Incident/Change/Purchasing Agents

Agents perform tasks in the background that are an integral part of iSupport functionality. Use the Incident/Change/Purchasing Tab in the Options and Tools | Administer | Agents screen to schedule the Ticket Scheduling, Change Scheduling, Email Processing, Followup, and Service Contract agents. You can also schedule the Followup and Ticket Scheduling agents via the Incident Management | Basics screen. You can click the Run Now button to execute an agent immediately.

To verify that an agent has run, select Administer | Event Log on the Configuration menu. Agent intervals start at the time the iSupport Agent Manager service last ran; therefore, if you wish for an interval-based agent to run at a certain time, stop and start the iSupport Agent Manager service at that time. For example, if you set an interval for an agent to 24 hours and wish to have the agent run at 2 a.m., stop and start the iSupport Agent Manager service at 2 a.m.

The iSupport Agent Manager Status field in the upper right corner of the screen indicates the status of the iSupport Agent Manager service, which performs scheduled execution of iSupport agents. This service is required for the normal operation of iSupport. If the indicator is red, go to Administrative Tools | Services on the server that is hosting iSupport and start the service.

Ticket Scheduling Agent Interval

Select the number of minutes in the interval for the Ticket Scheduling agent to check all scheduled tickets for start dates/times and, if the specified date/time is reached, changes the status from Scheduled to an open status. Ticket generation times are also checked and tickets are created if the specified time is reached.

Change Scheduling Agent Interval

Select the number of minutes in the interval for the Change Scheduling agent to check all scheduled changes for start dates/times and, if the specified date/time is reached, changes the status from Scheduled to an open status. Change generation times are also checked and change requests are created if the specified time is reached.

Email Processing Agent Interval

Select:

  • The number of minutes in the interval for the Email Processing agent to search the email mailbox (specified in the Administration | Email configuration screen) for new messages.

  • Disabled if you do not wish to use the email-submitted incident feature.

  • The Email Processing agent:

  • Creates an incident or updates an existing incident, problem, purchase request, or change for each message.

  • Processes defined rules.

  • Creates a customer profile for each new customer.

See Setting Up Email Processing for more information on configuration details.

Followup Agent

 

Time the Followup Agent Should Run Each Day

Select Yes to enable the Incident Followup Reminder agent that checks all incident followup dates. The agent sends email reminders to the incident assignees for all incidents with expired followup dates. After selecting Yes, enter the time at which the agent should run in the Time the Followup Agent Should Run Each Day field.

Approval Reminder Agent

Select Yes to enable the Approval Reminder agent that sends notifications to the approvers specified in the Approval Cycle screen, based on a specified number of hours after the approval request is sent. After selecting Yes, select the number of minutes in the interval for agent to run or select Daily to run the agent every day at a specified start time.

Service Contract Agent Interval

Select the number of minutes in the interval for the Service Contract agent to check all service contracts for counts and/or end dates/times; if the specified total count and/or end date/time is reached, changes the status to an Expired status. You can Daily to run the agent every day at a specified start time.