Your landing page

After you log in to SWSD you are taken to your landing page. You can set your preferred landing page from your user avatar.

The toolbar

At the top of the landing page are several icons that provide useful information.

1. Search. Enter keywords into the search bar to navigate directly to areas such as:

   • Incidents
   • Catalog items
   • Solutions

2. What's new. See newsroom posts on the SolarWinds Service Desk Thwack site. Includes information about recent product updates and enhancements, as well as new features.

3. Chat. Open an engagement channel between you and your end users that allows direct communication. This results in faster resolution times as you are able to obtain all the information you need quickly.

   Enterprise Service Management (ESM) customers: Chat functionality is available only for the service provider created as a result of your ESM migration, for example, IT Service Provider.

   Icon settings:

   • An outline icon signifies there are no active chats in the queue.

   • The blue background signifies a chat is waiting in the queue. Select the chat icon to accept the chat.

   • By accepting the chat, the chat is now assigned to you.  From here you can assist your end user, create an incident (which includes the chat transcription), or end the chat.

   • The number in red represents messages received from the end users.

4. Notifications. If you have new notifications, you will be alerted by a red number. 

   Enterprise Service Management (ESM) customers receive notifications for tickets and tasks from all service providers. When a notification is clicked, the user is redirected to the service provider for that notification.

   Notifications are received regarding:

   • Incidents received.

   • Incidents resolved.

   • Incident new Incident index.

5. New. Opens a dropdown menu where you can create new objects, such as asset, catalog item, change, computer, and others.

6. Your avatar. By default, your avatar reflects your initials. When you click the icon, a dropdown menu displays, where you can select:

   • My Account

     • Profile tab. Upload a picture to your profile or change your password.

     • Settings tab. Create an email signature; select your default SWSD home page, type of display, and default opening tabs; and enable keyboard shortcuts. You can also set up an out of office message and assign new incoming records to another individual or group during your absence.

       See Out-of-office message for instructions. New incoming records can include objects such as incidents, tasks, and approvals.

   • Documentation. Opens the SolarWinds Service Desk documentation page.

   • Community - Opens the community resources site on Thwack.
     • Resource articles
     • Product announcements
     • A list of items we are working on
     • Access to the our support portal

   • Support - Opens the Service Desk Support Contact Information page. From there you can:

     • Search solarwinds.com for the information you need, including knowledge base support articles and additional guides.

     • Contact the SolarWinds support team via chat.

     • Get contact information to call your local office.

   • Go to Portal View. Open the Portal where you can create a new request, see a list of your requests and tasks, ask questions, and have valuable services and articles at your fingertips.

   • Keyboard Shortcuts. Open a list of the keyboard shortcuts offered.

   • Sign Out.

The rest of the real estate on your Dashboard is made up of several buttons and many widgets. Below we introduce you to the details contained within.

The SWSD navigation panel

On the left side of your screen is the navigation panel.

	1.	Home. By default, the home page displays content decided by your administrator. You administrator may opt to allow you to change this setting yourself. If your administrator has allowed you to change the setting, see User home page for instructions.
	2.	Dashboard. Displays information important to your daily work. You can customize the content on this page. See Dashboard.
	3.	Service Desk. Access incidents, problems, changes, the change catalog, releases, solutions, the service catalog, and the CMDB.
	4.	Assets. Access computers, software, printers, mobile devices, network devices, other assets, and a map of asset locations.
	5.	Tasks. Access a list of active tasks.
	6.	Procurement. Access contracts, purchase orders, and vendors, and reconcile records.
	7.	Risk Management. Access risks and compliance.
	8.	Analytics. Access out-of-the-box reports, create custom reports, and view and edit benchmarking information.
	9.	Help. Access documentation, the community forum, support information, and release notes.
	10.	Setup. For use by administrators in setting up your company's service desk.