Creating an Escalation

If an escalation includes automatic email notification, ensure that the email server is configured correctly. See Setting Up Email.

Creating an Escalation Schedule

Escalations for incidents, service requests, and tasks automatically run by default when you are not using SLAService Level Agreements.

From the Configuration Console, select Automation Tools > Escalation Schedules. The list of escalation schedules appears, sorted by business object. Although you can create an escalation for any object, escalations are usually created for incident, service request, task, or problem objects.

Escalation Schedules Workspace

Click Add New. The New Escalation Settings window appears.

New Escalation Settings

Enter information into the fields.

--fields--

Field	Description
Business Object	The name of the business object.
Schedule name	A unique name for the schedule.
Escalation clock is regulated by	The event that drives the escalation schedule.
Value	The clock action for each value of the selected field. The default is Run. The values in this table are derived from the selected field. If needed, you can set a clock action for individual values. See Creating an Escalation.
Keep a secondary (response) clock	Optional. Specifies a controlling field. The secondary clock resets when the value of the field that you specify here changes. When the secondary clock has run for a duration set in the escalation lifecycle, (that is, when the specified field has remained unchanged for that amount of time) a quick action executes. A secondary clock is typically used to monitor response times.
When this escalation schedule replaces a schedule already in place	Recalculate the escalation clock value from the business object's creation time: Continues using the original creation time of the record as the starting point for elapsed time calculations. With this option, if the new schedule reduces the target time from, for example, 10 days to five days, and if the current record was created six days ago, the schedule is considered breached as soon as it is implemented. Reset the escalation clock to zero: Restarts the escalation clock when the new schedule is implemented.
Link escalation watches directly to business object using the following link field	Optional. Employs a link field in an escalation watch.

Click Save to save the escalation schedule. The escalation is added to the list in the left panel and in the escalation schedules area.

Adding Escalation Levels

After you create an escalation, you can define its lifecycle by defining its escalation levels, which are the thresholds that must be reached to trigger a call for additional resources to meet a service level target or customer expectation.

The following procedure describes how to define escalations only if the Service Level Management module is not available. Do not use this procedure if the Service Level Management module is available at your site; rather, define and manage escalations through service level packages and service level agreements.

From the Escalation Schedules page, click the schedule to which you want to add a level.

Click Set Thresholds. The Escalation Parameters for: window appears.

Escalation Parameters Window

Enter information under the Service Target and Breach tab.

--fields--

Field	Description
Schedule is Enabled	Activates the escalation schedule after the item has been saved. Enable the fields.
Target Duration	Defines the total amount of time used to track this escalation. Enter values in the day (d), hour (h) and minute (m) fields. Do not use with the Target DateTime Field option.
Target DateTime Field	Defines the deadline for the target. Do not use with the Target Duration option.
Hours of Operation	The business operating hours to apply to this escalation.
On breach, run action	The quick action that executes if the escalation lifecycle exceeds the time limit defined above.

If you have configured a secondary clock, enter the following information in the Response and Periodic Update Target area:

Field	Description
If 'x' field value hasn't changed, while clock is running:	Schedules actions at intervals within the lifecycle.
for	Defines the interval used to track this action in the day (d), hour (h) and minute (m) fields.
then run action	The quick action that executes.

Enter information under the Escalation Level 1, 2 and 3 tabs as needed. If the Service Desk cannot successfully meet a service level target, the incident is elevated to a second or even third tier of support.

--fields--

Field	Description
Do Not escalate at this level	Ignores this escalation level.
Set as follows	Enables the escalation threshold and action parameters area.
Escalate at (%)	The percentage of the escalation lifecycle to elapse before raising the escalation to the next level. You can enter a value or use the slider bar to set the percentage.
i.e. at: out of target:	Reflects hours and minutes in relation to the breach target interval (in the out of target: field).
By running action	The quick action to execute when this interval is exceeded. Examples of quick actions include closing an incident, reassigning an incident, or sending an escalation or automated failure message.

Click OK to save the escalation schedule.