Why do you work with problems? |
Help desk analysts access problems for different reasons. You may open a problem to solve it, to update information, or to transfer it to another help desk analyst. |
How do you work with problems? |
Problems can be resolved at different points in
the problem life cycle. You can access and resolve problems in many ways:
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Where do you work with problems? |
The following dialog boxes are starting points
used to access or resolve problems:
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Problem ownership |
In Tivoli Problem Management, the help desk
analyst responsible for solving a problem is the problem owner. Initially, the help desk
analyst who registers a call in the Call Registration dialog box owns the problem.
Ownership of a problem can change if more than one help desk analyst works to resolve a
problem. Your system administrator controls who owns a problem when a help desk analyst resumes work on a problem owned by another analyst. When you resume work on a problem owned by someone else, one of four things can happen:
In cases where you have a choice in accepting or rejecting ownership, the system administrator makes the Take Ownership box available in the Problem Status dialog box. You can choose one of these actions:
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Transferred calls and problems |
A transferred call or problem is one that is being passed to you by another help desk analyst at your site. Transferring calls enables help desk analysts to share the workload and take advantage of individual areas of expertise. When a help desk analyst registers a call, he or she may or may not try to resolve the problem before transferring it to you. You start work on a transferred call or problem by picking up the transferred call or problem. See Resuming a problem or Picking up a dispatched or transferred call. |
Ownership of transferred problems |
The system administrator controls who owns a
problem when help desk analysts transfer problems to other help desk analysts. Consult
with your system administrator to find out which of these two actions occurs:
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What is the difference between a call and a problem? |
In Tivoli Problem Management, a call is a record of the information you collect during the call registration process. A problem is a record in the Tivoli Problem Management database of the difficulties one or more callers experience. Several callers may have the same problem or one caller may have several problems. |
How do I know when to pick up a call or problem? |
When a call or problem is transferred to you,
you receive an alarm, or a notification announces the transfer. A notification is a notice
sent on an external device, such as a beeper. An alarm is the notice sent internally by
Tivoli Problem Management. The type of notice you receive depends on how the sender wants
you to receive the notice. Note: For more information, see Notifications and alarms. |
Notifying contacts |
When you resolve a problem during call
registration, you have the option of notifying the caller that the problem is resolved.
Similarly, you can notify all callers who have reported a problem when you resolve a
problem in the Problem Status dialog box. These notifications are delivered outside Tivoli Problem Management by another vendor's software or system such as e-mail, network messaging, faxes, pagers, or beepers. The ability to notify contacts when you resolve problems depends on whether:
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Making solutions active |
Your system administrator controls whether help
desk analysts can add active solutions to the Solutions table. If the option is available, selecting the Make Active Solution check box in the Call Registration dialog box adds your solution to the Solutions table. The solution is active and available for other analysts to use. Check with your system administrator for guidelines on when to make a solution active. Note: When the Make Active Solution check box is not available, solutions created by help desk analysts are added to the Solution table as inactive solutions and can be activated by the system administrator. |
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Resolving a problem in the Call Registration dialog box when you supply the solution |
You can resolve a problem in the Call Registration dialog box. To resolve a problem in the Call
Registration dialog box, you register a call and then apply a solution. You can resolve a
problem in the Call Registration dialog box by supplying the solution yourself, or by
using the Diagnostic Aids. Perform the following steps to resolve a problem in the Call Registration dialog box when you supply the solution:
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Resolving a problem in the Call Registration dialog box when a Diagnostic Aid supplies the solution |
You can use the Diagnose button on the Call Registration dialog box to locate and apply a solution to the
current problem. Perform the following steps to resolve a problem in the Call Registration dialog box when a Diagnostic Aid supplies the solution:
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Resuming a problem |
If a problem is not resolved during Call
Registration, it is either frozen or transferred. Help desk analysts freeze problems when
they suspend work on problems and intend to resolve them later. Or, they transfer problems
to other help desk analysts when someone else is better qualified to resolve a particular
problem. A closed problem is one that has been resolved. You can resume work on a closed problem when the resolution did not work, or when you want to add new information to the problem history. This section describes how to resume work on a problem in the Problem Status dialog box. Perform the following steps to resume a problem:
At this point, you can:
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Resolving a resumed problem in the Problem Status dialog box when you supply the solution |
You can resolve a problem in the Problem Status dialog box. To do so, you resume work on a problem,
and then solve a problem the same way you do in the Call
Registration dialog box. You can either supply the solution yourself or use the
Diagnostic Aids. When you know the solution to a problem, you can resolve a problem in the Problem Status dialog box by typing the solution in the Status box. Perform the following steps to resolve a resumed problem in the Problem Status dialog box when you supply the solution:
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Resolving a resumed problem when a Diagnostic Aid provides the solution |
You can use the Diagnostics button on the Problem tab of the Problem Status dialog box to locate and apply a
solution to the current problem. Perform the following steps to resolve a resumed problem in the Problem Status dialog box when a Diagnostic Aid supplies the solution:
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Picking up a dispatched or transferred call |
When a call is dispatched, transferred, or
forwarded to you, you pick up the call and complete the call registration process. Then
you can work to resolve the problem, just as if you took the call initially and registered
it. Perform the following steps to pick up a dispatched or transferred call:
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