Calls Details in Nano

The Call Details window contains information relating to an issue that has been reported. Use the call details window when logging a call, updating a call, or closing a call.

Finding a call involves using the Search or Outstanding windows, or by typing the call number into the Quick Search.

Logging a call involves identifying the user who has reported the incident, problem, known error or service request, recording the service and configuration item, classifying and prioritizing the issue, capturing its details, and finally assigning the call to a support analyst for resolution.

Updating a call can involve changing values in fields, such as the Priority or Service, adding comments, changing the status, or assigning to an analyst or group, and finally saving the changes.

Closing a call involves changing the value in the Status field to a status configured with the Close function by the System Administrator, and saving the changes.

Useful overview information can be found in Working with Calls in Nano

Using the Call Details Window

Before you start

To view calls, IPK Analyst must be selected in the Options tab of your IPK Management Security Role.

To create calls, Log Calls must be selected in the Options tab of your IPK Management Security Role.

The call details window is made up of two sections:

  • The Toolbar contains options for performing actions and displays important information, such as SLM agreement event statuses.
  • The Call Fields where data for the call is entered and displayed.

Right-click anywhere in the details window to access actions, such as Save and Cancel, without needing to scroll to the bottom of the page.

The Toolbar

The tool bar contains icons that represent functions and provide information:

Use the report icon to save the call details to PDF. The PDF is saved or opened dependent on the browser settings.
Use the email icon to send an email from the call.
SLM Indicators The SLM indicators represent the status of SLM agreement events on the call. The color and symbols on the icons indicate the type of event and status of the event.

Select an indicator to see escalation and breach times for the agreement. The SLM window expands from the right of the screen.

An SLM agreement is active, configured with three escalation levels. No escalations have occurred.
An SLM agreement is active. One escalation has occurred.
An SLM agreement is active. Two escalations have occurred.
An SLM agreement is active. Three escalations have occurred.
An SLM agreement has breached.
An SLM agreement was successfully met.

The Call Fields

There is no specific order in which you need to complete the fields. One or more fields may be mandatory depending on how your system has been configured. If you do not complete a mandatory field, the system will prompt you to complete the mandatory field when you try to Save.

Fields may vary depending on how the System Administrator has designed the screen. Only the standard fields are described.

Complete the fields.

User Start keying in the name; after three characters are entered records will be displayed beneath the field, updating as more characters are entered. Select the user from the list.

View the person details by one-clicking their name. Details are displayed in a window to the right of the call screen.

Update the person details by double-clicking their name. Details are displayed in window over the call screen. Complete the details and press Save, or Cancel to cancel all changes.

Clear the field by pressing the beside the name.
Telephone This field may be automatically completed when you select a user. If you wish you can overwrite it, or leave it blank.
Organization If you have already selected the user or configuration item, and if they are linked to an organization, the Organization field is automatically completed. If the field is empty, start keying in the name; after three characters are entered records will be displayed beneath the field, updating as more characters are entered. Select the organization from the list.

View the organization details by one-clicking its name. Details are displayed in a window to the right of the call screen.

Update the organization details by double-clicking its name. Details are displayed in window over the call screen. Complete the details and press Save, or Cancel to cancel all changes.

Clear the field by pressing the beside the name.
Location If you have already selected the user or organization and if they are linked to a location, the Location field is automatically completed. If the field is empty, start keying in the name; after three characters are entered records will be displayed beneath the field, updating as more characters are entered. Select the location from the list.

View the location details by one-clicking its name. Details are displayed in a window to the right of the call screen.

Update the location details by double-clicking its name. Details are displayed in window over the call screen. Complete the details and press Save, or Cancel to cancel all changes.

Clear the field by pressing the beside the name.
Service Start keying in the service, after three characters are entered records will be displayed beneath the field, updating as more characters are entered. Select a service from the list.

View the service details by one-clicking its name. Details are displayed in a window to the right of the call screen.

Update the service details by double-clicking its name. Details are displayed in window over the call screen. Complete the details and press Save, or Cancel to cancel all changes.

Clear the field by pressing the beside the name.

The Description of the service is displayed beneath the service. This field is read only.
Configuration Item Start keying in the configuration item, after three characters are entered records will be displayed beneath the field, updating as more characters are entered. Select a config item from the list.

View the config item details by one-clicking its name. Details are displayed in a window to the right of the call screen.

Update the config item details by double-clicking its name. Details are displayed in window over the call screen. Complete the details and press Save, or Cancel to cancel all changes.

Clear the field by pressing the beside the name.

The Description of the config item is displayed beneath the config item . This field is read only.
Issue Status

The Status field is used to denote the status of the call. Select to display the list of statuses.

Statuses can also perform a function on the call, such as close the call, stop the clock on the linked service level agreement (SLA), start the clock on the SLA, or resume service on the SLA. These functions must be configured for the Call Statuses by the System Administrator.

Images may appear beside the statuses, if configured by the System Administrator, to denote the function each status may perform on the call. The images and the function they may denote:

Approve may approve and close the call.
Authorize may denote no change, or may unpause the SLA clock.
Close may close the call.
Reject may reject and close the call.
Service Resume may denote the SLA will be closed.
Stop Clock may pause the SLA clock.
Unauthorize may denote no change,
Update may denote no change, or may unpause the SLA clock.
User may denote no change.

Selecting a status that is not configured with the Stop Clock function, will start the SLA clock; this excludes statuses configured with Service Resume and Close.

Check with your System Administrator to learn what functions are associated with the Call Statuses configured for your vFire system.
Impact, Urgency, Priority These three fields often work together.

Impact refers to the number of people affected, or likely to be affected, by a particular incident. Urgency refers to how quickly the incident is likely to cause serious interruptions to services (and thus how quickly it must be fixed). Priority refers to the importance of getting a particular issue resolved. Your system may be configured to derive the priority automatically from the Impact and Urgency fields.

If a large network is undergoing an upgrade and is thus slower than normal, then there will be a high impact (that is, everyone on the network is affected) but a low priority (nobody is seriously affected by the issue). If the hard drive on one PC has a fatal crash, then that would have a low impact (one person), but a high priority (it will quickly and seriously impair the service).

If your administrator has configured your system to use a formula to automatically derive the priority from impact and urgency, the Priority field will be disabled. You must complete the Urgency and Impact fields before the call priority can be calculated automatically. If your system is not configured for the priority calculation, simply select the appropriate priority from the Priority list.

If a priority has been deleted by your administrator, it will be flagged with an asterisk. You should notify your administrator in this case so that they can configure the priority matrix to pick an active priority for the selected impact and urgency combination.

All changes to Priority are automatically recorded in the call history.
Description

Use this field to describe the problem associated with this call. To enlarge the text area, click on and drag downward; drag upward to reduce the height.
Type The Type field is used to denote the underlying type of issue. Use to display the list of types. Depending on the number of tiers configured for your system, you may see one to five tiers. When you select a type at one level, the available types within that category are displayed. You can select types from any available level.

If IPK tiers are enabled and issue types are limited by IPK status by your system administrator, only the issue types linked to the call’s IPK status are available for selection in the Type field.

Issue Cause Select to display the list of call closure reasons. The list of reasons may be restricted by the Type selected on the call, if configured that way by the System Administrator.

This field is read-only unless a Status is selected that closes the call; refer to Issue Status
Assigned To Use this field to assign the call to another analyst or group. Start keying in the name; after three characters are entered records will be displayed beneath the field, updating as more characters are entered. Select the analyst or group from the list.
Call Attachments

Expand the section to see objects attached to the call.

Attach objects by pressing , then navigate to the folder containing the file, select it, and press the Open button to attach it. The selected object appears on the call.

Remove objects by pressing the beside the object name.
History Expand the section to see the call history, with a list of all of the actions taken on the call. Scroll up and down within the history section to see all history entries.
Call Actions Expand the section to see fields for recording time spent on the call, the type of action, and to set a reminder or suspend the call.
Action TypeSelect the activity associated with this stage of the call from the drop down list.
Start Time

This field is auto-populated with the time at which the call was logged or actioned, but can be edited. This may be necessary if the activity was started at a different time.

To enter an earlier date or time, you must have Backdate Calls selected in the Options tab of your IPK Management security role.

Time SpentEnter how much time was spent on the activity. The End Time is automatically adjusted to reflect the changes.
End Time

This time is system generated with the time the call is saved. However, you can edit it.

This may be necessary if the activity was completed at a different time. When you change the End Time, the new date and time will appear on browse tables as the time and date the call was last actioned (Calls Outstanding and Call Search). The new date and time at Action End date becomes the time stamp in call history.

The Time Spent is automatically adjusted to reflect the changes.

Suspended toSelect this checkbox to suspend the call up until the date you specify.

Taking action on a call does not remove the suspension from the call. To do so, you have to manually remove the suspension by unselecting the checkbox.

Pop Reminder atSelect this checkbox to set a reminder on the call. The system will send you a reminder email on the date you specify.

For a reminder email to be sent, your system must have Email at Escalation enabled in the IPK Management section of the Messaging window.

For a call to come out of a suspended state, or a Reminder to be sent, the polling service must be running.
Notes Use this tab to describe the actions taken and any solutions suggested for the current call in as much detail as you wish. Once saved, this information will form part of the call history.

To enlarge the text area, click on and drag downward; drag upward to reduce the height.
Visible to User Select if you want users to view your notes in the call’s history on the Service Portal, select the Visible in Portal checkbox. Clearing this option is useful if you want to avoid disclosing private or sensitive information to users.

This option is selected by default if the History Private option is selected in the IPK Settings (Partitioned) window of system admin. However, you can still clear the option if needed.
Security

Select a security profile to allow only analysts with that security profile to see your notes in the call history in vFire Core or Nano.

You can only see the security profiles to which you have access. If you do not have access to any security profiles, this field is not displayed.
User Updated Select this checkbox to close the FCB and Response service level events.
Watch this Issue Select this checkbox to place a watch on the call and receive notifications when the call is updated.

Press to save the changes and close the window.

Press to cancel the changes and close the window.