WarningReleaseNotes

Important announcements

End of support for Service Manager and Service Apps versions prior to Oxygen

EasyVista is announcing the phase-out and end of support for Service Manager and Service Apps versions prior to Oxygen from 30 September 2022 onwards. This applies to all versions earlier than Oxygen 1.6 – Build 2018.1.119.0.

As such, we recommend that you upgrade to the latest Service Manager and Service Apps versions as soon as possible.
   Find out more on this page

End of support for the Discovery agent

The Discovery agent is no longer maintained from Oxygen versions onwards.

It has been replaced by the EasyVista EV Reach solution. To find out more, please contact your EasyVista consultant.

Version 2022 - Build 2022.1.109.0.03
(04/19/2022 SaaS - 04/26/2022 On-Premises)

What's new in the graphic interface

Board display mode: Cards

You can now display records in lists using the new Board display mode. Last-level records will appear as cards.

Characteristics

• One column is displayed for each first-level item of the view.
• One card is displayed for each last-level record of the view.
• You can click to select each card. It will appear with a green background (default theme).
• You can click the card header to see the details of the record.
• Once you have selected the card you want, you can run any wizard. You are not required to open the form.
   

Implementation principle

• Select Service Operation > Incidents > All Incidents in the menu.
• Select the Recipient view.
• Select the Board display mode from the drop-down list.
• Click to select a card.
• Click the incident number in the card header to open the Details form.
         
   

     Note:

• Data must first be grouped by a criterion in a view, e.g. by recipient, status or priority.
• Board mode is not available if the view is a list or a tree structure with grouping levels such as department or location.
• To optimize performance, Board mode is not available when the number of records exceeds 200. The  icon will appear together with an infotip.
         
• You cannot filter records in Board mode. To do so, you should switch to List mode and use custom filters.
• The CSV Export and JSON Export functionalities are not available in Board mode.

Tag colors

A new functionality now enables you to highlight certain information by applying colors to the tags associated with specific field values, e.g. status or level of urgency.

Uses
This new functionality can be used, for example, to define visual alerts for specific information you want to monitor.

• Highlight the target resolution date once it is exceeded.
• Highlight tickets whose status is VIP or whose priority is high.
   

Characteristics

• Tag colors are only available in List mode, in Board mode and in forms.
• You can define tag colors by selecting Administration > Parameters > Tag Colors in the menu.
• The table fields and values to which you can apply tag colors are defined by EasyVista.
• A default color is applied to each of the tags.
• You can select only one color for each tag. It will automatically be applied to all three display modes, i.e. List, Board and forms.
   

Implementation principle

• Select Administration > Parameters > Tag Colors in the menu to define tag colors.

  example  Highlight the High level of urgency by defining red as the color for the tag associated.

  

• Result in the Incident form.
         
• Result in the list of incidents.
         
• Result in Board mode.
         
   

     Note:

• To ensure that accessibility requirements are satisfied and to optimize the management of text colors and background colors, the color palette available has been restricted. The hexadecimal code of the color is provided for information purposes only.
• The color palette has also been defined to complement colors in the Service Manager theme.

Action timeline

• The Compact mode, Expand all and Reduce all icons have been moved to the History section.
         

• A new icon  provides a quick view of the contents in the Comment / Description / Solution field.
  • In Timeline mode and Table mode, the icon is displayed in the History of Actions if the field contains content.
  • The contents of the field will appear on hover over the icon.
    
    Timeline mode
           
    
    Table mode
           

New themes

Two new themes, White and Shadow, are now available.
       

New functionalities

Subscription-based notifications for modifications to forms

A new subscription functionality now enables you to receive a notification when modifications are made to specific objects or fields.

• You must subscribe to the forms you want. 
• Notifications will be sent in real time and can be viewed in the notification bar in the top banner.
• The notification will show the previous value and the new modified value.
   

Uses
This new functionality can be used, for example, to monitor the status of an item of equipment or ticket.

Characteristics

• The subscription functionality is only available for the following forms: Incident, Service Request, Equipment, Configuration Item (CI), Problem, Change Request, Investment Request, License, Action, Known Error, Knowledge, Project, Contract, Employee, Location, Service Request Catalog.
• You can only subscribe to the visible fields displayed in forms.
• The subscription functionality is based on the logged-in user's domains.
   

Implementation principle

• Open a form and click .
         
• In the form, select the fields to which you want to subscribe.
         
• The button will change to .
         
• To test the functionality, modify one of the field values to which you just subscribed.
• The  counter will be incremented and will indicate that you have received a new notification.
• Click the icon to see the list of notifications received.
         
• Click  to modify the subscription.
• Click  to unsubscribe from the form.
   

     Note:

• To make it easier to subscribe, the fields you selected in the form will automatically appear when you subscribe to a new form that is based on the same table.
• To optimize performance, limits have been defined for subscriptions.
  • By default, you can select a maximum of five fields for each subscription. You can define this value in Other Parameters in {ADMIN} Maximum number of fields for a subscription.
  • By default, you can select a maximum of 15 subscriptions for each object. You can define this value in Other Parameters in {ADMIN} Maximum number of active subscriptions for a given object.
  • By default, each user can have a maximum of 20 active subscriptions. You can define this value in Other Parameters in {ADMIN} Maximum number of active subscriptions for a given user.

• Users can manage their own subscriptions by selecting My Subscriptions in the user information zone.
         
• Administrators can manage all user subscriptions by selecting Administration > Subscriptions > Manage Subscriptions in the menu.
         

Deep linking interactions

Deep links are links that send users directly to a page or resource of another website or app, other than the current website or app.

This new functionality in Service Manager now enables you to create interactions with third-party collaboration tools such as EV Reach, Teams or Slack, from Service Manager forms.

Uses
This new functionality can be used, for example, to create interactions between Service Manager and EV Reach.

• Start a EV Reach remote control session for an item of equipment directly from an Incident or Equipment form
• Interact with the EV Reach ticketing system directly from an Incident form
   

Characteristics

• Dedicated icons appear next to the fields configured with deep linking interactions. Note: The icons will appear on hover over the fields.
• You can click the icon to directly run the collaboration tool that was configured, e.g. chat, voice call or video call.
• You can create multiple deep linking interactions for a given field so that users can run different tools.

  example  In the User field, you can start a Teams call or a chat

• Dedicated icons appear in all forms with visible fields that have been configured with deep linking interactions.

  example  Configuration of a Teams call for a User field ==> The dedicated icon will appear in all forms that display this field, e.g. Employee, Incident, Request, etc.

Implementation principle

• Define deep linking interactions between Service Manager and your collaboration tools.
  • Define the collaboration tools you want to use by selecting Administration > Deep Linking Tools > Software - Deep Linking in the menu.
           
  • Define the actions that can be performed by the software by selecting Administration > Deep Linking Tools > Actions - Deep Linking in the menu.
           
  • Create deep linking interactions by associating an action with the software by selecting Administration > Deep Linking Tools > Settings - Deep Linking in the menu.
    • Automatic display of the Deep Linking icon: This indicates if the interaction will be visible in all forms that display this field (box is checked) or if the interaction will be visible only in this form (box is not checked). If it is visible only in this form, you can configure the interaction locally using edit mode. To do so, click  in the top banner and select Edit Form.
    • URI: URL of the interaction to be run. It can include tags in the following format: @@text@@.
    • Default table: Service Manager table.
    • Default Field: Field where the dedicated icon should be found.
    • Tags: Values of the tags passed in the URI.

• Open a form that displays the field configured with the deep linking interaction.

• Click the dedicated icon to run the collaboration tool.

  example  Start a remote control session using the EV Reach software from the Title field of the ticket

  
   

     Note:

• A list of software using deep linking is shipped in the Service Manager standard build with pre-configured deep linking interactions for each software. You can consult it by selecting Administration > Deep Linking Tools > Software - Collaboration Tools in the menu.
         
• You can configure a deep linking interaction locally in a form using edit mode. To do so, click  in the top banner and select Edit Form. This applies if the Automatic display of the Deep Linking icon box is not checked in the window for creating deep linking interactions. If you do this configuration locally, the dedicated icons will only appear in this form.
         

Traceability of platform activity

A new screen is now available for tracing platform activity.

Note: The platform activity traceability feature is not active by default.

Characteristics

• You can monitor platform activity by selecting Administration > Platform Activity > Change Audit in the menu.
• The objects and operations you can monitor are defined by EasyVista.
   

Operating principle

• For On-Premise customers: Access the Service Manager SQL server and run the following SQL script on the database for which you want to activate the traceability feature.

• For SaaS-based customers: You must submit a request to the EasyVista CMC team.

Other enhancements

Forms displayed in tabs when creating new forms

The maximum number of tabs that can be simultaneously opened is six. To allow for more flexibility, this limit has been lifted when creating new forms. Any new form created will be displayed in a new tab, regardless of the limit.

Purging of documents in Operation and Transition modules

You can now delete documents associated to closed tickets both in the database and on the web server thanks to two dedicated parent requests. This allows you to save disk space on your web server.

Implementation principle

• Select Administration > Purge > Purge Archives in the menu.
• Create a new purge.
• Define the filter to specify the period you want to delete the documents.
• Use the dedicated parent request Documents Operation to delete documents associated to closed incidents on this period.
• Use the dedicated parent request Documents Transition to delete documents associated to closed requests on this period.

Important reminder: Always perform a full backup of your database before enabling a purge.

Duplication of objects

• You can now duplicate the parent query used in a report (Note: Only for reports opened by selecting Administration > Reports in the menu).
         

• New wizards now enable you to duplicate integration models and connectors.
         
         

New filter functionalities in List mode

You can now use new filter functionalities in List mode.

• Filter items that fall between two values for numeric fields.
• Filter items that fall between two dates for date fields.

Exporting data in JSON format

In List mode, you can now export data in JSON format.
       

Implementation principle

• Click  in the top banner.
• Select the new option called JSON Export.

Printing in CSV files

The printing functionality in CSV files has been modified to display column headers in the first row.

Service Apps team and tenant management via Service Manager

We have revamped Service Manager team and tenant management. A specific menu, Service Apps has been added to the Administration menu.

Note: You can still manage the tenant and teams in Service Apps by selecting Admin Panel > Tenant Management (with restricted options).

Administration > Service Apps > Parameter Settings
This screen is used for tenant and team management. Its display depends on the logged-in user profile.

• You are a user but you do not have a tenant
  • The screen below will appear.
  • You cannot perform any operation.
           

• You are a user and you have a tenant
  • The screen below will appear.
  • You can select the Service Manager user account defined as the Service Apps platform administrator.
  • You can define the rules for creating Service Apps teams.
           

• You are the administrator and you have a tenant
  • The screens below will appear.
  • You can manage the Service Apps tenant.
  • You can select the Service Manager user account defined as the Service Apps platform administrator.
  • You can define the rules for creating Service Apps teams.
  • You can manage aliases in the dedicated tab.
           
           
     

Administration > Service Apps > Teams
This screen displays the list of Service Apps teams. Note: Only accessible in read mode, irrespective of the logged-in user profile.
       

Administration > Service Apps > Users
This screen displays the list of Service Apps users. Note: Only accessible in read mode, irrespective of the logged-in user profile.
       

Power BI reports

Note: To use Power BI reports, a Report server must be installed. To find out more, please contact your EasyVista consultant.

New Power BI report templates are now available. They are all multilingual.

• Templates for incidents
• Templates for service requests

Integrations

Integrations with DevOps tools and Git version control tools

New integrations between Service Manager and DevOps tools and Git version control tools are now available.

Note: In the new 2022 version, EasyVista offers integrations with Azure DevOps tools and GitHub tools.

• These integrations are performed using Microsoft Power Automate workflows.
• Integrations between Service Manager and these tools comprise four key flows corresponding to four scenarios.
  • Create a card in a DevOps tool when a ticket is created in Service Manager
          
  • Create an action in the timeline of the Service Manager ticket when a review is approved in a Git version control tool
          
  • Create an action in the timeline of the Service Manager ticket when a pull request is merged in a Git version control tool
          
          
  • Create an action in the timeline of the Service Manager ticket when a pull request is closed in a Git version control tool
          

Integration between Service Manager and EV Reach

A new integration now enables you to run Talend jobs to import technical inventory data relating to equipment, software and attributes from the EV Reach database into the Service Manager database.
      

Implementation principle

• Download the package shipped with the integration.
• Configure the elements based on your environment.
• Normalize the data from the EV Reach database in order to adapt it to your Service Manager repository.
• Run data integration in the Service Manager database using the dedicated EV Reach integration models.
   

     Note: 

• You do not need to acquire a Talend license to run this integration.
• Talend jobs can be run as standalone jobs. You can schedule them to run on a regular basis using a Windows or Linux scheduler.
• You can view the data in Excel files before integrating it in your Service Manager databases.

New REST actions in workflows

• New Service Manager REST API actions are now grouped in a specific category in the palette of action types so that users can find them easily.

• A new category has been added to group EV Observe REST API actions.
         

• Now, when you insert a Service Manager REST action or a EV Observe REST action in the graphic editor, this will automatically preload the REST service, REST connector and resource in the step.
         

New authentication methods for REST APIs

AWS (Amazon Web Service) authentication 

     Prerequisites:

• Check that your PHP configuration uses the CACert certificate of your system in line with your organization's policy.
• You must specify the location of the certificate to ensure that PHP flows will be correctly initiated in HTTPS.

EV Observe authentication
Once authentication is performed, you can access a list of EV Observe REST API methods in the workflow editor.
       

Bearer Token authentication
       

New Service Manager REST API methods

New methods have been added to the Service Manager REST API.

• Create a CI unavailability: POST  /configuration-items/{ci_id}

• End a CI unavailability: PUT  /configuration-items/{ci_id}

• Obtain the Service Manager license key information: GET  /license

Changes to the Service Manager REST API method Create a ticket

A new HTTP status code, 406, has been added to the Create a ticket method.

This error code is displayed when the recipient of the ticket does not exist in the Service Manager database or if the recipient does not belong to one of the REST user's domains.

Displaying route details

You can now display the details of a route on hover over its label.

To display the list of routes, select Administration > Access Management > User Profiles in the menu and click  next to the REST API field.

Running integration models in the General menu

You can now run integration models directly by selecting General > Integration > Integration Models in the menu.

Optimized performance

Exporting over 1,000 records

When you export a large volume of Service Manager data, this can have an adverse impact on platform performance.
An alert will now appear to warn you of this when the number of records you want to export exceeds 1,000.
       

• The export is limited to N records.
• You can define the maximum number of records in Other Parameters in {SM} Restrict the export and printing of grids to N records.
• If you specify 0, there will be no restriction.

Refreshing data in List mode

Once users make modifications to a form and return to the initial list of records, a new button  will now appear.

• This button indicates that data has been modified. If no data was modified, this button will be hidden.
• You can click it to refresh the data in List mode.

Timeout during REST calls

A timeout is now enabled when Service Manager REST calls are made to a third-party service such as a workflow.

• By default, the timeout is 60 seconds.
• In the rest-api.ini file, you can modify this value in the timeout parameter.
• You can specify a value from 1 to 300 seconds.
  • Only whole numbers in seconds are authorized.
  • Any value outside this range will be replaced by the default value.