How to Post to the IT Service Status Board

To be able to submit to the IT SSB, you must be listed as an "ITIL agent" in Service-Now i.e. a member of one (or more) assignment group in Service-Now . The full list of "IT SSB contributors" is defined in the egroup "itssb-contributors".

As an IT SSB contributor, you can submit the following items after logging in: 

• Service Incident
• Planned Intervention
• Service Change 

Make sure you have read and apply the ‘SSB guidelines for Authors’ when submitting content to the SSB. If you haven’t yet read them, please take the time to do this now.

All submissions to the IT SSB must be verified by an “IT SSB moderator” via the option "Submit for moderation" before it is published on the website.  The list of “IT SSB moderators” is defined in the egroup “itssb-moderators”, also linked to the SNOW Functional Element = “IT Service Information”.

You can update or modify any submission at any time. In particular it is very important to update incidents in the specific area dedicated to this to inform users about any progress.  

Submitting Service Incidents and Planned Interventions

To create

After you have logged in, click on the relevant item in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

To submit

Complete the webform as required.

Depending on how urgent publication is, either:

• select the '“Submit & send for moderation' option, and click the “Save” button.
• In exceptional cases only, e.g. if it is urgent and must be posted immediately, you can select the “Publish without moderation” option AND click the 'bypass moderation' tickbox. Then click the “Save” button.

You will receive a confirmation e-mail from both Drupal and from SNOW (where a ticket will have been created to alert the "IT SSB moderators") regarding the status your submission. It will either be awaiting moderation, or force-published.

• If sent for moderation, the “IT SSB moderators” will then review the submission, publish the article and close the SNOW ticket. You will receive another confirmation email from Drupal, as well as one from SNOW, confirming the publication.
• If force-published, the article will already be displayed on the IT SSB, while the IT SSB moderators will have been notified an urgent publication took place.

To update

You should provide regular updates to inform the user community about progress. Use the 'Comments' functionality to add updates. 

• Find your article (either from the notification e-mail or off the IT SSB site).
• The “Comments” box should be open and ready for you to add an update.
• To make an update simply add your comments and click 'reply'.
• If you wish to add further updates, simply click 'reply'. You can add as many updates as you wish.

NB for Service Incidents, every time you add an update via the Comments, the timestamp will be tracked on the IT SSB homepage as "Last updated on".

NB for Planned Interventions, you can also provide extra information in the 'Termination Time' and 'Termination Comments'. This is in case the intervention ends sooner than expected.

To close your... Service Incident

When the incident is resolved you are responsible for closing the IT SSB article. This will ensure users are fully updated on progress, as well as automatically directing articles to the correct archives.

• Post a comment/update explaining how/why the incident is now closed (this will also update the 'last update time' on the front page)
• Go to the Edit tab
  • Enter a Resolution date.
  • Change the status from 'Experts are working on it' to 'Resolved'
• Click “Save”.

Your notification will remain on the front page and under 'current' notifications up to 1 day after the Resolution date you specified, displaying 'Resolved' status.

After 1 day, it automatically disappears from the homepage and is archived under 'Cleared Incidents'.

To close your... Planned Intervention

You do not need to take any action: the “end date” you provided automatically archives the Planned Intervention article under "Completed Interventions" after the date has passed.

Submitting Service Changes

To create

In the toolbar at the top of the screen, click 'Create Service Change'

To submit

All “Service Change” notifications go through moderation.

As soon as you have created and saved your submission, you will receive an e-mail from Drupal confirming your submission. You will also receive an email from SNOW with a ticket number automatically created to assist the “IT SSB moderators” .

The IT SSB moderators will review and publish your submission. Upon publication, you will receive another confirmation email from Drupal and SNOW.

To update

You can review and update the text of a “service change” at any time. To do this:

• Find your notification on the IT SSB.
• By default you will be on the View tab; go to the Edit tab.
• You can modify any fields if anything needs to be changed.

To close your Service Change

You do not need to take any action: the article will remain on the ITSSB homepage until the "Expiry Display date" has passed. After this, it is automatically archived on the 'Service Changes" page.

Visibility of article

• Incidents are visible in the IT SSB Home page as soon as they are published and they will stay until 24 hours after the “Resolution date” that is registered in the event when the state is changed  to “Resolved”.

  To see past incidents go to the page:
  https://test-static-03.web.cern.ch/service-incidents
  (or Tab =” Incidents” at the top of the Home page))

• Planned interventions are visible in the IT SSB Home page only the day of the intervention.

  To see past and future interventions go to the page:
  https://test-static-03.web.cern.ch/planned-interventions
  (or Tab = “Planned Interventions” at the top of the Home page)

• Service changes are visible in the IT SSB Home page as soon as they are published (the date “Effective from” is used to define the precise date when the change will take place) and they will stay until the “Expiry display date” date is registered in the event.

  To see all service changes announced (including past changes) go to the page:
  https://test-static-03.web.cern.ch/service-changes
  (or Tab = “Service Changes” at the top of the Home page)