Customizing the Self Service Center user interface

You can customize the Self Service Center user interface to define features that you want to make available to users. You can edit existing pages, customize fields, change the layout, add or remove widgets, and more.

By customizing a page, you are creating a new page that replaces the original in the Self Service Center. However, if necessary, you can revert back to the original page by deleting the customized page.

Customized pages can be deployed either in a test environment or in the production environment. This is controlled by the Deploy To option in the Page Editor toolbar. The default is test environment.

Important: In the test environment, you can verify the behavior of the customized pages in Service Portal, but the behavior does not extend to the entire IBM Control Desk platform. This means that even in the test environment, customized pages have access to the same data as the production environment including tickets, catalog offerings, and so on.

When a page is deployed in the test environment, you must use a special URL to access it. To obtain this URL:
  1. Get the URL of the corresponding “standard” page, for example:

    https: //my.control.desk/portal/default/self-service/#/create

  2. Replace /default/ with /test/, for example:

    https: //my.control.desk/portal/test/self-service/#/create

To create a customized page, complete the following steps:
  1. Log in to the Configuration app of Service Portal.
  2. Access the Page Editor. The Page Editor opens and you see the area where you can design a new page or edit an existing one.
  3. Select the type of page that you want to customize from in the Select Page list.
  4. Whether you are building a new page or editing an existing page, you can now drag and drop any components or widgets that you want onto the page and remove the ones that you do not want.

For example, drag a generic container onto the blank page and then drag a predefined field into the container.

Note about containers: You do not have to use containers in your page layout but they are useful so that you have control over the page layout and can create consistent layouts across different pages. For example, using containers you can:
  • Separate information or group information together logically
  • Adopt a two-column arrangement
  • Put widgets inside an expandable section
  • Put widgets inside tabs

With the field selected, choose the type of field and any options from the Field list.

After you have edited your page, you can preview it by clicking Preview. You see a quick simulation of the page, however, it might not be completely accurate. To get an accurate, testable version of the page, deploy it in the test environment as described previously.

Click Reset to load a predefined implementation of the page that has the equivalent, but not identical, functionality as the standard non-customized page.

You can revert back to the standard implementation of a page at any time by completing the following steps:

1. Click Clear to clear the page.

2. Click Apply to apply the changes.

When you deploy an empty page, any existing customization is removed.