SERVICE DESK INTERFACE

• US 20080228692A1
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Oechsner, Hannes, Wannemacher, Eric, Stiller, Joerg
• Granted Patent: US 8,280,914 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Notification of a system incident is received at a first help desk system. In response, an incident record is generated and maintained for the system incident. The incident record includes incident data and a record identification (ID). The incident data and record ID are transmitted from the first help desk system to a second help desk system where a corresponding record is maintained. One of the help desks is assigned an exclusive status to process the system incident. Regardless of which help system is assigned the exclusive status to process the system incident, the incident record is closed at the first help desk system, which automatically triggers closing of the corresponding record in the second help desk system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving notification of a system incident at a first help desk system, the incident indicating a problem with a system;

generating and maintaining an incident record for the system incident at the first help desk system, the incident record having incident data and a record identification (ID);

transmitting the incident data and the record ID from the first help desk system to a second help desk system where a corresponding record is maintained, the corresponding record including the incident data and the record ID;

assigning one of the help desk systems an exclusive status to process the system incident; and

closing the incident record at the first help desk system, irrespective of which help desk system is assigned the exclusive status to process the system incident, which automatically triggers closing of the corresponding record in the second help desk system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the incident data comprises one or more of a text statement, and attached file, and contact information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the incident data and the record ID from the first help desk system to the second help desk system comprises:

accessing a web services interface of the second help desk system;

requesting a globally unique ID (GUID) for the second help desk system;

receiving the GUID from the second help desk system; and

transmitting the incident data and the record ID to the second help desk system based, at least in part, on the GUID.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the web services protocol is Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

exchanging additional information between the first help desk system and the second help desk system during processing of the system incident, based, at least in part, on the record ID.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein exchanging additional information between the first help desk system and the second help desk system comprises exchanging only information captured in a respective help desk system since that help desk system last received information from the other help desk system.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the additional information comprises at least one of a text statement and an attached file.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the system incident is received from an application via a remote function call (RFC).

9. An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium having content stored thereon to provide instructions to result in an electronic device performing operations including:

receiving notification of a system incident at a first help desk system, the incident indicating a problem with a system;

generating and maintaining an incident record for the system incident at the first help desk system, the incident record having incident data and a record identification (ID);

transmitting the incident data and the record ID from the first help desk system to a second help desk system where a corresponding record is maintained, the corresponding record including the incident data and the record ID;

assigning one of the help desk systems an exclusive status to process the system incident; and

closing the incident record at the first help desk system, irrespective of which help desk system is assigned the exclusive status to process the system incident, which automatically triggers closing of the corresponding record in the second help desk system.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the incident data comprises one or more of a text statement, and attached file, and contact information.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the instructions that cause the electronic device to transmit the incident data and the record ID from the first help desk system to the second help desk system comprise further instructions including:

accessing a web services interface of the second help desk system;

requesting a globally unique ID (GUID) for the second help desk system;

receiving the GUID from the second help desk system; and

transmitting the incident data and the record ID to the second help desk system based, at least in part, on the GUID.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the web services protocol is Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

13. The article of manufacture of claim 9, comprising content to provide instructions to result in the electronic device performing further operations including:

exchanging additional information between the first help desk system and the second help desk system during processing of the system incident, based, at least in part, on the record ID.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein exchanging additional information between the first help desk system and the second help desk system comprises exchanging only information captured in a respective help desk system since that help desk system last received information from the other help desk system.

15. The article of manufacture method of claim 13, wherein the additional information comprises at least one of a text statement and an attached file.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the system incident is received from an application via a remote function call (RFC).

17. A system, comprising:

an interface to receive notification of a system incident, indicating a problem with a service;

a first help desk coupled with the interface to generate and maintain an incident record for the received notification, the incident record having incident data and a record identification (ID);

the interface to transmit the incident data and the record ID from the first help desk to a second help desk where a corresponding record is maintained, the corresponding record including the incident data and the record ID;

the first help desk to assign one of the help desk systems an exclusive status to process the system incident; and

the first help desk to close the incident record, irrespective of which help desk is assigned the exclusive status to process the system incident, which automatically triggers closing of the corresponding record in the second help desk.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the incident data comprises one or more of a text statement, and attached file, and contact information.

19. The system of claim 17, the interface further to access a web services interface of the second help desk system;

request a globally unique ID (GUID) for the second help desk system;

receive the GUID from the second help desk system; and

transmit the incident data and the record ID to the second help desk system based, at least in part, on the GUID.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

the interface to exchange additional information between the first help desk and the second help desk during processing of the system incident, based, at least in part, on the record ID, the additional information comprising only information captured in a respective help desk since that help desk last received information from the other help desk.