Working with Alarms


Overview

Tasks

Included with

Tivoli Service Desk

Overview

Receiving an alarm

The Alarm Indicator notifies you when you receive an alarm while you are running Tivoli Service Desk. If you are not running either Tivoli Service Desk or the Alarm Monitor when an alarm is sent to you, you are notified of this alarm the next time you start either of these programs.

Note: You do not see non-alarm notifications in Tivoli Service Desk. You must monitor your e-mail program, check the fax machine, or wear a pager to learn that you have received a non-alarm notification from Tivoli Problem Management.

Alarm Manager dialog box

The Alarm Manager dialog box enables you to view a list of your alarms and to view the details of a selected alarm.

To access the Alarm Manager dialog box, do one of the following:

  • If you are using the Problem Management Administrator profile, the Problem Management Analyst profile, or the Problem Management Field Analyst profile, from the File menu, choose Read Alarms.
  • If you are using the Tivoli Service Desk User profile, from the File menu, choose Read Alarms.
  • From the Help menu, choose Your System Profile and follow the instructions under Read Alarms.
  • In the Alarm Monitor window, from the Actions menu, choose View Alarms.
  • In the Alarm Monitor window, from the toolbar, select the View Alarms toolbar button.
  • In the Alarm Notification dialog box, choose View.

Result: The Alarm Manager dialog box appears.


Tasks

Viewing alarms

Viewing alarms is similar whether you run Tivoli Service Desk or the Alarm Monitor alone.

To view alarms:

  1. In the Alarm Manager dialog box, in the Alarms for list, click on the title of the alarm you want to view.
    Result: The details of the selected alarm appear in the Alarm Data section.
    Note: The Alarms for list contains the titles of all alarms you have received and not deleted. It does not contain alarms that you have sent to other users.
    When you access the Alarm Manager dialog box by choosing the View button in the Alarm Notification dialog box, the title of the new alarm is automatically selected.

Postponing an alarm

You can postpone dealing with an alarm to a selected date and time. You are notified of this alarm again when the selected date and time is reached.

To postpone an alarm:

  1. In the Alarm Manager dialog box, from the Alarms for list, select an alarm and choose Postpone.
  2. In the Postpone Alarm dialog box, in the Alarm Time and Alarm Date boxes, change the time and date as appropriate.
  3. To modify the alarm title, in the Alarm Title box, type a new title.
  4. To modify or add to the alarm description, in the Alarm Text box, type new text.
  5. Choose OK.
    Result: The Alarm Manager dialog box reappears. The postponed alarm is displayed in the Alarms list. When the date and time you specified in the Alarm Time and Alarm Date boxes is reached, the postponed alarm triggers an alarm indicator in the Tivoli Service Desk window if one is not already there.

Forwarding an alarm

You can forward an alarm to another Tivoli Service Desk user.

To forward an alarm:

  1. In the Alarm Manager dialog box, from the Alarms for list, select an alarm and choose Fwd.
  2. In the Send Notification dialog box, specify the person or group to whom you want to send the notification and modify any other information as necessary. For more information, see Sending Notifications.
  3. Choose OK.
    Result: The Alarm Manager dialog box reappears. The forwarded alarm still appears in the Alarms for list. It is removed after you exit the Alarm Manager dialog box.

Deleting an alarm

After you have read an alarm, you can delete it from your Alarms for list.

To delete an alarm:

  • In the Alarm Manager dialog box, from the Alarms for list, select an alarm and choose Delete.
    Result: The selected alarm is removed from the Alarms list.

Resuming work on a transferred or forwarded problem

In Tivoli Service Desk, when you read an alarm about a transferred or forwarded problem, you can immediately resume work on the problem.

To resume work on a transferred or forwarded problem:

  1. In the Alarm Manager dialog box, from the Alarms for list, select an alarm relating to a transferred or forwarded problem.
    Result: The problem number is displayed in the Item ID box and the Jump To button becomes active.
    Note: The Jump To button appears only when you access the Alarm Manager dialog box while you run Tivoli Service Desk. It does not appear when you access the Alarm Manager box while running the Alarm Monitor.
  2. Choose Jump To.
    Result: The Problem Status dialog box opens and displays the selected problem. Resume work on the problem as if you had opened it directly in the Problem Status dialog box.

Sending a notification while working with alarms

You can send notifications to other Tivoli Service Desk users while you are working with your alarms.

Perform the following steps to send a notification:

  1. In the Alarm Manager dialog box, choose Set New.
  2. In the Send Notification dialog box, specify the required information. For more information, see Sending Notifications.
  3. Choose OK.
    Result: The Send Notification dialog box closes. The notification is sent to the specified user or group of users.

Quitting the Alarm Manager

To quit the Alarm Manager:
  1. In the Alarm Manager dialog box, choose Close.
  2. When the Warning message appears, do one of the following:
    • To close the Alarm Manager dialog box and delete alarms you have viewed this time, choose Yes.
      Note: Alarms viewed previously, but not this time when the Alarm Manager was opened, are not deleted. Alarms sent to you as a member of a group and not as an individual user are also not deleted.
    • To close the Alarm Manager dialog box without deleting any alarms, choose No.
    • To return to the Alarm Manager dialog box, choose Cancel.

Note: The alarm indicator remains on the Tivoli Service Desk window until you delete all alarms listed in the Alarm Manager dialog box.