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Process documentationCommon Tasks in the Incident Management Work Center Locate this document in the navigation structure

 

The problem reporter and the support employee can communicate directly in the Incident Management work center.

Support staff can search for solutions to messages in various ways.

For more information about finding solutions, see Find Solution.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites for the use of the Incident Management work center.

  • Incident Management is configured for the SAP Solution Manager, using the configuration guide. For more information, see the SAP Solution Manager Configuration Guide on SAP Service Marketplace, under   http://service.sap.com/instguides   SAP Components   SAP Solution Manager <current release>  .

  • In Customizing (transaction PFAC), the criteria by which an incoming support message is assigned to a support unit, e.g. priority, category, region of creator, in the Incident Management customizing, are set up. By default, the system assigns the support message to the support unit for its SAP component.

  • You are authorized to create and process support messages as problem reporter or support staff, in Incident Management. For more information, see the SAP Solution Manager Security Guide in the SAP Service Marketplace, under   http://service.sap.com/instguides   SAP Components   SAP Solution Manager <current release>  .

Process

  1. Users and customers can create a support message as problem reporter, as follows:

    • In the Incident Management work center, using   Common Tasks   New Message  

    • In an SAP system with SAP GUI, from a transaction menu, with   Help   Create Support Message  

  2. Support staff can also create a support message in the WebClient UI, with   Create   Incident  

  3. The system gets the system data for the support message, automatically.

  4. The support message is displayed in Incident Management.

  5. The system automatically assigns the support message to the appropriate support level, for example, by SAP component, priority, or support message category.

  6. The system automatically determines the associated business partners, for example, customer, key user or support team.

  7. The system creates a service process in the SAP Solution Manager.

  8. If you have customized accordingly, the system checks whether the installation and requester already have contracts. Such a contract can, for example, contain a Service Level Agreement (SLA), in which the customer has been guaranteed certain levels of service, for example maximum response times.

    If there is a contract, the support employee responsible chooses the relevant contract item, for example, Support, Consulting or Development.

  9. A member of the support unit responsible enters him or herself as the support employee in the support message.

  10. The support employee searches for a solution to the problem described by the problem reporter, in new knowledge articles. If the customer has a solution database, the support employee searches it for a solution.

  11. The support employee searches the SAP Service Marketplace for SAP notes.

    If the support employee finds a suitable SAP note, he or she assigns it to the support message. You can import and test SAP notes with code corrections, directly into the development or test system, using the SAP Note Assistant. After testing, the changes are transported to the quality assurance and production systems. You can discard unwanted changes using the SAP Note Assistant.

  12. If the support employee does not find a solution on SAP Service Marketplace, he or she will create an internal memo, with the measures taken to find a solution, in the support message, and forward it to subsequent support units, if required.

  13. If the next support unit cannot solve the problem either, the support employee adds an Info for SAP to the support message, and forwards it, with any attachments, to SAP Support (SAP Support Portal).

  14. SAP Support processes the message and sends it back to the support employee, with a proposed solution or a further question, and an updated status.

    The problem reporter can monitor the status of the support message in Incident Management.

  15. The support employee tests and evaluates the proposed solution.

  16. The support employee confirms the SAP support solution, and calls the Positive Call Closure questionnaire.

  17. The support employee gives the support message the status Proposed Solution, for the problem reporter.

  18. The problem reporter tests and confirms the solutions, or responds to the solution if the problem is not yet completely solved.

  19. The support employee creates an article for the solution found, to make the solution available to other support staff.