Documentation forSolarWinds Service Desk

Runbooks

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Introduction

The use of runbooks is available to Premier plan customers.

Runbooks document processes in an automated workflow. In SolarWinds Service Desk (SWSD) these runbooks help to structure the naturally unstructured process of incident resolution by documenting best practices established by experts or experienced agents. Runbooks are centrally stored.

The ability to create runbooks is role-based. Users with administrator access to Setup > Service Desk can create runbooks.

Agents can attach runbooks to incident tickets to show the troubleshooting and resolution process, and that information can be used by other agents for future similar issues.

If your organization requires full authentication on each approval request, runbooks are affected. See Service Desk global settings.

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Setup > Service Desk > Runbooks

Service Provider > Service Desk > Runbooks

Runbooks index table

The Runbooks index page contains a list of all your organization's runbooks. You can see that each runbook is assigned a number. Numbers are assigned consecutively as new runbooks are created. To filter the click, click Edit View. For more information, see List view and Filtering options.

Columns

Columns available on the Runbook table are:

  • Number. The number assigned to the runbook when it was created.
  • Title. The name created for the runbook when it was created.
  • Scope. The object the runbook is scoped to.
  • Updated at. The date the last edit was made to the runbook.
  • Last used. The last time the runbook was attached and run.
  • Updated by. The name of the individual who last edited the runbook.
  • Description. A description of the runbook added by the creator.
  • Active toggle. The toggle that makes the runbook available (or unavailable) for use in an incident.
  • Ellipsis options. Hovering over the far right end of the record displays an ellipsis that offers editing options. When the ellipsis is clicked the user can delete or clone the runbook.

Filtering options

The Runbooks table can be filtered on the following fields:

  • Name (text-based field)
  • Scope (dropdown list of all objects that use runbooks)
  • Creator (user list)
  • Last run (custom date, last day, 7, 14, 21, or 30 days)
  • Active (Yes or No field)

Runbook features and limitations

  • Each incident can have only one runbook.
  • Runbooks cannot start on their own. They can only be started and stopped with user interaction.
  • When a runbook process is stopped, the process returns to its beginning.
  • A runbook midstream in its process cannot be replaced unless it is stopped first.
  • Runbooks can be assigned or attached via APIs.
  • All runbook-related actions are documented in the audit log.

Runbook creation

Runbooks can be created using two different methods: create from scratch or use GenAI to generate.

Enterprise Service Management (ESM) service providers can create their own service-provider specific runbooks.

In addition, runbooks can be edited at any time. Edits to a runbook do not affect already inflight processes.

Create a runbook from scratch

  1. From the Runbook index table, click in the upper right corner.

  2. Provide a title and description (required).

  3. On the Inputs bar, click and then proceed through the screen prompts to add a field.

  4. Under the Process bar, click to add a process. For more information on adding a process, see Configure service catalog: process.

Use GenAI to generate a runbook

Prerequisite: Before you can use GenAI to generate a runbook, change the AI Generated Runbook setting.

When a GenAI runbook is generated, it can:

  • Extract relevant information from the recorded processes, including textual content.
  • Recognize and understand the sequential steps or processes outlined in your document.
    • It identifies your decision points within the processes and represent them in the generated workflow to capture conditional logic.
    • It also analyzes dependencies between different steps or processes to accurately represent the workflow structure.

Methods for generating GenAI runbooks

Two options are available for generating a runbook using GenAI:

Option 1: Generate a runbook from a Word or PDF file

  1. From the Runbook index table, click Generate Runbook in the upper right corner.

  2. From the dropdown list, select Generate by file (PDF, Word).

    • If SWSD is able to interpret the contents of the Word or PDF file, it generates a runbook.

    • If not, a message displays: Unable to Generate Runbook from the uploaded file because AI couldn't understand the text in the file.

      Consider editing the contents of your file.

Option 2: Generate a runbook from free text

  1. From the Runbook index table, click Generate Runbook in the upper right corner.

  2. From the dropdown list, select Generate by free text.

  3. In the Prompt dialog, profvide the information you want used in the runbook.

  4. When finished, click Generate.

    A Create Runbook dialog appears.

  5. Change the title as needed.

  6. Added Description and Scope.

  7. Under Process, edit the contents as needed. If necessary, you can click Reginerate Runbook in the upper right.

    SolarWinds recommends that you not delete the runbook file used as your source. If you do, the entire runbook is deleted.

  8. Click Create.

Edit an existing runbook

  1. From the Runbook index table, click the link to the runbook you want to edit.

  2. In the Edit Runbook dialog, make changes as needed.

    You can edit process steps by clicking to the right of the process name and then clicking the pencil icon to edit or clicking the Replace Step icon to change the step to a different action type. You can also copy to clipboard or delete.

  3. When finished, click Update.

Delete a runbook

There are multiple ways to delete a runbook.

  • From the Runbooks index page scroll to the far right of the runbook and hovering over the pop-up ellipsis. Click the ellipsis, and then select Delete.

  • From the Runbooks index page, click the runbook, then in the Edit Runbook dialog, if a trash can appears under the Process tab, the runbook was created from a file. Click the trash can to delete the file used to generate the runbook and the runbook itself.

Delete a runbook generated by GenAI

If you delete the attachment file used by AI to generate a runbook in SWSD, both the attachment and the AI-generated runbook are deleted.

SolarWinds recommends that you do not delete a runbook generated by GenAI unless you are certain it will not be needed in the future.

Attach a runbook to an incident

To attach an existing runbook to an incident ticket:

  1. Open the incident ticket.

  2. Click the Process tab.

  3. Click .

  4. Use the search feature to locate the appropriate runbook and then select it.

    If appropriate, you can select the checkbox on the right to start the runbook after it is added.

  5. Click Add Runbook in the lower right corner.

Run a runbook on an incident

From an open incident ticket, select the Process tab, and then click Start Process to the right of the runbook.

At any time you can click Stop the Process to return to the beginning of the process.

You can delete a runbook, but you must first stop any inflight process.

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