Modifying the Affected User Information on a ServiceDesk Incident

In ServiceDesk 7.5 you have the ability to create incidents for yourself or any other user in the system. Once an incident is created the user who the incident is created for is called the Affected User.

Problem

Once an incident is created there is no functionality to change who the Affected User is associated with an incident. This leaves you with only two options. The first option is to close the incident and recreate the incident with the correct Affected User information. The second option is to add the correct Affected User as an additional contact on the incident and put notes into the case. Neither of these options is convenient or affective.

Solution

A new Workflow projected called SD.IncidentManagementSimple.UserManagement has been created to address this deficiency.

The project is designed to be setup as a Process Type action.

Project Overview

The SD.IncidentManagementSimple.UserManagement project was created to address a need for updating the Affected User information associated with a contact. This project incorporates the ability to add and delete existing contacts, as well as updating the Affected User.

Let's go over the main parts of the Manage Contacts form:

1. Displays the information for the Submitting user. This information can't be changed.
2. Shows the current affected user.
3. Text box for providing search criteria.
4. Shows the search results based on the search criteria and the option to add a found user as a contact. Please note that users who are already contacts on the incident (Submitting, Affected, or additional contact) are filtered out of the search results.
5. Displays any additional contacts on the incident and provides the ability to delete the contact.
6. Link to change the affected user.

Now let's go over the main parts of the Update Affected User form:

1. Shows the Current Affected User for the incident.
2. Search box to enter the search criteria to find users. Note that if the search box from the Manage Contacts form contains data when clicking on Change Affected User when the Update Affected User form loads it will automatically perform the search on the specified criteria.
3. Displays the found users based on the search criteria that you can set the Affected User to. Note that the search results will not include the information for the current Affected User.

Publishing the project and portal changes

Publishing the project

There are no special requirements for publishing the SD.IncidentManagementSimple.UserManagement project. You simply need to open the project inside Workflow Designer and publish the project as you would any other project.

Changes made in the Portal

There are two modifications that need to be made in the Process Manager portal. These modifications require administrator privileges to complete.

1. Define the new Process Type action
2. Hide the Add & Delete contact options in the Contact web part on the Process View page.

Defining the Process Type Action

1. Go to Admin-> Data-> Process Type Actions
2. Click the Lightning bolt for Incident Management and choose Add Action
3. Define the new Action as the screen shot below. If you wish to provide a different name for the Action that is fine. Also the screen shot shows I've defined a privilege level of 'Is Edit Action'. This means users will need to have edit permission on the incident to modify contact information.

4. Click Save

Modifying the Process Contacts web part on SD Incident Process View Page

1. Go to Admin-> Portal-> Manage Pages.
2. Expand Process View Pages
3. Select SD Incident View
4. Click the Go To Page button on the right.
5. Click Site Actions->Modify Page
6. Click Site Actions->Edit Page
7. Click the Edit button for the Process Contacts web part.
8. Uncheck the Show Add Button & Show Delete Button under the New Contact section.

9. Click OK