Enhancement: Please simply make Snippets available for Updates also

[Berto2002]

Please simply make the Snippets feature available for Updates. It can even be the same Snippet set. This would be REALLY useful!

Snippets are useful for Resolution but teams use the Update feature 3-4 times more often; and usually they are sending standard words to the customer for things and currently have to manually type them or copy and paste from notepad/docs:

1. asking for more information
2. instructions to try certain things out to assist in diagnosis
3. updates of standard diagnosis steps taken
4. chasing closure

[Steve Giller]

There would probably be better ways to do this than snippets if they're happening so frequently you have them saved in Notepad.

1. Suggests the information could be gathered, and possibly made mandatory, in the Progressive Capture.
2. This sounds like it could be sent automatically on categorisation.
3. This sounds like a Task with a checklist would be more efficient here.
4. Would normally be automated.

[nasimg]

Hi @Steve Giller , @Berto2002

I agree with Berto - I would like snippets in the updates.

The flexibility of the snippet means analysts can create custom responses on the fly (or use shared ones). Having snippets doesn't stop the automations you are talking about but for Berto's examples I think Snippets is a better fit.

Nasim

[Alisha]

+1 We would also find it useful to have Snippets in the updates.

 

 

[Martyn Houghton]

+1 for snippets

[Adrian Simpkins]

Hi All,

Just to jump on the snippet bandwagon I raised this exact request as an enhancement probably early last year. Having snippets in Updates will really assist our analysts. I know we can copy these from a notepad etc, but it just makes sense to offer this feature on the update node like it is already done on the emails and resolution nodes.

Many thanks

[Guest Ehsan]

@Berto2002, @nasimg, @Adrian Simpkins,

Thank you for your post.

I am trying to picture the scenario and how it fits into the product, and I am also interested to understand why this type of automation couldn't be achieved through the business process.

Going through the examples you have provided:

• Asking for more information - Wouldn't a triage Human Task within the business process, assigned to the request owner be suitable here? The task would be assigned to the owner who would determine whether the information provided by the requester is sufficient to progress the enquiry. In the event that the information is incomplete, an Automated Task in the process can be used to send out an email / update. This then pre-empts the need to type out the request for more information.
• Updates of standard diagnosis steps taken - This would be in form of an update to the customer, is that right? Would this update be sent out via an email, or are customers viewing the updates via the self-service? I am assuming that this action takes place frequently. Similar to previous comment, an update can be sent out the customer through the business process depending on the stage that the request is in. The business process can automate this task.
• Chasing closure - This can be automated too. The request can be suspended through the business process, and every 2 days (or whatever the frequency is), you can check the request's status to confirm whether it's been closed yet via self-service, and if not, an automated email could be sent out to chase.

You mentioned that an update is sent out to customers. Is this update sent out via email? Could you walk me through the steps taken by an analyst to get an update to a customer?

Ehsan

 

[Berto2002]

Hi @Ehsan,

Your points are theoretically correct but idealised.  The reality is that we (and most HB customers, I suspect) do not have all our processes nailed into the Product. In a fast-moving high-volume Service Desk/support environment we only have the broad-brush ones in place but most agents still need to use their personal experience, training and a broad set of tools to find what is causing something and to fix it. In these cases, all we can do in Service Manager is to present the Agent with a generic set of answers the Customer has answered about, say, laptop errors. But there could be a 1000 error codes in our estate and we don't know the exact questions to ask for them all and the admin of configuring 100 PCFs would not be manageable. So, we need to equip our teams with fast, agile methods they can use to try to structure information capture and dissemination between them, Customers and Colleagues.

A few additional thoughts:

1. Asking for Information.
   1. Snippets are a way of piloting/trialling what questions we can ask of Customers as we start to form a view on a trend; before we invest in PCF/BP updates
   2. Snippets can be used when we have adverse circumstances and need to provide certain responses for a limited period such as a basic paragraph explaining to the Customers of 50 Incidents that the Sky ISP is down
   3. Snippets can professionalise and standardise the default Sdesk responses by providing a template of fields to complete
2. Diagnosis steps.
   1. My technical teams want to know that the SDesk have done a few basic triage steps before assigning. SDesk could use Snippets to build-up templates and standard responses for that which can be entered at the point of assigning
   2. Snippets can be used to make statements about work the team have done when we have a set of steps needing doing but where Service Manager is too regimented. For example, we have 20 things we can do to diagnose a PC. The engineer chooses one or two for that Customer and wants to update the request quickly that he's done them and just enter variables.

Also the three cases I listed were just examples so please do not get hung-up on them as the only use-cases.

Rob

[Guest Ehsan]

@Berto2002,

Thank you for getting back to me. Once the questions have been drafted by the analyst, how does the update get to the customer, or how does the customer see the update? How do they get to reply to the analyst?

I appreciate your comment about maintaining processes, we built a really powerful business orchestration tool to minimise the amount of repeatable interaction that is required by an analyst when handling a request, we then made even easier to interact outsourced tools via iBridge, and most recently advanced automation via ITOM. I hope you appreciate that from my point of view, the requirement here is to bring the automation aspect out of the processes, which I can understand from your examples why that would be.

Ehsan

[Guest Ehsan]

@Berto2002, @nasimg, @Martyn Houghton, @Alisha,

Just an update on this - We assessed the requirement and extended the Snippets feature to provide an option to make a snippet available on the Update action tab. 

The snippet can be used in the same manner as the Email and Resolution action tabs.

 

This enhancement will be rolled out to all instances in the next 2-3 weeks.

Ehsan

[James Ainsworth]

This feature is now available in Service Manager as of build 2368

[Berto2002]

Our Service Desk have leapt on this to use straight away. Thanks!