Searching TCM Online Help


Overview

Help for installed applications

You can search for help only for the Tivoli Service Desk products you install. For example, if you install only TPM, the online help search automatically excludes help for TAM, and TCM.

Search server

Before you can search, the IBM NetQuestion Search server must be installed and running on your machine. Usually, the IBM NetQuestion Search server is configured for you during Tivoli Service Desk installation.

User and administrative help

User and administrative help are grouped together because access to TCM system actions is configured by the system administrator. Your help search results may include information on tasks you cannot perform because you lack the necessary rights. See Tivoli Service Desk Rights.

Searching

How to search for help

Complete this form to search the TCM online help. Click on any hypertext links in the steps for tips and examples.

  1. Select the type of help you want to search:

  2. Type the word or phrase you are searching for:



  3. If needed, supply additional words or phrases:


  4. Display the first help topics found.

  5. Return search results using word matches in the found help topics.

  6. Choose one of the following:


    After your search results are returned, you can select from the list of matching help topics or start a new search from the search screen displayed at the top of the result page.


Tips

Types of TCM help

The Tivoli Service Desk online help is divided into two parts:
  • User and administrator help

    Contains information on the setup, maintenance and day-to-day operation of Tivoli Change Management. User and administrative help are grouped together because access to TCM system actions is configured by the system administrator. Your help search results may include information on tasks you cannot perform because you lack the necessary rights.
  • Developer's reference

    Lists functional statements used by TSD Script, the high-level programming language used by Tivoli Service Desk (TSD) Developer's Toolkit.

    Contains customization instructions for developers. It also provides descriptions of the suite architecture, program files, and data model.

Click here to return to step 1.

Words and phrases

The IBM NetQuestion search engine allows for: wildcards, quotes, and plus or minus signs.

Wildcards

  • An asterisk (*) substitutes for one or more characters.
  • A question mark (?) substitutes for exactly one character

Quotes

Use quotes to search for exact phrases.

  • A search phrase enclosed in quotes finds all help topics with that exact phrase somewhere in the help topic.

    Example: "Tivoli Service Desk"
    Finds all help topics that include the exact phrase Tivoli Service Desk.
  • A search phrase without quotes finds all help topics with any or all of those words, in any order somewhere in the help topic.

    Example: Tivoli Problem Management
    Finds all help topics containing the words Tivoli or Problem or Management.

Plus and minus signs

The plus and minus signs do not join terms, but only operate on the term that follows them. Additionally you can insert masking characters in annotated search terms only.

For your search query, type any words that describe what you are looking for, then:

  • Put a plus (+) sign in front of the words that must be present in the returned documents.

    Example: +call
    All help topics retrieved must contain the word call. (A single unsigned word, call, is also read this way, and is treated by the search engine as +call.)

    Example: +problem +solution
    All help topics retrieved must contain the word problem and the word solution.

    Example: +diagnostic aid
    All help topics retrieved must contain the word diagnostic, but only optionally the word aid.
  • Put a minus (-) sign in front of the words that must not be present in the returned documents.

    Example: +problem -solution
    All help topics retrieved must contain the word problem, but must not contain the word solution.

Tips for using plus and minus signs

  • When using signs, do not leave any space between the sign and the word.
  • Use spaces between signed terms in order to distinguish them from terms that themselves contain a minus sign. For example, e-mail is treated as "e-mail" whereas e -mail would retrieve help topics that optionally contain e, but did not contain mail.
  • Using only minus signed terms generates a warning message. The search criteria are too vague to allow for a meaningful scoring of the help topics found.

Click here to return to step 2 or 3.

Word matches You control the degree of accuracy required when your search words are matched against the contents of the help topics:
  • Select Fuzzy to perform a search for help topics that vaguely resemble the search words entered. For example, you might select a Fuzzy search if you are not sure how to spell one of the search words.
  • Select Exact to perform a search for help topics that exactly match the search words entered.

Click here to return to step 5.