Categories

A category is an entity attribute that enables admins to properly classify service records and configuration items in SysAid. Such classifications allow admins to organize records and assign them appropriately. Categories also help admins in sorting, searching, reporting, and other operations. In the Categories list, you can view, edit, and create categories for use by your SRs and CIs.

For general instructions for using list pages in SysAid, see Using SysAid Lists.

Create or modify categories

Go to Settings > Customization> Categories > Manage Categories and click Create new.
To modify an existing category, go to the same page and click the category you want to modify.

For more information, see Category Form.

Set Default templates

Each SR type (incident, request, change, and problem) has a default template for use in multiple places throughout the system and on this page (see below for more information).

To set the default template for an SR type

1. On the top of the page, click  .

2. Select a template from each SR type drop-down.

3. Click Done.

Actions bar

There are a number of actions you can perform on your categories directly from the table. Select the checkbox beside one or more categories and the actions bar appears at the bottom of the table:

Delete

Delete the selected categories. If there are no service records using those categories, SysAid prompts you to confirm your deletion. Click OK.
If there are any service records using that category, the following prompt appears:

1. Use the drop-downs to designate a category to replace the one you are deleting.

2. Select if your replacement category should apply to active, closed, and/or archived SRs. SysAid maintains the deleted category on any SR classes not selected, but the category is no longer available for generating new SRs.

3. If you want the same preferences to apply to upcoming conflicts with the other selected categories, select the Do this for all remaining conflicts checkbox.

4. Click Continue.

Rename first or second level categories

You can rename first-level or second-level categories for selected category sets and apply the new name to all or some of the SRs using that category. Third level categories can only be renamed individually in their category forms.

To rename first or second level categories

1. Select the category sets you want to rename.

2. In the actions bar, click More Actions.

3. Click More Actions.

4. In the Change Category field to dialog, select Rename Category or Rename Sub-Category from the first drop-down.

5. Enter the new name in the text box.
    

6. Click Save.
   If there are any service records using that category, the following prompt appears:
    

   1. Select if your renamed category should apply to active, closed, and/or archived SRs. SysAid maintains the previous category name for any SR classes not selected, but that version of the category set is no longer available for generating new SRs.

   2. If you want the same preferences to apply to upcoming conflicts with the other selected categories, select the Do this for all remaining conflicts checkbox.

   3. Click Continue.

Export to Excel

In the actions bar, click More Actions, then click Export selected to Excel to export the table to a .csv file in Excel.

Print to PDF

In the actions bar, click More Actions, then click Export selected to PDF to export the table to a .pdf file.

Group accessibility

You can set which groups of End Users and Admins can access the selected categories, either replacing the groups already assigned or adding to them. To learn more about setting category visibility in bulk, see Setting Category Visibility.

Enable categories for specific SR types or CIs

A category can be enabled for CMDB and for specific service record types, and each service record type can load a specific template when the category is selected. To set these on a category, see Category Form.

For example, you would only enable the Servers: Active Directory: Unlock Account category set for requests, since this category is not relevant to incidents, changes, or problems. When creating a new incident, change, or problem, you would not see the Unlock Account category.

To enable a service record type for several categories at once, select the categories and use the actions bar at the bottom of the table.

Configure Dynamic Forms

You can set the appropriate template to dynamically load in the SR form when a category is selected. To do so, you must designate a specific template to load for each SR type for each category. This could be helpful when you want to associate a specific template with a defined process for SRs in a given category.

Example: You have a Network Printer template that includes a drop-down menu of available network printers. You can specify this template to dynamically load in an incident form the moment the category Other Equipment > Network Printer. Similarly, if you have a simple template for password reset requests, you can set this template to dynamically load only in request forms when the designated Password-related category is selected.

You also have the option of setting a default template to dynamically load for multiple categories. This allows you to change the template for multiple categories by simply changing the SR type's default dynamic template. If the designated default template is appropriate for a category, then select Default.

If you want to preserve the existing template when the selected categories are chosen in an SR, select Don't change.

For more information on creating templates, see the pages for Incident, Request, Change, and Problem templates.

To configure Dynamic Form behavior

1. Select the categories you want to set Dynamic Form behavior for.

2. In the actions bar, click More Actions.

3. Click More Actions.

4. In the Change Category field to dialog, select Incident Template, Request Template, Change Template, or Problem Template from the first drop-down, then select a template from the second.

5. Click Save.