Freezing or Transferring Calls and Problems

Overview

• Key terms
• Calls and problems
• Escalating calls and problems

Tasks

• Transferring calls
• Forwarding calls
• Transferring problems
• Forwarding problems
• Freezing problems

Included with

Key terms

A dispatcher answers incoming calls, gathers Call Registration information, and routes calls to a help desk analyst or group of analysts. Dispatching calls is a combination of the Call Registration and Call Transfer processes.

You can transfer new calls and problems to other help desk analysts or groups of analysts. Transferring calls and problems speeds up problem resolution because a call or problem may be within another help desk analyst's area of expertise.

You can also forward a transferred call or problem. Forwarding is like transferring, except that you start with an existing call or problem instead of a new one.

You can freeze a problem when you do not know the answer and need to search for the solution.

You may still be responsible for any calls or problems you transfer or forward until they are picked up by another help desk analyst. Your system administrator controls whether you retain ownership of your calls or problems until then. When you freeze a problem, it remains your responsibility.

Calls and problems

When you dispatch, forward, or transfer a call, only the call record is processed. The problem record is not created until someone picks up the call, completes call registration and either resolves, freezes or transfers the problem.

Escalating calls and problems

If your organization chooses to use escalation, then each problem and call has an assigned escalation time, and the dispatched call or problem is escalated after the configured time.

Tivoli Problem Management is also able to monitor special promises or agreements made to your customers. These agreement are known as Service Level Agreements (SLA).

Note: Ask your system administrator for information on the escalation settings used at your site.

Transferring calls

Note: For more information, see Registering a new call.

Perform the following steps to transfer a call:

1. In the Call Registration dialog box, complete all the required information.
2. From the Call menu, choose Transfer Call.
3. In the Transfer Call dialog box, specify the user or group who should receive this transferred call in one of the following ways:
   • Type the user or group name
   • Choose the user or group name from the list
4. To notify the recipient that a call has been transferred to him or her, select the Send Notification check box.
5. If you want to change the way the notice is handled, choose Notification Options.
   Note: Notification Options is not available unless you select the Send Notification check box.
6. In the Notifications Options dialog box, make any necessary changes, and choose OK.
7. From the Transfer Call dialog box, choose OK.

Result: If you select the Send Notifications check box, the recipient is notified that a call has been transferred. The transferred call appears in the recipient's Work with Dispatch Calls dialog box until the recipient picks up the call and completes call registration.

Note: For more information on picking up transferred calls, see Picking up a dispatched or transferred call.

Forwarding calls

Perform the following steps to forward a call:

1. From the Call menu, choose Pickup Dispatch/Call Transfer.
2. In the Work with Dispatch Calls dialog box, select a call and choose Forward.
3. In the Transfer Call dialog box, specify which user or group should receive this forwarded call in one of the following ways:
   • Type the user or group name
   • Choose the user or group name from list
4. To notify the recipient that a call has been transferred to him or her, select the Send Notification check box.
5. If you wish to change the way the notice is handled, choose Notification Options.
   Note: Notification Options is not available unless you select the Send Notification check box.
6. In the Notifications Options dialog box, make any necessary changes and choose OK.
7. In the Transfer Call dialog box, choose OK.

Result: If you select the Send Notifications check box, the recipient is notified that a call has been transferred to him or her. The forwarded call disappears from the sender's Work with Dispatch Calls dialog box. The call appears in the recipient's Work with Dispatch Calls dialog box until the recipient picks up the call and completes call registration.

Note: For more information on picking up transferred calls, see Picking up a dispatched or transferred call.

Transferring problems

Note: For more information, see Registering a new call or Resuming a problem.

Perform the following steps to transfer a problem:

1. Start from either the Call Registration dialog box or Problem Status dialog box and choose Transferred in Problem box, then choose Done.
2. In the Transfer Problem dialog box, in the Recipient text box, specify who should receive the transferred problem in one of the following ways:
   • Type the user or group name
   • Choose the user or group name from the list
3. To notify the recipient that a problem has been transferred to him or her, select the Send Notification check box.
4. If you want to change the way the notice is handled, choose Notification Options.
   Note: Notification Options is not available unless you select the Send Notification check box.
5. In the Notifications Options dialog box, make any necessary changes, and choose OK
6. In the Transfer Problem dialog box, choose OK.

Result: If you select the Send Notifications check box, the recipient is notified that a problem has been transferred to him or her. The transferred problem appears in the Work with Problems dialog box of the recipient. The transferred problem continues to appear in the Work with Problems dialog box of the sender until the recipient assumes ownership. Depending on your site configuration, this can occur at the moment of transfer.

Note: Your system administrator specifies the default problem transfer code. It could be TRANSFERRED, OPEN, CLOSED, or any other valid problem code.

Forwarding problems

Perform the following steps to forward a problem:

1. From the Problems menu, choose Work with Problems.
2. In the Work with Problems dialog box, select a problem and choose Forward.
3. In the Transfer Problem dialog box, in the Recipient box, specify who should receive this forwarded problem in one of the following ways:
   • Type the user or group name
   • Choose the the user or group name from list
4. To notify the recipient that a problem has been transferred to him or her, select the Send Notification check box.
5. If you want to change the way the notice is handled, choose Notification Options.
   Note: Notification Options is not available unless you select the Send Notification check box.
6. In the Notifications Options dialog box, make any necessary changes, and choose OK.
7. In the Transfer Problem dialog box, choose OK.

Result: If you select the Send Notifications check box, the recipient is notified that a problem has been transferred to him or her. The problem disappears from the sender's Work with Problems dialog box. It appears in the recipient's Work with Problem Transfer dialog box.

Freezing problems

When you freeze a problem, you retain ownership of the problem. This is different from transferring a problem. When you transfer a problem, it becomes the recipient's responsibility to resolve the problem. When you freeze a problem, you must resume work on the problem in the near future (the amount of time depends on how your system administrator has configured escalations). If you do not resume work on the problem, it may be escalated to a different help desk analyst or manager.

If you work on the solution offline, remember to update the Work History for the problem.

Note: For more information, seeAdding work history,Registering a new call, or Resuming a problem.

Perform one of the following to freeze a problem. Starting from either the Call Registration dialog box or the Problem Status dialog box:

• If you are using the Problem Management Analyst profile, from the Problems menu, choose Save Problem Status.
• If you are using the Problem Management Analyst toolbar, click the Save Problem State tool.
• From the Help menu, choose Your System Profile and follow the instructions under Save Problem State.

Tip: The Escalation Monitor scans all problems, including those that are frozen. Depending on how Tivoli Problem Management is configured at your site, frozen problems can be escalated after any interval of inactivity your system administrator specifies. Problem escalation also depends on whether there is a SLA agreement for the caller's organization. You should resume a frozen problem as quickly as possible.