Working with Escalation Policy › How to Create Escalation Policy › Create Escalation Actions › Create an Announcement Action

Create an Announcement Action

You can create a policy action that automatically sends a help desk announcement.

Follow these steps:

1. Perform one of the following actions:
   • Click New on the Actions tab of the Alert Escalation Policy Editor dialog while defining an escalation policy.
   • Select Tools, Escalation Policies and Actions, and click on the Actions tab of the Escalation Policies and Actions dialog to create an action independent of an escalation policy.
2. Select Create Announcement from the Action Type drop-down list and complete the following fields:
   • Enter an action name in the Action Name field.
   • (Optional) Enter an announcement description in the Description field.
3. (Optional) Click Add Exception Criteria to add rule-based properties. For more information, see Add Exception Criteria.
4. Click the Properties tab.
5. Select a Property Name from the drop-down list.

   The Property Value requires you to either select an item from the drop-down list or enter an item or text manually.

   Consider the following items:

   • You can right-click in most text fields to select expandable runtime tokens for alert details. These tokens are dynamically substituted when an action is performed on an alert.
   • If you want to use the $[USM Web View URL] token, you first enable its use.
   • If you want to use the $[Mobile UI URL] token, you first enable its use.
   • If you want to use the CI user attribute tokens, you first set the attributes. For more information about setting CI user attributes, see the Implementation Guide.
   • You map the help desk properties to corresponding properties in BMC Remedy, HP Service Manager, or the Universal Help Desk API if you are integrating with either of these help desk products. For more information, see the Implementation Guide. You also set the help desk configuration for in-context links to help tickets. For more information, see the Administration Guide.

   Announcement Type

   Specifies the announcement type, which is typically: Routine, Advisory, Emergency, or a custom-defined attribute.

   Text

   Specifies general text.

   Close Date/Time

   Specifies the date and time the announcement ends in the following format:

   DD/MM/YYYY HH:MM:SS
   

   HH must be an integer from 0 to 23.

   Active

   Specifies if the announcement is active.

   You can also add custom announcement properties in the Help Desk Configuration dialog.

6. (Optional if available) Select the 'Create Object if not present' check box to create the object in the help desk if it does not currently exist.
7. Click Add.

   The new property is added to the Default Properties list.

8. (Optional) Repeat Steps 6-8 to add as many properties as necessary to the announcement.
9. (Optional) Click the Summary tab to view the current properties and values.
10. (Optional) If you want the action available now, select the Enable option.
11. Click OK when you finish configuring the action.

    The action is defined, and it appears on the Actions tab. If you defined the action in an escalation policy, it is automatically added to the policy.