Phased rollout This version of the software is currently available only to early adopter SaaS customers as the first step in our phased rollout.

Designing a workflow to create a request activity log


As the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog administrator or internal service supplier, you can design a new workflow to create a request activity log or update an existing one.

This option enables you to automatically post a comment or several comments to service requests after end users submit the requests in BMC Helix Digital Workplace. For example, in a comment to a request, you might provide a list of SAP approvers or any other data that is relevant to the business task. This information helps the end users in creating their service requests.

This option is supported for the following types of service requests:

  • Native BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog services and service bundles
  • Imported service request definitions (SRDs)


Important

Associating a large number of activity logs with a catalog request might cause that user's Active Events or Past Events to take a long time to load, or to time out while loading. We recommend not associating more than 50 activity logs with a catalog request.

To configure a workflow with a request activity log

  1. In BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, go to Services > Workflows.
  2. Create a new workflow or open an existing workflow that you want to configure.

    Important

    To create a request activity log for a native BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog service bundle, use the workflow of the service bundle instead of using the workflows of separate services that are included to the service bundle.

  3. In Workflow Designer, in the Service Broker palette section, select the Create Activity Log For Service Request element and drag it onto the canvas. 

    WD_request_activity_log1.png

  4. Configure the Input Map parameters as required:

    Input Map parameter

    Description

    Required for native services and service bundles

    Required for imported SRDs

    Request ID

    Indicates a service request ID.

    Yes

    Yes

    Text

    Indicates a text message to be shown as a comment for a requester. You can add any text in quotes.

    Yes

    Yes

    Author login ID

    A value provided in this field is displayed as an author of the activity log. You must add a valid login ID in quotes. If you leave this field blank, a requester's name is displayed as an author of the activity log.

    Yes

    Yes

    Visibility

    Indicates if the activity log is public or internal. You can enter "Public" or "Internal" values (in quotes).

    • If you choose an internal type of visibility, the activity log is hidden from a requester.
    • If you choose a public type of visibility, the activity log is shown for a requester.
    • If you leave the field blank, the activity log is shown for a requester.

    No

    Yes

    Broadcasts

    Enter "True" to display the comment in other systems such as Remedy ITSM. Enter "False" to restrict its visibility to BMC Helix Digital Workplace.


    No

    Yes

  5. (Optional) If you need one more comment to be shown for end users, add and configure another Create Activity Log For Service Request element with a different name in the same workflow.

    Important

    The Create Activity Log For Service Request element can be used several times with different names and in any place of the workflow.

  6. (Optional) Update other elements of your workflow if required.
  7. Save the changes.

    Important

    If you place the Create Activity Log For Service Request right after the Start External Activity action in a workflow, the comment will be displayed twice in the service request details. If you place the Create Activity Log For Service Request right after the Submit Service Request, the comment will not be duplicated.

View of a request activity log

After the workflow is configured and saved in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, if an end user submits a corresponding service request in BMC Helix Digital Workplace, the activity log is displayed as follows:

  • In BMC Helix Digital Workplace, comments from the workflow are automatically added to the request details and are shown on the Details page of the submitted request, as shown in the following illustration:

    activity_log_in_DWP1.png
  • Information about the request activity log for the imported SRD is automatically populated in the Request Details form of BMC Helix ITSM, as shown in the following illustration:

    activity_log_remedy_itsm1.png
  • Required licensing

    SaaS subscribers who use BMC Helix ITSM or BMC-Helix-Virtual-Agent-Basic-service are entitled to this feature.

 

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