Service Desk - Actions

Actions

A powerful function within PCR-360 is the ability to perform multiple Actions within a single Service Order. The Actions tab, open by default in the data entry form, details the specific Services deemed necessary to fulfill the Service Order. Users can add or remove Actions from this tab as needed. However, before adding the first Action, the Service Order must be saved. Once a Service Order has Actions, the 'Urgency' and Due Date on the Order itself becomes read-only, and the Service Order Urgency takes its value from the most urgent of the Actions on the Order. When the User wants to change the Urgency of the Order, an Action's Urgency needs to be changed.

Each Action can have its own Equipment , Workflow , Contacts/Customers, GLAs, Charges , Labor , Cabling , Activity/Remarks , Attachments , and User Defined Fields.

When the Due Date or the Urgency is set on the Action that setting will flow upwards to the Order. The Urgency on the Order will override to the highest level Urgency set on any Action that is on the Order. Likewise, the Due Date on the Order will override to the longest time period of all the Actions set on the Order. For Example, if there are two due dates, one that is one month in the future and another that is two months in the future, the one that is two months in the future will be used.

To add an Action to the Grid under the Action tab, select the 

Once all required fields have been fulfilled, click the  button at the bottom of the Service Desk Action data entry form. After it is saved, the new Action appears on the 'Actions' Grid in the original Service Order data entry form.

It is important to note that certain functions within a Service Order can be applied at different levels of the service process. Functionality such as Workflow, Equipment, Cabling, GLA, Charges, etc. may be defined at the Service Order Action level (to provide the flexibility and granularity of handling each Action separately) or at the Service Request level.

For example, if a User adds a piece of Equipment to an Add Phone Service Action, this Equipment is associated with the specific Phone service added. Whenever the specific Phone Service or piece of Equipment is queried, the associated Equipment or Service is displayed. However, if a User adds a piece of Equipment at the Service Request level, it is assigned to the specified 'Owner' but is not be associated with the Phone Service.

In either case, the Equipment is accounted for and billed to the Owner. If the functionality was added at the Action level, however, it is associated with the specific Service (as well as the Owner), making it easier for the User to delete or change the Service in the future because of the associated Equipment always appears with the Service.

Add Actions

The 'Add' Action type will allow the User to Add a Service. In addition to adding the Service, all the relevant information that should be associated with the Service, like the Owner and Equipment can be assigned. Once the User selects all of the information the Action can be completed and Billed separately from the Order. This allows Users to work multiple Actions will being able to bill for Actions that are completed in a real-time fashion. One way to think of it is that an Action is a single step, while an Order is a collection of steps that need completion.

Ordering from the Pools

Services can be used from Service Pools from the Order screen at Main > Service Desk > Orders. When requesting a new Service a User will specify a Service Catalog Type on the Service Order Action and then must select from a list of Available services. The list is drawn from all these criteria:

1. Services listed must have Status “Available“

2. Services listed must be in the specified catalog or an ancestor

3. Services listed must be in a pool only if the selected catalog is specified on that pool

4. If the specified catalog is not listed on any pools then any Available Service not specified on a pool that also matches the catalog can be selected.

Using an Add Action

On PCR-360's Service Desk, "Add New Service" is used to create a new instance of a service.

Create an Add Order

The first step is to create a Service Desk Order.

1. Go to Main > Service Desk > Orders.

2. Click the Add button. 

3. Enter the Service Rep if not populated with your name. 

4. Enter the Owner of the new Service. 

5. If desired, enter the Requestor's name. 

6. Next, enter a brief description for the details of the order. 

7. Click Save New.

    An Order number will have now appeared in the upper left hand corner of the window.

8. Specify a GLA for the entire Service Order by following the steps below or enter specific GLA information on each Order Action.

   1. Click on the GLA tab.

   2. Enter the Default Action Expense GLA or choose it from the picker.

   3. Click the Save button. 

Adding an Action

Next, add a Service Order Action.

1. Click the Add button. 

2. Leave do not change defaulted Action from Add. 

   

3. Select the type of Service (Service Catalog) for the Order. 

   

4. Select the Service Host. 

   

5. If the Service ID (in this case a phone number) in known, the User can enter the number or can click the available service button

    and select from the list. If not, you can come back at any time before completing the Order and add this info.
   

   

6. If this Service Catalog requires a Location (cellular types and some circuits might not require a location), enter it now. 

   

7. Click the Save New button. 

8. If there are any matching SDC's (Service Desk Classification), the User will see this screen and have the choice of choosing the appropriate SDC, saving without an SDC, or not saving the Action.
   

   

    If the User saves (with or without a SDC), there will be an Action number next to the SD#. If the Due Date was not populated automatically from the SDC (Service Order templates), a date can be selected by either entering the date into the Due Date field or by clicking on the calendar next to the Due Date field and choosing the desired date. If the Due Date is entered here (or changed), click the Save button. 

Entering Workflow

If the Workflow is not populated from the Service Desk Classification or it is desired to add additional Workflow, it can be entered here.

1. Click on the Workflow tab.

2. Click the button.

3. Choose a Service Desk Classification and click the  button or click the button.

4. Enter a Workflow Number.
   A couple of things to remember about Workflow numbers:

   1. They are used to order the Workflow items.

   2. Leave a range of numbers available between Workflow numbers in case items need to be added later. We recommend intervals of 100.

   3. Multiple Workflow items can have the same number. This is done when those tasks can be performed concurrently.

5. Enter the Workgroup. 

6. If assigning to specific person, enter/select the Worker. 

7. If this WF item is ready to be worked, enter a Start Date.

8. Optionally, choose a Scheduled Date and/or enter an Estimated Time to complete the Workflow.

9. Click Save.

Selecting GLA's

If the Default Action Expense GLA was not specified on the GLA tab of the Service Order, it can be entered GLA(s) here:

1. Click on the GLA tab.

2. Click the button.

3. This opens the the Expense GLA form. The Expense Type can be changed from Default to if desired and enter GLAs. If using multiple GLAs, be sure the Percentages add up to 100%. 

   

4. Click

At any point during this process, the User can go to the Equipment tab and add any appropriate Equipment, go to the Charges tab and enter any appropriate charges, and go to the Cabling tab and enter the Cable Path for this Service (if appropriate).

Business Rules

• Selecting an 'Available Service' will not overwrite any value that exists in the Reference field.

• Selecting a Service Catalog will alter the 'Service Options' to match the defaults from the Service Catalog.

How does the Available Services Picker work

The 'Available Services' ( ) picker on Add Actions will automatically limit the Services so that the User will only be able to select valid Services. There are a number of data states that will change what Services are possible to select in the Picker's grid. These states allow an Admin to control what Services will appear for a Service Rep to select on the Add Action based on an organization's needs.

Valid States

• Available Status - The Status must be Available.

• Service Catalog - The Service Catalog must match.

  • Parent Catalogs - Parent Catalogs can also load into the picker, IF the Format matches.

• Service Pool - If the Services are set up in Pools, only the Services in the Pool will load into the picker.

Custom Status states can be added by a User with Administrator privileges in the List Values grid. However, in order to assign a Custom Status to a Service, the Service will require an Owner. If the Service doesn't belong to anyone it should just be Available.

Service Catalog and Available Status

Firstly, the Service Catalog that is selected on the Action must match the Services that will appear in the 'Available Services' Picker.

When the User clicks on the Available Services Picker then any Service with a Status of 'Available', will appear in the picker for the User to select. Only Services that are Available can be selected in the picker. 

Select Parent record

The Tree structure of Service Catalogs allows for some interesting extra functionality. Any Service that is a parent record to the Service Catalog that is selected on the Add Action will also appear in the Available Service picker. This will allow the User to simultaneously select Service with the parent Service Catalog set and alter the Service's Service Catalog to the selected child Service Catalog. This situation is useful for making the Aging Process more User-friendly by setting Aged Services to a parent Catalog, so they can be set to any valid child Catalog on new Add Actions.

For this example, the Phones Category is a parent record for the child Cisco VOIP Service Catalog.
 

Note: The Service Type of the Child and the parent Service Catalogs must match in order for this to work. For example, Phones for Phones, Data for Data and so on. 

There are five Services in this example, from (616)878-1001 to (616)878-1005, that are set to the parent Catalog of Phones in the Phones grid. The rest of the Services from (616)878-1006 to (616)878-1013 are all set to the child Service Catalog Cisco VOIP.

As in the first example, the User starts with the Cisco VOIP catalog selected.

When the User clicks the Available Service Picker, there will be a list of all the Services that are either Phones or Cisco VOIP in the picker to select.

When the User selects the Service (616)878-1004, which has a parent Service Catalog of Phones set, that Service will be added to the Add Action's Phone Number field. The Service Catalog field will remain set to the Cisco VOIP child Catalog. When the User completes the Add Action the Service Catalog will be automatically updated from the Phones catalog to the Cisco VOIP catalog along with the other completion logic for Actions.

Service Catalog Format

The 'Format' field of the parent Service Catalog must match the Format of the child Service Catalog to be selected in the Available Services picker. If the Format field does NOT match then the Service will not appear in the Available Service picker.

Matching Format

For this example, the Phones and Aastra VOIP Service Catalogs DO have a matching Format. In this case, the Format is blank for both Catalogs which counts for matching purposes. There are no Pools set for either Service Catalog.

The Phones Catalog has a blank Format.

The Aastra VOIP Catalog has a blank Format.

When the User clicks the Available Services picker with the Aastra VOIP Catalog selected:

The User will get a result set that includes both the Phones and the Aastra VOIP Catalogs.

Non-Matching Format

For this example, the Phones and Cisco VOIP Service Catalogs DO NOT have a matching Format. There are no Pools set for either of these Catalogs.

The Phones Catalog has a blank Format.

The Cisco VOIP Catalog has a Format of (999) 999-9999.

When the User clicks the Available Services picker with the 'Cisco VOIP' Catalog selected:

The User will get a result set that excludes the 'Phones' Service Catalog.

Services in Pools

If there are Service Pools set up, then the Available Services must be in the Pool before the Services will appear in the Available Services picker.

In this example, there is a new Service Pool named 'Available Service Pool' being created. This Service Pool is set to the 'Cisco VOIP' Service Catalog.

There are five Services being added to the Pool. The Services are in the range from (616)878-1001 to (616)878-1005.

What this means for the User on an Add Action is that the Available Service picker will be limited to only the Services in the Service Pool when the Service Catalog 'Cisco VOIP' is selected. The other Services that are assigned to this Service Catalog are prevented from appearing in the picker.

Change Actions

The 'Change' Action type allows a User to perform and update to a selected 'Service'. The type of updates made are determined by the specific Change Action type.

Add Locations

The Add Location Change Action is only available for Phone Services. Its purpose is to add Locations (create a bridged line) to an existing Service.

If a Phone Service is selected that is not currently set to allow Multiple Locations the Service will be converted to allow Multi-Locations when the Action is Completed.

The Owner, Billing Group, Move to Location, and Service Host fields should all be read-only. The Service, Reference, Location, and SLA should be editable.

When the Action is Completed, Equipment will be added to the Service as usual, and the Cable should be added to the new Location. The Add Location Action will convert a single Location to a multiple Location Service.

When the Action is finalized the Charges will be added to the Service.

See Quick Reference: Add Locations to create an Add Locations Order.

Miscellaneous

This option is used to change Equipment, software, Charges on a Service, but not the Service itself.

The Service, Reference and SLA fields should be editable. The rest should be read only

Upon completion, the Service itself will not be changed, however any Equipment changes will show up on the Service.

When the Action is Finalized the Charges will be added to the Service.

See Quick Reference: Miscellaneous to create a Miscellaneous Order.

Move

This option will move the Service to a new Location.

The Service, SLA, Reference, Service Host, and Move to Location fields should be editable. The rest are read only.

When choosing a Service with multiple Locations, the Location field will be changed to a picker. The User can then choose which Location to move. The Move To Location should still have a picker and be editable.

When the Action is Completed, the Location on the Service will change to the Location specified in the “Move to Location” field on the Action. Any Equipment and Cable changes will show up on the Service.

When the Action is Finalized the Charges will be added to the Service.

See Quick Reference: Move to create a Move Order.

Owner

This option changes the Owner on the Service.

The Owner, New Owner, SLA, Reference, Service Host, and the Set type selectors (i.e. Set Contact as Owner/Set Dept. Hierarchy as Owner) should be editable, the rest will be read only

When the action is completed the Service Owner will be changed to the New Owner specified in the New Owner field. (Contact or Dept. Hierarchy). Any Equipment and Cable changes will show up on the Service.

When the Action is Finalized the Charges will be added to the Service.

See Quick Reference: Owner to create a Owner Order.

Service ID

This option changes the Service ID (phone number, auth code, name etc.) to a new, or available Service ID.

The Service, Service ID, Reference, Service Host, and SLA fields will be editable. The rest will be read only. If a Phone service or Auth Code service are chosen, an available picker select will also show up on the form

When the Action is Completed the old Service ID will be set to “Inactive” and a Service for the new Service ID will be created if it does not already exist as an available Service. Any existing Equipment on the Service should be transferred to the new Service and any Equipment Changes will show up on the Service. Cable should be updated for the new Service ID as well.

When the Action is Finalized the Charges on the Old Service ID will be Stopped, as of the Finalized date, and all new monthly recurring Charges will show up on the new Service.

See Quick Reference: Service ID to create a Service ID Order.

Swap

A “Swap” change will swap locations between two Services. This option basically works like two moves. The first Service is moved to the “Swap Location” and the second Service is moved to the current “Location” of the first Service.

The Service, Reference, Service Host, and SLA fields will be editable. The rest will be read only.

When the Action is saved, the Equipment on both Services will be loaded into the Action’s Equipment tab. Each Equipment record will be entered as a “Move” to move the Equipment to the new Location of the Service. Alternatively the Equipment records can be specified as "Swap" to indicate that the Equipment is being exchanged between the Services and is not moving with the Service.

When the Action is Completed the Equipment and the Cable will be updated. The Locations on the Cable will be updated to reflect the new Location of the Services once the action is Completed.

When the Action is Finalized the Charges will be added to the Service.

See Quick Reference: Swap to create a Swap Order.

Upgrade/Downgrade

This option will change the Service Catalog for the Service.

The Service, Service Catalog, Reference, Service Host, and SLA fields will be editable. The rest will be read-only. The Service will automatically populate all options for the Action, the Service Catalog will only check if values on the Service are invalid after the Action is Finalized.

When Service Desk Upgrade/Downgrade action is saved the "old" UDF values from the selected Service are stored on the Action record and preserved there. If the UDF values on the Service change any time after the Action is created the "old" values on the Action will not change. This allows the User to always see what the old UDF values were at the time the Action was created.

The Service Catalog picker allows selecting the new Catalog for the selected Service.  When selecting a new Service Catalog, the list will be delimited by the following:

1. The Service Type of the current Catalog must match the desired Catalog. E.G. Phone to Phone or Data to Data

2. The desired Service Catalog must be Active and not a Category

3. When a Service is part of a Service Pool the type of Service Catalog it can be made into, becomes restricted based on the Catalogs associated with the Service Pool.

4. Service Catalog Location Permissions apply

5. The current and desired Service Catalog Format must match

When the Action is Completed the Service Catalog will be changed to the new Service Catalog on the action. Any Equipment changes will show up on the Service.  Previous Charges for the Service will not automatically Stop.

When the Action is Finalized the Charges will be added to the Service.

See Quick Reference: Upgrade/Downgrade to create an Upgrade/Downgrade Order.

Remove Actions

The 'Remove' Action type will allow a User to remove a Service from active Service. When a Service is Removed it will be set to Inactive so that any unbilled Charges can be Billed. The Aging process will take over from there.

Create an Order

The first step is to create a Service Desk Order.

1. Go to Main > Service Desk > Orders.

       2. Click the

       3. Enter the Service Rep (if not populated with User name).

       4. Enter the Owner of the desired service.

         This can also be done on the Order Action below.

      5. If desired, enter the Requestor's name. 

      6. Next, enter a brief description.

Click the 

Adding An Action

Next, add a Service Order Action.

1. Click the  button.

       2. Set the Action as "Remove".

       3. Select the Service for the Order.

Selecting a Service

Next, choose the Service to Disconnect:

1. If the Service Number in question is known, enter it into the Service ID field and hit enter.

2. Enter the Service Number in one of the following ways:

   • Enter part of the Service ID in the field and press Enter.

1. • Click on the magnifying glass in the Service field and select the appropriate Service.
     

     

   • Add filters to the columns to shorten the list.
     

     

3. Once the Service is selected, click the 

4. If there are any matching SDCs (Service Desk Classifications), they display on this screen. The User has the choice of choosing the appropriate SDC, saving without an SDC, or not saving the Action.

Task Actions

The 'Task' Action type will allow a User to create a one-time Action on a Service Order, which can be Billed independently of the rest of the Order. 

Common Questions about Actions

How Actions treat Multi-Locations Services

Multi-Location Services are handled on an Action by Action basis based on whatever Location is selected on the Action. What this means to the User is that any related items like Charges , Equipment , or Cable that are specific to a given Location, will only be loaded onto an Action if that Action's Location matches the Location of the Service that is selected for modification. When loading a Multi-Location Service on any Change or Remove Action, the User is prompted to select the Location of the Service that the Action should be making any alterations to on that Action.

In this example, there are two Locations associated to the Multi-Location Service (555) 867-5309 and each Location can have separate Charges, Equipment, and Cable. When the User creates any Change or Remove Action for (555) 867-5309 the User will be prompted to select the Location for the Service that should be selected. In this case the User is prompted to select either "Building - Warehouse - 1", "Building - Warehouse - 3" or "Building - Warehouse - 5". Whichever Location is selected will determine the Charges , Equipment , and Cable that are loaded into the Action.

Charges

Charges are not required to have a Location set on them. In the above example, the actual Service record for (555) 867-5309 is displayed with its Charges tab selected.

Note: Any Charges without a Location will not be loaded into the Action.

Example Action 001

Action 001 is set for Location Building - Warehouse - 1. When the User selects the Charges tab of this Action then all Charges for the selected Location are displayed.

Example Action 002

Action 002 is set for Location Building - Warehouse - 3. When the User selects the Charges tab of this Action then all Charges for the selected Location are displayed.

Equipment

Equipment is not required to have a Location unless the Equipment Catalog has the Location Required flag set. However, only Equipment with a Location can be added to a Service with an Action. For this reason, all Equipment on Actions must have a Location set to appear in the Action's Equipment tab.

Note: Equipment must have a Location to appear in the Action, and the Equipment's Location must match the Action's Location.

Cable Path

The Cable Path always require a Location before the Cable Path record can be saved. This Location must match the Location of the Action for the Cable Path to load into the Action's Cable tab.

Note: Cable Paths require a Location to be set.

Example Action 003

Action 003 has both Path Legs from the Cable Path associated with Service (555) 867-5309, Path Leg #100 and Path Leg #200 is loaded into the Cabling tab of the Action. This is because the Cable Path has a Location specified of Building - Warehouse - 5

Example Action 004

Action 004 has both Path Legs from the Cable Path associated with Service (555) 867-5309, Path Leg #100 and Path Leg #200 is loaded into the Cabling tab of the Action. This is because the Cable Path has a Location specified of Building - Warehouse - 1.

How to template Service Actions like a Package

PCR has received a couple of questions recently about selecting Packages on an Order to quickly add multiple Actions. There is already functionality that does this built into the application and this “How to” explains this process.

To set up Form Perspectives to accomplish similar work to the Packages functionality Users will need to first set up an example 'Add 360 Wizard', then save a Form Perspective, and finally apply the Perspective whenever that set of Actions are desired. The following steps will help to clarify how to accomplish using Form Perspectives on the Add 360 Wizard.

In order for Users to set up Form Perspectives to use as Packages, there first must be SDCs set up for the Services and Actions that are desired. To do this please see the SDC video wiki .

Setup Example Add Wizard

Open 360 Wizard

The first step is to open the Wizard.

1. First open the 'Add 360 Wizard' form.
   

   

2. To open this form search for a Location or Owner, (Contact  or Department Hierarchy ) with the search bar

3. 

    

4. Select any matched Contact, Department Hierarchy, or Location in the 360 Search results.
   

   

5. Click the  button to open the previously selected record or double-click the record in the grid.

6. Go to the Services tab on the opened 360 View form.
   

   

7. Click the  button.

This will open the 360 Wizard for Add Actions . At this time only Add Actions can be templated in this manner. This is because the Change and Remove Wizards must be able to reference a specific Service ID and cannot be added in bulk in this manner. With the form now open the next step is to create the template desired.

Create a Template

With the 360 Wizard already open a User can begin to create a template for the Form Perspective.

1. Since this is intended to be used for templating groups of Actions leave the Existing Service Order picker blank. It can be filled in later in the process if desired.

       2. Click the picker to add a Service Rep for the Order.

       3. If a Requestor is desired, add them with the picker.

       4. Users can add multiple lines to the 360 Wizard with the 

       5. In the 'Qty' column select the number of Actions that are desired for a given Service Catalog. In the example image , there are two Add Actions selected for the first Service Catalog and just one Action for the other two Service Catalogs.

       6. In the 'Catalog' column select each Service Catalog that is desired. In the (2024.1) How to template Actions like a Package#example, there are three different Service Catalogs selected; Voice Line, Authorization Code, and Cable Television.

       7. For each row an Owner should be selected. These can be either a 'Contact Owner' or a 'Department Owner' and in the (2024.1) How to template Actions like a Package#example, the first and third row is set as a Contact, while the second row is set as a Department.

       8. The SDC' column can be set for each of the Service Catalogs rows.

• If different SDCs are desired for the same Service Catalogs, simply add multiple rows with the same Service Catalogs, but assign different SDCs to the different rows.

^{Example Imageimage}

Save the Form Perspective

Once the 360 Wizard form has been filled in with the desired values a User can start to build the Form Perspective.

1. At the upper right part of the form click the Options > Save Perspective link.
   

   

2. Select a 'Name' for the Perspective. The Name should make sense to the Perspective desired.
   

   

3. Click the  button.

Use the Perspective like a Package

The Perspective is now saved and ready to go whenever a User would like to quickly add the Actions that are saved in the Perspective.

1. Open the 360 Wizard for Add Actions. The steps to do this are the same as the ones in the Open 360 Wizard section of this "How To".

     2. When the Wizard is open click the Options > View Perspective link.
         

     3. Select the New Employee Package Perspective that was previously set up.

     4. Switch to this Perspective by double-clicking it, or selecting it and clicking the 

     5. The form's fields fill in automatically based on the template previously set up.

     6. Users can set the wizard to create a new Service Order by leaving the picker blank.

     7. Selecting an Order with the Existing Service Order picker will append the Actions to that Order.

     8. To set the GLA for the Actions a User can now select the GLA button on the wizard and set whatever GLA information is required.
        

       9. Click the 

This will trigger the Add Wizard to build the Add Actions that were specified. As many different Form Perspectives that are needed can be created to allow Users to rapidly build Orders moving forward.

Note: These Form Perspectives can be Shared with other Users to allow a single User to create these Form Perspectives, and for other Users to use these Perspectives without having to have built the Perspective manually.