Creating selection menus for question responses

Options for building selection lists in question responses

When you build selection menus for question responses, you can set values manually, or you can pull existing data from the external systems. You can create selection lists for the following types of questions:

• Checkbox
• Dropdown (single select)
• Dropdown (multi-select)
• Radio buttons
• Lookup—Allow users to search for a value from a BMC Helix ITSM form.

The Question Designer provides the following options for building selection lists for question responses:

• Add Value—With this option, you can build a list of values manually.
• Map to Dataset—With this option, you can select a list of values provided by a compatible system, such as BMC Service Request Management, Flexera, BMC Helix Client Management, or BMC Helix Innovation Studio. For example, you can select the list of responses that were created for a survey in BMC Service Request Management.
• Map to Form—With this option, you can use a list of values from a query into a form in BMC Helix ITSM, BMC Helix Innovation Studio, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.
  For example, the BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector can retrieve data from the BMC Helix Innovation Studio record definitions and named lists. For more information about the connector, see BMC Helix Innovation Studio connector.
• Map to Process—With this option, you can select a list of values retrieved from an external system through a BMC Helix Innovation Studio process. Data can be retrieved from any external system, provided that you have integrated BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog with this system through service connectors. With this option, you can create selection menus for responses to single-select and multi-select dropdown questions. Creating selection menus with external data retrieved through the BMC Helix Innovation Studio process is not supported for other question types.

Before you begin

Create either or both of the following items:

• A service that will use the questionnaire, as described in Adding-and-updating-services
• A workflow that will use the questionnaire, as described in Workflows-for-service-fulfillment

To use the Map to Process option, you must first complete other configurations, such as creating a document definition and designing a BMC Helix Innovation Studio process. For more information about these configurations, see Leveraging-external-data-in-questionnaires-by-using-a-BMC-Helix-Innovation-Studio-process.

To create a data set manually

1. Open a questionnaire in the Catalog console.
2. Drag a process question onto the canvas.
3. In the Question Designer panel, from the Form Element Type list, select a type of question. 
4. In the Label field, enter the text of the question prompt that is displayed to the user.
5. In the Question Values section, click Add Value.
6. Complete the Display Value (value shown to end user) and Stored Value (existing value stored in an external system) fields.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to add as many values as you need.
8. (Optional) When you are finished creating a selection list, select a value to make it the default.
   
   To delete a default selection, click Clear Default. 
9. Customize the remaining settings, and click Save.

To map questions to values in a dataset

1. Open a questionnaire in the Catalog console.
2. Drag a process question onto the canvas.
3. In the Question Designer panel, from the Form Element Type list, select a type of question. 
4. In the Label field, enter the text of the question prompt that is displayed to the user.
5. In the Question Values section, click Map to Dataset.

6. Search for the field that contains the appropriate dataset.
   In the following illustration, site is being searched to find questions for selecting a site. The Service ID and Service Name in this example are the ID and name of services imported from BMC Service Request Management. Name is the question prompt. Connector is the connector source of the dataset.
   

   Tip

   Service Request definition fields that share the same name might contain the same option values. Only the values are important to the questionnaire, not the data source.

7. Select the appropriate dataset field, and click Save.
8. Customize the remaining settings, and click Save.

To look up question values from a BMC Helix ITSM form

1. Open a questionnaire in the Catalog console. 
2. Drag a process question onto the canvas.
3. In the Question Designer panel, from the Form Element Type list, select a type of question. 
4. (Optional for Lookup selection type) Enter a threshold value.
   The threshold is the number of characters that the end user must enter before the system begins to autocomplete selection options based on the query.
5. In the Label field, enter the text of the question prompt that is displayed to the end user.
6. Click Map to Form.
7. Select the form that contains the values, and click Save.
8. To bypass permissions on the form and have BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog perform the lookup by using connector credentials, select the Run as administrator check box.
9. From the Display Label list, select a field in the form that contains the list of values to show when the end user makes the request. 
   Choose a field that contains information that helps the end user make a choice. For example, from a form that lists department names and their cost centers, the field with the department name might be more helpful for the user.
10. From the Actual Value list, select a different field on the form, or retain the default associated field.
    The Actual Value field contains the value that is passed into the process, based on the user's selection. For example, if the Display Label is set to show the user a list of department names, the Actual Value field might be set to the cost center number; the user selects from a list of department names, and the process receives the associated cost center number.

11. (Optional) Build an expression in the Query Filter field that is used to select a group of records from the selected form.

    Tip

    The query uses standard Action Request System (AR System) syntax. For more information, see Fields in the advanced search bar in the AR System documentation.

    Use the comparison operators is greater than, is less than, is greater than or equal to, and is less than or equal to while creating query filters. For example, 'Create date' is greater than "11/11/20 00:00:00" checks if the create date is after November 11, 2020.

    You can build a query that selects records based on the value of any fields on the form. The query expression can compare the value of a field with the value of other questions, free text, no value, and who the request is requested for or requested by. When comparing a field with the value of other questions, you can make the comparison only with questions of the following types:

    • Text field
    • Text area
    • Lookup
    • Dropdown (single select)
    • Radio button
    • Toggle

    The query runs at the time of the user request. The search is restricted to the list of records that the user has permissions to view.

12. (Optional) Toggle Required to On.
13. Customize the remaining settings, and click Save.

Example: Look up data from a BMC Helix ITSM form

In this example, create a question for a site, and map the selection values to the SIT:Site form. When you complete the question, the settings will appear as shown in the following illustration:

1. In the Questions Designer, add a question for a site in one of the following ways: 
   • If there is a process question for the site, add this question to the canvas. 
   • If there is no process for the site, add a user-generated question.
2. In the Form Element Type field, select Dropdown (single select).
3. In the Label field, enter the question prompt. In this example, the label is Site.
4. Next to Question Values, click Map to Form.
5. In the Map Data panel, enter the search: SIT.
   Searching for the form is quicker than scrolling. The search is case-sensitive.
   
   
    
6. Select SIT:Site, and click Save.
7. If you want the form to be accessed with the administrator permissions, select the Run as administrator check box.
8. From the Display Label list, select Site.
   Users will select the site based on the name entered in the Site field.
9. From the Actual Value list, select Site ID (changing the value from Site to Site ID).
   In this example, the Query Filter is left blank. However, a company with hundreds of sites might build a filter to show only sites in the country to which the service applies. The query expression can compare the value of a field with the value of other questions, free text, no value, and who the request is requested for or requested by.
10. Toggle Required to On.
11. Click Save.

Example: Look up data from a Microsoft Azure form

In this example, create a question for the Microsoft Azure disks resource type, and map the selection values to the microsoft.compute/disks form. You can specify the Operating System type as Windows.

1. In the Question Designer panel, add a question for disks.
2. In the Form Element Type field, select Dropdown (single select).
3. In the Label field, enter the question prompt. In this example, the label is disk.
4. Next to Question Values, select Dynamic, and then click Map to Form.
5. In the Map Data panel, select the connector in the filter, and then enter the search: microsoft.disk
   Searching for the form is quicker than scrolling. The search is case-sensitive.
6. Select microsoft.compute/disks and click Save.
7. From the Display Label list, select Name.
   Users will select the disk based on the name entered in the Name field.
8. From the Stored Value list, select Name.
   In this example, the Query Filter, add a filter to show all disks with the operating system (osType) Windows. The query expression can compare the value of a field with the value of other questions, free text, no value, and who the request is requested for or requested by.
9. Toggle Required to On.
10. Click Save.

When you complete the question, the settings will appear as shown in the screenshot below. In the BMC Helix Digital Workplace service request, the question lists all the disks with the Windows osType.

To look up question values from a BMC Helix Innovation Studio process

1. Create a questionnaire in the Catalog console. 
   For example, create a questionnaire for a service to request IT equipment. 
2. Drag a process question onto the canvas.

3. In the Question Designer panel, from the Form Element Type list, select Dropdown (single select) or Dropdown (multi-select).
   For example, add a Dropdown (single select) question to create a selection list for the make of the device. 

   Important

   Creating selection menus with external data retrieved through the BMC Helix Innovation Studio process is not supported for other question types.

4. In the Label field, enter the text of the question prompt that is displayed to the end user; for example, Make of Device.
5. Next to Question Values, select Dynamic, and then click Map to Process.

6. From Workflow Library, select a BMC Helix Innovation Studio process that retrieves data from the external system, and then click Save.
   For example, select the DataLookup process that retrieves a comprehensive list of IT equipment from the external system.
   
   

   Important

   If you select a different process that is not configured to retrieve data from the external system, you'll receive the following error:

   The workflow selected is incompatible with external process

    

7. From the Process Output Variable field, select the output variable of the Object data type that you created while designing a BMC Helix Innovation Studio process to retrieve data from external systems at Step 2. 
   This variable captures the data retrieved from the external system in JSON format as specified in the document definition. 
   

1. From the Display Label list, select a field from the document definition to show when the end user makes the request. 
   Choose a field that contains information that helps the end user make a choice. For example, select name to prompt a user to select the name of the device make.
2. From the Stored Value list, select a field from the document definition that contains the value that is passed into the process, based on the user's selection. 
   You can retain the default associated field or select a different field from the document definition. For example, retain name.
   

1. In the Process Input Mappings section, click Add Mapping.
   This mapping is used to retrieve specific records from the external system. It works as a filter that retrieves records based on the answers to other questions in this questionnaire. This filter returns only the records of the Text data type that are available in the selected BMC Helix Innovation Studio process. If the records of the Text data type are absent in the selected process, the Add Mapping is unavailable. 
2. From the Select value list, select a question to filter data retrieval from the external system based on its answer. 
   For example, select the Asset Type question, where end users select the device type that they need. 
   

1. From the Select Process Input list, select the required Text input variable that you created while designing a BMC Helix Innovation Studio process to retrieve data from external systems at Step 2. 
   
   During the workflow execution time, this variable filters out data from the external system based on the user's specific query. For example, if an end user selects Mobile devices asset type, the Make of Device field will show only the makes of mobile devices. 

1. Customize the remaining settings, and click Save.

The following image shows the service in the end-user console:

For troubleshooting information, see Leveraging-external-data-in-questionnaires-by-using-a-BMC-Helix-Innovation-Studio-process.