Create and Manage Task Flows

This article contains the following topics:

The task tickets are always created out of parent Service, Incident, Problem, or Change tickets. A task ticket indicates an independent unit of work for a specified larger activity. Task is considered the final point in the work breakdown. You cannot create a task ticket as a child to another task ticket. The Sort Order of a task flow controls the order in which task tickets are created in the task flow. The successful completion of one task initiates the creation of the next task in the task flow. A task flow can be configured using task templates and task groups. All task tickets in a task group are created simultaneously. Upon completion of the last task in the task group, the next task or task group is fired.

The Action on Success and Action on Failure function allows you to define the action to take when a task is completed. The identified Action on Success or Action on Failure is applied to the parent ticket such as Service and Incident. For example, you can specify Action on Success as Submit Ticket for Approval for a task ticket that is related to a Change ticket. Upon the successful completion of the task ticket, the parent Change ticket gets submitted for approval. Similarly, you can specify Action on Failure as Assign to Change Manager for the task ticket. An unsuccessful completion of the task ticket causes the parent ticket to get assigned to the change manager.

Considerations

Consider the following tasks for task flows:

• You can relate a task flow to only one ticket type.
• You can configure the task flow using individual task templates and task group templates.
• The sequence of tasks and task groups in a task flow defines the sequence of creation of the task tickets.
• The tickets for all tasks in a task group are created together.
• You can define the workflow action for Action on Success and Action on Failure to apply on the parent ticket. 
• The Action List lookup displays the workflow actions that are available to the ticket type which the parent ticket is related. For example, if the parent ticket is a service request, the service request-related workflow actions would be available.
• The workflow action is applied to the parent ticket and is based on the success or failure of the task template. For example, consider a task flow that is applied to a Change ticket for implementing some hardware upgrades. The success of the final task of the task flow moves the parent ticket to the next phase. The failure to complete the task changes the status of the ticket to Hold.
  Note: The administrator defines a workflow action with the reason code as Rejected or Denied. A task flow is considered as successful when all the task tickets have Status = Closed and Reason Code = Completed.
  

Prerequisites

Verify the following prerequisites:

• The task templates are available for task tickets to add existing tasks.
• The task groups are available to include a set of tasks as a part of the task flow.
• Workflow actions are available to select in the Action on Success and Action on Failure options.
• The contacts, support groups, and roles are available to assign permission of the task.

Create Task Flows

Follow these steps:

1. Create Task Flow: Navigate to MANAGE> ADMINISTRATION> Tools> Task Flows and click Create New.
2. Fill in the required information and click Apply Changes.
   Note: You can relate a task flow to only one ticket type.
3. Add Tasks and Task Groups: To add tasks and task groups to the task flow, use the Related Task/Task Group tab. You can select existing task templates and task groups.
   Note: The selected action in the Action on Success and the Action on Failure fields determines the workflow action to apply on the parent ticket.  
4. Set Permissions: To set the permissions for the task flow, use the Permissions tab.
5. Click Apply Changes.

Note: The application displays a warning message when you delete a task template that is used by a task group or task flow.