Symantec SERVICEDESK 7.0 MR2 Implementation Manual

Symantec™ ServiceDesk

Implementation Guide

Version 7.0 MR2

Symantec™ ServiceDesk Implementation Guide

The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used

only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Documentation version 7.0 MR2

Legal Notice

Symantec, the Symantec Logo, and Altiris are trademarks or registered trademarks of

Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be

trademarks of their respective owners.

The product described in this document is distributed under licenses restricting its use,

copying, distribution, and decompilation/reverse engineering. No part of this document

may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior written authorization of

Symantec Corporation and its licensors, if any.

THE DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS,

REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF

MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT,

ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO

BE LEGALLY INVALID. SYMANTEC CORPORATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL

OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING,

PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED

IN THIS DOCUMENTATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

The Licensed Software and Documentation are deemed to be commercial computer software

as defined in FAR 12.212 and subject to restricted rights as defined in FAR Section 52.227-19

"Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights" and DFARS 227.7202, "Rights in

Commercial Computer Software or Commercial Computer Software Documentation", as

applicable, and any successor regulations. Any use, modification, reproduction release,

performance, display or disclosure of the Licensed Software and Documentation by the U.S.

Government shall be solely in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

Symantec Corporation

350 Ellis Street

Mountain View, CA 94043

http://www.symantec.com

Technical Support

Symantec Technical Support maintains support centers globally. Technical

Support’s primary role is to respond to specific queries about product features

and functionality. The Technical Support group also creates content for our online

Knowledge Base. The Technical Support group works collaboratively with the

other functional areas within Symantec to answer your questions in a timely

fashion. For example, the Technical Support group works with Product Engineering

and Symantec Security Response to provide alerting services and virus definition

updates.

Symantec’s support offerings include the following:

■ A range of support options that give you the flexibility to select the right

amount of service for any size organization

■ Telephone and/or Web-based support that provides rapid response and

up-to-the-minute information

■ Upgrade assurance that delivers software upgrades

■ Global support purchased on a regional business hours or 24 hours a day, 7

days a week basis

■ Premium service offerings that include Account Management Services

For information about Symantec’s support offerings, you can visit our Web site

at the following URL:

www.symantec.com/business/support/

All support services will be delivered in accordance with your support agreement

and the then-current enterprise technical support policy.

Contacting Technical Support

Customers with a current support agreement may access Technical Support

information at the following URL:

www.symantec.com/business/support/

Before contacting Technical Support, make sure you have satisfied the system

requirements that are listed in your product documentation. Also, you should be

at the computer on which the problem occurred, in case it is necessary to replicate

the problem.

When you contact Technical Support, please have the following information

available:

■ Product release level

■ Hardware information

■ Available memory, disk space, and NIC information

■ Operating system

■ Version and patch level

■ Network topology

■ Router, gateway, and IP address information

■ Problem description:

■ Error messages and log files

■ Troubleshooting that was performed before contacting Symantec

■ Recent software configuration changes and network changes

Licensing and registration

If your Symantec product requires registration or a license key, access our technical

support Web page at the following URL:

www.symantec.com/business/support/

Customer service

Customer service information is available at the following URL:

www.symantec.com/business/support/

Customer Service is available to assist with non-technical questions, such as the

following types of issues:

■ Questions regarding product licensing or serialization

■ Product registration updates, such as address or name changes

■ General product information (features, language availability, local dealers)

■ Latest information about product updates and upgrades

■ Information about upgrade assurance and support contracts

■ Information about the Symantec Buying Programs

■ Advice about Symantec's technical support options

■ Nontechnical presales questions

■ Issues that are related to CD-ROMs or manuals

Support agreement resources

If you want to contact Symantec regarding an existing support agreement, please

contact the support agreement administration team for your region as follows:

[email protected]Asia-Pacific and Japan

[email protected]Europe, Middle-East, and Africa

[email protected]North America and Latin America

Technical Support ............................................................................................... 3

Section 1 Introducing ServiceDesk ......................................... 13

Chapter 1 Introducing ServiceDesk .................................................... 15

About ServiceDesk ....................................................................... 15

Components of ServiceDesk ........................................................... 17

Where to get more information ....................................................... 19

Chapter 2 Understanding ServiceDesk concepts ............................ 23

About workflows, processes, tickets, and tasks .................................. 23

About ITIL .................................................................................. 24

About the core processes in ServiceDesk .......................................... 25

About configuration items ............................................................. 27

About the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) ..................... 27

About Workflow Designer .............................................................. 28

About Workflow Server ................................................................. 29

About ServiceDesk licenses ............................................................ 29

Chapter 3 Introducing ServiceDesk solution software ................... 31

About ServiceDesk solution software ............................................... 31

About the ServiceDesk Solution Console page .................................... 32

Accessing the ServiceDesk Solution Console page .............................. 32

Section 2 Installing ServiceDesk .............................................. 33

Chapter 4 Planning to install ServiceDesk ........................................ 35

About the ServiceDesk installation .................................................. 36

Installing a Symantec Management Platform product and ServiceDesk

for the first time .................................................................... 37

Installing ServiceDesk 7.0 on an existing installation of the Symantec

Management Platform ............................................................ 39

Contents

Upgrading to the Symantec Management Platform and ServiceDesk

7.0 from Altiris 6.x ................................................................. 41

Upgrading the ServiceDesk application software ............................... 44

Server requirements for the ServiceDesk installation ......................... 45

ServiceDesk requirements for the Notification Server

computer ........................................................................ 46

System requirements for the ServiceDesk server computer ............ 47

System requirements for the SQL Server computer ...................... 48

Server configuration options for the ServiceDesk installation .............. 49

Requirements for the ServiceDesk client computers ........................... 51

Adding the ServiceDesk server computer to the Administrators

group ................................................................................... 51

About installing Symantec Management Platform products ................. 52

About populating the CMDB for ServiceDesk ..................................... 53

Information to collect for the ServiceDesk installation ........................ 54

Chapter 5 Installing ServiceDesk ........................................................ 57

About installing the ServiceDesk solution software on the Notification

Server computer .................................................................... 58

Installing the ServiceDesk application software ................................. 59

Downloading the ServiceDesk installation file ................................... 60

Installing the ServiceDesk application software on the ServiceDesk

server computer .................................................................... 61

Installing Workflow Designer on a client computer ............................ 64

Installing an upgrade to the ServiceDesk application software .............. 67

Maintenance page ........................................................................ 68

Server Roles page ......................................................................... 70

Install Location page .................................................................... 72

Server Configuration page ............................................................. 73

Workflow Designer Tasks page ....................................................... 73

Notification Server Credentials page ................................................ 74

Database Connection page ............................................................. 75

Database Configuration page .......................................................... 76

Database Replication page ............................................................. 77

System Accounts Access page ......................................................... 78

Process Manager Configuration page ............................................... 78

Process Manager Authentication page ............................................. 79

Active Directory Server dialog box .................................................. 80

Active Directory Container dialog box .............................................. 82

Workflow Persistence page ............................................................ 83

Symbus ORM page ....................................................................... 83

System Check page ....................................................................... 85

Contents8

Chapter 6 Configuring the initial ServiceDesk settings ................. 87

Configuring the ServiceDesk application software during

installation ........................................................................... 88

Welcome page ............................................................................. 91

Installation Components page ........................................................ 92

ServiceDesk Settings page ............................................................. 94

Mail Settings page ........................................................................ 95

ITIL Process Configuration page ..................................................... 97

Incident Management Configuration page ........................................ 98

ServiceDesk Groups page ............................................................... 99

Sample Data Configuration page ................................................... 100

Installation Preview page ............................................................. 101

Installation Summary page .......................................................... 101

Re-running the ServiceDesk installation ......................................... 102

Setting up the replication database after the initial installation .......... 105

Uninstalling ServiceDesk from the ServiceDesk server

computer ............................................................................ 106

Chapter 7 Installing the Screen Capture Utility ............................. 109

About installing the Screen Capture utility ...................................... 109

Installing the Screen Capture utility with Package Delivery ................ 111

Downloading the Screen Capture Utility installation file .................... 112

Chapter 8 Migrating data from Altiris® Helpdesk

Solution™ ....................................................................... 113

About migrating data from Helpdesk Solution ................................. 113

Methods for migrating data from Helpdesk Solution ......................... 114

Migrating incidents from Helpdesk Solution .................................... 115

How Helpdesk Solution incident data corresponds to ServiceDesk

incidents ............................................................................. 117

About working Helpdesk Solution incidents in ServiceDesk ................ 118

Migrating categories from Helpdesk Solution .................................. 118

Section 3 Configuring ServiceDesk ....................................... 121

Chapter 9 Configuring the ServiceDesk application ..................... 123

About configuring the ServiceDesk application software ................... 124

Before you configure the ServiceDesk application software ................ 124

Configuring the ServiceDesk application software ............................ 125

About incident categories and the data hierarchy ............................. 130

9Contents

About the incident priority ........................................................... 131

Default priority, urgency, and impact values ................................... 132

How the incident priority is calculated ........................................... 133

About the Service Level Agreement and Operating Level

Agreement .......................................................................... 134

About the Service Level Agreement (SLA) time frames ...................... 135

Default SLA time frames .............................................................. 136

About business hours and holidays ................................................ 136

About Follow the Sun routing ....................................................... 137

About replicating the Process Manager database .............................. 138

About the Service Catalog and service items .................................... 138

Chapter 10 Managing security, users, roles, groups, and

permissions .................................................................. 141

About ServiceDesk security and permissions ................................... 141

About group-level permissions ...................................................... 142

About ServiceDesk authentication ................................................. 143

About adding users from Active Directory ....................................... 143

Chapter 11 Customizing the ServiceDesk portal .............................. 145

About the ServiceDesk portal ........................................................ 145

About customizing the contents of ServiceDesk portal pages .............. 147

About customizing forms ............................................................. 147

About the Customer Satisfaction Survey ......................................... 149

Chapter 12 Customizing the email in ServiceDesk .......................... 151

Customizing the email actions for ServiceDesk processes .................. 151

About automatic email notifications .............................................. 152

About the contents of email notifications ........................................ 153

About configuring the email monitoring ......................................... 154

Chapter 13 Distributing the ServiceDesk documentation .............. 157

Making the ServiceDesk documentation available to users ................. 157

Configuring the Help link for ServiceDesk documentation ................. 159

Linking to the ServiceDesk documentation from a Links Web

part ................................................................................... 160

Displaying the ServiceDesk documentation in a File Browser Web

part ................................................................................... 161

Adding the ServiceDesk documentation to Document

Management ....................................................................... 162

Contents10

Chapter 14 Performing administrative tasks .................................... 165

Commands on the Admin menu .................................................... 165

About application properties ........................................................ 170

About incident close codes ........................................................... 170

About the ServiceDesk portal master settings .................................. 171

Creating user relationship types .................................................... 172

Chapter 15 Managing the Active Directory connections in

ServiceDesk ................................................................... 173

About Active Directory synchronization ......................................... 173

Methods for synchronizing Active Directory ................................... 175

About managing Active Directory servers in ServiceDesk .................. 176

Appendix A Default categories in ServiceDesk ................................. 177

Default categories for incidents ..................................................... 177

Default classifications for problems ............................................... 179

Index ................................................................................................................... 183

11Contents

Contents12

Introducing ServiceDesk

■ Chapter 1. Introducing ServiceDesk

■ Chapter 2. Understanding ServiceDesk concepts

■ Chapter 3. Introducing ServiceDesk solution software

1

Section

14

Introducing ServiceDesk

This chapter includes the following topics:

■ About ServiceDesk

■ Components of ServiceDesk

■ Where to get more information

About ServiceDesk

Symantec ServiceDesk is an ITIL-compliant service management tool that lets

you improve your IT infrastructure and provide a higher level of service. It

incorporates Symantec Workflow technologies to manage service tickets, provide

reports, and integrate with other Symantec products such as the Configuration

Management Database (CMDB).

ServiceDesk requires a completed installation and implementation of a Symantec

Management Platform 7.0 product. Such products include Client Management

Suite and Server Management Suite. The ServiceDesk solution software is installed

using the standard Symantec Management Platform mechanisms.

ServiceDesk includes all the primary ITIL Service Management processes.

Processes in ServiceDesk include Incident Management, Problem Management,

Change Management, Release Management, and a Knowledge Management system.

ServiceDesk also includes a Service Catalog.

After you install ServiceDesk, it is ready to use. However, you might choose to

customize some aspects of ServiceDesk to meet your organization’s specific

requirements. Because all ServiceDesk processes are based on workflows, you can

customize the processes without making code-level changes.

For information about the kinds of modifications you can perform, see the

ServiceDesk Customization Guide.

1

Chapter

Table 1-1

Key features of ServiceDesk

DescriptionFeature

All ServiceDesk processes are fully ITIL-based, which lets you implement a full ITIL

solution.

ITIL-based processes

ServiceDesk includes a set of high-quality, ITIL-based processes that have undergone

extensive testing and development effort.

Ready-to-use workflows and

processes

All ServiceDesk processes and forms are easy to customize using the Workflow

Designer tool.

See “About Workflow Designer” on page 28.

Easy customization

The default forms that ServiceDesk contains are process-driven rather than

data-driven. The user is not shown all of the available information for the form.

Instead, the user is shown what is relevant for the particular point they are at in the

process. The user is shown the information they need to see to move forward with

the process. This narrowing of focus helps ensure that the process is followed

correctly, and makes following the processes easier for new users.

Process-driven forms

The date and time that appear in tickets, alerts, and emails are displayed in the

appropriate time zone for the current user’s location. This time zone support allows

for world-wide support capabilities and supports virtual help desks.

Time zone support

You can define the normal business hours for your organization, which accounts for

holidays and weekends. This business hours support allows for accurate Service Level

Agreement reporting and accurate reporting of average response time and resolution

time.

Business hours support

Email notifications are built into the ITIL processes. Email notifications keep users

aware of changes to ticket status, and allow users to verify that an issue is fixed. In

any process, email notifications can be used to notify the contacts that are associated

with a ticket, assign tasks, and send alerts.

Email notifications

Escalation rules can be configured so that escalations are triggered when certain

types of events occur. For example, an escalation might trigger when an incident

approaches the Service Level Agreement limitations. When a user has not responded

to a Change Management approval task, an escalation may also be triggered.

Escalation rules

ServiceDesk can integrate with other products through the actions and URL calls

that can trigger events in other systems. ServiceDesk Web services can also be used

to display ServiceDesk processes and forms in third-party applications such as

Microsoft SharePoint.

Integration with other

products

Introducing ServiceDesk

About ServiceDesk

16

Table 1-1

Key features of ServiceDesk (continued)

DescriptionFeature

Advanced reporting mechanisms are included in ServiceDesk. Reports are easy to

create and customize. In addition, report templates can be created to let groups and

users customize and save their own reports. Reports can be defined and scheduled

to run periodically, and can be emailed to a distribution list. Reports can also be

published as a web service to expose report data.

Advanced reporting

mechanisms

A full-featured knowledge management solution is included.Full-featured knowledge

management

You can secure processes, forms, and data at the user, group, role, and organizational

unit level.

Security at a granular level

Components of ServiceDesk

The components of ServiceDesk combine to let you use ITIL-compliant processes

to manage service tickets and your organization’s knowledge.

Table 1-2

Components of ServiceDesk

DescriptionComponent

The ServiceDesk solution software is installed on the Notification Server computer.

This software provides the following functions:

■ Management of the ServiceDesk licensing

The Symantec Installation Manager (SIM) installs the ServiceDesk solution software

and applies the ServiceDesk licenses.

■ The installation file that is used to install the ServiceDesk application software on the

ServiceDesk server computer.

The ServiceDesk server computer is different from the Notification Server computer.

■ The ServiceDesk pages that appear in the Symantec Management Console.

In the Symantec Management Console, you can access a page that lets you download

the ServiceDesk installation file.

■ Integration between the ServiceDesk application software and the Configuration

Management Database (CMDB).

See “About ServiceDesk solution software” on page 31.

ServiceDesk solution

software

Incorporates all the Symantec Workflow technologies that manage service tickets, provide

reporting capabilities, and integrate with other Symantec products.

The ServiceDesk application software is installed on the ServiceDesk server computer. It

cannot be installed on the same computer as Helpdesk Solution.

ServiceDesk application

software

17Introducing ServiceDesk

Components of ServiceDesk

Table 1-2

Components of ServiceDesk (continued)

DescriptionComponent

A tool that lets an administrator customize workflows to meet the needs of the organization.

See “About Workflow Designer” on page 28.

Workflow Designer is typically installed on a client computer. However, it can also be

installed on the ServiceDesk server computer.

Workflow Designer

A Web-based interface that provides access to the ServiceDesk application software. The

users of ServiceDesk access the portal from their Web browsers and use the portal to run

the workflow processes.

The ServiceDesk portal resides on the ServiceDesk server computer. The ServiceDesk

portal is accessible from most Web browsers.

See “About the ServiceDesk portal” on page 145.

ServiceDesk portal

The server-side software that includes the workflow extensions that are required to run

the core workflow processes.

These extensions must run on the server to which the workflows have been deployed,

which is the ServiceDesk server computer. The ServiceDesk server is sometimes referred

to as the Workflow server .

See “About Workflow Server” on page 29.

Workflow Server

software

Definitions of the events or steps that a process can follow. The data that is provided for

a specific process determines the path that the process takes through the workflow.

ServiceDesk contains the core workflows that you can use immediately without

customization. The core workflows let you manage service tickets and perform other

service-related activities.

The workflows and processes reside on the ServiceDesk server computer.

See “About workflows, processes, tickets, and tasks” on page 23.

Workflows

Stores the Process Manager details such as groups, users, and permissions.

Other applications can use the Process Manager database. For example, it is included with

Workflow Solution. When you install ServiceDesk, the Process Manager database is

expanded to become the ServiceDesk database. However, it typically is referred to as the

Process Manager database.

The default name for the actual database is Ensemble. It resides on the SQL Server

computer.

Process Manager

(ServiceDesk) database

Introducing ServiceDesk

Components of ServiceDesk

18

Table 1-2

Components of ServiceDesk (continued)

DescriptionComponent

Replicates certain data from the Process Manager database. You can either copy or move

the original data to the replication database or to a file. Use the database replication for

archiving or for improving performance of the Process Manager database.

The default name for the actual database is EnsembleReplication. It typically resides on

the same SQL Server computer as the Process Manager database.

See “About replicating the Process Manager database” on page 138.

Replication database

Stores the configuration details and contains the built-in tools that facilitate the use of

the data in the Process Manager database for reporting.

The default name for the actual database is EnsembleAnalysis. It resides on the SQL Server

computer.

Analysis database

Where to get more information

Use the following documentation resources to learn and use this product.

Table 1-3

Documentation resources

LocationDescriptionDocument

http://kb.altiris.com/

You can search for the product name under

Release Notes.

Information about new features and

important issues.

This information is available as an article in

the Altiris Knowledgebase.

Release Notes

Links to the documentation are available

from the following locations:

■ The release notes for this product

■ The Documentation Library, which is

available in the Symantec Management

Console on the Help menu

■ The Documentation page, which is

available from the Help link in the

ServiceDesk portal or at the following

URL:

http://www.altiris.com/Support/

Documentation.aspx

When you open the Documentation page,

look for the section that applies to this

product.

Information about how to install, configure,

and implement this product.

This information is available in PDF format.

Implementation Guide

19Introducing ServiceDesk

Where to get more information

Table 1-3

Documentation resources (continued)

LocationDescriptionDocument

Links to the documentation are available

from the following locations:

■ The release notes for this product.

■ The Documentation Library, which is

available in the Symantec Management

Console on the Help menu.

■ The Documentation page, which is

available from the Help link in the

ServiceDesk portal or at the following

URL:

http://www.altiris.com/Support/

Documentation.aspx

When you open the Documentation page,

look for the section that applies to this

product.

The ServiceDesk administrator can download

this documentation and provide it to the

appropriate users.

See “Making the ServiceDesk documentation

available to users” on page 157.

Information about how to use this product,

including detailed technical information and

instructions for performing common tasks.

This information is available in PDF format.

ServiceDesk has the following user guides:

■ ServiceDesk User Guide

For the administrator who configures

and manages the ServiceDesk portal and

the process workers who use the

ServiceDesk portal.

■ ServiceDesk Portal User Guide

For the internal users or external users

who use the ServiceDesk portal to submit

incidents, search the knowledge base,

and perform other user tasks.

User Guides

The Documentation Library, which is

available in the Symantec Management

Console on the Help menu.

Context-sensitive help is available for most

screens in the Symantec Management

Console.

You can open context-sensitive help in the

following ways:

■ The F1 key

■ The Context command, which is available

in the Symantec Management Console

on the Help menu

Information about how to use the

ServiceDesk Solution Console. Help is not

available in the ServiceDesk portal.

Help is available at the solution level and at

the suite level.

This information is available in HTML help

format.

Help

Introducing ServiceDesk

Where to get more information

20

Page is loading ...

Symantec SERVICEDESK 7.0 MR2 Implementation Manual

This manual is also suitable for

Symantec SERVICEDESK 7.0 MR2 Implementation Manual

Related papers

Other documents