Service desk interface

• US 8,280,914 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2007
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Wannemacher, Eric, Stiller, Joerg, Oechsuer, Hannes
• Primary Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US11/952,816
• Publication Number:
  US 20080228692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 707/688, 707/706, 707/771, 707/791, 707/793, 707/796, 707/822, 707/830
• US Class Current: 707/796
• 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 a first incident record for the system incident at the first help desk system, the first incident record having incident data and a unique record identification (ID);

transmitting the first incident record from the first help desk system to a second help desk system to outsource the system incident to the second help desk system that is a remote third-party help desk system coupled to the first desk help system over a network, wherein outsourcing includes having the second help desk system serve as a service desk system to process the system incident to find a solution to the problem associated with the system incident, wherein the second help desk system generates and maintains a second incident record corresponding to the first incident record and including duplicate copies of the incident data and the unique record ID, wherein the first and second incident records are linked via the unique record ID;

processing, at the second help desk system, the system incident to find the solution to the problem, and, once the solution is found, reporting the solution to the first help desk system;

closing the first incident record at the first help desk system upon receiving the solution at the first desk system; and

closing the second incident record at the second help desk system, responsive to the closing of the first incident record at the first 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 first incident record 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 first incident record 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 unique 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 the first help desk system with the second help desk system since the first help desk system last received information from the second 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 a first incident record for the system incident at the first help desk system, the first incident record having incident data and a unique record identification (ID);

transmitting the first incident unique record from the first help desk system to a second help desk system to outsource the system incident to the second help desk system that is a remote third-party help desk system coupled to the first desk help system over a network, wherein outsourcing includes having the second help desk system serve as a service desk system to process the system incident to find a solution to the problem associated with the system incident, wherein the second help desk system generates and maintains a second incident record corresponding to the first incident record and including duplicate copies of the incident data and the unique record ID, wherein the first and second incident records are linked via the unique record ID;

processing, at the second help desk system, the system incident to find the solution to the problem, and, upon finding the solution at the second help desk system, reporting the solution to the first help desk system;

closing the first incident record at the first help desk system upon receiving the solution at the first desk system; and

closing the second incident record at the second help desk system, responsive to the closing of the first incident record at the first 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 first incident record 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 first incident record 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 unique 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 the first help desk system with the second help desk system since the first help desk system last received information from the second 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:

a first help desk system to receive notification of a system incident, the incident indicating a problem with a system;

the first help desk system to generate and maintain a first incident record for the system incident, the first incident record having incident data and a unique record identification (ID);

the first help desk system is further to transmit the first incident record from the first help desk system to a second help desk system to outsource the system incident to the second help desk system that is a remote third-party help desk system coupled to the first desk help system over a network, wherein outsourcing includes having the second help desk system serve as a service desk system to process the system incident to find a solution to the problem associated with the system incident, wherein the second help desk system generates and maintains a second incident record corresponding to the first incident record and including duplicate copies of the incident data and the unique record ID, wherein the first and second incident records are linked via the unique record ID;

the second help desk system to process the system incident to find the solution to the problem, and, upon finding the solution at the second desk system, report the solution to the first help desk system; and

the first help desk system to close the first incident record upon receiving the solution from the second help desk system, wherein closing the first incident record automatically triggers closing of the second incident record at the second help desk system.

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 first help desk system is 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 first incident record to the second help desk system based, at least in part, on the GUID.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

an interface at the first help desk to exchange 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 unique record ID, the additional information comprising only information captured in the first help desk system with the second help desk system since the first help desk system last received information from the second help desk system.