Issues can be assigned to different users and Teams automatically
based on the choice selected in a drop-down Workspace field. For
example, if the Workspace contains a Workspace field called Problem
type, and Problem
type contains hardware,
software,
and network
as its three choices, Issues could be assigned automatically to different
FootPrints users and Teams depending on which choice
is selected for that Issue or Request by the Agent or Customer creating
the Issue. In this way, the hardware Team is automatically assigned
to hardware problems, the software group is automatically assigned to
software problems, etc. Default
assignment can also be configured on this page.
To configure default assignment and Auto Assignment, select Administration
| Workspace | Auto Assign from the FootPrints
Toolbar, then scroll to the appropriate section of the page.
Default Assignment
When an Agent opens a new Issue, you can control who
is assigned by default to that Issue with the options described below.
The option
selected here determines who is listed in the Assignees dialog box on
the Create
Issue page when an Agent opens a new Issue.
There are five options:
Assign
to creator—The
Agent creating the Issue is assigned.
Assign
to creator's Team—The
Agent's Team is assigned automatically. If
the Agent belongs to multiple Teams, the first Team in the list is selected.
Assign
to creator's Team and creator—The
Agent is assigned along with the Agent's Team to the Issue.
Assign
to none—The
Assignees box is blank when an Issue is created by an Agent. This option
should be selected if Auto-Assignment is configured for most or all possible
choices for at least one field.
Assign
to all—All
users are assigned. This is appropriate if the Workspace only contains a
small group of Agents.
The default assignment option only affects who is listed
as the Assignee when an Agent first creates an Issue. The
option selected here can be overridden by the Auto Assignment options
selected below, manually by the Agent (with permissions), by Team assignment rules, or by an Escalation rule.
Field-Based Auto Assign
To configure Auto-Assignment:
Select Administration
| Workspace | Auto Assign from the FootPrints
Toolbar.
Create or modify an assignment rule—To create or modify an assignment rule, select the field you want to modify or for which you want to create a rule from the drop-down field, then click the GO button. The Choose Assignees page is displayed. Select the assignees for each choice in the selected drop-down field, then enter your password and click the Save button. When an incident/problem is submitted with that specified value in that field, the incident/problem is assigned to the specified agent(s) or team(s).
Current Auto Assignment Summary—The Current Auto Assignment Summary displays a summary of the current auto assignment rule(s).
General auto assign options
Auto assign
on create/edit
Create
only—Auto
Assignment only occurs when the Issue is first created. Any
subsequent changes to the Auto Assign field(s) have no effect on assignment.
Create
and Edit—Each
time an Auto Assignment field is edited, Auto Assignment rules are re-applied.
This is
useful if Auto Assignment is being used to assign an Issue from one group
to another, for example, from Support to Development, then to QA, etc.
Add
to or replace existing assignees
Add
new assignees—Any
users assigned manually will remain assigned in addition to any users
auto-assigned.
Unassign
existing assignees—When
users are Auto Assigned, any users added manually or Auto Assigned by
a previous edit are removed. This
is useful if Auto Assignment is being used to assign an Issue from one
group to another, for example, from Support to Development, then to QA,
etc.
Note
If Auto Assign is configured for more than one drop-down
field, the Add
New Assignees option is recommended. If the Unassign
option is selected, the Auto Assignment rule for one field may unassign
users who were assigned by another field choice. Therefore,
to assign Issues based on multiple criteria, use Escalation
rules. In
addition, auto assignment occurs during the issue creation; if dynamic
drop-downs are used, escalation rules, which occur at the end of the issue
creation or edit, should be used to do these kinds of assignments
Drop-Down
Fields—This
section contains one sub-section for each drop-down Workspace field in the
current Workspace. Each
section is broken down into each choice for the field, with a list of
Workspace members and Teams for each choice.
For each choice,
you can choose to Auto Assign Issues to one or more users or Teams. Highlight
a user’s ID or Team name in the list for that value. Use
the CTRL
key to highlight more than one user or Team.
It is not necessary
to configure Auto Assignment for each choice in a single field or for
more than one drop-down field. It
is completely optional. More
complex assignment based on multiple criteria, including contact fields,
time, etc., can be accomplished with Escalation
rules.
When you are finished,
click Save.
New Issues for which
a configured value is selected are automatically assigned to the users
or Teams specified on the “Auto Assign” screen. The users receive notification
email, and the Issue appears in their Assignments lists.
If the Auto Assignment
feature is enabled for a public field, Requests submitted by Customers
are also automatically assigned and given a status of Open.
They skip
the Request bin.
Auto Assignment is
done in addition to any assignees chosen manually on the Create
Issue or Edit
Issue page. Auto
Assignment rules are applied directly on the Create
Issue and Edit
Issue pages for Issues created by Agents. Requests
submitted by Customers are assigned instantly when the Customer submits
the Request via the Customer Self-service interface. Assignment for Email
submissions is processed when the email is received by FootPrints.
Delete an Auto Assignment
To delete an auto assignment rule:
Select Administration
| Workspace | Auto Assign from the FootPrints Toolbar.
In the Create or Edit an Auto Assignment Rule field, select the rule you want to delete from the drop-down menu, then click the GO button.