Release Information > Version 1.8

Important change notices

•Knowledge base objects: To simplify and standardize, in response to multiple customer requests, this release eliminates the "external description" field for knowledge base descriptions to be displayed in the Self-Service Portal. There is now only the "Description" field and the optional publication in the Self-Service Portal. Caution: If existing (different) descriptions exist in the "external description" field, these must be manually transferred to the descriptions field once before the release update. This cannot be done automatically, as textual deviations of the two fields cannot be detected or combined automatically.

oRestoring the texts/contents of this field is no longer possible after the update!

•Ticket relationships: The definable ticket relationships (main ticket-solve-partial tickets and partial ticket-solve-main tickets) have been restricted to a maximum of 3 levels for the relationship. The reason for this is possible inconsistencies in special cases when relationships are built up over many levels (danger due to circular relationships). Existing ticket relationships are not affected by the changes.

•Import "Locations: To avoid possible inconsistencies in imports, a new field "TopOrgUnit_Customer-No" has been introduced in the import for "Locations" and the import template has been updated. Files based on the previous import template for locations can no longer be imported.

New and enhanced features:

AssetDB

Reservation management function for assets

Function: Each asset can optionally be marked as "reservable". It can be distinguished whether it can be reserved only by internal users or also in the self-service portal. Furthermore, assets can be reserved by all or only by the persons of the assigned org. units.

Reservations can be created by users via the "Reservations" shortcut in the "Asset Management" area or in the Self-Service Portal via corresponding new function tiles (if activated by the administrator).

Reservations are made graphically via a timeline view or via a form.

Asset descriptions are visible during the reservation. For a time-based reservation, lead and lag times can optionally be specified (e.g. as buffers). The person responsible for the asset and the person making the reservation are informed by email about the progress of the reservation (new standard email templates have been integrated). Existing as well as previous reservations are documented in the asset.

Use Cases: Certain assets can be made reservable and the reservation duration as well as the reserving party can be documented. Examples are rental equipment, rooms or virtual systems.

Cost center function

Cost center function in tickets

Function: Tickets have a new, fixed, optional field "Cost center". Cost centers can be managed as an administrator in the administration settings under Master data.

Via the administration setting "Ticket form", the Cost center field can be optionally activated for each ticket type. If activated, the cost center is a mandatory field for each ticket of this type and has to be specified during entry. If there is only one defined main cost center for the direct org. unit of the person concerned, this will be entered automatically, otherwise the appropriate one can be selected from the list of cost centers stored for this org. unit. All cost centers of the own org-unit and of the superior org-units can be selected.

Use-Case: Refer cost centers directly to tickets and evaluate them via filter, export or reporting interface (allocation of tickets to a specific cost center). Tickets that cause costs and have to be charged within the organization according to the polluter pays principle can thus be managed more easily and semi-automatically.

Functions for cost center managers

Functions:

Defined cost center managers can be stored in approval models as approvers of tickets.

Defined cost center managers can be written to directly in message templates.

Ticketing

Option to combine orders with other ticket types

Function: Extension of ticket template with "combine with order" option. This makes it possible to process an order of a store article package with any ticket at the same time.

Important information: For the user, a price object must exist for the article or article package, otherwise the ticket template cannot be selected. If the template is displayed anyway, e.g. in the Self-Service Portal (e.g. via an individual tile), the ticket will be created without the item if the price is missing.

Use Case: e.g. For an on-boarding process to combine a template incl. questionnaire and special task workflows with the ordering of an item ("new workstation").

Enhancements and changes ticket text modules

Functions:

•Ticket text modules, like message templates, get the possibility to insert dynamic placeholders. This means that they can be used even more extensively to answer tickets quickly.

•Ticket text modules can also be used for solution descriptions

•Ticket text modules can be accessed via a separate shortcut in the "Administration" area, in order to simplify administration for normal users as well.

•When a text module is selected in the ticket or message, it is directly transferred to the description without an additional click, in order to be able to use the function even more efficiently.

•Text modules can now also be used for the solution description

Tickets: New standard views

The preview line of the description has been added to the standard view for tickets. The first three lines of text are displayed as a preview directly in the main bar to provide a quick overview of the ticket content

Tickets: New default filter and shortcut for completed/waiting tickets.

The shortcut "All" (tickets) now only contains the open tickets. There is another default shortcut "Waiting/Completed" that lists only tickets in the state "Completed" or "Waiting" or "Waiting for customer". The aim is to provide a better overview for only open tickets.

Ticket archive: New default view

The most important fields for closed tickets have been added to the default view (solution descriptions, closure category, etc.).

Enhancement of permission in ticket state "Completion"

Any direct ticket owner can manually switch the ticket from "Completed" back to "Edited" (previously, only users with the Administrator or Manager role could do this)

Ticket stakeholder list available in all ticket types

The list of ticket stakeholders is now optionally available for all ticket types and can be displayed via System administration/Ticket form.

Stakeholders are persons who may be indirectly affected by the ticket, e.g. registered responsible persons of the affected assets of the ticket.

The list of stakeholders also has a new function to directly send a message to all contained persons from the ticket.

Ticket section "Planning" available for all ticket types

The Planning section can optionally be displayed in all ticket forms per ticket type (previously only in Changes and Releases). For an optional evaluation/planning, the planning contains fields for effort estimation, sum of time entries on the ticket, and an implementation period.

Cockpits

Global search

Until now, users could only search a list (e.g. tickets) by filter, full text or field search. A global search function now enables an additional, simple full text search simultaneously in the most important system areas (tickets, assets, knowledge base, tasks).

The search allows a simple chained word search (AND/ OR search) and also has a fuzziness search that also finds terms with typos/ inconsistent spellings (e.g. search for "printer" also finds hits with "Druckr" or "Drukcer" etc.; the fuzziness can include up to 4 characters). Depending on the type, all titles, description and solution fields, as well as person and number fields are indexed in the objects. History tables or special additional fields are deliberately excluded from the index to reduce the amount of unwanted search hits.

Workdesk: new counters available

Function: New counters "my personal tickets", "my personal tasks" and "new unprocessed emails in inbox" added.

Tickets and tasks in which the current user is explicitly entered personally as the responsible person.

Unread emails in the inbox

These can be activated as usual via user settings

Self-Service Portal

Self-Service Portal: Create tickets without ticket type

In the Self-Service Portal, it is possible to create tickets without a predefined type. For this purpose, the standard button "Create ticket" can be used without a ticket template. This creates a ticket only with the ticket description without special fields or contents of a ticket type. The typing must then be done by a ticket editor for further editing.

Furthermore, a new default tile is optionally available for the Self-Service Portal for creating tickets without a type.

Access to completed tickets

Users in the Self-Service Portal also want to be able to view their old, already completed tickets.

In the "My tickets" ticket list, there is a button to additionally display all completed tickets as well. The result of the full-text search also shows hits in the user's own completed tickets.

Visibility assets of own org unit in self-service portal for persons

People can be granted extended permission to the Self-Service Portal to see all assets of their own org unit.

A use case is that an IT key user in a specialist department is to create tickets on behalf of colleagues and is thus also allowed to see and select the assets of colleagues.

Knowledge base

Feedback field for knowledge base objects

The text feedback field for knowledge base objects has been changed from a simple text field to a comment field. This enables a comment function, i.e. each comment/feedback from each user is kept with username and timestamp and is also visible and usable in the self-service portal.

Previous entries in the text field are summarized in a comment first.

Knowledge base attachments are also available in the Self-Service Portal

If a knowledge base object is released for Self-Service Portal, the object's attachments are also displayed in Self-Service Portal and can be downloaded.

Approvals

Extension of approval forms

A number of additional pieces of information have been added to the permit forms so that approvers can consider them to evaluate the permit:

•Ticket Title

•List of order items

•List of questionnaire responses

Tasks

Link knowledge base objects to tasks

Tasks can now have a link to a knowledge base object. This can be linked to manually created tasks and to task templates for task workflows.

This means that when tasks are assigned, any existing how-to's for the implementation of the task can be included.

System administration

Exchange-Online as incoming and outgoing email account

Exchange-Online is supported as a direct additional option for incoming and outgoing email accounts.

Exchange-Online enables Office365 mailboxes to be securely integrated and supports modern authentication methods.

Authentication is done via the "Application Secret Key" which has to be generated within the Azure365 tenant by the customer and stored in the ticketing system.

Terminate active sessions of other users

For cases where users have accidentally closed the browser without logging out but need to log in again directly without waiting for the auto log off after a few minutes or a user session is no longer responding, a user with administration role can actively terminate the session of any other user. At the same time an overview of all current sessions is visible.

The function can be found in the system administration under "License administration".

New incoming e-mail rules: Org. unit

Function: Incoming emails can be checked for the appropriate organizational unit. This makes it possible to consider the direct or top Org. unit of the sender for a defined automatic ticket creation, not just for exactly one specific sender as before.

New incoming e-mail rules: Tickets without type

Function: in the incoming email rule of type "always" it is possible not to select a ticket template. This means that a ticket without type can be created from incoming emails first and can be edited and typed directly from the ticket list and not from the inbox.

Tickets without type are specially marked in the list and do not yet have a ticket number and are not yet assigned to an SLA.

Creation of teams

Function: In addition to user groups, it is also possible to define individual teams. Teams can consist of people and users. These teams can thus be used in different places in the system to simplify and structure administration.

Use Case: Approvers for a specific topic consist of a defined group of several people. Previously, these had to be defined individually as approvers, but now they can be put together in advance as a "team" and stored accordingly in the approval model. Changes to teams thus also have a direct effect on the usage points.

Questionnaires: New answer option

In questionnaires, simple yes/no questions can be specified via a corresponding control and do not have to be managed via an answer option as before.

System default currency for item prices is customizable

For organizations that work completely in their own currency, all price information can be converted centrally to other currencies. From the changeover on, every store article or package will be displayed in this currency and new tickets with orders will be calculated accordingly.

Attention: this is a central setting. It is not yet possible to manage article prices with different currencies in the system in parallel.

The setting can be made in the system administration in "Articles".

The following currencies are currently available for the changeover:

- Euro | EUR

- US Dollar | USD

- Swiss Franc | CHF

- Czech Crown | CZK

- Danish krone | DKK

- British Pound | GBP

- Polish Złoty | PLN

Ticket template extension

The following new features have been added to the ticket template:

•Title: The template title (for internal administration or display in the self-service portal)) and the ticket title to be explicitly filled by the template can now be specified in 2 separate fields

•Attachment: A template can contain any attachments, these will be taken over into the ticket.

•Stakeholder list: The list of ticket stakeholders can be filled by the template.

Extension of message templates

The message templates have been extended by the following functions:

The subject of standard email templates can now be customized as well

The dynamic placeholders for messages have been extended by a number of new fields and lists from the tickets:

•Cost Center

•Internal solution description

•Ticket type

•RFC type

•Request type

•Stakeholder list

•Priority

•Urgency

•Impact

•Order item list

•Email address (affected person, reporting person, external processor)

•The automatic system message template for "Reset password" is now also visible and textually customizable

•A number of new standard message templates have been added, e.g. for reservation management, questionnaires, ticket action "Reject ticket" etc.

New permission group: Visibility for all tickets

To enable a user (non-administrator) to always see all tickets regardless of other filter settings, there is a new permission group "all tickets visible" that can optionally be assigned to any user.

bMS interface: Performance improvement

The performance of imports from endpoints has been improved: the duration of the import, even with many endpoints, has been significantly reduced.

Version 1.8 (June 2022)

Version 1.8 (June 2022)