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Administration

Service catalog

Categories, items, forms, fulfillment teams, and approval steps.

The service catalog holds the items requesters can request through the portal, such as a replacement laptop or access to an application. This page explains how an admin sets up categories, items, forms, fulfillment teams, SLAs, and approval flows.

All settings are under Administration → Service catalog and require the catalog.manage permission.

Categories

Categories group items in the portal.

  1. Click Category at the top right.
  2. Fill in Name, for example "Access & accounts".
  3. Fill in Sort order. Lower numbers appear first in the portal.
  4. Click Save.

Existing categories appear in the Categories: row above the item list, together with their item count. Click the pencil icon to edit one. The delete icon only appears on categories that have no items.

Creating an item

  1. Click New item.
  2. Fill in Item name and choose a Category.
  3. Click Create & continue.

You are taken to the item editor. A new item starts inactive, so requesters cannot see it until you activate it.

Item editor

The editor has three sections. Each section has its own save button, and you are warned if you leave the page with unsaved changes.

Details & routing

  • The item's Name and Category.
  • Description for requesters, shown in the portal. Explain what they will get and when to use it.
  • Fulfillment team: requests for this item are routed to that team. Choose (no team — goes to pool) if there is no specific team yet.
  • SLA policy: the policy that calculates the deadlines for these requests. Choose (no SLA) if requests for this item need no target. Policies are created in SLA and calendars.
  • Show in portal (active): turns the item on or off in the portal.

Click Save details.

Approval flow

Approvals run in order, one step after another, with a maximum of 10 steps.

  1. Click Add step.
  2. Fill in Step name, for example "Manager approval".
  3. Choose the Policy: One approval is enough or All approvers must approve.
  4. Choose one or more Approver entries from the active members.
  5. Click Save approval.

Without steps, a request goes straight to fulfillment. Changes to the flow only apply to new requests; requests already in progress do not change. How approvers decide is explained in Approvals.

Requester form

The form defines the fields a requester fills in when requesting this item.

  1. Click Add field.
  2. Fill in Label, then Key (lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores, starting with a letter).
  3. Choose the Field type: Short text, Long text, Number, Yes / No, Single choice, Multiple choice, Date, User, or Site / location.
  4. Check Required if the field must be filled in.
  5. For choices, fill in Options, one per line. For numbers, you can fill in Minimum value and Maximum value. If needed, also fill in Help text and Placeholder.
  6. Click Add. Repeat for other fields, then set their order with the up and down buttons.
  7. Click Save form (new version).

Every form save creates a new version. Requests already submitted keep being shown with the form version in effect when they were made. Avoid changing the Key on a form that is already in use, because the link to old answers will break.

If the form has a Site / location field, the site the requester picks determines the SLA working calendar for that request, according to the site's settings.

Item list

The item list shows the columns Name, Category, Fulfillment team, SLA, Approval, and Status. The toolbar above it contains:

  • a search box for item name and description;
  • Filter by category, fulfillment team, SLA, approval, or status, including values such as No team, No SLA, and No approval;
  • Sort and Group.

Search, filters, and sort order are kept in the page address. When you come back from the editor, the same list appears again. Below the table, you can move between pages and choose Rows per page.

Deactivating an item

Items are not deleted. To withdraw an item from the portal, turn off Show in portal (active), then click Save details. Its status becomes Inactive, and earlier requests for that item stay stored.

How requesters use the catalog is explained in Reporting incidents and requesting services.