Requesting multiple enhanced catalog items by using a cart

BMC Helix Digital Workplace end users can use a cart to request all enhanced catalog items at the same time, instead of submitting individual service requests one at a time.

Difference between Request Now and Add to Cart

When end users preview a service or a bundle that is provisioned through BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, they can select from one of the following request options:

• Request Now: Begins the request process for the previewed item immediately. The system submits the request after the user answers all the required user questions.
• Add to Cart: Adds the previewed item to the cart to be requested later.

During the service request checkout, a user can move the item to the saved cart by clicking Save and close on the Checkout page (instead of Submit request), as shown in the following illustration:

All the inputs that the user provides are saved.

When the user is ready to order all items in the cart, the user can click Request N items on the Your cart tab. The system submits the request after the user answers all the required user questions for all the services in the cart. 

 https://youtu.be/J6aOxiDeCrU

Items added to a cart are saved between sessions

When a user adds enhanced catalog items to a cart, BMC Helix Digital Workplace automatically saves the cart during the session in case an event interrupts the checkout process.

A user's cart is still available under the following conditions:

• The user leaves the cart in progress to place individual requests.
• The user logs out of BMC Helix Digital Workplace.
• The user is disconnected from the network while the cart request is in progress.

The next time the user logs in to BMC Helix Digital Workplace, the user does not need to create the request again. The system saved the user's responses to the service questions so the user can resume the checkout process and continue from the point before the interruption occurred.

If the questions for a service in a cart change before the user resumes the checkout process, the system will retain the user's responses that are still valid for the updated questions. If a user's saved response is not valid for an updated question, the system marks the error inline, if possible.

Scenario: User leaves a cart to research information required for a request

In this example, Mark is a manager who is preparing to onboard a new employee, Roger. Mark searches for the following BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog items in the BMC Helix Digital Workplace catalog to add to a cart:

• Work area assignment request
• New user account
• Laptop computer
• HR benefits package

While processing the request and answering the service questions, Mark discovers that he is missing some details for Roger's assignment. Mark leaves the cart and logs out of the system to find the required information.

When Mark logs back in to BMC Helix Digital Workplace, he sees that his cart with the four items is still available for him to resume the checkout process and complete the request.

Scenario: User interrupts cart checkout to process an urgent request

In this example, Sam is an administrator who is preparing a request for 15 tablet devices to outfit his organization's marketing department. While processing the request for the seventh device, Sam's manager asks for him to send an urgent request to activate a projector in the media center for their director's presentation in an hour.

Sam leaves the active cart request in progress and searches for the required service that sends an activation code to the media center. Sam clicks Request Now and answers the required questions. After Sam submits that request, he opens the cart he left in progress and process the rest of the requests. The system saved Sam's earlier responses, including the seventh item, which he left only partially completed.

Request status of each item when user resumes checkout

A user can continue to add BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog items to a cart until the user finally submits the request. If the user begins the checkout process and then leaves the process to add additional items, BMC Helix Digital Workplace indicates the items that were on the initial request before the addition.

In the following illustration, Mary added Earbuds to a cart and began the checkout process. While answering the questions, Mary left the checkout process to add a new computer to the request. When Mary returned to the cart, the system showed that the request for the earbuds was already in progress, but the process to request the new computer item had not yet begun.

Order description field can be assigned to all items in a cart

When a user begins the checkout process for a cart, the user can add a 60-character order description to identify the request. After the user submits the request, all items on the cart inherit the same order description. A user can enter any text into the order description field, such as a new employee or a contractor who does not yet have an account, a tracking number, or other description that makes sense to the user.

In the following example, Mary chose to add a capital project planning budget number to the order description to enable her request to be grouped with other items that have been approved under the same budget.

The following illustration shows an example of Mary's activity timeline where the budget number used in a search query retrieves a list of requested items where the number was entered into the order description field.

Shared responses between multiple services with matching questions in the same cart

When a user submits a service request for a cart where the same questions are asked across multiple enhanced catalog services, BMC Helix Digital Workplace Advanced attempts to carry the user's responses forward as suggestions for matching questions in the same request. For questions to match, they must share the same label and expect the same data type. For information about how the enhanced catalog administrator can enable or disable this capability in BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, see Enabling questions to share responses between multiple services in the same cart.

Scenario: User submits a service request for multiple items and saves time by accepting prepopulated answers

In the following example, Martin is a department manager who wants to request the following items for everyone in the office to share. Martin's company requires that the department's cost center number be attached to each item. In addition, Martin must also record an equipment sponsor, who will assume responsibility for the equipment's upkeep.

1. Martin searches for each service catalog item in the Catalog to add to a cart. We assume that the IT department has identified chosen model numbers for products based on a vendor contract.

2. Martin begins the checkout process to request the items in the cart.

   When Martin opens the questions for the first item, the network printer/photocopier, Martin submits the following information

   Question	Martin's response	Comments
   Requested printer number	ZX-9000	Martin selects the best model from a drop-down list.
   Cost center number	4016-0299-7600	Martin selects one cost center number from a drop-down list of four numbers under his responsibility.
   Equipment sponsor	Martin Johnson	As the equipment sponsor for all IT-related requests, Martin entered his name as free-form text.

3. When Martin opens the questions for the next few services, Martin learns that some of his questions have already been answered, as shown in the following alert message:

   
   
   Based on this example, the Cost center number and Equipment sponsor fields would be prepopulated with Martin's answer from the previous service.

   For the questions where the answers were not prepopulated, Martin enters or selects new information.

4. When Martin reaches the first Generic equipment request service, Martin must override the suggestions for the Cost center number and Equipment sponsor fields, as shown in the following table:

   Question	Suggested response	Martin's response	Comments
   Generic equipment request	(none)	Indoor hockey table	Martin manually enters the description of the item.
   Cost center number	4016-0299-7600	4016-0012-7600	Martin selects another of the cost center numbers from a drop-down list that matches the type of item category.
   Equipment sponsor	Martin Johnson	Bridgitte Oswalu	Martin changes the answer from the previous service.

5. When Martin opens the questions for the next Generic equipment request service, Martin's latest answers from the previous service are offered as suggestions. Martin just needs to change the description for the generic service.
6. After Martin reviews all the questions to ensure that the prepopulated answers are correct, he submits the request.

Active shopping cart and saved carts

Services and bundles can be added to the active cart, and can be saved for later in saved carts. The cart window includes the Your cart tab with items in the active cart and the Saved carts tab that shows how many items are in each saved cart.

The cart quantity indicator shows only the number of items in the active cart (Your cart), as shown in the following illustration:

Interaction with an active cart

After end users add a service to a shopping cart, they can interact with their active cart as follows:

• Remove all items in the cart by clicking Remove all items.
• Remove individual items by clicking the cross icon.
• Change a Request for user by clicking Edit.
• Request services in the active cart by clicking Request N items. 
• Add description to the active cart.
• Save an active cart.

Interaction with a saved cart

After end users save a shopping cart, they can interact with their saved shopping carts as follows:

• Move the items from the saved shopping cart to the active cart by clicking the cart icon.
• Remove the saved cart by clicking the trash bin icon.
• Edit the default description of the saved cart.
  The default description of the saved shopping cart includes names of the services and orders added to the saved cart.
• Request the saved service by clicking Continue Request.

Unique Order IDs and Request IDs for submitted requests

When a user submits a request for services that are provisioned through BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog, each request is assigned two unique ID numbers:

• A unique Request ID is assigned to each item in a request.
• An Order ID is assigned for each request that is submitted. The same Order ID is assigned to all items submitted through a shopping cart or a request for a bundle of services.

In the following illustration, all items requested in the same shopping cart are assigned the same Order ID, even though each item is assigned a unique Request ID.

Users can search for their own requests by entering the Request ID or the Order ID in the Global search panel. 

Required licensing

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