Every category can be limited to specific groups. Only members of a selected group can choose that category when they submit a service record. A category can be limited separately for End Users in the Self-Service Portal and for Admins in the Service Desk.
Available for:
Customers using SysAid Spaces. If you're using SysAid Classic, see Categories by User Groups.
How it works
Visibility is a two-part setting for each audience: a checkbox that decides whether the category appears in that portal at all, and a group field that decides who sees it there.
Visible in SSP for user groups controls the Self-Service Portal. Clear the checkbox and the category never appears there, so only Admins can select it.
Visible for admin groups controls the Service Desk. Clear the checkbox and the category doesn't appear there either.
By default, the group fields hold All Users and All Administrators. Replace either value with specific groups to narrow the category to those groups alone. If you remove every group from a field, the category is available to everyone.
The Categories table shows the current Self-Service Portal setting in its EUP column, as Yes or No. It doesn't show which groups a category is assigned to. To see those, open the category.
You can set both parts on a single category in its own form, or apply them to many categories at once from the Categories table.
Using groups instead of a department category
Categories give you three levels: Category, Sub-Category, and Third Level Category. If the first level currently names a department, group visibility can take over that job and free the level up.
For example, a category set of "IT > Hardware > Printer" spends its first level identifying the department. Limit the category to a group representing IT instead, and the same three levels describe the work itself: "Hardware > Printer > Replace Toner". Each department sees only the categories assigned to its group, and all three levels stay available for detail.
Access and permissions
Groups have to exist before you can assign them. To create or edit a group, see Managing Groups.
Limitations
Agents who can't select a category for a service record can still see that category in the service records table and in reports.
Set visibility for one category
Go to Settings > Customization > Categories > Manage Categories.
Click the category you want to limit. The same fields are available when you define a new category.
To limit the category in the Self-Service Portal, select the Visible in SSP for user groups checkbox, then click in the field beside it.
Select a group from the drop-down. Repeat to add as many groups as you need.
To limit the category in the Service Desk, select the Visible for admin groups checkbox and select groups the same way.
To remove a group, click the X beside its name.
Click Done.
Turn visibility on or off for multiple categories
Go to Settings > Customization > Categories > Manage Categories.
Select the checkbox beside each category you want to change. The actions bar appears at the bottom of the table.
Click Visible in SSP to change Self-Service Portal visibility, or Visible for admin groups to change Service Desk visibility.
Select Yes or No. The change applies immediately.
Assign groups to multiple categories
Go to Settings > Customization > Categories > Manage Categories.
Select the checkbox beside each category you want to change. The actions bar appears at the bottom of the table.
Click More Actions, then click More Actions again.
In the Change Category field to dialog, select one of the following from the first drop-down:
Set group accessibility in SSP replaces the Self-Service Portal groups on every selected category with the groups you choose.
Add group accessibility in SSP adds the groups you choose to the Self-Service Portal groups already set on each selected category.
Set group accessibility for admins replaces the Service Desk groups on every selected category.
Add group accessibility for admins adds the groups you choose to the Service Desk groups already set on each selected category.
From the drop-down on the right, select a group. Repeat to add as many groups as you need.
To remove a group, click the X beside its name.
Click Save.
Please note:
The two Set options replace the groups on every category you selected, including the default All Users and All Administrators values. A group that currently has access to one of those categories, and isn't in your new selection, loses that access. Open one of the categories you changed to confirm the result.
Next steps
To create the groups you assign here, or to check who belongs to one, see Managing Groups.
For the rest of the category record, including templates that load dynamically per category, see Category Form.
To give a group its own entry point into the portal, see Service Catalog.