Service Request & Incident Management

Standard Requests & Incidents

4me^® makes the management of incidents and requests for service more efficient with a single form for both. This form adapts to offer the correct fields and options depending on the category of the request. For example, a request for incident resolution requires an impact to be specified, while a request for change or information does not show the impact field. 4me’s intelligent field handling results in a dramatically simplified user experience and speeds up service resolution.

For standard requests that are regularly submitted, the support organization can add fields to ensure that all the information needed to complete these requests gets collected upon registration. The custom fields can be defined in a UI extension that can then be related to the request template that is used for a specific standard request.

The UI extensions are helpful for end users when they submit their requests in 4me Self-Service. They also help service desk analysts ensure that they collect all the necessary information from a user when they register a new request.

The Service Desk console is a unique 4me feature that helps even relatively inexperienced service desk analysts to perform to a high level. As soon as a service desk agent accepts a call from the organization’s CTI (computer telephony integration) desktop client, the Service Desk console opens in a new browser tab with the caller selected. It gives the agent the caller’s name and preferred language so no time is wasted establishing these facts before the conversation can begin.

The caller details, such as their job title, organization and site, provide the agent with additional context. If the call is lost, the agent can simply click on one of the caller’s telephone numbers. The caller’s previously submitted requests are visible below their details. This not only avoids the registration of duplicate requests, but it also allows the agent to proactively provide an update on any requests that are still open. The completed requests are also visible along with an indicator that shows whether the caller was satisfied with the support provided.

If the caller registered the request in 4me Self-Service, the broadcasts are visible in the bottom-left corner of the screen. These broadcasts are those relevant for the caller and allow the service desk analyst to provide helpful information that the caller may not yet be aware of.

On the right side of the screen, the service desk analyst sees the services the caller is covered for by an active SLA. This list is limited to those relevant to this call. If one of the services is down, a red dot is displayed so the agent can inform the caller that they are aware of this outage. To the right of these services, the caller’s supported configuration items (or assets) are listed.

The agent can register a new request by selecting a service or a configuration item. Once selected, the most popular request templates (or standard requests) and knowledge articles for the selected service or asset are offered to the agent to speed up registration.

Integration with service configuration and IT asset management practices allows assets to be related to a request. This, in turn, makes it possible to report on incidents by brand, product and product category, for example. Therefore, support organizations can filter their request reports in a meaningful way.

These service and asset filters, along with other filters such as region and site, eliminate the need for agents and specialists to go through a multi-level classification tree when they register or complete a request. This removes a lot of agent frustration and increases efficiency.

The integration with service level management also ensures that service desk analysts do not need to negotiate with users about the urgency of their requests. The SLAs defined in 4me dictate when work needs to have started on a request (the response target) and when the request should be completed (the resolution target). Setting these targets in advance for the different services, request categories, impact levels and standard service requests, is another way to increase efficiency.

Thanks to the tight integration with other processes that 4me supports, it is possible to pass requests that require coordination by change management to a change manager. If a change manager determines that a project is needed for the implementation of a request, then it can be passed on to portfolio management or project management where it can be related to a new or existing project.