Adding rules for escalation

This section contains a description of the escalation process using incidents as an example. Unless otherwise specified, the process is the same for answers, opportunities, and tasks.

To add an escalation function and rules for escalation:

1	Add a function to contain the rules for escalation using the procedure defined in To add a function:.

2	Right-click the escalation function and select New Rule.

3	Type the rule’s name in the Rule Name field.

4	Add the conditions that will trigger the escalation. (Refer to To add a rule: if you need help with this step.)

When you add the first rule to escalate, one of the conditions must be Incident Escalation Level equals Unspecified.

5	Click the Add Action button and select Escalate.

6	Enter the following field information.

Field	Description
Escalate to Level	Type a name for the escalation level you are creating in this field.
Relative	Select this check box to trigger escalation at a time relative to a day or event, which you select from the drop-down menu to the right of the check box. In the drop-down menu to the left of the check box, select a value to establish the time relationship to the event. Clear this check box to base escalation on absolute time.
	This field lets you schedule the escalation using absolute time; that is, you set the specific time you want rather than scheduling escala­tion relative to another time. Click the drop-down menu to open the current month’s calendar and select the escalation date. To change the time, click the time and type a new value; you can also change the date this way. Click anywhere in the date or time to set the exact date and time you want the answer, incident, opportunity, or task to escalate to this level. Note: This option appears only if the Relative check box is cleared.
	Click the arrow to open a window for selecting direction, offset, and units for the relative time value; +1 Hours is the default. Enter direction, offset, and unit for this field, and click the Save button. Note: This option appears only if the Relative check box is selected.
Direction	Select + (after) or – (before) to indicate the direction of the offset for the escalation time from the relative time you define.
Offset	Select this field and type a new value to change the number of min­utes or hours before or after the relative time.
Unit	Click the drop-down menu and select minutes or hours.
	Click the arrow to display the drop-down menu and select Now, Today, Tomorrow, any day of the week, or any of the answer, inci­dent, opportunity, or task options listed below. This establishes the base time to which dbstatus applies the relative escalation time. You must select the Relative check box to display the menu. If you select Today, Tomorrow, or any day of the week, the time associated with that date field is midnight. If the Use Response Intervals check box is selected, the schedule for escalation depends on the work hours that have been set since only work hours are counted.
Answers	Select one of the following escalation options based on the time the answer was added or updated or is scheduled to be reviewed or published.
Answers.Created	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the answer was added.
Answers.Updated	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the answer was updated.
Answers.Review On	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the answer is scheduled to be reviewed.
Answers.Publish On	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the answer is scheduled to be published.
Incidents	Select one of the following escalation options based on the time the incident was added, updated, or responded to, or the time it is due.
Incident.Created	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the incident was added.
Incident.Updated	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the incident was updated.
Incident.Date Last Responded	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the incident was last responded to. Note: If the database contains no value for this field (because only the initial response has been recorded with no subsequent responses), the escalation action will not occur.
Incident.Date Initial Solution Response	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time of the initial solution to the incident. Note: If the value for this field in the database is null (because the incident has not been responded to yet), the escalation action will not occur.
Incident.Date Due	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated based on the relative time due set in your default response require­ments.
Opportunities	Select one of the following escalation options for opportunities.
Opportunity.Created	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the opportunity was added.
Opportunity.Updated	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the time the opportunity was updated.
Opportunity.Initial Contact	Select this option if you want the escalation to be calculated from the date the customer for the opportunity was initially contacted by a sales representative. The time associated with this date field is midnight. Note: If the value for this field in the database is null (for example, if the customer for the opportunity has not been contacted yet), the escalation action will not occur.
Opportunity.Forecast Close	Select this option if you want the escalation to be calculated from the date the opportunity is forecasted to close. The time associated with this date field is midnight. Note: If the value for this field in the database is null (for example, the opportunity does not have a forecasted close date yet), the escalation action will not occur.
Opportunity.Date Closed	Select this option if you want the escalation to be calculated from the date the opportunity closes. The time associated with this date field is midnight. Note: If the value for this field in the database is null (for example, the opportunity has not closed yet), the escalation action will not occur.
Opportunity.Lost Date	Select this option if you want the escalation to be calculated from the date the opportunity was lost.
Opportunity.Recall	Select this option if you want the escalation to be calculated from the date the customer for the opportunity should be called again.
Tasks	Select one of the following escalation options for tasks.
Tasks.Completed Date	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the date the task was completed.
Tasks.Created	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be calculated from the date the task was added.
Tasks.Due Date	Select this option if you want the escalation time to be based on the task’s due date.
Tasks.Planned Completion Date	Select this option if you want escalation to be based on the planned completion date of the task.
Tasks.Start Date	Select this option if you want escalation to be based on the task’s start date.
Tasks.Updated	Select this option if you want escalation to be based on the date the task was updated.
Use Response Interval	Select this check box to use the work hours defined in the default response requirements set up for your organization. (The setting is selected by default.) If you clear this check box, incidents meeting the conditions may escalate during non-working hours and holi­days. For information about default response requirements, see Defining default response requirements. Note: This check box applies only to incident escalation and does not appear with escalation actions for tasks, answers, and opportu­nities.
Revalidate	Select this check box to revalidate the answer, incident, opportu­nity, or task, which means that if it is edited and no longer matches the conditions of this rule, the escalation action is removed from the scheduled escalations queue. Once an escalation that requires revalidation has been scheduled, the conditions of the rule must continue to match when the object is updated. If they do not, the pending escalation is canceled.
Recalculate	Select this check to recalculate escalation time for the answer, inci­dent, opportunity, or task when it is updated. The rules engine reschedules escalation based on the relative time value, such as four hours after Time Updated. Note: You must select a relative time value that is not static in order for the Recalculate feature to be meaningful. If you select a static value, for example, Time Created, escalation is not resched­uled because Time Created remains static even when the object is updated. If, however, you select Time Updated, escalation is rescheduled because the Time Updated value changes when the object is updated.

7	Click the Save button to save the rule.

Steps 2 through 7 create the escalation level for any incident that matches the rule’s conditions. This rule tells dbstatus to set the incident’s escalation to the defined level when the time for escalation has passed. Now you must specify what you want to happen after the incident reaches this escalation level. To do this, create another rule in the escalation function, as described in the continued steps of this procedure.

8	Right-click the escalation function and select New Rule.

9	Type a name for the rule in the Rule Name field.

10	Click the Add Condition Based On button and select Incident Escalation Level equals <Escalation Level>. (This is the name of the escalation level you created in steps 5 through 7.)

11	Click the Add Action button to add the appropriate actions based on your business pro­cess.

12	Click the Save button to save the rule.

Now you have created not only the rule that sets the escalation level for any inci­dent that matches the conditions, but also the rule that specifies the action to be taken when the escalation level is detected during rules processing. These rules are contained in the escalation function you added at the beginning of this pro­cedure.

13	To add more escalation levels and actions, repeat steps 2 through 12. As before, you must create two rules for each escalation: one to set the escalation level and one to specify the action to take when the incident reaches that escalation level.

Remember that only rules in the initial state are processed (unless those rules transition to another state, call a function, or stop rules processing). In order for the rules engine to process the rules in the escalation function, you must now add a rule that calls the escalation function. Because the last rule in the initial state contains the action to transition to the next state, the rule you add to call the escalation function must be the second to the last rule in the initial state.

14	Right-click the initial state and select New Rule to activate the editor.

15	Type a name for the rule in the Rule Name field.

16	Click the Add Action button and select Call Function.

17	Click the drop-down menu and select the escalation function.

18	Click the Save button to save the rule.

19	Reorder the rules in the initial state so that the rule you just created to call the escalation function is the second to the last rule in the initial state. For information about ordering rules, refer to Modifying rule bases.

The last rule in the state must contain the action to transition to the next state.

20	Repeat steps 14 through 19 to call the escalation function from every state to ensure cor­rect escalation.

21	Activate the rule base. Refer to Compiling and activating rule bases.

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