linked Tickets folder under the System Service Area.

Note that tickets can also arrive in the System Service Area by email. If the emails are sent to the System Service Area folder and our Email Conversion Event Sink is configured on the folder, the emails will become these generic tickets. When staff opens the ticket, there will be the Category drop-down list and the staff makes the choice on either closing or dispatching that ticket, as described above.

Other choices on List Manager

• The top choice, “Dispatcher assigns ..” means that the person who is moving the ticket to another Service Area can also assign it at the same time within that Service Area. Without this, the ticket is moved, but the Service Area staff still has to open it and assign it. There are cases where the specific Service Area staff wants to do all ticket assignment for their Area. The dispatcher moves the ticket to the Service Area, but the staff there does the assigning. If the option for “Dispatcher assigns .. “ is checked, however, the dispatcher can also do the assigning as well as the moving.
• The second choice means that end users always create a System Service Area ticket. They do not get a choice of Category. All tickets submitted are System Service Area tickets. This is how the “Central Dispatch” model is set up – all tickets go to the System Service Area, where a dispatcher then gets the list of Categories and can send the tickets on to the specific Service Areas.

Linked Tickets folder

An item is created in the Linked Tickets folder each time that multiple tickets are generated in different Service Areas from one initial ticket. The item lists the Linked Tickets on the Linked Tickets tab. An individual ticket can be opened from this list (select the ticket, press Open Ticket).

Other System Service Area Utilities

The other utilities in the System Service Area act much like the same utilities in the other Service Areas. See this page for information about a specific utility.