Viewing incident record information using the Contextual side panel

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 5 minutes to read
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    Summary of Viewing incident record information using the Contextual side panel

    The Contextual side panel in Service Operations Workspace allows you to efficiently view detailed incident record information, including caller details, assets, SLAs, and collaboration status. This consolidated view helps streamline incident management by providing quick access to relevant data directly from the incident record.

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    Key Features

    • Record Information Icon: Access the incident details by selecting the Record information icon on the Contextual side panel.
    • Active Calls Card: Shows up to five ongoing conference calls for major incidents, enabling quick joining of calls. Available only if the Major Incident Management plugin is active.
    • SLAs and Timings Card: Displays major incident duration, response SLA, resolution SLA, and all associated SLAs, helping you track time-sensitive incident response requirements.
    • Caller Card: Provides caller information such as name, location, department, and VIP status. You can preview or open the caller record, view assigned assets with device health (if DEX plugin is enabled), recent interactions, and recent incidents related to the caller.
    • Origin Card: Shows details about the origin record (e.g., change request, interaction, or problem) from which the incident was created. For interaction-originated incidents, you can view chat transcripts and work notes. Incident resolution can automatically update the state of the origin interaction if configured.
    • Assigned to Card: Displays the current assignment status and allows you to assign the incident to yourself. It also shows collaborators from historical assignments, comments, and collaboration channels, with up to five collaborators visible at once.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Improves incident resolution speed by providing direct access to key incident and caller information without navigating away from the workspace.
    • Supports collaboration through visibility of active calls and collaborators, enhancing communication during major incidents.
    • Enables proactive SLA management with clear visibility into response and resolution deadlines.
    • Facilitates better service by providing insights into caller’s assets and recent interactions, supporting more informed troubleshooting.
    • Automates closure of related interaction records when incidents are resolved, simplifying record management.

    View the incident record information, such as caller details and assets, from the Contextual side panel. Use this information to help manage an incident more efficiently.

    Select the Record information (Record information) icon on the Contextual side panel to view the incident information. The record information side panel includes this following information.

    Active calls

    The Active calls card displays active conference calls that are currently in progress for major incidents. This card is displayed only for major incident records and if the Major Incident Management for Service Operations Workspace (sn_sow_mim) plugin is installed and active. For more information, see Setting up Major Incident Management in Service Operations Workspace.

    A maximum of five collaboration records are displayed on this card. You can select the call record links displayed on this card to join the calls. You can use the Collaborate side panel tab to view and manage additional call record information.

    Note:

    For Twilio calls, plain text is displayed instead of a link. In such case, you can join the call using the Collaborate side panel tab.

    The collaboration information is retrieved from the Collaboration services integration with Service Operations Workspace.

    SLAs and timings

    The SLAs and timings card includes the following information:
    • Major incident duration – Time duration since the incident has been promoted, created, or accepted as a major incident. This field is visible only if Major Incident Management for Service Operations Workspace is installed and active.
    • Response SLA – The Task service level agreement (SLA) stage according to the configured Incident Response SLA timer configuration. Displays the time left to respond to an incident before the task SLA is breached.
    • Resolution SLA – The Task SLA stage according to the configured Incident Resolution SLA timer configuration. Displays the time left to resolve an incident before the task SLA is breached.
    • View all SLAs – All SLAs associated with the incident record.
      Note:
      This option is visible only if there is at least one SLA associated with the current incident task.

    Caller

    The Caller card displays quick information about the caller, such as name, local time, department, and location. You can also select the Preview caller (Preview caller icon) icon to preview the caller record. Select Open record to open the caller record on a separate tab. You can also select Contact to view all details about the caller.

    You can view the VIP field decorator if the caller is a VIP user. The VIP field decorator also appears for the Caller field in the Details tab.

    You can select the following links to get additional record information specific to the caller, if necessary:
    • Assigned assets – List of the caller's assets (CIs).

      You can now view the device health of the user's assets to provide a resolution to the user. Select Assigned assets > View device health. This option is available only if the DEX plugin[sn_dex] is installed and DEX monitoring is enabled for the asset. For more information on Digital End-User Experience, refer Digital End-User Experience.

    • Recent interaction – List of recent interactions with the caller that have been created in the last seven days.  You can view up to ten interaction records on the card. Select View all to view the list of all interactions on a separate tab.
      Note:
      For interaction records, the Assigned to user is considered as the caller.
    • Recent incidents - List of recent incidents associated with the caller that have been created in the last seven days. You can view up to ten incident records on the card. Select View all to view the list of all incidents on a separate tab.

    Origin

    The origin card displays the information related to the origin record. An origin record is the record from which the incident record is created such as change request, interaction or problem.

    Figure 1. Origin card
    Origin card
    The card displays the following information about the origin record:
    • State - State of the origin record.
    • Number - Number of the origin record.
    • Opened by - User who created or opened the origin record
    • Type - Channel type of origin record. For example, if the origin is an interaction record, the type can be Chat
    • Short description - Short description of the origin record.
    • The following options are available if the incident is created from an interaction record:
      • View chat transcript - Select View chat transcript to view the chat history with the caller of the interaction record. You can perform additional activities such as maximize or minimize the chat window. This option is available only if the interaction record is of Chat type and in Closed complete or Closed Abandoned state.
      • View work notes - Select View work notes to view the work notes activity history of the interaction record.
    When an incident is created from an interaction record, the following features are applicable:
    • When an incident record created from an interaction record is resolved, the interaction record is automatically set to Wrap up or Closed complete state. An admin role user must set the Auto close the origin interaction (sn_sow_inc.autoclose_origin.interaction) system property to true to enable this feature. The Close interaction from incident business rule checks the following conditions and updates the interaction record to Wrap up or Closed complete state:
      • When the Auto close the origin interaction (sn_sow_inc.autoclose_origin.interaction) system property is set to true and the Fallback Timeout for interactions in Wrap Up scheduled script is active, the interaction record is moved to Wrap up state.
      • When the Auto close the origin interaction (sn_sow_inc.autoclose_origin.interaction) system property is set to true and the Fallback Timeout for interactions in Wrap Up scheduled script is inactive, interaction record is moved to Closed complete state.
    • You can add multiple related interaction records to an incident using the Add option on the Interaction related list in the Related records tab of an Incident record page.

    Assigned to

    The Assigned to card displays the assignment status of the incident record. Select Assign to to assign the incident record to you. You can select the View additional collaborators link to view the list of collaborators associated with the incident record in a modal experience. The list of collaborators is retrieved from the following data sources:
    • Historical Assigned to users for the incident or incident tasks except the current Assigned to user.
    • Users who have added comments and work notes to the major incident record. This data source is applicable only for major incidents.
    • Collaborators from the collaboration channels that are initiated from the Collaborate side panel. This information is retrieved using the collaboration APIs.
    You can view a list of five collaborators on a page at a time.