Using Groups, Queues, and Lists in Service Manager

In Service Manager, you can use groups to manage configuration items, queues to manage work items, and lists to customize forms to classify different objects, such as incidents, change requests, activities, or configuration items. Use the overview and the procedures in the following article to help manage these items.

The Library pane in Service Manager contains items, such as groups, queues, and lists. You can use groups to manage configuration items, and you can use queues to manage work items. You can use lists to customize forms.

Use groups to manage configuration items

In Service Manager, groups contain objects. Typically, these objects are configuration items. Groups can include collections of objects of the same class or of different classes. For example, say you decide to create the Exchange Servers group. You've several methods to do this. You can create a static group, a dynamic group, or a combination of static and dynamic groups. A static group is defined by specific objects, such as "Exchange1" and "Exchange2". A dynamic group is defined by inclusion rules. Inclusion rules are based on comparing a formula to the actual property value of a configuration item. The following table shows samples of inclusion rules.

For example, say that you want to restrict access to Exchange servers to only specific users. To do this, you create a new group that is named Exchange Servers and add all Exchange servers in this environment to the group. Later, you can configure user roles to limit access to the Exchange Servers group to only the specific users to whom you want to grant access. You can use the Exchange Servers group as criteria when you configure notification subscriptions. You can also use the Exchange Servers group as criteria for a report parameter.

Use queues to manage work items

In Service Manager, queues are used to group similar work items that meet specified criteria, for example, all incidents that are classified by analysts as E-mail incidents. All work items in a queue must be of the same type, such as incidents, change requests, activities, or trouble tickets. Queues use membership rules to determine which work items should be included in each queue. Queue membership rules are dynamic, and they're periodically recalculated to ensure that the queue membership list is current.

You can create a queue to group work items with a specific type or with a specific priority. You can then configure user roles to limit access to that queue to only specific users.

For incident escalation, you can use queues in various ways to speed the resolution of higher priority or common incidents. For example, you can configure Incident Management to automatically escalate specific incidents to a high-priority queue

For example, you can use queues as follows:

• In notifications, you can use a queue as criteria in a subscription to specify which work items to notify about.

• In security, you can use a queue in user role configuration to limit the scope of control that groups of users have over work items.

Use lists to customize forms

You can use lists in Service Manager to classify different objects, such as incidents, change requests, activities, or configuration items. A list represents a property of an object, and it includes one or more list items. Each list item represents a possible value for a property.

Lists are used in forms and dialogs throughout the Service Manager console. Lists and list items make it possible for users to select a value from a predefined list of values. When you use lists, you can customize the console to reflect the business practices of your organization. Additionally, Service Manager contains several predefined lists, such as the Incident Classification list.

For example, when you're creating an incident, you notice that Printer Problems is an option under Classification Category. At your company, some standard laser printers in your accounting department might be used as specialized check-writing printers. To better route incidents, you want printer-related incidents to be categorized as being either for standard laser printers or for check-writing printers. Because lists are customizable, you can add a list item, such as Laser Printers and Check-Writing Printers, to the Classification Category list when you create an incident. Optionally, you can build lists as a hierarchy; for example, laser printers and check-writing printers could be listed under printers. To do this, you can add Laser Printer and Check-Writing Printer list items to the Incident Classification list.

List items

In Service Manager, several default list items exist. It's important that you not delete the default list items. Each default list item is defined by a globally unique identifier (GUID). Some of the default management packs reference these list items by their GUID. If you delete a list item, some management packs or workflows might not work.

If the name of a default list item causes an issue in your environment, you can change the display name of the existing item but leave the GUID intact. For example, you can change the name of the Printing Problems default list item to Laser Printing Problems if that is better in your environment.

Create a Group

Use the following procedures to create a new group (such as the Exchange Servers group) that includes the servers in your environment that are running Microsoft Exchange Server.

To create a new group

1. In the Service Manager console, select Library.

2. In the Library pane, expand Library, and select Groups.

3. In the Tasks pane, under Groups, select Create Group. The Create Group Wizard starts.

4. On the Before You Begin page, select Next.

5. On the General page, do the following:

   1. Provide a name for the group, such as Exchange Servers.

   2. In the Description text box, enter a description for the group. For example, enter All Exchange servers that require an update.

   3. Under Management pack, ensure that an unsealed management pack is selected. For example, select Service Catalog Generic Incident Request. Then, select Next.

6. On the Included Members page, select Add.

7. In the Select Objects dialog, in the Filter by class list, select a class, such as Windows Computer.

8. In the Search by name box, enter the search criteria that you want to use to locate an object, and select the filter (magnifying glass) button.

9. Select one or more items in the Available Objects list, and select Add. For example, select all the Exchange servers in your organization.

10. Verify that the objects that you selected in the Available Objects list appear in the Selected objects list, and select OK.

11. On the Included Members page, select Next.

12. Optionally, on the Dynamic members page, select the ellipsis button (...) to specify a type, such as Windows Computer, to build the dynamic members. Choose any property you want to build your criteria. For example, after you specify the Windows Computer type, select the Principal Name property, and select Add. In the related text box, enter woodgrove so that all the computers whose principal name contains this text are included, and select Next.

13. Optionally, on the Subgroups page, select Add, and then select the specific groups that you want as subgroups of this group. If any group that you want to select as a subgroup is from an unsealed management pack, that subgroup must be from the same management pack as the group that you're creating. Select OK, and select Next.

14. Optionally, on the Excluded Members page, select Add, and then select the specific configuration items that you want to exclude from this group. Select OK, and select Next.

15. On the Summary page, confirm the group settings that you made, and select Create.

16. On the Completion page, ensure that you receive the following confirmation message, and select Close:

    The new group was created successfully.

To validate the creating of a new group

• Ensure that Exchange Servers appears in the Groups pane. If necessary, press the F5 key to refresh the Service Manager console view.

  In the Tasks pane, under the name of the group, select View Group Members to ensure that the Exchange servers appear in the Group Members window.

You can use a Windows PowerShell command to retrieve groups from Operations Manager and from Service Manager. For more information, see Get-SCSMGroup.

How to Create a Queue

You can create queues to create a grouping of related work items, such as incidents and change requests. For example, you can create a queue that you use for escalation, named Exchange Send Problems Queue, and then escalate that type of incident to that queue.

You can use the following procedure to create a queue.

To create a queue

1. In the Service Manager console, select Library.

2. In the Library pane, expand Library, and select Queues.

3. In the Tasks pane, select Create Queue.

4. Complete these steps to complete the Create Queue Wizard:

   1. On the Before You Begin page, select Next.

   2. On the General page, enter a name in the Queue name box. For example, enter Exchange Send Problems Queue.

   3. Next to the Work item type box, select the ellipsis button (...). In the Select a Class dialog, select a class, such as Incident, and select OK.

   4. In the Management pack list, select the unsealed management pack in which you want to store the new queue definition. For example, select Service Manager Incident Management Configuration Library. Then, select Next.

   5. On the Criteria page, build the criteria that you want to use to filter work items for the queue, and select Next. Only work items that meet the specified criteria will be added to that queue.

      For example, select the Classification Category property in the Available Properties area, and select Add. In the list that was just added to the Criteria area, in the area that is now surrounded by a red box, select E-Mail Problems, and select Next.

   6. On the Summary page, select Create to create the queue.

   7. On the Completion page, select Close.

To validate the creation of a queue

1. In the Service Manager console, verify that the new queue appears in the Queues pane.

2. In the Tasks pane, select Properties, and then verify that the queue appears as you defined it.

![Screenshot of the PowerShell symbol].(./media/group-queue-lists/pssymbol.png)You can use a Windows PowerShell command to complete this task. For information about how to use Windows PowerShell to retrieve queues that are defined in Service Manager, see Get-SCSMQueue.

Edit a Queue

You can use the following procedure to edit a queue.

To edit a queue

1. In the Service Manager console, select Library.

2. In the Library pane, expand Library, and select Queues.

3. In the Queues pane, select the queue that you want to edit, such as Exchange Send Problems Queue. Then, in the Tasks pane, select Properties.

4. In the Queue Properties dialog box, on the General and Criteria tabs, make the changes you want. For example, change the description of the queue.

5. Select OK to save the changes.

Add a List Item

You can use these procedures to add a list item to an existing list and then validate it. For example, you can use this procedure to add a Laser Printer and Check-Writing Printer list item to the Incident Classification list.

To add list items to Service Manager lists

1. In the Service Manager console, select Library.

2. In the Library pane, select Lists. The Lists pane displays all the existing lists.

3. Select the list to which you want to add a list item. For example, select the Incident Classification list. In the Tasks pane, under Incident Classification, select Properties.

4. In the List Properties dialog, select Printing Problems, and select Add Child. Notice that a new List Value list item is added.

   Note

   When you select Add Item or Add Child, a Select management pack dialog might appear. If this dialog appears, select the default management pack, select another unsealed management pack, or create a new management pack.

5. Select the new List Value list item. In the Name box, enter a name for the new list item. For example, enter Laser Printer. If you want, you can optionally enter a description in the Description box.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 and create a new list item with the name Check-Writing Printer, and select OK.

To validate the addition of a new list item

1. Select the same list again, select Properties in the Tasks pane, and then verify that the new list item appears.

2. In the Service Manager console, create a new incident, and then locate the new list item in the Classification Category list. For example, expand Printer Problems, and then locate the Laser Printer and Check-Writing Printer list items.

Next steps

• Use runbooks to automate procedures.