Documentation forSolarWinds Service Desk

SWSD for Managed Service Providers (MSPs)

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Introduction

SWSD for MSPs is designed to allow easy management of your ITSM/ITAM services. MSPs can provide enterprise class support for their clients through means of incident management, service requests, change management, CMDB, asset management, customized portals, unique setups, and more.

The number of clients you can create is based on your purchase plan. Advanced plan customers can create up to 15 clients and Premier plan customers are allowed an unlimited number of clients. Choose the plan that’s right for you.

Architecture

SWSD for MSPs was designed to take advantage of the maturity of the SWSD platform while adding features focused on MSPs. SolarWinds does this by creating a fully licensed SWSD tenant for each of your clients and attaching that tenant to your MSP account. This allows you to have a global view of all your client accounts while giving each account the ability to have unique setups.

Diagram

The diagram below helps you understand how your client accounts are associated with your MSP account.

Each client account is its own SWSD tenant and is not directly attached to your other client accounts. This means that each client has no way of gaining access to another client’s account. This separation allows you to grant your clients independent access to their SWSD account, where they can run their reports, work incidents, and perform asset management without fearing data leakage from one tenant to another.

Inherited objects

Each client account inherits users, groups, and queues from the MSP account.

Users

  • All agents and administrators from the MSP account are added to each client account.

  • MSP users who are not administrators on the MSP level are added to each client account with no defined role. This prevents an MSP agent from gaining access to a client account they do not have direct permission to access.

  • Each MSP-level administrator is added to all client accounts as an administrator.

Groups

  • Groups created on the MSP account are synced down to all client accounts, including group members.

  • Groups from the MSP and the group agent members cannot be modified in the client account.

  • Users from the client account can be added to and removed from the groups created in the client account.

  • When a group is deleted/disabled from the MSP account, SWSD deletes/disables that group in all client accounts.

Queues

  • Queues created on the MSP account are synced down to all client accounts, including members of the queue.

  • Queues from the MSP and queue agent members cannot be modified in the client account.

  • Users from the client account can be added to and removed from the queues that were created in the client account.

  • When a queue is deleted/disabled from the MSP account, SWSD deletes/disables that queue in all client accounts.

Functionality for your MSP account

  • Unified view of all incidents from client accounts

  • Dashboards for high-level views of key performance indicators (KPIs)

Navigation

The left navigation pane provides easy access to the tools you need the most.

1. Account View lets you see which account you are currently in. It also provides a place to switch directly to a client account or back to the MSP account.
2. Dashboard lets you jump directly to your dashboard, which contains high-level widgets that allow you to see a glimpse of the performance of your agents and accounts.
3. Service Desk opens the federated incident index.
4. Setup is available only from the MSP account. This is where you configure unique options for your MSP account, such as SSO, users, queues, and other settings.

Incident index

With the federated view for incidents, MSP agents can see all incidents based on their permissions in each client account. The following fields are available as columns in the index table. Filterable fields are marked as such.

Information that displays in the MSP account from the client accounts:

Incidents & Service Requests

  • Number
  • Account (filterable)
  • SLA Breaches
  • Next Breach
  • State
  • Title
  • Priority (filterable)
  • Incident Origin (filterable)
  • Category (filterable)
  • Subcategory (filterable)
  • Assigned To (filterable) - This field displays only for MSP agents. Client-based agents cannot see it.
  • Requester (filterable)
  • Site (filterable)
  • Department (filterable)
  • Created At (filterable)
  • Created At (Timestamp) - (filterable)
  • Created By
  • Description
  • Due Date (filterable)
  • Incident/Service Request (filterable)
  • Last Assignee change at (filterable)
  • Last State change at
  • To Closure
  • Resolved At (filterable)
  • Resolution
  • Resolution Code
  • # Reassignments (filterable)
  • CC
  • Closed At (filterable)
  • Object ID
  • Resolved By
  • To Assignment
  • To First Response (Business)
  • To First Response (Elapsed)
  • To Resolution (Business)
  • To Resolution (Elapsed)
  • Total Time Spent
  • Updated At (filterable)
  • Updated At (Timestamp)

How agents can use the Incident index

All agents start with an unfiltered view of all the accounts and incidents/service requests they can access. Agents can begin by filtering tickets assigned to them. After they have a list of assigned tickets, they can start working on them by clicking the ticket title. When they click the ticket title, they are taken into the client account and directly to the ticket they clicked on. This allows your agents to easily focus on flows, custom fields, forms, and processes for that client. It also ensures that only requesters and agents with access to that client account can be assigned tickets, @mentioned, or submit request tickets.

After your agent finishes working on the ticket, they can click on the back arrow to navigate back to the federated view of all the client accounts. From there, they can click the next ticket to work.

Set up a new client

  1. From the MSP account, navigate to Setup > Client Accounts.

  2. Click on Add (+) in the top right corner of the index page.

  3. Fill in the following fields:

    1. Name. Mandatory; is used in the index and client switcher.

    2. Description. Allows you to provide additional information about the client.

    3. URL. Mandatory; becomes the URL you can use to navigate directly to the client account.

      You can change the URL to your client’s domain via domain mapping in the client account’s setup.

  4. Verify that the client account is available by checking the Account Status column. If available, it shows as Active.

  5. After it is active, you can switch to the client account via the client account switcher located in the top of the navigation menu.

Each client account is a standard SWSDaccount. SolarWinds recommends that you follow published documentation for each client account. See SolarWinds Service Desk Documentation.

How do I get access to SolarWinds Service Desk for MSPs?

If you are interested in Service Desk for MSPs, contact itsm-sales@solarwinds.com.

Questions

Can I use Enterprise Service Management (ESM)on a client account?

ESM is not currently supported on the client account level.

Is the mobile app available to MSP clients?

The mobile app is not currently available to MSP clients.

Can I attach my current SWSD ITSM account to a newly created MSP account?

This is currently not supported. SolarWinds is working to allow you to attach your current SWSD ITSM account to an MSP account so you can manage them as a client account.