Linked Services

[Keith]

Could someone please explain the new linked Services feature in more detail. Its not clear to me what this does.

Thanks

Keith

 

[Guest Ehsan]

Hi @Keith,

In a request, you can now associate one or more Services. When associating a Service to a request, the user who is performing the action has the option to choose the relation between the two. This choice is presented in form of a Relationship. In the example below, I have the option to choose Linked To, Caused By and Causes.

 

These relations are configured through the Admin Tool ("Hornbill Service Manager" Tile > "Configuration" Tile > "Relationships" Tile). This feature provides you with the option to define a bidirectional Relationship.

When linking Service A to Incident A, let's consider an example where I have selected "Caused By". Based on the matrix in the following screenshot:

• Service A is "Caused By" Incident A
• Incident A "Causes" Service A

Please note, Caused By and Causes is simply an example that I had created through the Admin Tool. I could ofcourse choose a simpler Relationship, if a reverse Relationship is not required. Take a look at "Linked To" in the following screenshot, note that the Relationship and the Reverse values are the same.

 

Back to the request page - A linked Service is presented under a new section called "Linked Services". The Relationship (if chosen) is presented on the right of an entry.

 

Within the Service, we've added a new sub-tab called Associated Requests under the Requests tab. This sub-tab presents you with requests that have been associated to the Service in question. The Relationship is also presented.

 

Using Relationships is optional. If there are no Relationships defined through the Admin Tool, then you'll not be presented with the option to choose a Relationship when linking a Service to a request.

We're looking to utilise the Relationships in more areas of the Service Manager. Soon, we're going to enhance the option to link a request to a request. We will be providing an option to choose a Relationship, which will be configured through the Admin Tool also. This is currently in development.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Ehsan

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Keith,

I just wanted to add to Ehsan's response with a short explanation of when or why you might use this.  This was primarily targeted at Change Management where a change that is being planned may impact multiple services. This will allow you to associated the addition services and specify a relationship between the change and the service. This will eventually lead into planned features where technical services underpin business services and the relationships will help lay the ground for things like impact analysis, authorizations driven from the owners of these linked services, and planning outages for services.  

Regards,

James

[Keith]

@Ehsan and @James Ainsworth Thanks for your explanations. Sounds like this is possibly one for the future for us if/when more functionality is introduced. 

[Guest David Calder]

Will this feature be rolled out to linked requests and assets?

It would be good to set a relationship such as "CH00000123 caused IN00000345" or "KE00000567 will be fixed by RM00000678".

Likewise, we could set "CH00000123 changes SQLSERVER1" for example

 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @David Calder

Thanks for your post.  We are actually just finishing off some work that will allow the same ability to define relationships between different requests.   Your 'Caused by' example fits this perfectly.  It is possible that this will be available by the end of next week.

We will look to continue with providing the same for asset relationships.

Regards,

James