New Workflow

25 Jul 2024
7 Minutes to read

New Workflow

Updated on 25 Jul 2024
7 Minutes to read

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Workflows are the process of designing and automating a sequence of connected tasks or steps that must be carried out in a precise order to reach a given objective or result.

Workflow Design configuration window provides the step-by-step actions that are taken on the machine/configuration item by the workflow. These are the technical actions that are taken as per the requirement provided.

A workflow design should have a starting point which can be referred to as an initiation. The initiation may happen in different ways – such as Incident, Service Request, Work Order.

Workflow Design platform consists of the following segments:

Serial Execution
If and Else condition
Pass script output between Executions
Script deviation based on current script Output/status (success or failure)

Navigation

To view the main Service Automation application page, perform the following steps:

Navigate to Admin > Advanced > Automation > Orchestration.
OR
Navigate to Orchestration > User >Orchestration.
Click the left hamburger icon to access all the options from the MENU.
Figure: Service Automation - Landing page with Menu options

View Workflows

To view Workflows tab, perform the following steps:

From the left MENU, select Workflows.
Figure: Workflows menu
From Manage Workflows, select the following pages:
i. New Workflow - To configure a new workflow.
ii. Workflow By Category - To view the workflow data by category.
iii. Workflow List - To view the list of configured workflows.
iv. Execution History - To view detailed logs of all past workflow executions, including timestamps and statuses.

Configure New Workflow

To configure a new workflow, perform the following steps:

Navigate to Workflows > Manage Workflows > New Workflow from the left Menu.
On the New Workflow page, provide all the required details as shown in the below screenshot. For more information on each fields, refer the segments below.
Figure: Workflow Configuration pop-up
Figure: Workflow Designer page

Workflow Configuration

You can configure Workflows for Incidents, Service Requests (SRs), and Work Orders. In the Service Automation Workflows, a condition is defined. If this condition is met, the defined Service Automation workflow is linked, and scripts are executed. This does not require any manual intervention from the Analysts and the actions are performed by the Service Automation Scripts if the precondition is met. Using drag and drop, you can add a Script or Condition to the Workflow.

Figure: Workflow Configuration

Workflow Name - Enter a desired name for the workflow.
Workflow Category - Search and select the desired category.
Trigger Event - A ticket is updated if any of the fixed fields of Incident/Request/Work Order values are changed and saved.
- ITSM on Create
- ITSM on Update (Only Once)
- ITSM on Create/Update (Always)
- API/Scheduler
Module - Select the desired Module from the following options:
- Incident Management
- Service Request
- Work Order
Incident Management
Options visible for Incident Management are as follows:
Service Request
Options visible for Service Request are as follows:
Work Order
Options visible for Work Order are as follows:
Description - Describe the function of the workflow.

Content Parser

Lists the configured parser types:

Line: If Incident/Service Request/ Work Order description is in line format then select Parser Type as Line. Line parser type can only be applied for Description content type.

Figure: Parser Type - Line

Free-form: If Symptom/Description is in paragraph format then select Parser Type as Free Form. It is used to extract the words between two words. Free-form can be applied to either Description or Symptom content type.

Figure: Parser Type - Free-Form

Following are the line variables:

Line	Descriptions
Line Delimiter	The line delimiter is a character that indicates the end of the line or splits the description value into multiple lines. Based on Line Delimiter, content is divided into lines. Select the line delimiter from the list. By default, the New Line option is selected. If you select Others, type in the character that is considered as a line delimiter in the text box.
Key Delimiter	The Key Delimiter is a character that separates the User-defined key and the other text in the output. Based on Key Delimiter options, the key, and the value are identified from a line. Select the key delimiter from the list. By default, the Colon option is selected. If you select Others, type in the character that is considered a key delimiter in the text box.
Line No.	Specify the location or position of the content that needs to be parsed from the Description. If 1 is specified as Line No then the first line from the description is considered as the key value. For example, If the Line No. is represented as one (1) then the first line from the Description is considered as the key value.
Key Name	Specify a user-defined key name. This key name will be displayed in the Conditions and Parameter sections.
Map to CI	If Map to CI is enabled for a specified key and Target Type is set to CI, Target Host Type is set to Incident CI or Service Request CI, the key value will be considered as Target CI if that CI Name / IP Address exists in CMDB.
Action	Click “+” icon to add the Keys. Click “-” icon to delete the Keys.

For Example: Below is the description of an Incident for Service Status notification.

Service Status Notification

The following service is down.

Server Type: Print Spooler <br>
Service Status: Down <br>

Configuration

Line Delimiter	New Line<br>
Key Delimiter	:
Line No.	1
Key Name	Test_Line1

Line Delimiter

New Line<br>

Key Delimiter

Line No.

Key Name

Test_Line1

For the above configuration, it will extract the line "Server Type: Print Spooler" from the above description as the key value.

Configured key Test_Line1 will be available in the Conditions section under Field Name as Line Parser: Test_Line1 in the list of conditions apart from other default conditions for Description. You can apply the conditions on the Line parser key (Line Parser: Test_Line1).

Following are the Free-Form Delimiter variables:

Free-Form

Description

Content Type

Select the content type from the drop-down list. Available options are as following:

Symptom or Subject
Description

Key Name

Specify a user-defined key name. This key name will be displayed in Conditions and Parameter sections.

Preceding Text

Specify the preceding text for the selected Content Type.

Succeeding Text

Specify the succeeding text for the selected Content Type.

Occurrence

Specify a number. In an Incident/Service Request/Work Order, the occurrence of the specified preceding and succeeding text or the preceding text alone in the selected Content Type is represented as a number.

For example, If the Occurrence is represented as one (1) for the Content Type: Symptom, then the first occurrence of the specified text is considered as the key value.

Key Value: In the Incident/Service Request/Work Order, the available text between the preceding text and the succeeding text is considered as the key value. For example, the Incident/Service Request/Work Order containing the following content:

Status: The job (Job: "DBSUtil01 Backup 00007) completed successfully. Status: The job (Job: "DBSUtil02 Backup 00008) completed successfully.

Preceding Text	Succeeding Text	Occurrence	Key Value
Status	successfully	1	The Key Value is considered as The job (Job: "DBSUtil01 Backup 00007) completed.
Status	successfully	2	The Key Value is considered as The job (Job: "DBSUtil02 Backup 00008) completed.

Map to CI

If Map to CI is enabled for a specified key and Target Type is set to CI, Target Host Type is set to Incident CI or Service Request CI, the key value will be considered as Target CI if that CI Name / IP Address exists in CMDB.

Action

Click “+” icon to add the Keys.

Click “-” icon to delete the Keys.

Following are the conditions variables:

Conditions Variables	Description
Condition Name	Name the condition.
Operator	Logical expressions which may be evaluated by a workflow engine to decide the sequence of activity execution within a process.
Value	Enter a condition value.
Action	Add or delete conditions applicable to the use case.

Workflow Designer

Drag and drop the required Condition, REST Web Service and Skill from the Activities tab on the left.

After creating the desired workflow, the designer page will be displayed as shown below:

Figure: Workflow Designer page

For more information on Rest Web Service, refer to Rest Web Service.

Best Practices for Designing Exceptional Workflows

Start by creating simple workflows for generic processes as they are easier to understand and requires minimal steps to be completed.
Move onto newer tasks that need to be verified and approved by different people.
Create a node that will act as the decision point.
The task should then further move down the connection line to reach multiple nodes before it reaches the final stage.
Tasks completed can be marked done in the workflow process.

Action Icons

Let’s understand all the action icons at the top bar.

Icon	Description
	This icon can be used to zoom in on the designer space items.
	This icon can be used to zoom out from the designer space.
	This icon can be used to revert any recent action (undo), to restore the previous state.
	This icon can be used to reapply any action that was previously undone (redo).
	Preview displays a view of the overall flow of the workflow created. Figure: Preview tab
	This icon can be used to change property panel position.
	This icon can be used to enable or disable the display of Outline window. Figure: Outline window
	This icon can be used to view the Execution History details. Figure: Execution History

Import and Export options

Let’s check all the import and export options available.

Action	Description
	This option allows you to import an existing workflow. Select the tenant first to populate the workflows of that tenant, then choose the desired workflow from the list.
	Import the workflow data in JSON format from the directory. Select the desired file from the directory and click Import.
	Export to JSON- Exports the data in JSON format.
	Export an existing workflow and edit it with a new workflow name.

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Workflow by Category

Table of contents

Navigation
View Workflows