When information flows between VSM and another system, like Service Now, there is often a requirement to pass specific information that assists in linking customers or equipment. 

A typical example might be identifying servers with a certain Service Level Agreement (SLA), and ensuring that any alarms raised within VSM, which impact those servers, pass that SLA

information through (to third party systems) for additional processing.

Overview

It is possible to associate VSM objects, such as equipment, locations, or customers with a tag.

A tag comprises:

• Top-level Tag Category
  • Key
    • Additionally, each key may have a descriptive value associated with it.

Example 1, a Service Level Agreement tag might look like this:

Users could then configure their workflows so that for every VSM Alarm, the equipment or location details associated with that alarm are checked against the SLA Tag category.

Based on the key the alarm is then actioned accordingly.

Example 2, a Business Partner creates a tag to identify versions of ACMs across their entire Customer base:

Users could then go through the entire ACM equipment list for all customers and assign them a version. Then, from the tag management page, they could query all ACMs on Version 8.  

Users could then also set up a workflow which passes through the tag details in the alarm object, allowing a third-party integration tool, such as Service Now, to take a specific action, based on the ACM version.

Configuration and Management

For business partners, tags are accessed via the top menu under Service Desk> Manage All Tags - Preview.

At a customer level, view and configure tags via Service Desk> Manage Tags

How to add a Tag:

1. Select Add Tag.
2. Give your Tag Category a name and add a minimum of 1 key.
   1. to add a  key you must click on +
   2. Key values and associations are optional
   3. to add additional keys, enter key name and select +
3. Click the Save button to save your Tag Category.
4. To delete a Tag Category and all keys, right click and select Delete Category.
5. To edit a Tag Category, right click and select Edit.
   1. To edit a key, use the symbols to the right of the key to add modify or delete 

For business partners, Tags may be private and not visible to customers or public and available to all users, including all customer users.   

Tags can be inherited, that is:

• if 'all' for a location is selected, all equipment beneath that location will be automatically associated with that tag, including any subsequent new equipment added.     
• if all locations under a customer are selected, any new locations added in future will automatically be associated with that tag, and also any equipment beneath it.   

For example:

Customer 2  has a Silver SLA requiring an 8 hour response time on all equipment except for their Test Lab, which is configured under a location called Test Lab. 

Business partners should create the tag as follows. 

In this example,

• Customer 1, all their locations, and equipment are associated with the Service Level Agreement Tag Key, Silver
• Customer 2, and all their equipment under 'Location 2 - Production' are associated with the Service Level Agreement Key, Silver
• Customer 3 is not associated with the Service Level Agreement Key, Silver

The Tag is private, and so will not be visible to those customer, and visibility will remain restricted to only the business partner users.

The Gold key is associated with a different customer, and the Unsupported, and Bronze keys have not yet been associated with any objects (customers, locations, or equipment).

Tags are integrated throughout VSM, for example on the Service Desk → Equipment Location → Manage Equipment Page, or via the Table view of the Landing Page

Overriding tags, and adding tags on the equipment level

It is also possible to configure tags at the equipment level.  This is useful when:

• Adding or editing equipment, without needing to navigate away from the Manage Equipment page to the Tag Management page
• Overriding default inherited tags - where are tag has been configured to be applied to all objects, under a customer, or location - any new tags will automatically be associated with that tag.  However, this can be over-ridden on the equipment level by un-associating the tag

External Integration via Workflows

Tags for any object can flow through workflows to be consumed by an external third party.  

There are two workflow Activities:

• Get Tags
• Get Tag Details