You would like to edit an Incident? Select the incident and assign it to yourself to edit it.

To assign an Incident to yourself from read-only you first have to search the Incident.

When you found it follow the steps below (also note Open the Incident in edit mode):

1) Click on <font color="darkorange"><b>Assign to me from read-only</b></font> in the open Incident in read-only mode .

2) The following system message appears.

up to and including version 5.0
since version 5.1
You can close the message through the “X” in the system message on the right.

In the mask all important information of the problems will be entered.

In the tab <font color="darkorange"><b>Description</b></font> you have to enter a detailed description about the problem, enter a proper title of the Incident and select the category, that is the thematic assigment of the Incident to a super and sub-category.

In addition, you can add more information to the current problem in the fields below.

• The fields for the ITIL-priority.
• The assignment of priority and additional attributes.
• The assignment of one or more Configuration Items.

In version 5.5 the course of solution got a new design!

icon	explanation
	This icon shows, that an entry has been marked as last status.
	With this button the last status can be set.
	By using this button the text of the e-mail can be edited.
	This button enables you to view the e-mail in its original state.
	You can use this button to mark an entry as internal.
	By clicking this button you reply to all.
	This icon shows, that an e-mail has been received.
	This icon shows, that an e-mail has been sent.

Under this tab you can find all information and functions which have been used to solve the Incident until now.

up to version 5.0
Before version 5.0 under <font color="darkorange"><b>Course of solution</b></font> you only can enter a comment or add an attachment.
since version 5.0
Since verion 5.0 you can enter the solution under <font color="darkorange"><b>Course of solution</b></font> too.

At above of the course of solution you see the field to enter comments and add attachements.

Below their is the table with the course of solution and the current entry is the first. This is an overview of all entered comments, attachments, tasks, solution and sent emails,

A short overview in the infopanel helps for orientation.

	An entered task within the Incident.
	An email sent within the Incident.
	An entered solution within the Incident.
	An entered comment within the Incident.
	The problemdescription of the Incident.

To enter a comment please click on <font color="darkorange"><b>Course of solution</b></font> and then on <font color="darkorange"><b>Add comment</b></font> [since version 5.0, up to version 5.0 there is no additional tab]. A mask opens where you can enter your comment.

• Add comment: Please add your comment in the free text field. Please check the checkbox when the comment is only for internal uses or when your comment should be sent to the customer.
• Add attachements: Alternatively add an attachement.
• Activity input, have a look further down this page.
• Save: At the end save your comment that it not get lost.

<note tip>A comment can be added to an Incident in every status. After you entered a comment and clicked on save, this comment will be saved to this Incident and will appear in the course of solution. The create date and the user appear next to the comment.</note>

<note tip>When you enter a non-private comment to an Incident in status on hold the Incident will reopen.</note>

<note important>Via the option private an additional attribute can be attached to the comment/ solution. The right Case.Comment.ViewPrivate controls who is allowed to open private attachments. If a comment is added to an Incident (e.g. by a customer itself), all members of the affected support team will receive an email with the comment. This will be recorded in the History.

For further information about the rights at the Incident pleace look at page User rights -> Incident Management </note>

1) Mark the comment you want to delete by clicking with the left mouse button at the course of solution. The marked comment will be highlighted blue.

2) Then click the right mouse button and the following picture appears:

Please click on delete.

A comment, that has already been added to the course of solution, can still be set private.

1) Mark the comment you want to set private by clicking with the left mouse button at the course of solution. The marked comment will be highlighted blue.

2) Then click the right mouse button and the following picture appears:

Please click on set private now.

3) The comment will be set private internal as you can see at the padlock on the right site of the comment.

You can set a private comment public afterwards.

1) Mark the comment you want to set public by clicking with the left mouse button at the course of solution. The marked comment will be highlighted blue.

2) Then click the right mouse button and the following picture appears:

Please click on set public now. The padlock will disappear.

<note tip>This function is available since version 4.1.</note>

As soon as you have a solution for your customer problem you can enter it here.

1) Please click on <font color="darkorange"><b>Course of solution</b></font> and the tab <font color="darkorange"><b>Add solution</b></font>.

2) A edit mask opens where you have to enter your solution.

• Please select the Solution type of your solution.
• Next select the apt Custom attributes group for your solution.
• Check send to customer when you want to send the solution to the customer.
• The next status changed automatically from solved to notified.
  Before sending the status is arbitrary.

After you entered the solution you have to click on save to finish the process.

Additional to the comments and the solution you can add attachements.

1) Below the comment or solution area you can add one or more attachments.

• Please choose the file by clicking on Browse….
• When the attachement should only be seen internal check the private box.
• Add the attachment by clicking on save.

2) The following view appears:

You can be sure that the attachment has been added successfully to the Incident when it is shown on the left side in the info toolbar and in the middle of the screen of the detail display.

• The activity input enables an user to record his processing time.
• The processing time can be entered with entering a comment or a solution.
• The activity input can be activated or disabled per support category - optional as mandatory entry.
  At Settings -> support categories you can choose it and which classification.

Under Course of solution inside the Incident you can enter an entry for the activity input.

Activity input:
The <font color="darkorange"><b>activity input</b></font> can be activated or deactivated by creating or editing a support category.

• <font color="darkorange"><b>Processing Reason:</b></font> Choose a processing reason. They are variable and can be defined at classification group.
• <font color="darkorange"><b>Comment</b></font> For additional information about the activity input.
• <font color="darkorange"><b>Duration</b></font> The duration of a activity input can be captured in hours and minutes.
• <font color="darkorange"><b>Processing Date</b></font> When the activity input adduced.

<note important>When completing the mask you have to fill out all fields once you have filled out one field. Exception the field Processing Date.</note>
To see all entered data of the activity input, please click on the tab <font color="darkorange"><b>Activity input</b></font>

In this tab you get a tabular overview of all recorded times and you can

1. edit entries
2. delete entries
3. get a sum of all processing times

(1) Edit an entry
After clicking on you can edit an activity entry.

Then you can change the entry and

• save it by clicking on the
• or refuse the changes by clicking the red X.

(2) Delete an entry
After clicking on you can delete an activity entry.

The last status is a new column, which can be added by you. It is available in the incident pool as well as in the user cockpit. It serves the purpose of getting a quick overview of the last action of the incidents. In the incident pool you can filter by the user, that has set the last status and the date, when the last status has changed.

<note important>The following user rights will be required:

• Case.LastStatus.Display - to see the last status
• Case.LastStatus.Edit - to enter or change the last status

</note>

In the history you can see by whom and when the last status has been set:

How to set the last status?

Comments, solution and the rejection reason from a higher level to the one below can be used as last status.

There are two options to set the last status:

1. when entering a comment, solution, etc. you can check the last status box
2. after having entered a comment, solution, etc. the last status can still be set by clicking on the “i” in the speech bubble
   

With a click on the speech bubble with the red “X” the last status can be removed.

How do you know what's the last status?

The last status can be recognized by the symbol in the left upper corner (see screenshot below). Comments, solutions etc. that had been the last status before are marked with the same symbol in grey (see screeshot below).

In the tab you can see all existing relations/ links of the current Incident will other Incidents and Problems, which have a similar or identical problem. In the entry form you can create new links for the current Incident. For depicted Incident we have created an Incident and a problem link.

(see also customers)

The view for the maintanance of the customer data is divided into two areas:

a) left: An Overview over the stored customer data for the Incident.
b) right: A current strip to customer address is not stored at the moment.

: Click on this symbol to edit the current customer.
: Click on this to change the customer.

You would like to have a more accurate picture of your customer? Here you can find the latest results and survey resume, in as much that a survey has been started. You can get more information on how to start a survey by clicking on Expert knowledge and under survey.

Picture: Incident menu with survey and answers!

You would like to create a new task? Simply follow the following steps:

1.) Select the tab Tasks.
2.) Fill in all information that you have about the task: description, comment, responsible, etc.
3.) Save the created task by clicking on Add task.

4.) After saving a summary of the task will be displayed below the editing mask and the editing mask is clear again. The summary contains the comment, the due date with the exact time as well as the name of the task owner.

<note tip>Move the mouse over the description summary of the task and you can see the complete description → see screenshot above (mouse-over-effect).</note>

You would like to complete or delete an existing or assigned Incident? Simply follow the following steps:

1. Select the tab Tasks.
   
2. Select the appropriate task by clicking on the summary.
   
   
3. The entry form with the data from the Incident will appear and the data can be changed if necessary. The task can also be completed or cancelled by changing the status.
   
4. Save your changes by clicking on the button Update task.
   
5. If the task is not needed anymore it can also be deleted by clicking the delete task button.
   

All processing steps and changes in an Incident will be automatically recorded in the report of the Incident History of 1stAnswer 4.0.

There by the processing date, the user, the performed activities in the actual field and the changes will be saved.

You would like to schedule a technician appointment? Please follow steps 1-3:

1. First, Please select the tab “Technician”.
   
2. Then fill in the fields:
   • <font color="darkorange"><b>Appointment Address</b></font>: Einsatzort will be filled in automatically.
   • <font color="darkorange"><b>Preferred Date</b></font>: You can either type the date in or open the calender and click on the desired date.
   • <font color="darkorange"><b>Qualification</b></font>: Here, you can request a specific qualification, that the technician is supposed to have.
     
     
     
3. Click on propose appointment and check the availability.
4. If the preferred date is available, choose a technician (in the case below, there's only one for the required qualification) and click on the corresponding field. Then a new window will open.
5. Click on Add/Insert.
6. Fill in the details of your appointment and click on save.
   
   

<note>If there are more than one technicians available for the preferred date, the closest technician can be found by a postal code search above the schedule.</note>

The <font color="darkorange"><b>I want to</b></font> - toolbar on the right side in you incident pool includes following icons for processing the Incident.

Icon	Description
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Create new incident for a customer</b></font>: This way a new incident for a customer can be created with one click.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Create new incident for myself</b></font>: With this button you can create a new incident, in which you are the customer.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Create a new problem</b></font>: If you want to create a new problem, click this button.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Open incident</b></font>: With this button you can open a selected incident and assign it to yourself. Once assigned to you, you will be mentioned in the history and further functions will be available.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Open in read-only mode</b></font>: In order to check the course or progress of an incident, you can open it in the read-only mode without being mentioned in the history.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Save and push back to pool</b></font>: All processing steps and changes will be saved. At the same time the mask will be closed and the incident will be availabe in the Incident Pool again, so that other users can open and edit it.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Send E-mail</b></font>: An e-mail will be sent to the address/es recorded in the customer's profile or if necessary to a further mailing list.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Solve case</b></font>: This way you can solve an incident. Enter the solution, that has been found, in the text field. Additionally you can describe the type of solution.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Add comment</b></font>: Comments can be very helpful. No matter, if you want to leave a note for your colleague, who has to take over this case or if you want to remind yourself of something, just leave a comment. Informations how to add a comment can be found here.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Copy</b></font>: If you highlight an incident and click on copy, a new inquiry with the same customer and problem description will be created.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Change Status</b></font>: With the little magic stick you can change the status of an highlighted incident as follows: .
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Change Category</b></font>: The category of the incident can be changed with the help of this button or you can change the category in the incident.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Refresh data</b></font>: In order to get a up-to-date view of your Incident Pool click on this button.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Relate Incidents</b></font>: Sometimes it happens that more than one incident has been created for the same topic. To get a clearer overview of all incidents, it is possible to relate incidents of the same topic.
	<font color="darkorange"><b>Export to Excel</b></font>: If you require data from 1stAnswer outside of the system you can export the necessary data to Excel.

You require further information from your customer or you would like to inform him or her about the progress of the incident?

1. Open the incident in the edit mode.

2. Then click on “<font color="orange"><b>Send e-mail</b></font>”.

3. An e-mail mask will open:

a) To/Cc/Bcc Search for a customer or type the e-mail address.
b) Subject Type the subject of your message.
c) You can use an e-mail template, if it fits the context. Just choose one in the dropdown box and click on Apply Template. Then the text will appear in the text field.
d) Then enter your text in the text field or adjust it, if you use a template.
e) If you don't want to add an attachment, click on Send e-mail.

4. Would you like to add an attachment?

Upload an file or choose an existing one. Check the box so that the attachment and the email will be sent together.

<note tip>By default a new uploaded file attachment will be automatically saved in the Incident (refer to Course of solution).If you only would like to send a file/document/picture with the email then please select the option Email only. In this case, the Incident will not be saved in 1stAnswer.</note>

4. After you send the email, the following confirmation display will appear:

Closing an incident implies not only that you have solved your customer's problem (a) but also that you notify him/her about the solution (b).

1. Have you informed your customer about the solution of the problem? Please click on set status “messaged” to confirm this.

2. After you have clicked the set status “messaged” button, the infopanel on your left shows you the status “notified”.

3. To double-check you can go to the history and see if the incident has been solved and if the customer has been notified.


After you have confirmed that your customer has been notified about the solution you can set the Incident on the status closed (refer to the next section, step 4 ).

You have solved your customer's probelm and notified him about the solution(Refer to steps 1.-3. Customer was notified about solution) and you would like to close the Incident now?

4. Click on: Close Incident

5. The following confirmation display will appear and you can click on “Save and push back to pool” to finish the process.


Congratulation! You have now successfully closed your Incident.
<note tip>Annotation:

• After you have closed the Incident please push it back to the Incident pool, so that this Incident can be used as an example in the future(refer to the following step 6).
• The best way to open a closed Incident is in the read-only mode because the status will not be changed.
• For whatever reason you need to open a closed Incident, you can reopen it as follows.

</note>