This how-to article will help Administrators to create and modify Service Categories using the TDAdmin and TDClient interfaces. The user must have the administrator privileges in TDAdmin or Modify Service Categories privileges in TDClient.
Overview
The service catalog contains a collection of services, each of which can be requested from your customers. These services can be used to create projects or tickets, or to redirect users to a specific webpage via Project, Ticket and Link services, respectively.
In addition, these services can be grouped into categories to create a hierarchical structure for the service catalog. This allows similar services to reside in the same category so that the catalog is intuitive to navigate. In addition, these categories can be configured so that only certain user groups have can have access to a category and the appropriate services.
Service categories can be created or edited both through TDAdmin and the Client Portal. Both actions can be performed in each area with slight differences that will be explained below. Users performing these actions through Admin do not have to worry about any special permissions to perform these actions, although the client portal does enforce permissions.
Permissions
In addition to category permission configuration, there are a handful of permissions regarding service categories that are enforced.
The following security role service catalog permissions are related to categories:
- View All Services – Grants permission to view all services, regardless of how the Category permission structure has been configured.
- Modify Service Categories – Grants the ability to modify service category information.
Users with View All Services permission can bypass the category group visibility settings. For users without this permission, visibility will be enforced based on the service category settings.
Managing Service Categories in TDAdmin
Adding a New Service Category
To add a new service category as an administrator:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Applications > [Client Portal Application Name] > Service Catalog > Categories.
- Click +New
- Populate the Name, Description, and Order
- Click Save
Adding a New Child Service Category
To add a new child category:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Applications > [Client Portal Application Name] > Service Catalog > Categories.
- Click +New
- Populate the Name, Description and Order
- Select the Parent Category by typing in the existing Parent Category Name or Clicking the Magnifying Glass to view a list and make a selection.
- Click Save
These categories can also be marked as inactive if groups of services are no longer offered or applicable. All these actions can also be performed in the client portal.
Moving Services from One Category to Another
This service category management action can only be done in TDAdmin. The features aren’t supported in the Client Portal.
To move a group of services from one category to another:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Applications > [Client Portal Application Name] > Service Catalog >Categories
- Click the Reassociate button.
- Select the Categories you would like to reassociate services from and to
- Click Reassociate
Reordering Service Categories
Administrators can change the service catalog structure using drag and drop functionality. Dragging a category will move the category and all subcategories together in a single step.
Moving the category up or down will change the order, while dragging left or right will change parent or child relationships. For example, if there were a General Category in the root level of the catalog with a child category called Info, dragging Info to the left will outdent it and move it to the root level of the catalog. Info will no longer be the child of General.
This service category management action can only be done in TDAdmin. The features aren’t supported in the Client Portal.
To change the service catalog structure:
- In TDAdmin, navigate to Applications > [Client Portal Application Name] > Service Catalog > Categories.
- Click on a Category and drag it to the appropriate place in the hierarchical structure.
- Click Save
Managing Service Categories in the Client Portal
Adding a New Service Category
To add a new service category from the Client Portal:
- From your Client Portal homepage, Click Services in the toolbar
- Click + New Category
- Populate the Name, Description and Order
- Select an Icon by Clicking the Change Icon button and selection from the available list
- Click Save
Adding a New Child Service Category
To add a new child category:
- From your Client Portal homepage, Click Services in the toolbar
- Select + New Category
- Populate the Name, Description and Order
- Select the Parent Category by typing in the existing Parent Category Name or Clicking the Magnifying Glass to view a list and make a selection.
- Select an Icon by Clicking the Change Icon button and selection from the available list
- Click Save
Edit an Existing Category
To edit an existing Category:
- From your Client Portal homepage, Click Services in the toolbar
- Find the Service Category to be edited and click on the name
- Click the Pencil Icon
- Edit the desired information
- Click Save