Using the Hot News Diagnostic Aid


Overview

Tasks

Included with

Tivoli Problem Management

Overview

How does Hot News work?

You use the Hot News Diagnostic Aid to find solutions for problems that relate to short-term, current situations that affect many people. The system administrator creates Hot News records to advise help desk analysts of "hot" problems or "hot" new solutions to long-term problems, and to share urgent information that can affect many different people.

Hot News is the most dynamic of the Diagnostic Aids because it is frequently updated with current problem information and can be time-sensitive. Examples of Hot News include:

  • The print server is down for maintenance
  • The claims database is currently out of service and will be back online at 16:00
  • A change to family leave policy affects all new employees

This help topic shows you how to access Hot News records and how to use a Hot News item to resolve a problem.

Timeliness of Hot News

When the system administrator adds or edits a Hot News record, he or she can specify a time range when this Hot News record appears. When you access Working with Hot News outside this time range, the Hot News record does not appear. You can still choose Inquiry and SQL to search for Hot News records that have expired or have not yet become active.

Auto Hot News

Your system administrator can make the Hot News tab of the Diagnostic Aids dialog box appear automatically when you register a call. The Hot News tab of the Diagnostic Aids dialog box appears automatically in one of these ways:
  • Immediately after you complete the Location and System boxes in Call Registration dialog box
  • When you choose a Diagnose button appearing on the Call Registration dialog box

In both cases, the Hot News tab of the Diagnostic Aids dialog box appears and displays Hot News records that match the location and SCIM information in the Call Registration dialog box. You immediately see the Hot News records that are most likely to apply to the problem experienced by your caller.

The Auto Hot News feature automatically displays the Hot News tab of the Diagnostic Aids dialog box once during the call registration process. Auto Hot News is not triggered again until you close the Call Registration dialog box and open it again.

In-context search

If you access the Hot News Diagnostic Aid from the Call Registration dialog box and you have specified component or location information, Tivoli Problem Management performs an in-context search for Hot News records that match the location and component values. This also occurs if you access it while using the Problem Status dialog box.

Out-of-context search

You can perform an out-of-context search for Hot News records and not use the location and component information with the Call Registration dialog box or the Problem Status dialog box open from the toolbar or the Diagnostic menu. You can also search through all the Hot News records without registering a call or resuming a problem.

When you perform an out-of-context search, the Work with Hot News dialog box contains all the Hot News records. If you do not supply a context, Tivoli Problem Management does not narrow the search. You can use the Inquiry and SQL buttons on this dialog box to search for a more specific set of Hot News records.

Note: For more information on searching, see Searching and Inquiring.

Your system administrator can make the Hot News Inquiry dialog box appear before the Work with Hot News dialog box when you request an out-of-context search. You can specify search parameters in the Hot News Inquiry dialog box. These search parameters control which Hot News records appear in the Work with Hot News dialog box.

Out-of-context search parameters

The following table describes the search parameters available in the Hot News Inquiry dialog box.
Name Description
Starting ID
Ending ID
Specify a range of Hot News record ID numbers.
Start Date
End Date
Specify a range of effective dates.
Location ID Specify a particular location by typing a Location ID.
Title If you want to search by Hot News record title, but do not know the complete title, you can use wildcards. For example, to find the Hot News dealing with the power outage due to tornado damage, you can complete this box with *power* or *tornado*.
Adding User Type the user ID code of the user who added the Hot News record.
Severity Select a problem severity code.
Component Information If you use SCIM information to narrow your search, these lists must be completed from the top down.
Problem Type When a component is selected, Problem Type may be automatically filled in. You can select a problem type if the Problem Type box was not automatically filled in when you selected a component.
Description and Solution Use the Description and Solution boxes to specify additional criteria for your query. Use wildcards as needed. You can also use IBM Intelligent Miner for Text to search for keywords in these boxes.

Note: For more information, see Searching and Inquiring.

Activating Hot News solution

When you locate a Hot News record with the correct solution, you are ready to activate the solution. Activating a solution tells Tivoli Problem Management that you have solved the problem. Tivoli Problem Management updates the Call and Problem records with information from the Hot News record.

There are two ways to activate a solution, depending on whether you performed an in-context or out-of-context search.

Accessing Work with Hot News dialog box

To access the Work with Hot News dialog box, do one of the following:
  • If you are using the Tivoli Problem Management Analyst profile or Tivoli Problem Management Administrator profile, from the Diagnostics menu, choose Hot News.
  • If you are using the Tivoli Service Desk Administrator profile or Tivoli Service Desk User profile, from the Problem Mgmt Diagnostics menu, choose Hot News.
  • From the Help menu, choose Your System Profile and follow the instructions under Work with Hot News.

Tasks

Accessing the Hot News tab of the Diagnostic Aids dialog box

To perform an in-context search with the Hot News Diagnostic Aid, use this table to determine your action.
If you use the... then...
Call Registration dialog box describe the problem by specifying contact and component information, then choose Diagnose.
Problem Status dialog box resume a problem, then choose Diagnostics.

Note: Hot News could appear automatically at this point.

Result:A table of the Hot News records that match the component and location information in the Call Registration dialog box or the Problem Status dialog box appears in the top section. The details of the currently selected Hot News item appear in the Description and Solution boxes.

Activating a Hot News Solution from the Hot News tab

Perform the following steps to activate a solution from the Hot News dialog box:
  1. In the Hot News tab of the Diagnostic Aids dialog box, select the Hot News record with the appropriate solution.
  2. Choose Activate.
  3. What happens next depends on where you started:
    • Result if you accessed the Hot News dialog box from the Call Registration dialog box:
      • The Hot News record solution is automatically copied to the Call Registration Resolution box.
      • The Hot News record SCIM, severity, and problem type information (if they exist) overwrite anything in the corresponding boxes in the Call Registration dialog box.
      • The Hot News record description is automatically copied to the Call Registration Description box only when the Call Registration Description box is empty.

      Complete all the required Call Registration information, then handle the problem just as you would any other one by resolving, freezing, or transferring it.

    • Result if you accessed the Hot News dialog box from the Problem Status dialog box:
      • The Hot News record solution is copied to the Status box.
      • The Hot News record severity, SCIM, and problem type information (if they exist) overwrite anything in the corresponding boxes in the Problem Status dialog box.
      • Depending on your configuration, the Save Problem dialog box appears. The Hot News record solution is automatically copied to the Save Problem Result box. Choose OK.
      • Tivoli Problem Management assigns the default Problem Close Code to the problem. The problem is resolved and the Problem Status dialog box closes.

      When you perform an out-of-context search, you can activate a solution from the Work with Hot News dialog box.

Performing out-of-context searches

To perform an out-of-context search with the Hot News Diagnostic Aid, perform one of the following steps from the table.
    From the... do the following...
    toolbar click the Work with Hot News tool.
    Diagnostics menu choose Hot News.

    Result: The Work with Hot News dialog box appears.

Narrowing an out-of-context search

If you perform an out-of-context search with the Hot News Diagnostic Aid, you can use the Inquiry and SQL buttons to search for a specific set of Hot News records.

To narrow an out-of-context search for Hot News records, perform the following steps:

  1. In the Work with Hot News dialog box, choose Inquiry.
  2. Use any of the following techniques from the table to narrow your search for Hot News records in the Hot News Inquiry dialog box.
    If you want to access... then...
    all the Hot News records for a system complete only the System box.
    Hot News records that match any value in a particular box leave the box blank.
    For example, to include Hot News records associated with any location, leave the Location ID box blank.

    Tip: If you leave all the boxes blank, your search finds all the Hot New records. Try to specify as much information as you can, to restrict the search and locate Hot News records that are more likely to be useful.

  3. Choose OK.
    Result: The Work with Hot News dialog box reappears. It contains the results of the search. You can view any of the records in the Hot News list, or activate one of them as a solution to your current problem.
    Tip: If you do not think the Work with Hot News dialog box contains all the recent records, choose Refresh. This updates the list to include those added since you first accessed the Work with Hot News dialog box.

Viewing Hot News records

When you perform an out-of-context search for Hot News records, you see the Work with Hot News dialog box. In the Work with Hot News dialog box, you can see the title, description, and some general information about the listed Hot News records, but you do not see the solution. To see the Hot News Solution box, choose View.

Tip: You do not have to view Hot News prior to activating a solution. When you activate a solution, Tivoli Problem Management displays the Hot News Description and Solution boxes. You can cancel the activation process if you decide this is not the correct solution.

Perform the following steps to view Hot News records:

  1. In the Work with Hot News dialog box, select a Hot News record.
  2. Choose View.
  3. In the View Hot News dialog box, review the description and solution with your caller.
  4. When you finish, choose Close to return to the Work with Hot News dialog box.
  5. After you check the solution on the Hot News record, you can decide whether to:
    • Activate the solution
    • View other Hot News records listed in the Work with Hot News dialog box
    • Close the Work with Hot News dialog box (and quit the Hot News Diagnostic Aid)

Viewing related problems

Before you activate a Hot News record to resolve a problem, you may want to view the problems that were resolved using the solution from this Hot News record.

Perform the following steps to view problems resolved using the solution from a selected Hot News record:

  1. From the Hot News List in the Work with Hot News dialog box, select an individual Hot News record.
  2. Choose Problems.
    Result: The Work with Problems dialog box appears.
    It contains a table of all problems solved by applying the solution from the selected Hot News record.
  3. Resume, view or print any of the problems appearing in this dialog box.
  4. When you are ready, choose Close to return to the Work with Hot News dialog box.

Activating a Hot News Solution from the Work with Hot News dialog box

Perform the following steps to activate a solution from the Work with Hot News dialog box:
  1. In the Work with Hot News dialog box, select the Hot News record with the appropriate solution.
  2. Choose Activate.
  3. What happens next depends on where you started:
    • Result if you accessed the Hot News Diagnostic Aid without a Call Registration dialog box open:
      • The Call Registration dialog box opens automatically
      • The Hot News record description and solution automatically appear in the Call Registration Description and Resolution boxes
      • The Hot News record SCIM, severity, and problem type (if they exist) automatically appear in the Call Registration dialog box

      Complete all the remaining required Call Registration information, then handle the problem just as you would any other one by resolving, freezing or transferring it.
      Note: For more information, see Call Registration.

    • Result if you accessed the Hot News Diagnostic Aid with a Call Registration dialog box open:
      • The Hot News record solution is automatically copied to the Call Registration Resolution box
      • The Hot News record SCIM, severity, and problem type information (if they exist) overwrite anything in the corresponding boxes in the Call Registration dialog box
      • The Hot News record description is automatically copied to the Call Registration Description box only when the Call Registration Description box is empty

      As in the previous example, complete all the required Call Registration information, then handle the problem just as you would any other problem.

    • Result if you accessed the Hot News Diagnostic Aid with a Problem Status dialog box open:
      • The Hot News record solution is copied to the Status box.
      • The Hot News record severity, SCIM, and problem type information (if they exist) overwrite the corresponding boxes in the Problem Status dialog box.
      • Depending on your configuration, the Save Problem dialog box appears. The Hot News record solution is automatically copied to the Save Problem Result box. Choose OK.
      • Tivoli Problem Management assigns the Default Problem Close Code to the problem. The problem is resolved and the Problem Status dialog box closes.

Quitting the Hot News Diagnostic Aid

If you do not find an appropriate solution, you can quit the Hot News Diagnostic Aid without activating a solution.

You return to where you were when you accessed the Hot News Diagnostic Aid: the Call Registration dialog box, Problem Status dialog box, or the Tivoli Service Desk window.

You can access any other Diagnostic Aid to solve the current problem or you can choose to freeze or transfer the problem, or transfer the call.

Note: For more information, see Freezing or Transferring Calls and Problems.