Version 1.16.1
In this version of the ITSM application, we have added mass processing of tickets from list views, improved the process of approving change requests and change request templates, and reworked the processing of incoming email messages.
For the change request template approval to work correctly, it is necessary to edit the Approval for participants notification rule after you upgrade to this version.To do this, complete the following steps:
New Features
Mass processing of tickets
To speed up the processing of common tickets, we have implemented a capability to assign and complete multiple tickets from a list. For this purpose, we have added the Assign and Complete buttons to the list view of the Service Request (itsm_request) and Incident (itsm_incident) tables.
When you click the Assign button, a modal window appears in which you can select a user or a group to assign to the selected tickets. Here you can also add comments in the Work notes and Discussion fields that will be sent to the corresponding fields of the assigned tickets.
When you click the Complete button, a modal window appears in which you need to select the closure code and add closure information. Here you can also add comments in the Work notes and Discussion fields that will be sent to the corresponding fields of the completed tickets.
In addition to that, we have added new system properties itsm.mass_processing.max_number_to_assign and itsm.mass_processing.max_number_to_complete that you can use to set the maximum number of tickets a user can assign or complete from a list at the same time (100 by default).
Read more in the documentation:
- Mass assignment and completion of Incidents
- Mass assignment and completion of Service Requests
Optimization of Change Request approval process
In the new version we have enhanced the capabilities for customizing the approval of Change Requests and Change Request templates. Now, when modifying the list of approvers, you can add optional approvers, if the autogenerated list of approvers does not fit a specific situation. This gives more flexibility in customizing the approval process for the specific needs of the company and helps avoid delays when optional approvers fail to approve or reject their approval tickets.
For this purpose, we have added the Modify CAB button to the Change Requests and Change Request templates forms. When you click it, a modal window appears where you can select mandatory and optional approvers and also specify whether the list of approvers for this request or template should include the existing CAB, or consist only of the selected users. After the list of approvers is confirmed, an approval (sys_approval) record is created for each of them and they will receive notifications asking for their approval.
If all the mandatory approvers have approved the request and none of the optional approvers has rejected the request, the record is moved to the next state. If, however, a single user rejects the approval, the Change Request or the Change Request Template will return into the Registered or the Draft state respectively.
Read more in Modify CAB
Improvements
Correct interpretation of reply email messages
For incoming email messages from users to be processed correctly and not get lost, we have optimized the logic of processing incoming messages.
For this purpose, we have created a new inbound email action – Add comment or Create User Query. It replaces the existing actions Add comment to task and Create User Query, which are disabled in the new version.
The new action operates according to the following logic:
- If the email subject contains one or several ticket numbers, the system:
- searches the ITSM Task (itsm_task) table for the records with matching ticket numbers and copies the text of the email into the Discussion (additional_comments) field of the first open ticket with the number included in the email subject. If the message body is empty, nothing is added to the Discussion (additional_comments) field.
- If the email subject does not contain any ticket numbers, or all tickets whose numbers are included in the subject are in the Closed state, a new record is created in the User Queries (itsm_inquiry) table with the following field values:
- Subject (subject) – email subject or "Subject not specified ({email})";
- Description (description) – email body;
- State (state) – "Unprocessed";
- Contact Type (contact_type) – "Email";
- Caller (caller) – email sender.
If the email message contains attachments, they are attached to the existing ticket record (if found) or the created User Query (itsm_inquiry) record.
Read more in Configured incoming mail actions