Maintaining Problem Types


Overview

Problem Types and the SCIM Hierarchy

Tasks

Included with

Tivoli Problem Management

Overview

What problem types do

Problem types are a means of categorizing the problems handled by your help desk analysts. Problem types are associated with Components and are used to group components for reports or queries.

Where to assign problem types

You can assign a problem type to a component in the Add Component dialog box or Edit Component dialog box. See Maintaining Components for more information.

Default problem types

Tivoli Problem Management is shipped with a default set of problem types. You can modify these codes or create your own.

Add Problem Type dialog box

Add your own problem types to Tivoli Problem Management in the Add Problem Type dialog box. Problem types are a means of categorizing the problems handled by your help desk analysts. See Adding a problem type.

To access the Add Problem Type dialog box:

  1. In the Call/Problem Settings dialog box, choose the Problem Type tab.
  2. Choose Add.
    Result: The Add Problem Type dialog box appears.

Edit Problem Type dialog box

Use the Edit Problem Type dialog box to modify problem types and improve the ways you categorize the problems handled by your help desk analysts. See Editing a problem type.

To access the Edit Problem Type dialog box:

  1. In the Call/Problem Settings dialog box, choose the Problem Type tab.
  2. Choose Edit.
    Result: The Edit Problem Type dialog box appears.

Problem Types and the SCIM Hierarchy

Associating components

You can associate two or more components in your SCIM hierarchy by assigning the same problem type to those components. For example, you can create a problem type called Hardware and associate it with both Computer System Units and File Server Base Units. Later, you can generate a single report on the Hardware problem type that includes information about problems with Computer System Units and File Server Base Units.

Reports and queries

There are many times when it is important to report on or search for problems that are similar even though they don't specify the same system, component, item, or module structure from the SCIM hierarchy. For instance, Computer System Units and File Server Base Units can be defined in separate places in the SCIM hierarchy. But if you associate them with the same problem type, Hardware, you can combine the descriptions of problems associated with these components into a single report or query and track service on these similar components.

Help desk analyst skills and problem types

You can also select problem types when you define the skills of your analysts. This lets you group many components under one problem type and treat these components as a group when identifying an analyst with the ability to solve this type of problem. For example, if you have analysts who specialize in hardware problems, you can select the Hardware problem type when specifying their skills. For more information on using problem types to define analyst skills, see Configuring user skills.

Tasks

Problem Type Availability

When you add, edit or delete problem types, these changes are immediately reflected in call registration; you do not need to close and restart Tivoli Service Desk.

Adding a problem type

You can add new problem types to the default set included in Tivoli Problem Management.

To add a problem type:

  1. In the Add Problem Type dialog box, in the Problem Type box, type the name of the problem type.
  2. In the Description box, type a description of the problem type. This is optional.
  3. Choose OK.

Editing a problem type

You can modify both the problem types included in Tivoli Problem Management and the problem types you create.

To edit a problem type:

  1. In the Edit Problem Type dialog box, make any necessary changes to the
    selected problem type. For further instructions, see Adding a problem type.
  2. Choose OK.

Deleting a problem type

Caution: You can not delete a problem type that is referenced by a component. For information on how problem types are used on components, see Maintaining Components.

To delete a problem type:

  1. In the Call/Problem Settings dialog box, choose the Problem Type tab.
  2. From the Problem Type List, select a problem type.
  3. Choose Delete.
  4. At the Warning message that asks if you are sure you want to delete this problem type, choose Yes.