You must have the support role on your ServiceNow account defined to the assignment group that you want to work on.
When discussing about an issue, we always mention the ServiceNow ticket number, such as INC03642859, since it is the easiest way to navigate into a ticket.
In order to navigate into the ticket details quickly, please paste the ticket number into the search bar at the right top corner and hit Enter.
The ticket details will open. On the right hand side, write your surname, first name and click Save button after defining it to claim the ticket.
If you are the first person that is assigned to the ticket, the incident state will transition from New to Active.
Active is the state that is used when the ticket is in progress and actively being worked on.
To comment on a ticket, Notes section is used.
Additional comments section is used to make a regular comment to the requester, while Support community note field is used for internal communication. Such comments are posted in amber color, and regular users cannot view such comments. Please keep in mind that if the requester has the support role assigned, they can still view all support community notes.
It is possible to make a comment with Additional comments and Support community note sections at the same time.
It is important to note that, if you want a specific user to be notified about your comment, either:
- The intended user must be defined as the requester
- OR the intended user must be defined as the watcher
Please remember to click Save button after each operation.
It is so vital to keep the incident state as Active only when you are working on the ticket, since the ticket duration performance is calculated and it would minimize the risk of an SLA breach.
To update the incident state, simply select the relevant value from the dropdown list and click Save button.
The most common used incident states and how they work:
New – Each new ticket is created in New incident state. Once a support user assigns the ticket, it will automatically transfer as Active, and it is not possible to update back to this state. Each new ticket must be responded in the response time shown as below, otherwise the Response SLA will be breached.
If you notice a ServiceNow ticket is assigned to a team member but it is still showing New incident state, please unassign and assign it again until the incident state becomes Active, otherwise it will breach the Response SLA.
Active – This state corresponds to in progress status in Jira. As long as the ticket is in this state, it will count for the Resolution SLA and the assigned to duration of the user will be increased. ServiceNow can measure the assigned to duration for multiple users who might be working on the same ticket in different times.
On Hold – This state is used when a ticket is not yet resolved, but it is not actively being worked on. You can keep multiple tickets assigned to you in the Active state, and you do not need to update each active ticket as On Hold.
On Hold incident state should be used only when;
The ticket is scheduled to be worked on a specific date.
The request is still relevant but it is awaiting the assignee – for example, there’s a request that only one specific colleague can work on, but that person is on holiday.
This incident state freezes the Resolution SLA of that ticket until it is updated back to Active state.
Pending External – This state is utilized when awaiting response from an external team or vendor to work on the ticket. If you need to refer to an external Jira ticket, and you will not work on this ticket anymore, or you have already communicated the requester and the actual assignee who is working on the request, please do not keep it as Pending External, but either forward to the correct team or resolve by referring to the Jira ticket.
Pending Testing – This incident state might be used when you are awaiting feedback for the test results of an internal team, however it is not advised to use this incident state, if you are awaiting feedback for testing from the requester. Please use Pending User Info instead, as described below.
Pending User Info – This is the most commonly used and most important incident state that should be utilized correctly. It is used when you need to ask a question to the requester, ask them to confirm something or just make a comment to answer the question asked and wait for a response/confirmation if the response given is sufficient.
How to Respond the Requester with Pending User Info
When you need to respond, give feedback, provide some report or ask for some details/confirmation,always use the Pending User Info incident state. When you respond using this incident state, the requester will receive a notification email, once per day for 10 days.
If the requester replies back in 10 days, you will receive a notification email and the incident state will automatically change as Active. It is so important to notice that, the ticket will update as Active, only if the requester replies back with a comment. Only uploading a file does not count as a response, and the comments of any other user would not update the incident state as Active, posing a risk of being resolved automatically while actually there is a comment. For this reason, the assignee must track the activity section and turn on email notifications in case of such an occasion might happen.
If the requester never replies back, the ticket will be resolved automatically and both the requester and the assignee will receive a notification email that the ticket is resolved automatically due to no response.
To respond a ticket, simply enter your comment in Additional comments field, update the incident state as Pending User Info, and click Save button.
Please notice that only Additional comments field is allowed, as the comment must be public to the requester.