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First of all, we invite you to examine the various possibilities offered by the application.

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The list of available help topics can be viewed on the Help page.

Wishing you a most pleasant experience,

The Octopus team.

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List of Octopus’s main functionalities

	Incident / SR Management module This module enables the efficient management of incidents in conformity with the ITIL best-practices. The ITIL practice of incident management aims to restore service as promptly as possible while generating a minimal level of impact upon current operations. An incident is an event that is not part of the normal course of activities and which causes or is likely to cause a service breach or a reduction in the quality of services provided. The incident management module is currenlty used to manage service requests (SR). Task-based user interface.  Several optimised contextual commands are available in order to update an incident’s status. Incident template.  Accelerate and standardise incident entry thanks to predefined situation types (ex: create a Windows account). Quick-call incident template.  Create and close an incident directly from the incident creation form. The “Issue”, “Category”, “Subcategory”, “Resolution code” and “Duration” fields will be automatically filled in. Association of the affected piece of equipment or software to the incident.  At the moment of incident creation, display the list of equipment and software related to the user, thus making it easy to associate the failing piece of equipment to the incident. Intuitive interface. Display all active windows in separate tabs. It is also possible to modify an incident directly from an incident view. Incident views. Display predetermined incident views: my incidents, new incidents, incidents sorted by level of priority or by date, incidents or SRs due this week, pending, resolved or late incidents, etc. Resolution activities log.  Maintain a log of all activities, by whom they were performed, when, and for what duration. Notification.  Technical agents are notified by email, by pop-up, by means of a list or by text message in the following events: incident created, assigned, closed or resolved by another technician, lease or purchase contract coming to term, Service Level Agreement (SLA) breaches or warnings, reminders. Users are notified by email in the following events: incident / SR creation, processing, or closure. For several of these events, it is possible to configure an adapted message. Quick search.  Search for an incident or CI by specifying its number or a keyword contained within any of the text fields. Advanced search. New high performance tool enabling to search one or several predetermined fields by adding personalised criteria using the main fields of the incident and CI forms. Attached files.  Once attached, a file may be modified directly from the application. Service Level Agreement (SLA) management Priority management Management of maximum delays by category and subcategory for SRs Management of time percentages for 1st and 2^nd warnings Color preference management to symbolise breaches in the main grid Service hours of operation management Click here to go to the SLA help page. Click here to access the Incident management module’s help page.
	Change management module This module enables the efficient management of RFCs (requests for change) in conformity with the ITIL best-practices. The ITIL practice of change management aims to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all Changes, in order to minimize the impact of Change-related Incidents upon service quality, and consequently to improve the day-to-day operations of the organisation. Requests for Change (RFCs) are triggered for a wide variety of reasons, from a wide variety of sources; for instance, required resolution of an Incident or Problem report, user dissatisfaction via the helpdesk, etc. Request that can be concerned with a change in any part of the infrastructure or with any service or activity : hardware, software, documentation, telecommunication, procedures, plans, etc. For instance, an OS change for the whole network, a major software upgrade for all computers. A form with specific information related to the RFC A change Report A quick access to the RFCs lists. Many statuses linked with the step in the change process Click here to access the Change management module’s help page.
	Problem management module This module enables the efficient management of problems in conformity with the ITIL best-practices. The ITIL practice of problem management aims to aims to minimize the impact of Incidents and Problems on the business that are caused by errors within the IT infrastructure, and to prevent recurrence of Incidents related to these errors. Problem management seeks to get to the root cause of Incidents and then initiate actions to improve or correct the situation. A form with specific information related to the problem A problem report A quick access to the problems lists Click here to access the Problem management module’s help page.
	Configuration Management The configuration management module enables you to manage all the equipment and software composing your IT infrastructure. The ITIL-based practice of configuration management involves the identification, monitoring, maintenance, and verification of all equipment and software forming your IT infrastructure. The equipment and software that need to be monitored in order to ensure the convened level of service are called “Configuration items” (CIs). CIs are recorded in a Configuration Management Database (CMDB). 20+ CI types. Workstation, server, monitor, printer, software, networking equipment, telephony equipment, etc. Relationships between CIs. The ability to define relationships (“Uses”, “Is connected to”, “Has installed”, etc.) is the principal distinguishing element between inventory management and configuration management. The definition of relationships between CIs makes it possible to consult, for instance: The list of all equipment connected to a computer; The list of software installed on a computer and, conversely, the list of computers upon which a given piece of software is installed; The list of equipment and software affected in the occurrence of a server unavailability. This information can also be used to analyse the impact of a change. The dynamic inventory enables the automatic creation of most relationships between CIs. Dynamic inventory. Automatically import the configuration information of the computers forming your local network, that is: The manufacturer, model, serial number, processor type, memory, etc.; The computer’s users; The software installed; The local printers. · Active Directory integration. Import the list of users and computers defined within your Windows domain. · Equipment status. Enables to know if a piece of equipment is in operation, under repair, in stock or if it has been retired.  · History of incidents and changes related to the piece of equipment. This information provided by this feature is very helpful for incident resolution or when performing the follow-through of changes brought to a piece of equipment. · History of modifications brought to a CI. This feature enables to record things such as a change in name, the modification of a configuration attribute (addition of memory, for instance), etc. Click here to access the Configuration management module’s help page.
	Self-service Web application Reduce the technical support center’s number of incoming calls. Enable your users to submit and follow their requests and other issues via a Web interface. Click here to access the Self-service Web application’s help page.
	Reminder Management In order to facilitate the organisation of your work, it is possible for you to create reminders. You will be notified when the reminder has come to term. When the reminder is associated to a specific incident, it will be displayed in the form of a “post-it”, superimposed over the incident form. Click here to access the Reminder Management’s help page.
	Reports Incident, RFC, Problem and CI report CI and incident / SR lists Summary of the duration of activities by site Data extraction in Excel. The XML format enables to view and to analyse the data (cross-tabulations, graphical charts, etc.) pertaining to statistics on the evolution of the number of incidents and requests for change over various time periods. Indicators Performance Report which contains key performance indicators (KPI) related to incident requests. Click here to access the Reports module’s help page.
	Supplier and Contact Management Supplier information Related contact information Information regarding service contracts and related CIs Information regarding lease contracts and related CIs Click here to access the Supplier module’s help page.
	My Dashboard Graphs with data mining using the following themes: Workload for each agent Average resolution time in days Incidents open since which amount of time Service Level Agreement conformity Click here to access the Dashboard’s help page.
	Statistics Consists of a graph presenting the number of incidents/SRs according to the following criteria: By month By category By department For each of these graphs, it is possible to use the following items as filters: Display of incidents or SRs Number of incidents/SRs with the new, resolved or open status, or number of Service Level Agreement (SLA) breaches Choice of period Choice of priority Choice of category Click here to access the Statistics module’s help page.
	Integrated dictionary for spell-checking

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