Administration Guide

Configuring Service Step Actions for the SSP

Service Step Actions specify how the system modifies objects when SSP customers choose to perform an action (update Incidents, approve or reject Approval Requests, etc.) Steps may also involve triggering workflow actions on related objects, sending out e-mail notifications, and running external commands. Steps may prompt customers for input through Forms.

The SSP supports Steps for the these object classes:

  • Approval Requests
  • Incidents, that appear to SSP users as Tickets
  • Library Items
  • Equipment Reservations
  • Service Requests

You can configure multiple Steps for different actions that you want to provide to SSP customers.

INFO: For understanding Service Actions, see Service Actions.

To add a Step, follow the instructions below.

  1. From the Sidebar, navigate to Self Service Portal > Workflow.
  2. The right pane lists available object classes. Double-click the Double-click to add a new Action row under Actions for one of the object classes. The Object Step Action for Self Service Portal dialog box opens.
  3. On the General tab, specify the following properties of the Service Action:
    1. Type the Action name in the Name field.
    2. In the Caption field, enter the text that will represent the Step Action in the Self Service Portal. This text will be shown on the button that opens Incidents for modification (see Configuring forms for displaying objects).

      By default the Caption is initialized with the name you entered in the previous step.

      NOTE: The Caption text is initialized for the English (United States) language pack. If you plan to use different languages, you need to update the field Caption in the localization dictionaries. For details, see Localizing Forms and Actions in SSP Workflow.

    3. Optional: Enter a description of this Step in the Description field.
    4. Keep the Enabled check box selected. Otherwise, this Step will not appear in the Self Service Portal.
  4. If you want to make the Step available only in certain situations, click the Condition tab and create the criteria. If the criteria evaluates to True, the Step will be available; if the criteria evaluates to False, the Step will be unavailable and hidden in the Self Service Portal.
    • To build criteria, click Edit and configure the list of conditions in the Criteria dialog box.

    INFO: For details, see Building Criteria.

  5. If this Step requires user input, on the Form tab, specify a Form that will prompt the user how to update the existing object. You can select an existing Form from the list or create a new custom Form for only this Step.
    • To create a custom Form for this Step, keep <Custom> in the Form field and follow the instructions on adding Forms. For details, see Adding Action Forms.
    • To choose an existing Form, select one from the Form list.

    INFO: For details on reusing custom Forms, see Custom and Reusable Forms.

  6. If your Step needs to additionally modify the newly created object or notify participants of the business process, click the Programming tab and specify the operations to execute directly within the Step or select an existing, previously created Function.
    1. Under Operations, click New > [Operation] and specify the operation details.

      INFO: For details, see Adding Operations.

      Repeat this step to add other operations as needed

      NOTE: Operations are executed in the order they appear in the list (except for e-mail notifications). To reorder the list, use the Move Up and Move Down buttons. Alloy Navigator always executes E-mail Notification operations last, after all other operations. This is to ensure that notifications reflect the most current state of the object. For details, see Inserting Placeholders.

    2. By default, all operations are executed unconditionally. If necessary, you can add conditional statements by clicking New > "IF" Group, New > "ELSE IF" Group, and New > "ELSE" Group.

      INFO: For details, see Building Conditional Statements.

  7. If you want to categorize the Step by assigning it to one or more Processes, click the Processes tab and follow the instructions on assigning Actions to Processes.

    INFO: For details, see Assigning Workflow Items to Processes

  8. When done, click OK.

    NOTE: All Steps for the SSP that you configure here will also appear in the list of Service Actions in the Business Logic Configuration > [Module] > [Object Class] > Workflow > Actions > Service Actions section.