Documentation forSolarWinds Service Desk

SolarWinds Service Desk August 2024 release notes

Updated: August 25, 2024

These release notes describe the new features, enhancements, improvements, and fixed issues in SolarWinds Service Desk (SWSD).

If you are looking for earlier release notes for SWSD, see Previous release notes.

New features, improvements, and enhancements in SWSD


Released August 25, 2024

New GenAI features in Labs for Premier customers in US and EU datacenters

You can use GenAI to create a new runbook from an existing text-based file or plain text

You can use GenAI to autogenerate a new runbook from an existing text-based (Word or PDF) process or by adding free text in the Generate Runbook dialog. Only administrators can generate a runbook using GenAI. See Labs.

You can change some workflow step types to another one

SolarWinds has added the ability for you to change the type of a workflow process step in a Runbook to another step type without losing any data. For example, you can change a Task step to an Approval step. Options are currently limited to specific process step types in Labs.

You can now apply Data Masking

Data masking protects sensitive information from unauthorized access and maintains data privacy. Masking applies only to attachment content, not the file name. When enabled, data masking applies on all channels: Teams, Slack, Virtual Agent, and mobile. See Labs.

CSV export enhancement

Incidents export to CSV contains new data points and the Request variables column was removed.

When you export incidents to a CSV file, the following data points are now included:

  • First Touch Resolution. True or False
  • Time Spent by Agent. Pulled from manual tracking data, provides agent name and time
  • All custom fields in service requests. Provided as columns

If you are exporting via CSV-All Columns, the number of columns in the export will increase based on the number of service request custom fields your company uses. You can find all of your custom fields in their own columns.

Additional computer fields are available for automations

SolarWinds made four computer fields available for automations. They are:

  • IP Address Range. You can set conditions for the automation rule based on the IP address range of your computers and execute the rule using one of the following operators:
    • Within
    • Not Within
    • Empty
    • Not Empty
  • Drive Space Used. You can set conditions for the automation rules based on the percentage of drive space used by using one of these operators:
    • Greater than
    • Smaller than
  • Model. You can set the model of your devices as a condition in automation rules. The model field allows you to search using keywords for complete or partial expressions. You can also use regular expressions in this field.
  • Keyword. The keyword condition in automation rules lets you specify a keyword to search within your asset fields. You can also use regular expressions in this condition.

Released August 18, 2024

Advance notice of expiring SSL certificates

To help you prevent your account from becoming blocked or unavailable due to an expired certificate, SolarWinds added a banner that displays at the top of every page an administrator visits to inform them of the expiring certificate. The banner appears when an SSL certificate will expire 45 days in advance of its expiration. See Advance notice of expiring certificates.

Use custom states to change or add a state for assets

You can now create custom states for assets. See Custom states.

ESM customers can now configure their service portal page to use any URL

SWSD ESM now supports the use of a flexible sub domain for the IT service provider in addition to all other service providers. See Create a service provider.Create a service provider

ESM customers can now create a new provider using a template

Three new service provider templates are available for Advanced and Premier customers. The templates are: Blank template, Sample template, and Human Resources. When you create a new service provider using one of the templates you have the benefit of the new service provider account being populated with usable categories, custom fields, catalog items, and solutions, and you can create your own. The service provider account is also set up with specific features enabled or disabled based on the type of template you selected. You can always change the settings for the service provider later. See Create a service provider.


Released August 4, 2024

Updated Power BI connector

SolarWinds expanded the Power BI connector to pull data based on the updated_at column instead of created_at.

Customers can now follow new records in SolarWinds Service Desk and their progress.

Customer effects: Every refresh you perform will pull all records changes, including new records or records where their data was changed during the date range you set. This may change your reports in Power BI Desktop and the Power BI Service.

For more information, see Power BI Connector.

Release is dependent on Microsoft's deployment as planned.

New color scheme for platform view

To align the platform with updated SWSD branding, colors throughout the platform were updated. There should be no impact on any customization you have made to your requester portal.


Fixes

Case number Description

01669591

 

Issue related to automation rules and round robin assignments to queues is now behaving as expected. Round Robin assignment is triggered when an incident is assigned by automation rules.
01598995 The GenAI Sentiment Analysis feature is now returning results as expected. Future incidents created after the fix that contain potential negative sentiment will be flagged as intended.
   

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