Alerts in HP ServiceCenter/HP Service Manager
July 27, 2009
Alerts
ServiceCenter has provided very robust and in-depth tools to produce Alerts and Notifications to users based on system events. Alerts allow an organization to define known conditions, which could automatically produce some action on the ticket, such as escalating the ticket, changing the severity, notifications, etc.
The ServiceCenter Alert Definitions, Schedule and Notification files all work together to produce output for the Alerts. Frequent usage of the Alerts includes:
- Notifications for SLA breaches
- Notification of pending Approvals
- Notifications of Past Due tickets
- Notifications of Stale Tickets
While many of the frequent uses for Alerts include notifications, those are far from the only uses for Alerts. Alerts can be used to update information on a ticket or execute processes.
Each ticket type provides for an alert status field, which can be updated when the alert is triggered. This status identifies the next time that a specific alert may need to be evaluated or acted upon. Alerts run at the time when a ticket is saved and evaluates the schedule.condition against the current record. If a match is made, the Calculation fields on the scheduling tab are used to set the expiration (Alert Time) on the schedule record that will be created. The name used for the Alert will be the name on the scheduled event.
Recommendation: Use very clear names for your Alerts so that Administrators will know what they are looking at when troubleshooting Alerts in the schedule file.
The Calculations for Alert times allow you to schedule an alert to happen based on a specific time in the ticket or a calculated time (such as one business day prior to the implementation time). Each alert can use a different calendar based on different needs. Some alerts may use a 24 X 7 calendar while others may use an 8 X 5 calendar.
The update Information tab allows you to specify notifications that will run and/or special processes to change the existing data in the ticket. Triggers can be turned off for these updates in order to prevent potential circular processes. From here, one or more notifications can be kicked off.
Recommendation: In order to be able to trace system Alerts and Notifications end to end, it is a good idea to use clear and systematic names for your notifications.
There is an Alert tab on the Object record. This allows for specification of a top level Alert that will run for that specific notification type. Additionally, the Change module provides Alert panels in each Change and each Task phase to set off Alerts based on specific conditions.
The best first step is to define and map out on paper exactly what you think your organization needs. Remember that any tool should always support your process. When should a ticket be escalated? Who needs to be notified? When do they need to be notified? What information is necessary for that step? While you may feel the need to notify everyone for all items, be conservative about notifying users in your organization. Excessive notifications will result in users ignoring or deleting them.
The Alerts in ServiceCenter are extremely powerful when defined and executed well. When they are not set up correctly, they can have disastrous consequences. The challenge can be in defining the notifications in a clear and concise manner. Start small with one Alert and test it end to end. Once you have nailed exactly what you want, continue to create the additional alerts that are required.
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