Outlook, iCal and Google Calendar Sync in LiveTime 7
New to LiveTime 7 is the ability to sync the LiveTime Calendar with any Calendaring system that uses the webcal or ical format. LiveTime provides detailed information on all aspects of your Service Management environment from request details, forward schedule of change and planned outages through to scheduled requests, technician leave and public holidays. These feeds are role based, so each user receives information relevant to their designated role within the organization and assigned ITIL process.
All these events can be fed into your calendar system of choice. The easiest way to achieve this is by clicking the feed icon in the legend of the LiveTime calendar. Your calendar client will then subscribe to this feed and keep it updated as needed. If your calendar client does not open automatically you can also subscribe to the feed manually by entering it into your calendar subscriptions area.
These calendar feeds also automatically sync to an iPad or iPhone using Apple’s iCloud service ensuring users are constantly updated regarding schedule changes wherever they may be.
Incorporate LiveTime Calendar feed into Outlook 2007
Outlook 2007 has native iCal support. Simply navigate to one of the iCal links in the Calendar legend of LiveTime and click it. Alternatively copy and paste the link into your web browser.
An Outlook box should appear asking you to “Add this Internet Calendar to Outlook and Subscribe to Updates”. Click Yes, and the Calendar will automatically be added to Outlook.
Incorporate LiveTime Calendar feed into Outlook 2003
Subscribing to LiveTime iCal feed in Outlook 2003 requires an add on, as iCal functionality is not embedded. We recommend Remote Calendar. As Remote Calendar is an open source project, support is limited. LiveTime is not responsible for any Outlook application problem arising from the installation of Remote Calendar. Support is available at the Remote Calendar Forum.
Using Remote Calendar:
Click on the PLUS icon in the Remote Calendar Outlook toolbar to add a new Calendar, copy and paste the CD iCal URL, and type your new Calendar’s Name and click OK.
Incorporate LiveTime Calendar feed into Google Calendar
Sign into your Google Calendar account
Under “Other Calendars,” click on the “Add” link
Click on “Add by URL.” Copy and paste the iCal URL from your LiveTime Calendar page into the Address field and click Add.
Incorporate LiveTime Calendar feed into Apple’s iCal
Apple’s iCal can subscribe to LiveTime calendars via iCal subscriptions as well. To add an iCal subscription to this application open the Apple iCal software and select Subscribe in the Calendar menu:
Note: Outlook 2011 for Mac does not currently support iCal. For iCal access on a Mac please setup iCal.
Technician Assignment Logic in LiveTime ITSM
The logic behind Technician Assignment within LiveTime is more than the application basing the allocation on the Technician location, load or skill set, as more extensive parameters are considered when routing requests to Technicians. By understanding the variables within the assignment process, Users can configure the system to better reflect the workflow of its service support Team environment.
When a request is logged, the Team is selected based on the SLA and Workflow State of the request.
After the Team has been assigned to the request, the application:
- Checks if the Team has escalation layers, and validates the capability of Technicians in Layer or Group associated with the request.
- To make an assignment within the layer or group, the system checks if Technicians are assigned areas of specialty – Skills or Classifications. If so, the system matches the Classification of the request with the Classifications supported by the Technician.
- If multiple Technicians are assigned the relevant Classification, or if specific Classifications are not assigned to the Technicians within the Team, then the system verifies if Team members have been assigned to support specific Organizational Units. If so, the application will match the Organizational Unit of the Customer to the Technician.
- If the Team “Live Priority” feature has been enabled, the system checks for Team Technicians logged into the application. If multiple matches have been made between the Technician Skills and the request’s Classification, and the Org Unit of the Customer and Technician, the system checks for technicians logged into the application. However, if no match is made between the Skills and Organizational Unit, it will still check for the logged in User if the Live Priority Team functionality is active.
- If there are multiple valid Technicians based on Skill, Org Unit and/or Logged In User, the application will allocate the request to a Technician with the lightest request load.
It should be noted that if the Technician Define Work Hours option has been enabled in the Admin>Setup>Privileges>User, the hours of work MUST be defined within the Super>User>Users>Schedule tab, otherwise the system will ignore the Technician Assignment logic and automatically allocate new requests to the Team Lead.
Please note that these are not only the forces that govern request assignment. Other factors that determine the routing of requests include the Team assigned to Workflow State, the Technician assignment privilege and if request Queues are enabled.
Service Manager and Workflow States
Within Service Manager the pool of Technicians that can be assigned to a request is increased by the OLA or Underpinning Contract assigned to the Workflow State of the request.
Service Manager allows Workflow States to be governed by internal or external contracts, known as OLAs or Underpinning Contracts, respectively. OLAs can be assigned to different support Teams, which means if the Team changes as a result of the Workflow State change, the request may be routed to a whole new pool of Technicians.
If the Workflow is supported by an Underpinning Contract, the request is assigned internally to the responsibility of the Service Level Manager.
Self Assign Option
The Self Assign functionality allows the application to override the business logic of request assignment. This feature enables the automatic allocation of requests to the Technician who creates the request. A Supervisor User can activate Self Assign for requests on a per Team basis, within the Team Information screen.
Request Queues
That about covers the automated routing of requests, but support Teams who prefer to create a queue or holding bay for newly created requests, are also catered for within the system.
Queues are activated on a per Team basis. This means, where one support Team may use the automated routing process, another can create a holding bay. The holding bay allows Technicians to choose their jobs from the Queue, as opposed to having requests automatically assigned by the system.
The Administrator User can activate the Request Queue feature in the application Setup. The Supervisor User then enables the option within the Team Information screen, as required. New requests assigned to a Team with this preference enabled, are assigned to the System User. To access requests held in the Queue, Technicians use the Request Queue Filter within the Home Tab.
The request can then be re-assigned to a specific Technician within the Summary Tab of the request.
