Configure Pending Reason

Updated on 11 Dec 2024
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A Pending Reason in Work Order Management refers to a documented justification or explanation for why a particular Work Order is temporarily on hold or delayed. It helps in maintaining transparency and provides clarity to all stakeholders about the status of the Work Order.

Overview

Capturing a Pending Reason for a work order in an ITSM application is crucial for status tracking, accountability, workflow optimization, performance analysis, and SLA management. It helps IT teams to manage and improve their service delivery processes effectively.

Use Case

Solution

Novatech's IT Service Management Team is responsible for managing and resolving internal IT requests. To enhance their efficiency and transparency, they need to configure Pending Reasons in Work Order management system to better categorize and explain delays in processing Work Orders.

Sandra the Application Administrator logs in to the application, navigates to WO Masters then Pending Reason. Creates a new Pending Reason from the List page using the New button. Then she selects appropriate Tenant from the dropdown field. Enters "Analysis in Progress" in the WO Pending Reason field and describes as "Tech expert working on it". Sets the Sort Order of the Pending Reason to 1 to prioritize the Work Order on the List page. Enables Active option to make it available within the application.

Why do we use Pending Reason in Work Order

Delayed Resolution: If there is a delay in resolving an incident or service request due to various reasons (e.g., awaiting required information, waiting for approvals), a Pending Reason should be recorded.
Change Management: In change management processes, if a planned change request is on hold or not yet approved, the Pending Reason should be documented.
Third-Party Dependencies: If the resolution of a WorkOrder is dependent on a third-party vendor or external entity, the Pending Reason should be noted.
Resource Unavailability: If a WorkOrder is pending because required resources (e.g., hardware, software, personnel) are not available, the reason should be captured.
Waiting for User Action: If a WorkOrder is awaiting a user response or action, the Pending Reason should be documented.
Problem Investigation: In the case of problem management, if a work order is pending while the root cause of an issue is being investigated, the reason should be recorded.

Configure Pending Reason

Configuring Pending Reasons in the Work Order involves setting up specific categories or reasons to explain why a Work Order is on hold. This feature is crucial for maintaining clarity and transparency in IT service processes, as it ensures that all stakeholders understand the cause of delays in addressing Service Requests or Incidents.

To configure Pending Reason, perform the following steps:

Log in to the Apex application.
Navigate to Design Studio > Service Management > Work Order > Configurations > WO Masters > Pending Reason.
Click New to configure Pending Reason.

Figure: Pending Reason - List
Select and enter appropriate values for the mandatory fields.
Figure: Pending Reason

Enter the appropriate details in the required fields.

For more information, refer to the following Field Description table.

Field	Description
Tenant	Select Tenant from the field dropdown.
WO Pending Reason	Enter the reason as why the Work Order is in Pending State. Note Hover on the info icon to view the information message about the field. The message is as follows:
Description	Enter Description about the Pending Reason.
Sort Order	Specify a value to set the sort order for the Pending Reason. Note The Sort Order field accepts values from 0 to 999. The Pending Reason is executed alphabetically on the pages irrespective of the number of Pending Reasons that are configured with the same Sort Order or without any sort order. Example: If Pending Reason 1 (Approver Unavailable) is configured with sort order value 1. Pending Reason 2(Not a Valid WorkOrder) is configured with sort order value 2. Pending Reason 1 (Approver Unavailable) is placed on the top of Pending Reason 2 (Not a Valid WorkOrder) across all the pages.
Active	Enable Active control, it indicates that the Pending Reason is Active across all the pages wherever it is used. By default, this is inactive.
Default	Enable Default control, it indicates that the Pending Reason is set as Default and this value will be considered as Default value when used. By default, this value is set to non-default.

Click Save.
The configured Pending Reason is displayed on the List page.

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Manage Pending Reason

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