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KACE Systems Management Appliance 9.1 Common Documents - Administrator Guide

About the KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA) Getting started
Configuring the appliance
Requirements and specifications Power-on the appliance and log in to the Administrator Console Access the Command Line Console Tracking configuration changes Configuring System-level and Admin-level General Settings Configure appliance date and time settings Enable Two-Factor Authentication for all users Verifying port settings, NTP service, and website access Configuring network and security settings Configuring Agent settings Configuring session timeout and auto-refresh settings Configuring locale settings Configuring the default theme Configure data sharing preferences About DIACAP compliance requirements Configuring Mobile Device Access Enable fast switching for organizations and linked appliances Linking Quest KACE appliances Configuring history settings
Setting up and using labels to manage groups of items Configuring user accounts, LDAP authentication, and SSO Using Replication Shares Managing credentials Configuring assets
About the Asset Management component Using the Asset Management Dashboard About managing assets Adding and customizing Asset Types and maintaining asset information Managing Software assets Managing physical and logical assets Maintaining and using manual asset information Managing locations Managing contracts Managing licenses Managing purchase records
Setting up License Compliance Managing License Compliance Setting up Service Desk Configure the Cache Lifetime for Service Desk widgets Creating and managing organizations Importing and exporting appliance resources
Managing inventory
Using the Inventory Dashboard Using Device Discovery Managing device inventory
About managing devices Features available for each device management method About inventory information Tracking changes to inventory settings Managing inventory information Finding and managing devices Provisioning the KACE SMA Agent Manually deploying the KACE SMA Agent Using Agentless management Adding devices manually in the Administrator Console or by using the API Forcing inventory updates Managing MIA devices Obtaining Dell warranty information
Managing applications on the Software page Managing Software Catalog inventory
About the Software Catalog Viewing Software Catalog information Adding applications to the Software Catalog Managing License assets for Software Catalog applications Associate Managed Installations with Cataloged Software Using software metering Using Application Control Update or reinstall the Software Catalog
Managing process, startup program, and service inventory Writing custom inventory rules
Deploying packages to managed devices
Distributing software and using Wake-on-LAN Broadcasting alerts to managed devices Running scripts on managed devices Managing Mac profiles Using Task Chains
Patching devices and maintaining security
About patch management Subscribing to and downloading patches Creating and managing patch schedules Managing patch inventory Managing Dell devices and updates Maintaining device and appliance security
Using reports and scheduling notifications Monitoring servers
Getting started with server monitoring Working with monitoring profiles Managing monitoring for devices Working with alerts
Using the Service Desk
Configuring Service Desk Using the Service Desk Dashboard Managing Service Desk tickets, processes, and reports
Overview of Service Desk ticket lifecycle Creating tickets from the Administrator Console and User Console Creating and managing tickets by email Viewing tickets and managing comments, work, and attachments Merging tickets Using the ticket escalation process Using Service Desk processes Using Ticket Rules Run Service Desk reports Archiving, restoring, and deleting tickets Managing ticket deletion
Managing Service Desk ticket queues About User Downloads and Knowledge Base articles Customizing Service Desk ticket settings Configuring SMTP email servers
Maintenance and troubleshooting
Maintaining the appliance Troubleshooting the KACE SMA
Appendixes Glossary About us Legal notices

Create tickets from the User Console

Create tickets from the User Console

You can create Service Desk tickets using the User Console.

When you create tickets from the User Console, your user information is automatically added to the Submitter field on the New Ticket page.

1.
Go to the User Console New Ticket page:
a.
Go to the User Console: http://KACE_SMA_hostname/user where KACE_SMA_hostname is the hostname of your appliance.
b.
On the left navigation bar, click Service Desk, then click Tickets.
c.
To display the New Ticket page, do one of the following:
▪
Select Choose Action > New.
▪
Select Choose Action > New Ticket From Queue > Queue name.
▪
Select Choose Action > New Ticket From Process > Process name.
2.
If you are creating a new ticket from a process, and the process template is configured to display the process description page, review the information on the description page that appears, and click Continue.
This page typically displays some important pre-requisites that you need to complete before proceeding to create a ticket. For example, if the process template defines how to add a new employee to the system, you can to instruct the users to verify if the employee acquisition process is complete and if the employee ID is created. For more information on how to create and configure process templates, see Add, edit, and enable process templates.
3.
Provide the following information:

Option

Description

Title

(Required) A brief description of the issue.

Summary

A more detailed description of the issue.

This field includes a full range of text editing options for formatting your content, such as buttons for bold text, hyperlinks, lists, or text color.

For example:

•
To apply bold text to a text string, select it in the editor, and click .
•
To add images, click , and provide the URL to the image file.
•
To add external links, click .
•
To embed externally hosted videos, click .

Submitter

The login name of the user submitting the ticket. To change the submitter, select a different login name in the drop-down list.

Impact

The number of people that are inconvenienced or cannot work.

Category

A classification of the issue.

Attachments

Files that you want to add to the ticket. You can paste up to five files. See Add or delete screenshots and attachments to Service Desk tickets.

Screenshots

Screenshots that you want to add to the ticket. You can paste up to five screenshots to a ticket. See Add or delete screenshots and attachments to Service Desk tickets

4.
Do one of the following:
◦
Click Save to save the ticket and return to the Ticket list.
◦
Click Apply Changes to save the ticket and continue editing it.
◦
Click Cancel to discard the ticket changes.
If other users have modified the ticket concurrently, the Update Notification dialog appears, provided that the dialog is enabled for the queue and you are the ticket owner or an administrator. This dialog is displayed to administrators and ticket owners only. It is not displayed to other users. Administrators can enable or disable the conflict warning message for each queue separately. See Enable or disable the conflict warning.

Create tickets from the Administrator Console Ticket page

Create tickets from the Administrator Console Ticket page

You can create Service Desk tickets from the Administrator Console Ticket page as needed.

When you create tickets from the Administrator Console Ticket page, your user information is automatically added to the Submitter field of the New Ticket page.

1.
Go to the Service Desk New Ticket page:
a.
Log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information.
b.
On the left navigation bar, click Service Desk, then click Tickets.
c.
To display the New Ticket page, do one of the following:
▪
Select Choose Action > New.
▪
Select Choose Action > New Ticket From Queue > Queue name.
▪
Select Choose Action > New Ticket From Process > Process name.
2.
If you are creating a new ticket from a process, and the process template is configured to display the process description page, review the information on the description page that appears, and click Continue.
This page typically displays some important pre-requisites that you need to complete before proceeding to create a ticket. For example, if the process template defines how to add a new employee to the system, you can to instruct the users to verify if the employee acquisition process is complete and if the employee ID is created. For more information on how to create and configure process templates, see Add, edit, and enable process templates.
3.
Provide the following information:

Option

Description

Title

(Required) A brief description of the issue.

Summary

A more detailed description of the issue.

This field includes a full range of text editing options for formatting your content, such as buttons for bold text, hyperlinks, lists, or text color.

For example:

•
To apply bold text to a text string, select it in the editor, and click .
•
To add images, click , and provide the URL to the image file.
•
To add external links, click .
•
To embed externally hosted videos, click .

Submitter

The login name of the user submitting the ticket. The submitter can be changed by selecting a different login name in the drop-down list. To view the submitter contact information, click .

If you are creating or editing a child ticket from a process template, you also have an option to set this field to the Parent Owner or the Parent Submitter of the associated parent ticket.

Asset

The asset that the information in the ticket is about. Select an asset in the drop-down list. To view the asset details, click .

Filter on submitter assigned assets

Filter the asset list based on the assets that are assigned to the submitter. This check box is selected by default.

Device

The device that the information in the ticket is about. If any devices are assigned to the ticket submitter, they are listed here, with the submitter's primary device selected by default.

Select a device in the drop-down list, as needed. To view the device details, click .

Filter on submitter assigned devices

Filter the device list based on the devices that are assigned to the submitter. If any devices are assigned to the ticket submitter, this option appears selected by default on this page. However, when you open this ticket on the Ticket Detail page, this option is not selected, and the Device field shows the device selected when the ticket was first created. This is default behavior. Leaving this check box cleared prevents you from accidentally selecting a device that may not be related to the issue associated with the ticket.

Impact

The number of people that are inconvenienced or cannot work.

Category

A classification of the issue.

Status

The current state of the ticket. This field does not appear if you are creating or editing a ticket from a process template.

Priority

The importance of priority of the ticket.

Owner

The user responsible for managing the ticket through its lifecycle.

If you are creating or editing a child ticket from a process template, you also have an option to set this field to the Parent Owner or the Parent Submitter of the associated parent ticket.

Due

Date and time the ticket is scheduled to be completed.

If Service Level Agreements are not enabled, the due date is set to None, by default.

If Service Level Agreements are enabled, the due date is automatically calculated according to the SLA settings. The due date is calculated based on the priority set when the ticket is submitted. If the priority is changed after the ticket is initially submitted, the calculated due date will be recalculated according to the new priority but based on the original submitted date and time. If the SLA resolution time configuration is changed, it is only applicable on new tickets. Old tickets are not affected. See Configuring Service Level Agreements.

Select Manual Date to manually set the due date and time. In this case, if Service Level Agreements are enabled, the due date and time is calculated and displayed as an option, but not selected.

CC List

A list of users who receive a notification email when a ticket event occurs. The CC List is emailed based on the ticket event and Ticket CC being configured for the queue Email on Events configuration.

Resolution

The resolution of the issue associated with the ticket.

This field includes a full range of text editing options for formatting your content, such as buttons for bold text, hyperlinks, lists, or text color.

For example:

•
To apply bold text to a text string, select it in the editor, and click .
•
To add images, click , and provide the URL to the image file.
•
To add external links, click .
•
To embed externally hosted videos, click .

Predefined Response

If you want to add an automatic response as a resolution to this ticket, click Predefined Response and select a response template.

The selected response template appears in the Resolution field. You can add multiple response templates as resolution entries. They appear in the order you selected them.

* 
TIP: To create or edit a response template, save your changes and click Manage. This will take you to the Response Templates page. For more information about response templates, see View and edit response templates.

Related Ticket Information

This section does not appear if you are creating a ticket from a process template.

Add Ticket

Click to add an additional ticket to this ticket's related information.

Referrers

The Referrer is a read-only field that holds a ticket reference to any ticket that references this ticket by way of the See also section.

Merged Tickets

This section allows you to edit the list of tickets merged with this ticket, as applicable. Any tickets that you want to merge must belong to the same queue. When you merge tickets using the Ticket Detail page, the open ticket becomes the master ticket. All other merged tickets are archived when you merge them. For more details, see Merging tickets.

To add a merged ticket, click Add Tickets to Merge/Edit Merged Tickets, and select a ticket from the list that appears.

Process Information

This section only appears if you are creating a ticket from a process template. All of the settings appearing in this section are read-only. For complete information about creating and configuring process templates, see Add, edit, and enable process templates.

Process

The name of the process template associated with this ticket.

Process Type

The type of the process. In a default installation, only the Service Desk and Software Request: Approval Required process types are included. You can create new process types, as required. For example, you can create a process type for accessing a specific application, or a group of applications. For more information, see Define process types.

Process Status

The status of the workflow associated with this process template. For example, Pending Approval.

Parent

The name of the parent ticket, as defined in the process template associated with this ticket.

Process Approvals

A list of users that are assigned as approvers for this ticket, if applicable.

•
If all approvals for the ticket are received, this section appears collapsed by default. To review them, click Expand.
•
If one or more approvals are pending for this ticket, this section is displayed. To hide it, click Collapse.

The approvers are listed in stages, as defined in the process template. Each stage can have one or more approvers, as needed. The settings related to each approver and stage are also listed in this section, such as approval timeouts and notifications. When you create a process ticket, the timeout period starts for the first approver. When that user approves the ticket, the timeout starts for the next one, and so on.

If the process template associated with this process indicates that the ticket submitter's manager is an approver for one or more stages, and the logged-on user has a manager's account associated with it, the manager's user name appears in the list.

If the logged on user account is not associated with a manager, and the associated process template specifies that the submitter's manager must approve the related process tickets, an error is displayed when you attempt to save the ticket. However, if the submitter's managers is just one of the approvers, the Process Approvals section lists the other approvers, and you can save the ticket without any errors being displayed.

Process Activities

A list of process activities, each representing a child ticket, and listed in stages, as defined in the process template. Multiple tickets can be assigned to the same stage, if needed. For example, if the first stage is to obtain equipment and supplies for a new-hire, you can have several separate child tickets for ordering devices, office equipment, and supplies, all assigned to stage 1. When you create a process ticket, all child tickets assigned to stage 1 are created automatically. Stage 2 tickets are created when all stage 1 tickets are closed, stage 3 tickets are created when all stage 2 tickets are closed, and so on. If any of the approvals times out, none of the child tickets related to that or any subsequent stages are created.

Add Ticket

Click to add an additional ticket to this ticket's related information.

Referrers

The Referrer is a read-only field that holds a ticket reference to any ticket that references this ticket by way of the See also section.

Comments

Comments that you want to add to the ticket. You can also add file attachments, screenshots, provide automatic responses or Knowledge Base article contents as ticket comments. For more information see:

•
Add comments to tickets
•
Add or delete screenshots and attachments to Service Desk tickets

If you want to add an automatic response as a resolution to this ticket, click Predefined Response and select a response template.

The selected response template appears in the Resolution field. You can add multiple response templates as resolution entries. They appear in the order you selected them.

* 
TIP: To create or edit a response template, save your changes and click Manage. This will take you to the Response Templates page. For more information about response templates, see View and edit response templates.

Knowledge Base Article

Look up a Knowledge Base article and append its contents to the ticket comments. For more information about Knowledge Base articles, see Managing Knowledge Base articles.

4.
Do one of the following:
◦
Click Save to save the ticket and return to the Ticket list.
◦
Click Apply Changes to save the ticket and continue editing it.
◦
Click Cancel to discard the ticket changes.
If other users have modified the ticket concurrently, the Update Notification dialog appears, provided that the dialog is enabled for the queue and you are the ticket owner or an administrator. This dialog is displayed to administrators and ticket owners only. It is not displayed to other users. Administrators can enable or disable the conflict warning message for each queue separately. See Enable or disable the conflict warning.
5.
Review any changes reported in the Update Notification dialog:

Option

Description

Their Change(s)

A summary of the changes that were submitted by other users during the time that you were editing the ticket.

Your Change(s)

A summary of the changes you are submitting for the same fields listed in the Their Changes column. These changes might conflict with the changes submitted by other users.

* 
NOTE: The dialog summarizes all changes made by other users. However, your changes are summarized only if they conflict with changes made by other users. Also, if a different user has modified a field, such as Category and you have not modified that field, the change appears in the Modified! section. The Your Changes column displays - -, which indicates that you have not modified the content, and the other user's changes will be preserved.

Conflict!

Changes that are contradictory. For example, if you changed the ticket Category to Software, and a different user changed the Category to Network, the changes would be summarized in the Conflict! section.

Modified!

A summary of the changes that do not conflict. For example, if you added information to the ticket Summary and a different user changed the Impact, each of the changes would be summarized in the Modified! section.

6.
Do one of the following:
◦
Click Save to save the ticket and return to the Ticket list.
◦
Click Apply Changes to save the ticket and continue editing it.
◦
Click Cancel to discard the ticket changes.
If other users have modified the ticket concurrently, the Update Notification dialog appears, provided that the dialog is enabled for the queue and you are the ticket owner or an administrator. This dialog is displayed to administrators and ticket owners only. It is not displayed to other users. Administrators can enable or disable the conflict warning message for each queue separately. See Enable or disable the conflict warning.
7.
Review any changes reported in the Update Notification dialog:

Option

Description

Their Change(s)

A summary of the changes that were submitted by other users during the time that you were editing the ticket.

Your Change(s)

A summary of the changes you are submitting for the same fields listed in the Their Changes column. These changes might conflict with the changes submitted by other users.

* 
NOTE: The dialog summarizes all changes made by other users. However, your changes are summarized only if they conflict with changes made by other users. Also, if a different user has modified a field, such as Category and you have not modified that field, the change appears in the Modified! section. The Your Changes column displays - -, which indicates that you have not modified the content, and the other user's changes will be preserved.

Conflict!

Changes that are contradictory. For example, if you changed the ticket Category to Software, and a different user changed the Category to Network, the changes would be summarized in the Conflict! section.

Modified!

A summary of the changes that do not conflict. For example, if you added information to the ticket Summary and a different user changed the Impact, each of the changes would be summarized in the Modified! section.

8.
In the Update Notification dialog box, do one of the following:
◦
Click Keep Your Changes to save changes you have made. This option appears when your changes do not conflict with the changes made by other users.
* 
NOTE: If a different user has modified a field, such as Category and you have not modified that field, the change appears in the Modified! section. The Your Changes column displays - -, which indicates that you have not modified the content, and the other user's changes will be preserved.
◦
Click Overwrite Conflicts to save changes you have made to the ticket. For any changes marked as Conflict!, your changes overwrite the changes made by other users.
◦
Click Cancel to return to the Ticket Detail page and continue editing the ticket.

Create tickets from the Device Detail page

Create tickets from the Device Detail page

You can create Service Desk tickets for devices from the Device Detail page as needed.

When you create Service Desk tickets from the Device Detail page, user and device information is automatically added to the ticket.

1.
Go to the Device Detail page:
a.
Log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information.
b.
On the left navigation bar, click Inventory.
c.
Click the name of a device.
2.
In the Activities section, click Service Desk Tickets to display a table showing tickets related to the device.
3.
Click New to display the New page.
◦
If you want to create a ticket based on a queue, if there are multiple ticket queues in the organization, select a queue from the Ticket drop-down list.
◦
If you want to create a ticket based on a process template, select the process from the Process drop-down list.
The Ticket Detail page appears.
4.
Provide the required information. See Create tickets from the Administrator Console Ticket page for a description of the ticket fields.
5.
Do one of the following:
◦
Click Save to save the ticket and return to the Ticket list.
◦
Click Apply Changes to save the ticket and continue editing it.
◦
Click Cancel to discard the ticket changes.
If other users have modified the ticket concurrently, the Update Notification dialog appears, provided that the dialog is enabled for the queue and you are the ticket owner or an administrator. This dialog is displayed to administrators and ticket owners only. It is not displayed to other users. Administrators can enable or disable the conflict warning message for each queue separately. See Enable or disable the conflict warning.

Create tickets from the Asset Detail page

Create tickets from the Asset Detail page

You can create Service Desk tickets for assets from the Asset Detail page as needed.

When you create Service Desk tickets from the Asset Detail page, user and asset information is automatically added to the ticket.

1.
Go to the Asset Detail page:
a.
Log in to the KACE SMA Administrator Console, http://KACE_SMA_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information.
b.
On the left navigation bar, click Asset Management, then click Assets.
c.
Click the name of an asset.
In the Service Desk Tickets section, a table is displayed showing tickets related to the asset.
2.
Click New to display the New page.
◦
If you want to create a ticket based on a queue, if there are multiple ticket queues in the organization, select a queue from the Ticket drop-down list.
◦
If you want to create a ticket based on a process template, select the process from the Process drop-down list.
The Ticket Detail page appears.
3.
Provide the required information. See Create tickets from the Administrator Console Ticket page for a description of the ticket fields.
4.
Do one of the following:
◦
Click Save to save the ticket and return to the Ticket list.
◦
Click Apply Changes to save the ticket and continue editing it.
◦
Click Cancel to discard the ticket changes.
If other users have modified the ticket concurrently, the Update Notification dialog appears, provided that the dialog is enabled for the queue and you are the ticket owner or an administrator. This dialog is displayed to administrators and ticket owners only. It is not displayed to other users. Administrators can enable or disable the conflict warning message for each queue separately. See Enable or disable the conflict warning.
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