Configuring Ticket Workflows

This how-to article will help administrators to create and configure ticketing workflows in the TDAdmin interface. The user must be an administrator within the relevant ticketing application.

Overview

Ticket workflows can be used to support many different business processes that are being managed in TeamDynamix, such as an approval to purchase equipment, granting access to applications, or to support a change management process. They can even be used to integrate with other systems.

You will need:

• An understanding of your business process
• TeamDynamix Administrator access
• Access to a ticketing application in TDNext

Types of Ticketing Workflow Steps

There are nine types of steps that may be used in ticketing workflows, and a single workflow might use several different types.

The Approval Step sends a notification to one or more approvers and waits for them to decide how the workflow should proceed. The approver can approve or reject the step and that can branch the workflow into two different paths. If approved, it could go down path A, if rejected, it follows path B.

The Branch Step allows administrators to more easily manage branches in workflows with multiple paths. Different steps can then branch out into separate paths to allow for tasks and other activities to occur in parallel rather than in sequential order.

The Choice Step presents a user or group with multiple choices in order to progress through a workflow.

The Collector Step joins several paths of a workflow (typically created via a Branch step) and waits for ALL of the paths preceding it to complete.

The Condition Step automatically routes a ticket one way or another based on the values on the ticket.

The TeamDynamix iPaas Step allows those organizations that have configured iPaaS flows integrate a ticketing workflow directly with flows built in the TeamDynamix iPaaS product.

The Notification Step automatically sends a notification to one or more recipients.

The Task Step adds a ticket task with settings defined in the workflow to the ticket.

The Timer Step creates a waiting period. The workflow will pause until the designated amount of time passes. When it expires, it will move on to the next step.

The Web Service Step allows organizations to automate processes by calling an external RESTful web service.

Creating a Ticket Workflow

Before getting into adding steps and actions, you need to create the workflow itself, which is like a container for the steps.

 

To create a workflow:

1. In TDAdmin, click Applications in the left navigation.
2. Click the Name of the Ticketing application you want to add a workflow to.
3. In the left navigation, click Workflows.
4. On the Ticket Workflows page, click the +New button.
5. In the New Ticket Workflow window, enter a value in the Name field.
6. Click Save.

When the new ticket workflow is created, it will automatically be checked out to you, the creator.

Checking Out a Workflow

If you want to edit a workflow that was created previously, it will need to be checked out. If a workflow is already checked out to someone else, their name will appear by the “Checked out to” label on the right side of the toolbar.

To check out the workflow:

1. In TDAdmin, click Applications in the left navigation.
2. Click the Name of the Ticketing application you want to add a workflow to.
3. In the left navigation, click Workflows.
4. On the Ticket Workflows list, click the name of the desired workflow.
5. Click the View Builder button.
6. In the Workflow Builder, click File in the toolbar.
7. Select Check Out from the dropdown.

Once a workflow is checked out, it can be edited as needed. When others view the workflow when it is checked out, they’ll see the draft version of the workflow that the user has saved so far.

In the event that a workflow has been left checked out by someone and they cannot be contacted to check it in, a Force Check In option is available on the workflow details page.

Adding Steps to a Workflow

Steps are added from the Workflow Builder, which is a graphical tool allowing you to create, arrange and connect workflow steps. Every workflow has two default steps: Approve and Reject. A ticket will move through the process and conclude at one of these two points. As additional steps that lead to the final Approve or Reject steps are added, each will need a name, type, conditions and optionally, a stage.

When you choose a step type, the New Workflow Step form will update to include the appropriate fields. A step's type cannot be changed after creation.

A workflow can have a maximum of 250 steps. The Workflow Builder will begin warning you when you reach 75% of this limit. You can add steps in excess of this quota and save the draft, but you will not be permitted to check in the workflow until it meets the quota.

To add a step to a workflow:

1. On the Ticket Workflows page, click the Workflow name.
2. Click the View Builder button.
3. Click the New Step button in the toolbar.
4. In the New Workflow Step window, enter a Name that indicates what the step will do.
5. Select the step Type from the dropdown.
6. If Stages have been configured (see Stages below, under Workflow Properties) optionally select one from the dropdown. If no Stages have been configured this field will be absent.
7. Optionally enter a Description for the workflow step
8. Click the Save button and close the New Step window.

The new step will now appear as a box on the left hand side of the Workflow Builder screen. The first step that is added will automatically be light blue and designated as the first step.

To mark a different step as the start:

1. Click the gear icon in the top right corner of the step.
2. Select Mark as Start from the dropdown.

Note that a collector step cannot be used as a starting step.

Connecting Workflow Steps

The selected step type will determine what options are available for each step. The options will appear as rows in the step box.

Steps are linked to one another by clicking on the option of one step and dragging it to the next step in the process. A line will appear connecting the two steps. The option you choose – such as Approve – should connect to the logical next step for an approval. Each option can link to a different next step.

For example, if step A is an Approval step and the step is approved, the Approve option would be linked to step B which specifies a task that needs to be completed. If step A were rejected, the Reject option could be linked to a different step B that sends a notification letting the requestor know it was rejected.

To connect two steps:

1. Click and hold an option on the step.
2. Drag the option to the appropriate next step in the process.

To remove an existing connection between steps:

1. Click the line connecting the two steps.
2. Click the Delete button.
3. Click OK on the confirmation popup.

Continue adding and connecting steps that the ticket will need to go through for this process.

Configuring Workflow Properties

Stages

Stages are a means of grouping a series of workflow steps in order to provide a quick status summary of a ticket’s progress through a workflow. Stages are visible in the Client Portal so that requestors can easily see where their request is in a workflow.

When a ticket workflow is initially created, the Default Ticket Workflow Stages configured for the ticketing application will be applied to the new workflow, if any have been configured.

If a workflow has been checked out, the stages can be edited through the Workflow menu in the toolbar. Changes to stages will not take effect until the workflow is checked back in.

To create a Stage:

1. On the Ticket Workflows page, click the Workflow name.
2. Click the View Builder button.
3. Click the Workflow tab, then Stages.
4. Click the New Stage button, add a name and optionally a description for the stage, and click Save.

For more information about the behavior of this functionality, see the "Summarizing Workflow Progress with Stages" section of the Getting Started with Ticket Workflows article.

Promotion Classification

A workflow could change the classification of a ticket. This can happen when a step starts, when a step finishes, or when an entire workflow finishes. Since certain classifications of tickets enable features unsupported by other classifications, the concept of classification promotion is employed to ensure that no data loss occurs inadvertently.

The Classification Promotion Step settings determine at what point the classification of a ticket is changed when it is in the workflow. The Promote Classification When setting allows the classification promotion to occur when a step starts, when a step finishes, or when the entire workflow is approved. When the Classification Promotion When setting is set to Step Starts or Step is Approved/Completed, a Classification Promotion Step must be selected.

For more information about the behavior of this functionality, see the Promotion Classification section of the Getting Started with Ticket Workflows article.

Associating with Services

A workflow can be associated to any service that has been configured to create a request in the ticketing application in which the workflow resides. Associating or disassociating a workflow with a service does not require that the workflow is checked out, and changes take effect immediately.

Validating a Workflow

To be able to activate a workflow, it must be valid. To be considered valid, the following must be true:

• There is at least one step configured.
• A starting step has been selected.
• The start step is not a collector step.
• Each step is connected to the workflow.
• Each approval and task step have been assigned.
• Each web service step is associated with a web service.
• Any step with the Promote Classification When setting set to "Step Starts" or "Step is Approved/Completed," a Classification Promotion Step is included.
• The workflow does not have more than 250 steps.

In addition, there are rules governing how steps are linked (or not linked) to each other, such as:

• A step cannot directly link to itself.
• A cycle of automated (Branch, Collector, Web Service, Timer, or Task when "Wait for completion" is not checked) steps cannot exist.
• All options within Approval, Branch, Collector, or Timer steps must specify one or more next steps.
• There must exist at least one path from the starting step to the final "Approve" step.
• A step option cannot link to both the final "Approve" and "Reject" steps simultaneously.

Other validation items are not necessarily outright errors, but can be indicators of a misconfigured workflow:

• At least one path from the starting step to the final "Reject" step should exist.
• In an Approval step, the Approve and Reject options should not have any next steps in common.
• A cycle of only Approve and automated actions should not exist.
• A cycle of only Reject and automated actions should not exist.
• Task and Web Service steps should link to valid steps.
• For each step, at least one path should exist from the starting step to that step.

These warnings are generally skipped in the event of more serious errors being detected.

When finished editing a workflow, the Save and Check-in action will automatically run the validation. Any errors or warnings will be listed and explained.

When viewing the list of validation errors and warnings, hovering over each message will highlight the step (or steps) that are in violation. Top-level issues, such as the lack of a Promotion Classification, must be remedied through the Workflow > Details menu option and therefore the Workflow menu option is highlighted for such issues.

If you are in the process of developing a workflow and would like to test your steps as you edit, you can manually validate it.

To validate a checked out workflow from within the workflow builder:

1. Click File in the toolbar.
2. Select Validate from the dropdown.

To save a workflow that is invalid, click the File menu and select Save Draft.

Activating a Workflow

A workflow does not need to be checked out to be activated or deactivated.

To activate a valid workflow:

1. In TDAdmin, click Applications in the left navigation.
2. Click the Name of the Ticketing application you want to add a workflow to.
3. In the left navigation, click Workflows.
4. On the Ticket Workflows list, click the name of the desired workflow.
5. On the Ticket Workflow Details page, click the Activate button.

The workflow will now display as Active.

Building a Ticket Workflow

This video walks through creating a ticketing workflow that supports a computer requisition process that requires an approval, a series of purchasing tasks, and then deployment.

 

Gotchas & Pitfalls

• Whenever a ticket is assigned to a workflow, a copy of the workflow is created and applied to the ticket. This means that any changes to the workflow configuration DO NOT apply to workflows which are already assigned to tickets.
• Since group names and person names are copied onto the workflow configuration itself, if one of those names change, the changes will not be reflected in workflow until the workflow themselves are changed.