Add an Attachment to a Ticket

Overview

Attachments can be added to an Enterprise Service Management (ESM) ticket at any time to facilitate access to supporting documentation necessary to fulfill the requested work. These can be text, images, or other files as appropriate. Attachments can be added by customers, as well as department employees as they work the ticket.

Tip
This article's primary focus is for UA Employees with access to one or more ESM applications (i.e. TDNext). While some of the information here may be useful, a customer oriented Add an Attachment to a Ticket KB article may be more applicable.

While directly attaching files is a great method for historical references, it does make it more difficult for individuals to collaborate on the the file(s). In order to accomplish this, a person would need to download the attachment, and then re-attach the revised version. The ESM attachments system supports both file uploads from a computer, or attaching external documents from other file hosting services. Creating a link to a file located within an online hosting service creates a much more effective method for multiple individuals to collaborate on active files. The ESM system currently supports the following hosting services:

  • Google Workspace @ UA - Google Drive
  • Microsoft 365 @ UA - OneDrive for Business
Warning
Physical Files
All attachments on Tickets are visible in the Service Portal by anyone that can see the Ticket. This is the Primary Contact (Requestor), and any Additional Contacts on the Ticket. They are also visible to all individuals with access to the department's ticketing application within TDNext.
External Files
All hosted attachments are visible within the ESM system; however, access to the file(s) is restricted based up on which Visibility Option is selected at the time the link was created to the source file. The ESM system only stores a pointer to the source file, and does not create a copy of the file(s) stored on the hosting service.

In this article:

What materials do I need?

  • Web Browser
  • Access to either the Service/Client Portal, or TDNext

How do I use this technology?

File Restrictions

There are a few restrictions for any files that are directly uploaded to the ESM system. These restrictions include both file size, and file type. File size is enforced to reduce the time it takes to upload file attachments, while type enforcement occurs to prevent dangerous files from being added as attachments.

File Size Restrictions

The default file size restriction for physical attachments is 4 MB. However, a number of components within the ESM system often support higher file size. In these cases, the limit will be increased accordingly. The following components have file size restrictions greater than 4 MB:

  • Asset Contracts: 20 MB
  • Project Requests: 50 MB
  • Ticket Requests:
    • 20 MB - This is the drag-and-drop feature for content being uploaded in a single session.
    • 50 MB - When in a ticket, clicking the Add Attachment from my computer option in a single session.
  • Knowledge Base Articles:
    • 4 MB - This is the drag-and-drop feature for content being uploaded in a single session.
    • 50 MB - When editing a KB article, clicking the Add Attachment from my computer option in a single session.

File Type Restrictions

The ESM system enforces the following file type restrictions for files submitted through email. This prevents certain dangerous file types (such as scripts) from being added to the system. The following file types are allowed:

  • ai
  • bmp
  • csv
  • doc / docx
  • dotx
  • eml
  • gif
  • htm / html
  • ics
  • jpg / jpeg
  • log
  • mdb
  • mp3
  • mp4
  • mpg / mpeg
  • mpp
  • msg
  • pdf
  • png
  • ppt / pptx
  • psd
  • rar
  • rtf
  • swf
  • tdplan
  • tif / tiff
  • txt
  • vcs
  • vsd / vsdx
  • wav
  • wma
  • wmv
  • xls / xlsx
  • xml
  • zip

The ESM system does not enforce these restrictions for attachments added within the application's web interface.

Adding Attachments

Attachments can be added using one of the following methods, depending on where in the system you are.

Service Portal (Customer)

  1.  
  2. Login to the Service Portal.
  3. Locate and open the desired ticket.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • Drag and drop the desired attachment(s) into the Attachments box in the web browser.
    • In the Attachments box click the Add Attachments button.
      1. An Add Attachments dialog window will open.
      2. Click the link associated with where your file is located (i.e. from your computerfrom Google Drive, or from OneDrive for Business).
        • If from your computer is select, do the following:
          1. Click Browse.
            1. Navigate to the location on your computer containing the desired file(s).
            2. Select the file(s).
            3. Click Upload.
          2. In the Add Attachments dialog, confirm that the correct file(s) have been selected.
          3. Click Upload.
          4. Wait while the file(s) are uploaded.
          5. After the upload successfully message is displayed, close the Add Attachments window.
        • If from Google Drive is selected, do the following:
          1. Click Select from Google Drive.
          2. At the Sign in to continue to UA TeamDynamix Google Drive Integration prompt enter your UA Email address, then click Next.
            1. The screen will refresh to show UA's standard Google Workspace for Education logoin prompt. Login as normal.
          3. At the UA TeamDynamix Google Drive Integration wants access to your Google Account prompt, click Continue.
          4. In the Select Attachments window, click the desired file(s).
          5. Click Select.
          6. After the uploaded successfully message is displayed, close the Add Google Drive Attachments window.
        • If from OneDrive for Business is selected, do the following:
          1. In the Add OneDrive for Business Attachments dialog select the desired Visibility Options from the drop-down menu.
            • The Microsoft 365 visibility options determines the permissions which will be enforced for the link(s). Available options are:
              • Organization Default
              • Visible to Organization
              • Editable by Organization
              • Visible to Anyone
              • Editable by Anyone
          2. Click Select from OneDrive for Business button.
          3. If this is the first time you've attempted to link a file from your OneDrive for Business account to ESM you may see the following Permissions requested prompt, click Accept.
          4. In the Pick files dialog click the desired file(s).
          5. Click Select.
          6. After the uploaded successfully message is displayed, close the Add OneDrive for Business Attachments window.
  5. Verify the desired file(s) have been attached/linked to the ticket.

TDNext (Department Employee)

  1. Login to the TDNext.
  2. Locate and open the desired ticket.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Drag and drop the desired attachment(s) into the Attachments box in the web browser. 
    • In the Attachments box click the Add Attachments button.
      1. An Add Attachments dialog window will open.
      2. Click the link associated with where your file is located (i.e. from your computerfrom Google Drive, or from OneDrive for Business).
        • If from your computer is select, do the following:
          1. Click Browse.
            1. Navigate to the location on your computer containing the desired file(s).
            2. Select the file(s).
            3. Click Upload.
          2. In the Add Attachments dialog, confirm that the correct file(s) have been selected.
          3. Click Upload.
          4. Wait while the file(s) are uploaded.
          5. After the upload successfully message is displayed, close the Add Attachments window.
        • If from Google Drive is selected, do the following:
          1. Click Select from Google Drive.
          2. At the Sign in to continue to UA TeamDynamix Google Drive Integration prompt enter your UA Email address, then click Next.
            1. The screen will refresh to show UA's standard Google Workspace for Education logoin prompt. Login as normal.
          3. At the UA TeamDynamix Google Drive Integration wants access to your Google Account prompt, click Continue.
          4. In the Select Attachments window, click the desired file(s).
          5. Click Select.
          6. After the uploaded successfully message is displayed, close the Add Google Drive Attachments window.
        • If from OneDrive for Business is selected, do the following:
          1. In the Add OneDrive for Business Attachments dialog select the desired Visibility Options from the drop-down menu.
            • The Microsoft 365 visibility options determines the permissions which will be enforced for the link(s). Available options are:
              • Organization Default
              • Visible to Organization
              • Editable by Organization
              • Visible to Anyone
              • Editable by Anyone
          2. Click Select from OneDrive for Business button.
          3. If this is the first time you've attempted to link a file from your OneDrive for Business account to ESM you may see the following Permissions requested prompt, click Accept.
          4. In the Pick files dialog click the desired file(s).
          5. Click Select.
          6. After the uploaded successfully message is displayed, close the Add OneDrive for Business Attachments window.
  4. Verify the desired file(s) have been attached/linked to the ticket.

Confidential Attachments

Important
Only files provided by the customer, additional contacts added to a ticket, or that are to be shared with the customer should be attached/uploaded to the ticket.

Departments needing to reference confidential material that should only be seen/accessed by a specific audience, such as department employees for internal work products, should not attach the file(s), even as an external file, to the ticket. Instead we recommend the following options.

Text Only Content

If the contents of a file is text only, with minimum "rich-text formatting", none of the meta-data associated with the file is relevant/import (e.g. file creation date, file modified date, etc.), and the overall text length is short, the contents of the file can be copy and pasted into the ticket as a private comment.

Before using this option, also consider how difficult the contents would be to read/comprehend as a comment since not all rich-text formatting maybe retained when adding a comment.

  1. Open the desired file.
  2. Select the desired content.
  3. Copy the content.
  4. Open ticket.
  5. Click Comment.
  6. Select Make comments private (only visible to <App Name> users).
  7. Paste text into comment field.
  8. Click Save.

All other Content

Department leadership should identify a single hosting service (i.e. Microsoft Teams, Google Shared Drive) that all confidential ticket material is stored within. Herein referred to as Confidential Repository.

Any content that does not qualify for the Text Only Content above should be archived as follows.

  1. Save the file to your desktop.
  2. Prepend the ticket number to the file name.
    • For example a file with the name "Confidential Investigation Request.docx" would become "111111 - Confidential Investigation Request.docx"
  3. Open Department's confidential repository (e.g. MS Teams ESM UAA Example App)
  4. Navigate to appropriate location in the Confidential Repository (e.g. General channel -> Files -> Confidential ESM Attachments)
  5. If one does not already exist, create a new folder with a name of "<Ticket ID> - <Ticket Name>" (e.g. 123456 - Security Investigation).
    If this is the first confidential file associated with the ticket, do the following:
    1. Follow the hosting service's process for retrieving a link (i.e. URL) to the newly created folder. If provided an option to determine access permissions the link will grant select People with existing access (or equivalent) whenever possible.
    2. In a web browser access the department's ESM ticketing app.
    3. Open the relevant ticket.
    4. Click Comment.
      1. Select Make comments private (only visible to <ESM Department Name> users).
      2. Add the following text: "Confidential files associated with this ticket can be accessed via the following url."
      3. Add a new line by pressing return.
      4. Paste the URL to the file uploaded into Confidential Repository into the comment field.
      5. Click Save.
  6. Click Comment.
    1. Select Make comments private (only visible to <ESM Department Name> users).
    2. Add the following text: "A new file has been added to the ticket's confidential repository."
    3. Add any helpful information about the file such as the file name, and the purpose of the file in regards to the ticket.
    4. Optional, paste the URL to the file uploaded into Confidential Repository into the comment field.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Delete the file from your desktop, and empty the trash.

Need additional help or have issues

For support, requests may be submitted anytime using the appropriate Enterprise Service Management form. Requests generate a Ticket which will be worked in order received and urgency by IT Employees with the knowledge and permissions to assist with the request.

For immediate assistance please review the Contact Us page for the appropriate support group.

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Details

Article ID: 1395
Created
Thu 1/26/23 9:16 AM
Modified
Fri 5/31/24 8:39 AM