Overview of Categories Overview of Categories
Configuring
Categories 
Configuring
iSupport Category Functionality
Categories are custom values that you create for support representatives and customers to use when describing an incident, Problem record, or Change record (if enabled). You can:
Associate categories with knowledge entries for targeted knowledge searches from the Incident, Problem, and Change screens.
Associate a script to display when a category set is selected. (However, if a call script is enabled for a category set, it will not display on the mySupport portal.)
Associate approval cycles with categories; when an approval cycle is in effect most ticket functionality is disabled until the cycle is complete.
Restrict display of a category to members of support representative and customer groups. After you add one or more groups and save, the category will be available only to members of the selected groups. Note that group access permissions only restrict the ability to open a record for group members (unless a member is the current assignee); group access does not filter display of data in views, charts, and reports.
If enabled, associate custom fields that will appear when the category is selected. Note: If custom fields are associated with more than one level of a selected category set, the fields for all levels will display.
If enabled in Global Settings, associate an Others to Notify list of customers not directly involved in the incident, problem, or change process to be sent notifications and correspondence whenever the category is selected. (For example, you could configure notifications to be sent to a printer vendor whenever an incident is created with a Printer category.)
Associate support representative skill levels with categories. After a support representative classifies the incident, problem, or change and selects skill-based routing, a dialog will display listing the category levels selected for the incident; the support representative will select the level of categorization that exactly matches the categorization for which support representative skills should be searched.
Associate correspondence template to appear in the list for selection when the category is selected in the Incident, Problem, and Change screens.
Associate an incident rule group, problem rule group, and/or change rule group and/or incident rule group with a category, to be applied when the category is selected for an incident, problem, or change. (Note that if a template or hierarchy template selected for the incident or change has a rule group, it will override any other rule group that may be associated with the incident or change’s customer, category, or company. A setting in configuration determines what will take precedence if the customer and categorization both have a rule group.)
Display other work items with the same category.
Associate a signing agreement to display details above the signature line in the Sign dialog in the Incident and Change screens.
Categories can be organized in a hierarchical structure with up to five levels.
The iSupport Setup Utility installs an initial set of categories based on a selected type used as a starting point: Customer Service, Facilities, HR, or IT. Several lower level categories can be selected for each type.
When planning your category structure, decide on a basic set that applies to all incidents, problems, and changes (if enabled). (All configured categories will appear in those screens for selection.) It is useful to chart your category structure to ensure that it is logical and complete; it may be helpful to use a large white board when brainstorming the category hierarchy.
You can use up to five levels of categorization. Levels typically range from general to specific. For example:
Level one: Software
Level two: PC Applications
Level three: Accounting
Level four: QuickBooks
Level five: Printing
