The service catalog contains the service items that employees can request as part of the employee service experience. Service catalog items are pages in the service catalog, where Guide admins can create and publish both digital and physical services that employees can request from their help center.
When an employee requests a service from the service catalog, a ticket is created and linked to the service catalog item. Agents can use the Zendesk Agent Workspace to address the request and solve the ticket.
The service catalog EAP marks the beginning of the development of a robust service catalog experience.
About the EAP Availability
The service catalog EAP is available for users on Zendesk Suite Growth, Professional and Enterprise plans. However, when the service catalog moves out of EAP and is released, it will be available only for Employee Service (ES) Suite plans. This means that while you can try out this feature on your Zendesk Suite instance, it will not be available on Zendesk Suite long term.
For more details about the release plan, and for a list of EAP participant requirements, see Announcing the service catalog EAP.
Turning on the service catalog
By default, the service catalog is not activated in your account. You can turn on the service catalog to activate the feature and gain access to the admin interface, where you can create and manage services.
To turn on the service catalog
- In Guide admin, click the Settings (
) icon in the sidebar.
- If you have multiple help centers, click the
brand selector, then select the help center where you want to turn on the
service catalog.
- Under Service catalog, select Turn on service
catalog.
- Click Update.
The service catalog icon appears in the Guide admin sidebar (
). You can click this icon to create and manage services. See Creating services and View and edit services below.
Updating your theme
In order for employee end users to view and use the service catalog in your help center, you must first make sure that your theme supports the service catalog. Depending on the type of theme you are using, you can either use the beta version of the standard Copenhagen theme to support the service catalog, or you can add service catalog functionality to a custom theme.
Before updating your live theme, make and retain a copy of the theme in Guide theming or another location where you can access it in case you need to revert your changes.
To use your Copenhagen theme
- In Guide, click the Customize design icon (
) in the sidebar.
The Themes page opens.
- Click the Add themes drop-down list, then select Add Copenhagen
theme (Beta).
The new theme appears in your Theme library.
- If you're currently using the standard Copenhagen theme and want to import
customized settings (such as colors or logos) to the Copenhagen (Beta)
theme, then click the options menu icon (
on the Copenhagen (Beta) theme, and select Apply settings.
All settings from your current live theme will be copied to the Copenhagen (Beta) theme.
- When you are ready to make the Copenhagen (Beta) theme live, then click the
options menu icon (
on the Copenhagen (Beta) theme, and select Set as live theme.
-
Confirm that you want to make this theme live for your help center.
The theme moves to the top of the page and is applies to your live help center.
- Check the templating API version for your custom theme. If you are not using templating API v4, follow the instructions to upgrade before you continue.
- Download your live help center theme and unzip the theme folder.
- Click the following links to open the service catalog template files and asset folder on Github:
- Click the Download raw file icon on each template and asset file to
download.
- Add the template files (.hbs) to the templates folder in your unzipped live theme.
- Copy all assets to the assets folder in your unzipped live theme.
- Add the code snippet here to the document_head.hbs template, then delete any existing script starting with <script type="importmap">
- If necessary, you can optionally customize the page templates at this time.
- Zip the theme and upload it to your help center.
- When you're ready, change the live theme of your help center to the theme you just downloaded.
Creating services
When you create and publish a service, it's added to the service catalog items list and is available for employees to request from their service catalog.
When you create service catalog items, accompanying ticket forms with the prefix "Service request" are created automatically. A ticket field called "Service" is also automatically created on your instance when you start using the service catalog. Do not edit or delete these ticket forms or ticket fields via the Admin center or API as it may break the service catalog experience.
You must be a Guide admin to create services.
- In Guide admin, click the Service catalog (
) icon in the sidebar.
- Click Create service.
- Add the Title and description for the service.
The title and description are used to identify the service to end users on the related catalog page. When users select the service, the full description appears on the service catalog page for that service.
- Click Add field to begin adding ticket fields to the service.
Ticket fields allow users to provide more details about their specific request. For example, if you are adding an Apple MacBook Pro to your service catalog, you might want to add fields for storage size, shipping address, or other details.
- From the Available fields list in the sidebar, click the Add
(+) icon on the fields you want to add to your service.
If the field that you are looking for isn't in the Available fields list, you can create a new field in Admin Center. In order for fields to appear in the service catalog, field permissions must be set to Customers can edit.
- When you are finished working on your service, do one of the following:
- To save the service as a draft or work in progress to publish later, click Save draft.
- When you're ready to publish the service, click the drop-down arrow
on the Save draft button, then select Publish.
The service now appears in the service catalog. See the following section on View and edit services to learn how to work with published services.
View and edit services
After you've created services for your service catalog, you can make changes to those services as needed. You can edit services to update the title, description, and fields associated with the service.
You must be a Guide admin to view and edit services.
- In Guide admin, click the service catalog (
) icon from the left navigation bar (icon).
A list appears, displaying all services in your service catalog.
- To view details about the service, click the service title to open the
service page. At the top of the page, you can click the information (
) icon to view when the service was published and by whom.
- Edit the available fields:
- Title and description: Click in the fields and begin typing to edit the content.
-
Fields: You can click the:
-
Edit (
) icon to open the Field details page in Admin Center, where you can edit the field values and options.
-
Remove (
) icon to remove the field from the service. The field will reappear in the Available fields list in the sidebar.
-
Edit (
- When you are finished making changes, click Publish to update the
service in the catalog with your changes.Note: You can also unpublish the service by clicking the drop-down arrow on the Publish button, then selecting Unpublish. Unpublished services are removed from the service catalog, but remain in your services list for future use.
Delete or unpublish services
- Unpublish the service to remove it from the service catalog but keep for future use.
- Delete the service to remove it from the services list. Deleted services cannot be restored.
You must be a Guide admin to unpublish and delete services.
To delete or unpublish services
- In Guide admin, click the Service catalog (
) icon from the left navigation bar to view your services list.
- Click the More actions (
) icon next to the service you want to unpublish or delete, then select:
- Unpublish to remove the service from the service catalog. The service status reverts to Draft.
-
Delete to permanently delete the service from your account.
Review the warning, then click Delete service.
Requesting services (Employees)
Employees can submit service requests using the service catalog in your help center. When employees submit their request, a ticket is opened and agents assigned to the ticket can work to resolve it.
- Click Services in the upper right of any help center page to open the
service catalog.
- Select a service to open the request page.
- Enter details about your service request in the available fields, then click
Submit request.
A ticket is created and opened for the employee to review.
- If the item has fields to specify additional options (for example, RAM for a laptop) select the option that you want.
- Click Submit request.
A ticket is created and placed in the unassigned queue for an agent to address.
2 comments
Justin
I'm receiving this error message “There was a problem updating the general settings.” when toggling the Service Catalog on and trying to update the settings.
0
Thomas (internalnote.com)
I get the same error. I tried both on the submitted domain, as well as another brand.
0