HaloITSM

HaloITSM Guides

Documentation to assist with the setup and configuration of the HaloITSM platform

Guides > Step-by-Step Configuration Walk Through

Step-by-Step Configuration Walk Through

A guide on setting up your instance of Halo for the first time.

Introduction


This guide will help you configure your instance of Halo and get your team up and running in no time!


You will need to be an administrator in your Halo instance to follow this guide.


Clear Existing Data and Configuration (optional)


Halo comes with existing pre-configurations and data to fill out the system. The pre-configurations allow for an out-of-the-box experience which requires minimal effort to get set up and working for your organisation. There are also several closed incident and request examples so reports can be viewed with data.


You may want to the remove the pre-configurations, so you can build the system from scratch, and/or remove the existing data from the database. There are options for both by going to Configuration > Advanced Settings within the program.




If these options are not present, please contact your representative or support for assistance.


Agents


Agents are the ticket resolvers in Halo, and they can either be manually added or imported using an Excel spreadsheet or by using one of our integrations.


The best way to import, manage and maintain agents is by syncing with your local active directory or Azure Active Directory. You can create a security group to determine who is synced as an agent and use this as a filter on the import.


We have guides for Azure configuration and Excel imports.


Sites


If your organisation has multiple site/office locations, then its best to add them into the program. If you are planning to import users through active directory then sites can be created as part of this process, otherwise you will need to create the sites manually or use the Excel importer.


Guide for Excel imports.


Users


Users are the ticket loggers. They will need to be imported to allow tickets to be assigned to users. Users can be imported using the excel import spreadsheets, via active directory or manually added.

Guides for Azure configuration and Excel imports.


Ticket Areas


There are 5 main ticket areas to configure: Incidents, Requests, Problems, Change Requests and Projects, these are used as different areas to manage the different ITIL ticket types.

You can add more ticket areas, remove some or combine them. This can be done by going to Config >Tickets > Areas. Checkout this guide on Ticket Areas


Ticket Types


Halo comes with pre-configured ticket types and workflows for:


  • Incident Management
  • Service Management
  • Problem Management
  • Change Control

The processes in place by default have been standardised to fit small, medium and large sized IT departments. But there are some areas you will need to adjust and others you might want to review before going live to make sure they fit your business case, we will go through these areas now.


Guide: Altering Ticket Types


1. Incident Management


Incident management is very standard across the board for IT departments, and the default setup with work well for all. The only changes you might want to make to this area is the actions available on the ticket type, these can be adjusted by editing with incident management workflow.


2. Service Management



Service requests can be managed in a couple of ways: by using a service catalogue, which is presented to the end user via the portal; or by using a generic service request form to capture information, this can also be published to the portal. Halo has both options out of the both, you just need to decide which works best for you.


The benefit with using a service catalogue is you can create custom forms for each service allow you to capture all relevant information in one go by using mandatory fields. This eliminates multiple emails to the user trying to obtain critical information for the request, and not to mention the time it takes to do this.


To configure the service catalogue, head to Services from the home screen. There you will see several generic services already setup with custom forms behind each. You can use the existing services as a reference if you need to add or edit any services. Essentially, each service has a form or template behind it, so when requesting the service, you are taken to that form. It will be explained how to edit the forms later in this guide.


3. Change Control


Change control is key to any IT department as it manages the risk and impact of changes on IT services. Halo provide a default change procedure which seeks approval before a change depending on the change type. Below are the different stages of the workflow.


After the change has been raised, with all relevant fields being completed, it can be reviewed before seeking approval. Once happy with the change information you can use the ‘Change Authorisation’ action to start the approval process. The approval process can vary depending on the change type value. By default, standard changes will be automatically approved, whereas normal, major, and emergency changes will go to the Change CAB. If the change is accepted it will move to the implementation stage, if rejected it will move back to stage 1 so you can amend the change and re-submit for approval or close the change.


You can edit the members of the Change CAB by going to Config > Tickets > Approval Processes > Change Advise Boards.


You can edit who receives approval emails for each change type by going to Config > Tickets > Approval Processes > Process Rules.


Once the change has been approved, you can then implement, test, review and close the change, using the action buttons available at each stage to progress through the workflow.


Adding/Editing New Ticket Screen Fields


Halo has standardised tickets types and forms which will work for most users, but there may be some information that needs to be captured on the new tickets screen in a field which currently is not visible.


To create a new form and add fields, see here for our guide.


To create custom fields, see here for our guide.


Configuration Management Database (CMDB)

The CMDB is used to store and maintain information about IT devices and software on your networks owned by the organisation. Data can be imported into the CMDB using our Excel import spreadsheets, the SQL importer, a dedicated integration or added manually.


For a full list of integrations, see here.


Guide for Excel imports.


Service Level Agreements (SLA’s)

SLA’s can be setup to track response and resolution time for any ticket type, but they are predominantly used with incidents and service requests. Two different SLA’s have been setup for the two different ticket types, with incidents having a shorter timeframe than service requests.


You can enable/ disable the tracking of response and resolution times in Config > Service Level Agreements > General Settings.


You can edit the SLA timings by going to Config > Service Level Agreements > Service Level Agreements.


Guide: SLAs and Priorities


Mailbox


You will need to connect a mailbox to Halo so that emails can be sent from the system and emails in the inbox are converted into tickets or added to an existing ticket as an update. Multiple mailboxes can be added.


To add a mailbox, go to Config > Emails > Mailbox Setup. Be sure to complete both the incoming and outgoing tabs.


You will also need to add a default outgoing email which is used for 2FA emails, scheduled reports, and other system emails. This can be setup in Config > Emails > Outgoing Email Defaults.


Email Templates


Halo has several email templates which are used for different scenarios when emails are sent from the system. All email templates have sensible wording and can be used out of the box, but you may want to personalise them to fit your branding.


Variables can also be added to the email templates to pull information from the ticket. You can see a compete list of all variables available for use in email templates but adding /variables to your web app URL. There will also be a link to the variable list when editing any email template.


If you add multiple mailboxes you may want different email templates for the different mailboxes. You can do this by creating messages groups in Config > Email > Message Groups. In the mailbox setup, you can specify which message group the mailbox should use.


To edit email templates, go to Config > Email > Email Templates.


Email ID Tag


You can customise the email tags which are sent out on all emails from the system. You might want to change this to align with your previous tag or branding. All mailboxes will share the same tag format.


This can be changed in Config > Email.


Notifications

Notifications can be setup to send for several different triggers in the program. There are also multiple ways you can receive the notifications such as, notifications pane in the program, email, SMS, windows popup, or communication channels such as Slack and Pager Duty. All notifications will appear in the notifications pane as well as the desired delivery method.


Notifications can be setup in Config > Notifications.

Guide: Notifications


Check our integrations page for a full list of communication channels we integrate with.


Self-Service Portal


The self-service portal can be customised to use your company’s logo and colour scheme, so your end users are more familiar with the interface. The logo displayed is the same one set against your organisation (Config > Organisation). The colour scheme can be changed in Config>Self Service Portal.


You can also restrict the features which are available on the portal. These include the ability to log a new ticket, view the user’s tickets, accessing the service catalogue, the knowledge base, and documents. This can also be configured in Config > Self Service Portal.


Further restrictions to these features can be set on a per user basis by editing the user’s settings.

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