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Request Searching


chrisnutt

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Hi,

Are there any plans to improve the search facility in Service Manager? We migrated from Supportworks to Service Manager this past weekend and I am already getting frustrated with the global search facility at the top to find requests. The search in Supportworks was far from perfect but it gave me far more options to narrow down my search/filter and it also allowed me to do some sorting on the results. This ability to sort the results doesn't seem to be available in Service Manager. By default, it seems to be sort by type and then by reference but I might want to just do by reference or by customer or owner etc. I also can't see anything like log or resolve date to limit results or a summary or description field to target my search a bit more. As such a search for a keyword like 'portal' returns 14000+ results

I would quite like to configure the results view to limit/expand the info shown too.

I am also seeing results for Services that I don't support which inflates the results. Is that because I am an admin? It has been mentioned to me that when linking requests the search facility there included results from services not supported by the analyst doing the search, and they did not have any admin rights. Is there a setting I can change for this?

Thanks

Chris

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@chrisnutt

In terms of your last paragraph, might be worth checking if you have the system set to limit the search output to those requests you have visibility of (i.e. are a support team member), which Service Manager -> Settings called webapp.view.ITSM.serviceDesk.requests.limitSearchToVisible.

Also below may give you some more information as well.

Cheers

Martyn

 

 

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Thanks Martyn,

I've got that setting enabled. I think the ones appearing in my search are because of my admin status but the ones appearing for my colleagues when searching for a request to link seems to be something different.

I've got a screenshot to illustrate now. In the attached, the second, third, fifth and sixth onwards incidents are all under the "Estate Service". The person logged in is not in a team supporting the "Estate service" and so should really not be seeing these.

I just had somebody else in a different team, but also not in a team supporting the "Estate Service" search for one of these in the linked requests action and it came up for them to link. In the global search, it came up but he couldn't click on it. I'd like to not see it at all.

Chris

linkedreqsearch.PNG

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@chrisnutt

It appears the same restrictions being applied to the Request List search by the setting 'webapp.view.ITSM.serviceDesk.requests.limitSearchToVisible' are not mirrored in the search method used in the Link Request option.

@James Ainsworth, is possible to have the same search restrictions applied to the link incident search option?

Cheers

Martyn

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On 12/10/2017 at 5:05 AM, GZA said:

I also find the search functionally rather limited

Hi @gza

I just wanted to check that you have seen the additional criteria that you can use in the Link Action? We are likely to add more criteria to this over time.  Possibly the next option would be something around dates.

image.png

Regards,

James

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On 05/10/2017 at 3:15 AM, chrisnutt said:

Are there any plans to improve the search facility in Service Manager?

Hi @chrisnutt

The Global Search for Request does have an option to narrow down the searches, similar to the Link Action on a request.  

image.png

Also, to help with searching there are a number of Advanced options that you can use in your search which are described in the Advanced Search section here.  My favourite one is the AND operator.  

I hope this helps

Regards,

James

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On 05/10/2017 at 3:15 AM, chrisnutt said:

limit results or a summary or description field to target my search a bit more

Hi @chrisnutt

I'm going to look  into this a little more as this does not seem to be documented or particularly user friendly, but there are Titles that you can use to narrow down your search.

To narrow down your search to just look at the Summary you can use the syntax:

(h_summary:yoursearchword)   

To narrow down your search to just look at the Description you can use the syntax:

(h_description:yoursearchword)

If you are searching on multiple terms you need to use quotes.  

(h_summary:"Your Search Words")

I will see what we can add to the Global Search to provide an option to use these titles in a more user friendly way.

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Hi @James Ainsworth

Thanks for your replies.

I am aware of the options to narrow the search fields, but the frustrations include that I'm afraid. I didn't know about the advanced search options and they may be useful but unfortunately, for the most part, do not address my major frustrations.

Namely:

  • Unable to search by the log or resolve date (without using your advanced search syntax). I can do an advanced search now I know that feature exists (will that be added to the wiki?) but would love a UI for it.
  • Unable to sort/group the results. This is especially frustrating
  • Unable to change the view of the results (remove unnecessary details)

One of my favourite things in Supportworks combined these last two. I stripped away the preview and many of the columns and then sort by what was left. It allowed me to spot many trends and patterns immediately. I can't do this in the search. I can kind of do it in the Request List but it would be useful in search too

I understand that Service Manager and Supportworks are two different things and Service Manager is doing things differently but these seem like a very useful parts of Supportworks that have been removed.

Thanks

Chris

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Hi @chrisnutt

I was wondering if you have looked at the Charts on the Request List Views to get some of your information on trending and patterns?  The Global Search is really directed more toward finding particular requests or other entities. When it comes to looking for multiple requests and trending or dealing with dates I always start with the Request List, the Views, and the Charts.

The Request List provides sorting of the columns and the ability to add and remove columns so that you just see what you would like to see.  The Views allow you to build one or more sets of criteria that you commonly work with.  On each of these Views you can build a chart to look at trends or patters.  The Charts have Drill Down ability so that you can easily access the requests that make up each part of a chart.  The criteria builder on the Views is a little like the advanced search in Supportworks where you have an option to enter your advanced criteria and show the results.  Maybe we could consider a "Quick View" that doesn't require saving and you can just add your search criteria and get your result.

Regards,

James

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Hi @James Ainsworth

Just to give you an example I am experiencing right now.

I want to find a problem that was raised on Monday this week and has since been closed. I know it was raised, but I have no idea by who or what keywords will be best to locate it.

I still haven't found it. I now have to come and figure out the syntax for the advanced search which is taking time in a pressured situation. Or I could create a view, but again not exactly swift. I've tried using filters with views, and it resets back to the default 'All My Services' or 'My Requests' view which doesn't help.

Whereas, I would like to be able to search for all requests raised on Monday within the UI and filter to problems. This would turn up one or two results where I could easily locate the one I want.

Thanks

Chris

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Hi @chrisnutt

I would agree that the use of the advanced syntax is not great for quickly locating something.  We do have changes in our backlog and other ideas on improving the searching, however these are still not in the queue for development.  Until we see some of these I'll continue to see where I can help using the existing features of Service Manager and Hornbill.

The Views contain all of the criteria that you mention around when it was raised, the status now being closed, and the type of record being a Problem record.  Views in essence are a saved search.  Views have a very comprehensive list of criteria that you can selected to locate requests with.  In order to provide these same options in the Global Search, we will be replicating what we already have, and the selection process of the different criteria would be fairly similar.  Using the request list also provides the sorting options of the results.  Is the saving of a View the concern?  If there was a button on the request list to open the list of criteria that you can select and search on, but not save, would this provide the result that you are looking for?

Regards,

James

 

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My main concern around the saving of views is that I either have to know in advance what I want to be looking for or create a view specifically for what I want when I want which is more time-consuming than simply searching. It may be only by a few seconds but it adds up. Also creating a view for a search is fine until you consider that you can build up quite quickly a long list of views that will be unwieldy and will require regular cleaning down.

It would be much better if the search results were presented in the regular Request List and the existing filters worked on them.

Quote

If there was a button on the request list to open the list of criteria that you can select and search on, but not save, would this provide the result that you are looking for?

Without seeing something in action I don't know. What criteria would be available via this button?

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi @James Ainsworth just an update. I am constantly (daily) told about how people are unable to find anything via searching now. Advising people to use the advanced search features is fine for those technically minded, however, a number of people using our system are not so inclined and that number is likely to increase in future. The argument being made to me is that it is not intuitive and that requiring to read instructions in order to search is not a good user experience for what should be a straightforward, everyday activity (please don't shoot the messenger)

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Hi @chrisnutt

We do have a number of changes that look at some of the different options for searches in our backlog.  We will continue to progress these and we will let you know as they are scheduled and work begins.

We have been working on some options for the Global Search Tools for Request that will include searching the Timeline.  This has been in the works for some time as we had to get over some performance concerns.  We believe that we are almost there.  I don't think that this will suit the type of searches that you are looking to do, but it will provide more options to the Global Search.

As you are looking at ordering and  dates, the Request List is still possibly the best place for this type of look-up.  Having an Advanced Filter as described in my previous post should help.  It is not currently scheduled to be worked on, but I will continue to review and let you know when we are a bit closer.  


Regards,

James

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  • 3 weeks later...

@James Ainsworth Any news on this? This has become hyper critical for us. We are being bombarded with requests from auditors to provide evidence of user testing and are having to manually read through and find this evidence on hundreds of requests. This is simply unworkable for us. I really need a realistic time frame.

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Hi Keith,

Sorry, there are a number of search options discussed above.  Are you referring to the Timeline search or an advanced search on the request list?

Admittedly we have continued to run into performance issues with the timeline search.  We are continuing to work on this, however it may be worth understanding more about the type of information you are storing about your testing.  We may find that other solutions could be considered to help with your requirement.  I would also hate to think that once we are over the line with a Timeline search that the outcome is not what you expected and it doesn't give you the information in a way that helps.

Regards,

James

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Hi @James Ainsworth

I was referring to the timeline search. 

I don't want to highjack this thread so please advise if I should raise this elsewhere but let me first explain our scenario and then I'll explain what we are doing.

We have many requests for changes to our our SAP system which result in in-house developments and program changes (we currently use Service Requests for this as the change requests were not available to users in the portal at time of implementation). When we make such changes we are required to record the results of the user acceptance testing and only if accepted by the user can we move our changes to the production environment. As the request is not considered 'resolved' until the solution is provided in the production environment the user has no structured way to advise us if the testing is successful or not (by using the "It's working" button for instance in the portal).

What we are doing today! - We are having to make do with simply asking the user to perform UAT and then confirm in writing that they have performed this testing. This is in the form of an update to the request or an email reply recorded in the request.

Our Auditors are then sampling random requests and looking for proof of testing which could be anywhere in the timeline which is often extensive. This would maybe be OK with one or two requests but impossible with a sample of 50-60 or more requests. The ability to search the timeline would help so much here and is frustrating us because it is something we had in our previous home grown solution.

 

What we really need! - We really need a robust solution whereby a user has a testing action of some kind that that is exposed in the portal and results in them declaring a pass or failure (similar to the existing portal buttons). We would want to report on requests based on this value. With the continuous auditor pressure we are getting desperate for some kind of solution or process change to support this requirement. Perhaps we need to engage with a product specialist directly on this or even expert services. Can you suggest how best to move forward with this. 

 

Regards

Keith

 

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This for your post @Keith

I'm not so sure that the timeline Global Search is going to provide what you need, but as you suggest, reporting on these would be the best way forward.  There are a number of potential directions to take which may include custom fields, a UAT stage in a BPM workflow, or using Email Routing for email updates from the customer.  This does take us away from this topic about providing more search options.  Maybe we could consider a new forum post to discuss and maybe see if other customers have suggestions.

Regards,

James

 

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  • 3 months later...

just a quick update to mention that the first in a number of planned enhancements for searching has been added in the Service Manager update available today.

Request List advanced Search - allows you to define multiple search criteria (as shown below) and then apply this as a search on the request list.

* You can add multiple search conditions including date ranges

* The Search results are then presented in the request list where you can

> Sort on the columns

> Choose the displayed columns

> Drill into the tickets

> Export the requests to CSV 

* If the search is a common one you want to use, save this as a view

image.png

As mentioned above this is one of a number of searching enhancements we are working through but hopefully helps address the searching for and managing the returned results a bit better

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On 3/22/2018 at 2:36 PM, Steven Boardman said:

just a quick update to mention that the first in a number of planned enhancements for searching has been added in the Service Manager update available today.

Hi @Steven Boardman, Thanks for this. Always good to see new features such as this. Can you advise how this differs from creating a view with the old method? Is it a case of exposing the the use of search criteria without the need for a specific view to already exist?

Looking forward to the other search features hinted at.

Thanks

 

Keith

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