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Function documentationUsing the Inbox

 

The inbox displays e-mails that are sent to and from IT Service Management. You can also search for and display the transaction types that are used in IT Service Management, for example, incidents.

From the hierarchy view, you can see the dependencies between e-mails and their follow-up transactions. In the table view, you can sort and filter the listed items.

Prerequisites

To set up and configure the inbox:

  • In SAP Solution Manager Configuration, in the IT Service Management scenario, Start of the navigation path Perform Standard Configuration Next navigation step Configure Manually End of the navigation path step, Enable Business Functions for ITSM activity, you activated the CRM_IC_INBOX and CRM_IC_INBOX_2 switches.

  • In SAP Solution Manager Configuration, in the IT Service Management scenario, you configured the Configure Inbox step.

Features

  • As an administrator, use rule policies to configure the inbox behavior, such as creating incidents or changing the status.

    The rule policies are mapped to the service in the service manager profile.

  • Dispatchers and processors can do the following:

    • Search for and display e-mails and messages

      To find all transaction types, leave the Main Category empty.

    • Create an incident or a service request from an incoming e-mail

    • Reference a message from an e-mail

    • Show the follow-ups to e-mails and messages in the hierarchy view.

    • Preview the e-mail reply of a customer, including attachments, in the incident

    • As dispatcher, forward an e-mail to other teams

    • Reserve an item for processing: If the user is part of the support team, the system enters the user as processor. Use Reset Reservation to remove the processor.

    • Reply in an incident; the system automatically replies to the reporter by e-mail

    • If configured: When changing the status in a message, the system changes the status in the inbox automatically

    • Set an e-mail to status Complete.

Activities

Creating Incidents from E-Mails

If end users, key users, or other reporters report incidents or request services, both by e-mail and using the WebClient UI, dispatchers and processors can use the inbox as a unified interface for incoming messages. For processing, they can create incidents and service requests based on an e-mail.

Work Flow

  1. The end user sends an e-mail to report an incident or request a service.

  2. From the inbox, the dispatcher or processor creates an incident or service request.

    The system copies the information from the e-mail and attaches the e-mail text to the message.

  3. The dispatcher or processor adds relevant information, such as category and priority.

  4. The message is processed as usual.

Configuration

Only standard inbox configuration required, see the Prerequisites section.

If configured using a rule policy, the system can automatically create incidents and service requests from e-mails, depending, for example, on the information in the e-mail.

Communicating by E-Mail

If end users, key users, or reporters do not have access to the IT Service Management WebClient UI, dispatchers and processors can use the inbox to communicate with the users by e-mail only, while working in the WebClient UI themselves.

Work Flow

  1. In the inbox, a processor edits an incident and sets it to status Author Action or Solution Proposed.

  2. The system creates an e-mail that informs the requestor about the status change.

  3. The requestor reads the e-mail and replies to it.

  4. In the inbox, the system attaches the e-mail reply from the requestor to the incident.

    If configured, the system changes the status of the incident to, for example, In Processing.

  5. The incident is processed as usual.

Configuration

  • Action SMIN_STD_MAIL_FORM is configured. At least, the following parameters are set:

    • MAIL_FORM_TEMPLATE

    • DEFAULT_SENDER_EMAIL

    • USE_TRACKING_ID

    For more information about the action, see Actions for Incident Messages.

  • Customizing activity Define User Status after E-Mail Reply has been performed.

More Information

For more information about the inbox as used in SAP Customer Relationship Management, see the SAP Library for SAP Customer Relationship Management at Start of the navigation path http://help.sap.com/crmInformation published on SAP site Next navigation step current release Next navigation step Application Help Next navigation step Business Functions for SAP Customer Relationship Management Next navigation step Interaction Center Next navigation step IC Inbox Extensions End of the navigation path and IC Inbox Extensions 2.