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AITS - Service Desk - TDX - People App

This document will describe how to use the People app in TDNext.

This job aid uses default terms and forms as examples to illustrate how to use specific functions and complete tasks within TDNext. Your unit’s configuration of TDNext may differ from what you see in this job aid. Consult your unit’s training materials and/or your unit administrator for questions or clarifications.

Terms and Definitions 

Contacts – A TDX term use to describe the group of people associated with a given ticket.

Customer – A TDX term use to describe a People record for a requestor. A customer can be staff, faculty, student, affiliate, IT Pro, or not affiliated with the university.

People – A TDX term used to describe the People Application, which allows for the creation and modification of all People records (including those who are not necessarily licensed users) as part of a database that can be used for the purposes of Asset Management and Service Desk Tickets.

User – A TDX term used to describe a person who can authenticate into the TDX environment. Depending on the level of access, a user can access TDNext and/or TDClient.

For more TDX terms and definitions, please refer to the Glossary.

The People application allows you to quickly search and find ticket requestors, individuals, and accounts from across your organization. You can also use the People app to look up the ticket history for a specific individual, add a contact from the People app to an existing ticket, update an existing contact record (with appropriate permissions in place), and create new tickets directly from an existing contact record.

This job aid covers the following topic:

Overview of the People App Main Page and Search Fields

  1. To access the People app in TDNext, click the application menu icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
    of application menu icon

    NOTE: Applications to which you have access will appear in alphabetical order, except for Desktop and Home which remain in the first and last positions, respectively.

  2. Click the People icon.
    of People app icon in application menu

NOTE: The People application opens in a new tab in the TDNext window.

The main page of the People app displays default fields for searching, as well as the list of contacts maintained there. This application gives you the ability to search for individual using several search terms, such as first or last name, NetID, phone number, Account/Department, and Primary Group. 

of main People App page with markers for the search fields and checkboxes

The four default search fields on the main page include:

  1. Search Text – This field allows you to type in a specific search term, such as first and/or last name, NetID, or Department name. Results from using this search function display in the existing window.
  2. Account/Department – This field allows you to type in an account or department name and see results populate in the existing window. You may also pull up the list of all accounts and departments by clicking on the search icon. This opens a new window that allows you to search specifically within that list.
  3. Primary Group – This field allows you to type in a Primary Group name into the search field and see results populate in the existing window. You may also pull up the list of all Primary Groups by clicking on the search icon. This opens a new window that allows you to search specifically within that list.
  4. Phone Number—This field allows you type in a full or partial phone number to search by. Results from using this search function display in the existing window.

Below the default search fields are several check boxes and radio button options you can use to assist your search. The check boxes include User, Customer, Contact, and Resource Placeholder. The other options include Active, Inactive, or Both. By default, all four check boxes are checked, and the Both radio button is selected. Make adjustments to these options as needed to help with your searches in the People app. 

To reset the search fields after conducting a search, click the Refresh button in the upper left corner of the field or click the People option in the left menu.

Searching in the People App

The People app allows you to easily search for ticket Requestors, technicians, departments, or groups who have contact records in the application.

  1. Type a search term in your preferred search field. In this example, a partial last name with the wildcard (%) search character are typed into the Search Text field.

    NOTE: You may use the wildcard (%) in the Search Text or Phone Number fields to search using only a portion of the search term.

    of Search Text field

  2. Click the Search button at the top of the page or press the Enter key to conduct the search. 

    NOTE: Results will populate in the same window below the search fields.

  3. Click on the name of the individual whose People record you want to open. The Personal Details window for that person opens, displaying the record.

    NOTE: Clicking on the email for an individual in the results list will open a new message to the selected email address in the Outlook web application.

    of Details for People Record

  4. To reset the search fields after conducting a search, click the Refresh button in the upper left corner of the field or click the People option in the left menu.
    of People app main page with Refresh and People features highlighted

Sorting Records in the People App

When you open the People app or after conducting a search, you may wish to sort through the results to help narrow down the number of records you see. Sorting can be done in the main page of the People app or with search results.

  1. Type a search term in your preferred search field. In this example, a first and last name are typed into the Search Text field.

  2. Click the Search button at the top of the page or press the Enter key to conduct the search. 

    NOTE: Results will populate in the same window below the search fields.

  3. To sort through the search results, click on the sorting arrow next to the column name by which you want to sort the records.
    of search results in People App with sorting arrows in each column highlighted

Looking Up the Ticket History for an Individual Requestor

You may need to review the ticket history for a specific individual. The People app provides a quick way to view ticket history.

  1. Open the People record for the individual. The Personal Details window opens displaying the record.

  2. Click the Tickets tab at the top of the People record.
    of ticket history with Tickets tab highlighted

    NOTE: The ticket history list displays in the Tickets tab.

  3. Click on a ticket title or ID to view the ticket details.

Creating New Tickets in the People App

You may need to create new tickets for individuals who contact your unit through a means that does not automatically generate a ticket, such as phone calls, voice mail, or walk-in visits. The People app allows you to look up the individual in the app and create a ticket from within their People record which automatically links the ticket to the record.

  1. Open the People record for the individual for whom you are creating a ticket. The Personal Details window opens displaying the record.

  2. Click the Tickets tab at the top of the People record.

  3. Click the +New button to open a new ticket.
    of New button in People App

    NOTE: The Select Application/Form window opens and provides a list of form options you may choose from. You will only see forms to which you have access.

    of Select Application Form window showing list of ticket forms

  4. In the Select Application/Form window, click the option for the type of ticket you want to create. In this example, Incident Form is selected.

  5. Fill out the ticket form fields with the details of the request. 

    NOTE: Some of the form fields will be automatically populated with information from the People app record for that individual.

  6. When you are done filling out the ticket form fields, click the Save button at the top of the ticket.

Adding Contacts to an Existing Ticket

You may use the People app to add one or more contacts to an existing ticket.

  1. Click the ticket title or ID to open the desired ticket.

  2. Click on the People tab at the top of the ticket.
    of ticket with People tab highlighted

  3. To search for a contact, either type the name of the individual into the Contacts field or click the search icon at the right side of Contacts field to open a search page and use the standard search process described in the Searching in the People App section of this job aid.
    of Contacts search box in People feature within ticket

    NOTE: Desired contacts can be searched for one at a time in the Contacts field and then selected by clicking on their names individually in the drop-down list of results. If you are using the search icon list, you may click the check boxes next to the names of the contacts to add to the ticket, then click the Insert Checked button in the popup window to finish selecting each the contact.

    of search field with contact name selected

  4. Once all contacts are selected, click the +Add button to add them to the ticket.
    of Add button for contact in ticket

NOTE: The contacts you have added to the ticket will display below the Contacts field in the People tab of the ticket. Only individual contacts may be added here. Groups cannot be added to tickets through the People app. You may go back to the General tab of the ticket and notify any of the added contacts by adding a Comment to the ticket via the ticket Feed or Update feature. Notifying a ticket contact in a communication will use the Request or versions of any notification templates connected to that ticket form (if you have custom ticket notification templates enabled).

Creating a New Contact Record

There may be times when a ticket requestor or other individual does not have an existing contact record in the People app. In those instances, you can easily create a new contact record.

  1. Click the +New Person option at the top of the People app.
    of People App tab with New Person button highlighted

    NOTE: The New Person form opens in a new window. 

    of New Person form window

  2. Fill in the form fields.

    NOTE: Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

  3. Click the Save button at the top of the form to save it and create the new record.

Updating an Existing People Record with Changes

There may be times when you may need to make updates, corrections or changes to an existing Contact record in the People App. Check with your unit regarding any special permissions required to make updates to People records.

  1. Open the contact record you want to update. The Personal Details window for that person opens, displaying the record.

  2. Click the Edit button. The Edit Person window opens.

  3. Make the necessary changes to the contact record.

    NOTE: Based on your permissions, there may be fields that are not editable.

    Image of Edit Person window

  4. Click the Save button at the top of the form to save your changes.

  5. NOTE: A message displays at the top indicating “Changes saved.

  6. Click the “X” in the upper right corner to close the Edit Person window.