HP Altris eXpress Helpdesk Solution 5.6 SP1 name, phone number, To Find a Contact, Auto-Associatingan Item’s Asset Using the Contact

Chapter 6: User Interface Additional Work Item Information

Find Contact - New Work Item

The Find feature on the New work item page, allows users to enter a partial name or phone number (this is configured by Professional Services) into the Find text box, and then click Find. The text pattern can be any valid expression supported by Transact SQL LIKE, such as %, _, [], [^]. For example, to search for all contacts named John, you could specify the pattern “John%”. The search pattern will only be used to find active contacts.

As an added convenience, the Find option will prefix and suffix the pattern entered in the text box, with “%” if a % symbol is not detected in the pattern. This will result in a slower search performance as a table scan is performed. If a search pattern is not specified when Find is clicked, the user will be presented with a validation message.

If one or more contacts match the specified pattern, then the contact drop-down list will be populated. Additionally, a results count option will be added and automatically selected to indicate the number of matches.

The data presented in the drop-down list will be a combination of the contact’s name and phone number. If a phone number is not specified for the contact, the text message [phone unspecified] will be displayed next to the contact’s name.

The contact selected from the drop-down list, will be the contact that is associated with the work item when it is saved. If “--[none]--”, or the result count option ( --[select (2 found)]--) is selected, then no contact will be associated with the item. If a contact and asset are specified when an item is saved, then a contact-asset association will automatically be made. This association will be used for the auto-association feature.

Auto-Associating an Item’s Asset Using the Contact

When a contact is selected, the system will determine if there are any assets associated with the contact. This is done only if an asset has not been selected from the Asset drop-down list. The asset drop-down list will be populated with any assets associated with the contact, and the first contact is arbitrarily selected. Auto-association is attempted if a contact is selected from the Contact drop- down list from the New work item page, or in any operation that results in a contact being selected

from the Select a contact page (New contact, Recent contact and Find contact).

To Find a Contact

1Enter a partial name or phone number into the Find text box, and then click Find.

2When the search results appear, click the Contact drop-down arrow and select a contact.

Altiris Helpdesk Solution User Guide 61