Tivoli Service Desk User Interface


Overview

Tasks

GUI Elements

Included with

Tivoli Service Desk

Overview

Fundamentals of Tivoli Service Desk

This help topic is designed to familiarize you with some of the fundamental aspects of using Tivoli Service Desk, including the following:
  • Starting and exiting the program
  • Encountering special graphical user interface (GUI) elements in the program

Tivoli Service Desk window

The Tivoli Service Desk window contains the menus, menu commands and toolbar buttons described in your profile. From the Tivoli Service Desk window, you can choose any system action that is a part of your profile and for which you have the necessary rights. For information on accessing the Tivoli Service Desk window, see Starting Tivoli Service Desk.

Tasks

Starting Tivoli Service Desk

To use Tivoli Service Desk, you must start the program and log on by providing your user ID (and a password, if required). A user ID is required for security purposes. It is also used to track user interactions with calls, problems, change, and assets.

Depending on your operating system, you can start Tivoli Service Desk in several ways. This help topic demonstrates the basic methods for starting the program:

  • From a graphical user interface (in Windows or OS/2)
  • From a command prompt (in UNIX)

To start Tivoli Service Desk:

  1. Use this table to determine your first action.

  2. If you are using... then...
    Windows 95 or Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0
    1. From the taskbar, choose Start.
    2. From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Tivoli Service Desk 6.0, then choose Tivoli Service Desk.
    OS/2
    1. Choose the Tivoli Service Desk folder.
    2. Choose the Tivoli Service Desk icon.
    UNIX
    1. Change to the directory where the Tivoli Service Desk program resides.
    2. At the command line, do one of the following:
      • Type kml tsd and press Enter.
      • Type tsd and press Enter.


  3. Log on to Tivoli Service Desk.
    For more information, see Logging On to Tivoli Service Desk.

Exiting Tivoli Service Desk

You cannot exit Tivoli Service Desk while a call or problem is active. You must first resolve, transfer, or freeze any active call or problem before you exit Tivoli Service Desk. In addition, it is best to close all Tivoli Service dialog boxes and windows before exiting.

To exit Tivoli Service Desk:

  1. Make sure that you do not have an open call or problem.
  2. From the File menu, choose Exit.

GUI Elements

Interface elements

All Tivoli Service Desk applications use a similar interface. This section explains the purpose of a few elements with which you should be familiar because they appear frequently throughout Tivoli Service Desk applications.

Alarm Indicator

The Alarm Indicator appears in the Tivoli Service Desk window if you have an alarm you have not yet read. The alarm monitoring feature runs automatically every time you start Tivoli Service Desk. It also runs periodically during a Tivoli Service Desk session to check for new alarms. The alarm polling period (the interval between checking for new alarms) is set by your system administrator. For more information, see Working with Alarms.

Browse button

browse.gif (927 bytes)

A Browse button appears next to several boxes in Tivoli Service Desk dialog boxes. Browse buttons enable you to select information from a list of available choices.

For example, in the People dialog box, a Browse button appears next to the Location box. When you choose this Browse button, the Location window appears. When you select a location from the Location window, Tivoli Service Desk inserts that location in the Location box in the People dialog box.

Calendar button cal_btn.gif (942 bytes)

A Calendar button appears next to several date boxes in Tivoli Service Desk. For example, in the Problem Inquiry dialog box, Calendar buttons appear next to both the Begin Date and End Date boxes. For more information, see Selecting Dates.

Inquiry button An Inquiry button appears in many of the Work with dialog boxes throughout the program. The Inquiry button enables you to perform simple database inquiries. You specify search criteria, then a Tivoli Service Desk application displays a list of the matching records. For more information, see Creating a simple inquiry.
SQL button An SQL button appears in many of the Work with dialog boxes throughout the program. The SQL button enables you to perform advanced database searches using the Standard Query Language. For more information, see Performing an advanced search.
Refresh button A Refresh button appears in several of the Work with dialog boxes in Tivoli Service Desk applications. The Refresh button enables you to update the list of items in the Work with dialog box with the most current information. This is helpful if the Work with dialog box contains information that other users are frequently updating.
Required information In some dialog boxes, you must supply required information in order to complete a task.

GUI elements with required information are filled in with a color. The color used depends on your system settings. If your system is set to 256 colors or less, required boxes and lists are filled in with yellow. If your system is set to greater than 256 colors, required boxes and lists are filled in with light blue.

Window and dialog box position and size Tivoli Service Desk automatically saves the last position and size of the Tivoli Service Desk window. It also remembers the position and size of most dialog boxes.

Each time you display any of these items, it appears in its most recent position and size. Tivoli Service Desk stores this last position and size information in the softart.ini file.

Note: You must have write access to your Windows directory, Win95 or Win98 folder, or UNIX home directory for this feature to work.

Toolbar and ToolTips The toolbar gives you quick access to many Tivoli Service Desk features. You can also access these same features from the menus.

You can easily determine the function of any tool or button labeled with an image by holding your pointer on the tool or button; do not click the mouse button. After a brief pause, a ToolTip appears that identifies the tool or button.