Configuring relationships

Relationships are required anytime you want to link one record to another. There are various types of relationships and they must be configured before they are available to users. Although there are various types of relationships available in FootPrints, most of them are similar except for their names.To differentiate between these relationships, other features that use relationships like form link controls and business rules must be configured. You cannot automate functionality without configuring the relationships. You can configure relationships between items in the same container or in different containers. The list of available relationships varies by container type. For example, you can link tickets to other tickets, to configuration items (CIs) in your CMDB, to contacts in your address books, and so on.

To create a relationship

1. Open the container where you want to create a relationship:
   1. Click the Administration tab.
   2. In the appropriate section, click the name of the container or click Manage to open the container Administration page. Then double-click the container.
      The container details page appears.
2. In the left pane, click Relationships.
   The Relationships page appears. The relationships are grouped by link type .
3. Click Add.
4. In the Link type field, select the type of relationship that you want to add.
5. In the Item in this Container section:
   1. In the Link Role field, select the role for the originating item.
      For each relationship, there are one or more records on either side when it is used. A role distinguishes how a relationship works. For some type of relationships like Related Tickets, it is not relevant as the records on both side play the same role. For relationships like Master/Subtask, records on one side of the relationship plays the Master role and the records on the other side of the relationship play the Subtask Role. The Container field shows the originating container.
   2. (Optional) In the Item field, select the originating item.
6. In the Related Item section:
   
   1. In the Link Role field, select the role for the destination item.
   2. In the Container field, select the destination container.
   3. (Optional) In the Item field, select the destination item.
7. Click Save.
   The new relationship appears on the page.
8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 to create additional links.
9. Publish the container to implement your changes:
1. In the breadcrumb trail, click the container link.
2. Click Save and Publish.
   A confirmation message appears.
3. Click Yes.
   The Publication Succeeded message appears, showing the number of errors and warnings.

Ensure that you add link controls to the appropriate forms so your users can link records as required. For more information, see Configuring link controls on forms.

Note the following important points:

• The ANY to ANY relationship is the default. If you use this relationship setting, users can link any items to any other items defined in the selected containers.
• If you select items on both sides of the relationship, only those item records will be linked. However, it does not mean that you cannot create a similar relationship from the linked container back to the container where you created the previous relationship. You cannot create exactly the same container/item to container/item relationship more than once, that is, you cannot create multiples of a relationship within a container.
• You cannot select "ANY" on one side of a relationship and select an item type on the other side. If you try to do so, an error message appears and the relationship cannot be saved until you correct your selections.

Example

You cannot create the same exact relationship twice. For example, you cannot create the following Master/Subtask relationships at the same time:

• From Workspace1/Ticket1 as Master to Workspace1/Ticket1 as Subtask (across workspaces)
• From Workspace1/Ticket1 as Subtask to Workspace1/Ticket1 as Master
  

However, you can create the following Master/Subtask relationships:

• From Workspace1/Ticket1 as Master to Workspace2/Ticket1 as Subtask
• From Workspace1/Ticket1 as Master to Workspace2 /Ticket2 as Subtask

If you configure a Ticket/CI relationship on the ticket side (in the workspace) but not on the CI side (in the CMDB), users will be able to link to a CI from a ticket but not to a ticket from a CI. You can add a CI/Ticket relationship in the CMDB as well so users will be able to link from a CI to a ticket. Make sure to add link controls to both forms or your users will not be able to see the linking options.

For more information about supported relationship types, see Types of relationships.

Related topics

Configuring forms

Configuring workspaces

Configuring address books

Configuring CMDBs

Configuring knowledge bases

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