Investigations for End Users
An Investigation provides a structured way for Remote Service Engineers (RSEs) and service agents to diagnose and resolve issues reported during a Case, Work Order, or Service Request. An Investigation is associated with an Installed Product and helps users capture observations, evaluate potential root causes, and review or apply appropriate solutions.
The Investigation uses predefined dictionary items maintained by administrators. These items include:
• Observations describe the issue or symptom identified during the service process.
• Root Causes describe the reason or condition that leads to the issue.
• Solutions describe the action taken to resolve the issue.
The content displayed on the Investigation is filtered based on the product applicability rules configured by administrators, so that users see only Observations, Root Causes, and Solutions that are relevant to the specific Installed Product. Using Investigations helps maintain continuity across related service transactions, reduces repeated troubleshooting effort, improves first-time fix rates, and ensures consistent and traceable service outcomes.
The Investigation data is displayed in the Investigation widget, which is available on Case, Work Order, and Service Request pages.
Key Capabilities
Following are the key capabilities of the Investigation:
• Investigation Widget: Displays Observations, Root Causes, and Solutions linked to the Investigation. Each item shows its status and contributor.
• Installed Product Awareness: If the transaction involves multiple Installed Products, an Installed Product drop-down is displayed. Selecting an installed product switches to the Investigation associated with that Installed Product. If there is no existing Investigation for the selected Installed Product, the system creates a new one.
• Product Applicability-Based Filtering: The list of available Observations, Root Causes, and Solutions is filtered automatically based on the Installed Product. The system evaluates the applicability entries defined for each dictionary item (Observation Applicabilities, Root Cause Applicabilities, and Solution Applicabilities) in combination with the Product Applicability Rules configured by administrators. For more information, see
Observation Applicabilities,
Root Cause Applicabilities,
Solution Applicabilities, and
Product Applicability Rules.
Users will only see those dictionary items that are relevant to the Installed Product. Items that are not applicable will not appear in the search results. This ensures that Remote Service Engineers work with only meaningful and context-appropriate options.
• Adding Dictionary Items: RSEs can add Observations, Root Causes, and Solutions from the filtered dictionary. RSEs cannot create new dictionary items. Dictionary management is performed by administrators.
• Updating Item Status: Each dictionary item includes a status indicator to show whether it is confirmed, rejected, or still being evaluated. RSEs can update the status as troubleshooting progresses.
• Work Plan Integration for Solutions: If a Solution is linked to a Work Plan, it appears in the widget only when working on a Work Order. RSEs can view or add the Work Plan to the Work Order from the widget.
• Continuation Across Transactions: If the issue moves from a Case to a Work Order, a Service Request to a Work Order, or from one Work Order to another, the same Investigation can be continued instead of creating a new one. This ensures continuity across related service transactions, preserves all diagnostic findings in one record, and prevents duplicate Investigations.
End-to-End Workflow
The Investigation process involves the following steps:
1. Open a Case, Work Order, or Service Request and navigate to the Investigation widget.
2. If multiple Installed Products are present, select the relevant Installed Product.
3. If the transaction has a predecessor that already contains an Investigation for the same Installed Product, you can choose to Continue that Investigation. If the issue is different and needs to be tracked separately, you can choose to Start a New Investigation instead.
4. Add or review Observations, Root Causes, and Solutions. The list of available items is automatically filtered based on the Product Applicability Rules.
5. Update item statuses as information is confirmed or ruled out.
6. If working in a Work Order and a Solution includes a Work Plan, view or add the Work Plan if needed.
7. Complete the Investigation when troubleshooting is finished to support knowledge reuse and future troubleshooting.
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