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Using workflows with Service Manager

Use workflows to drive manual interactions and automation on request records.

Before you begin

Where workflows are used

You can use workflows on incidents, requests, problems, known errors, changes, and releases.

A hierarchy determines where you can set workflows, which in turn determines which workflow is used when you raise a request.

  • Request catalog item. This is a request template that is made available on the portals and to the service desk. You can associate a workflow with each request catalog item. If you don’t specify a workflow, the system uses a default workflow set on the associated service.

  • Service. You can specify a default workflow on a service. This applies to all requests that you create without using a request catalog item. This also applies when you haven’t specified a workflow on the request catalog item.

  • Default Settings. There is a setting for each request type where you can specify which workflow is used. By default, these are not set. If a request has not been allocated a workflow by the request catalog item or the service, it will look at these default settings. If a workflow is not specified in these settings, the request will be raised without a workflow.

    Setting Description
    app.requests.defaultBPMProcess.change Use this workflow as the default when logging a change and no workflow is specified.
    app.requests.defaultBPMProcess.incident Use this workflow as the default when logging an incident and no workflow is specified.
    app.requests.defaultBPMProcess.knownerror Use this workflow as the default when logging a known error and no workflow is specified.
    app.requests.defaultBPMProcess.problem Use this workflow as the default when logging a problem and no workflow is specified.
    app.requests.defaultBPMProcess.release Use this workflow as the default when logging a release and no workflow is specified.
    app.requests.defaultBPMProcess.service Use this workflow as the default when logging a service request and no workflow is specified.

Workflow tracker

The workflow tracker provides a graphical representation of the workflow that displays at the top of a request. This is an optional display which uses stages and checkpoints within a workflow to visualize progress. The workflow tracker displays when:

  • On a single-stage workflow, at least one checkpoint has been set up.
  • There is more than one stage in a workflow.

How workflows work

Workflow definitions

You create workflow definitions in the Workflow Designer. Each workflow definition includes:

  • Workflow nodes and logic
  • Language definitions
  • All previous versions for that workflow
  • Workflow settings

Workflow instances

When you create a request, the system also creates an instance or copy of the associated workflow definition. This workflow instance is taken from the active version of the published workflow. You can view and manage these workflow instances under the Manage Executed Workflows section of Configuration. If you update a workflow definition and publish a new version, the workflow instances are not updated. A workflow instance continues to use the workflow definition version under which it was created.

Information

Each workflow instance still depends on the workflow definition from which it was created. A workflow instance references the workflow definition for language translations and other settings. Because of this dependency, you cannot delete a workflow definition while there are active instances of that workflow.

Using workflow utilities

Hornbill provides a set of workflow utilities that you can use to facilitate date-related functions as well as operations to convert and manipulate data.

Further learning

Explore courses in Hornbill Academy:

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