I N C I D E N T A L S

Key Changes in LiveTime 5.1

New GUI, RFC Approvers and Customer Contracts

The end of March saw the release of LiveTime version 5.1, and while there were a number of refinements included in the release, there were also a couple of big ticket items that may change the way you use the system.

When you upgrade, the first thing you will notice when you log in as a User is the updated look and feel of the User Interface. Other less noticeable refinements include the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds for Incidents and the ability to update RFCs via email (Service Manager only).

Note Time
The major change that affects all Users adding Notes to service requests, is the increased integration between Notes and the time logged against a Request. This facility allows organizations to have greater control and record more accurate data regarding time used to complete activities related to Notes entered by Technicians.

Where in the past the system automatically calculated the logged time when an Incident, Problem or RFC was opened in edit mode, the User adding a Note will now be prompted to enter the time they spent working on collating the information for the Note. If the new method does not suit your working style, simply leave the Notes time blank as the system continues to record the logged time when a Request is opened in Edit mode.

RFC Approvers

For Service Manager installations that have implemented Change Management, LiveTime Manager Users now have the capability to accept or reject RFCs. In previous versions of LiveTime, RFC approvals were only processed by supervisor, technician or partner Users assigned to Change Teams.

LiveTime v5.1 allows Managers to be assigned to Change Teams for the approval process. When the Manager has been assigned to the Change Team, they can be allocated to Approval States, which is a state that is neither an entry or exit point of the workflow. Then, when the RFC moves to this stage of the Life Cycle, the Manager will receive an email, to which they can reply accept/yes to approve the change, or reject/no to reject the change.

It should be noted, a Change Workflow configured for Managers to provide RFC approval, will have next states pre-configured for when an RFC is accepted or rejected. This assignment allows the system to automatically send the RFC to the next relevant state, after the Manager has processed the approval.

For this functionality to work the Administrator must set the email message sent to manage RFC approvals, the wording for approving changes needs to be specific. That is, the Administrator needs to clearly specify that the Manager reply using the terms Accept, Yes, Reject or No in the reply email, as these are what the system will recognise to process the RFC.

Customer Contracts

The other major feature update within version 5.1 can be found within the Billing module. Billing now allows organizations to set up contracts with their customers to include pre-paid per-incident support. For further information regarding the updated Billing section, go to the Tips and Tricks section of this newsletter.

As with all releases, the release notes that detail all feature updates and customer generated change requests included in the release will be made available to customers when they upgrade or can be accessed at http://docs.livetime.com.

Tips and Tricks

Customer Contracts

Billing in LiveTime v5.1 includes the ability to create contracts on a per Request basis. This enables organizations to manage customer support and billing based on the a time period, block of hours or a combination of the two.

Before activating the Billing facility as an Administrator, here are some tips:

• Assign Global Items to a User/Org.Unit - prior to activating the Contracts facility, all Global Items must be assigned to a User or Organizational Unit. Where it is not appropriate to assign the Item to a specific User, LiveTime recommends ownership to a specific department.
• Time Expired Contract option - when the Administrator activates the Contracts facility, they need to specify what happens to the time spent on a Request should a Contract expire during the Request resolution process. Select the Rollover option, if the time is to be applied against a future contract. Or, apply the Ignore option if the time is not to be covered by a future Contract.
• Contracts can be applied on a Per Request basis, which covers the life a service request from the time it is opened until it is closed. Per Item Contracts can be applied in three ways:
  • Subscription - covers a period of time (eg. a year)
  • Time Limited Subscription - a contract that covers a period of time or a number of support hours, whichever limit expires first
  • Support Hours - a contract that has a set number of support hours.
• Contract Validation - When enabled, Service Requests cannot be created in the system without a valid contract. A contract can be applied to an Item, Customer or Org Unit. As part of the contract validation process, LiveTime will look for a valid contract in the following order:
  
  
  1. Item (with a valid contract).
  2. Customer (with a valid contract).
  3. Org Unit (with a valid contract).
  4. Item (with a pending contract).
  5. Customer (with a pending contract).
  6. Organizational Unit (with a pending contract).
  7. No contract found, then either a Per Incident or Per Item contract is created through the Incident.

For more information about Billing, refer to the Finance section of the LiveTime Service Manager User Guide.

LiveTime Training

Getting the most out of LiveTime and ITIL best practices

LiveTime's two-day Service Management Essentials training course focuses on ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) best practice as it relates to LiveTime. It also provides an in-depth look at the Administrator interface and gives users a greater understanding of how LiveTime integrates with authentication servers and asset management tools.

The major benefit in attending this training session includes the ability to workshop current issues with LiveTime personnel and also share your experience with other individuals and organizations.

For those thinking about achieving more with LiveTime Service Manager or Help Desk, here is what some other attendees have had to say about the training session:


For more information about LiveTime training and the current syllabus please visit http://www.livetime.com/webservicedesk/training/Essentials.html