This introduction article will help admins to configure Timer Steps within a workflow in the TDAdmin interface. The user must have admin permissions in the ticketing app in TDAdmin.
Overview
The timer step allows organizations to pause a workflow at a pre-determined stage. This will wait the configured amount of time, specified as an operational or absolute time span, and proceed in the workflow after that time span has elapsed.
Where to Find This
This feature appears in the TDAdmin interface.
TDAdmin is where Timer Steps for Workflows are configured.
Navigate to edit Workflow Steps via the following path:
- TDAdmin > Applications > [Ticketing application name] > Workflows > [Workflow name] > View Builder
Using the Timer Step
Timer Duration
The duration is specified by days, hours, and minutes for the Timer Step within a Workflow.
An operational time span will take into account working hours, weekends, and any organizationally-defined days off. When using a day in operational time, it is converted to the equivalent number of operational hours. For example, if an organization has operational hours set between 9 AM and 5 PM, an operational day is treated as the equivalent of 8 operational hours.
Other Considerations
When including a timer step in a ticketing workflow, its Complete option must specify at least one next step.
If there are parallel branches in the workflow when a timer step is reached, those parallel branches will continue as normal. Placing a ticket in an On Hold status does not affect the timer's duration. If active, a timer step will continue counting down the configured amount of time and will end as scheduled (within ~5 minutes of the configured end time). If a timer step is already in progress, attempting to start it again will have no effect.
Individuals with the force-approval permission in the associated ticketing application can manually force completion of this step through a skip action.
Gotchas & Pitfalls
If configuring a timer as part of a loop that includes a conditional step to check if a condition exists and then loop back to the timer to wait before it checks again, note that there must be at least one human interaction within any loop. This prevents an infinite loop that could impact system resources.
Also know the processor that handles queued timer steps (to determine if they should end or not yet) runs on a 5 minute interval. Setting a timer step to a wait value less than 5 minutes, for instance, might not mean that the step triggers to be ended in less than 5 minutes.