Task lifecycle
As a case agent, when you add tasks to a case, they go through multiple statuses from Staged to Closed throughout their lifecycle. You can change the status of a task to reflect its progress. By default, a task is in the Staged status when it is queued for execution.
Based on the task type, the default lifecycles of tasks also differ. If a case business analyst modifies the default lifecycle of tasks, then tasks follow the modified lifecycles. For more information, see Modifying-the-lifecycle-of-cases-tasks-and-knowledge-articles.
To change the status of a task after it is created, you must have access to the task. For more information about permissions to access tasks, see Data-access-model.
Default lifecycle of a manual task
Tasks go through different statuses in their lifecycle. A case business analyst can change the default lifecycle of tasks. The case business analyst can also change the lifecycle by defining status changes according to the actions taken on the tasks.
When you change the status of a task, notifications are sent to the assignee of the task and the parent case. For more information about notifications, see Creating-custom-notifications.
The following workflow shows the default lifecycle of a manual task:
Status transition for tasks
The following table shows how the task status changes based on the actions:
Status | Action | Status changes to |
|---|---|---|
Staged | Case agent cancels the task. | Canceled |
Assigned | Case agent starts working on the task. | In Progress |
Assignee needs a response from the requester or contact in case of queries. | Pending | |
Case agent completes the task. | Completed | |
Case agent cancels the task. | Canceled | |
Task is completed and no further action is required. | Closed | |
In Progress | Case agent assigns the task to another user. | Assigned |
Case agent completes the task. | Completed | |
Task is not completed. | Failed | |
Case agent cancels the task. | Canceled | |
Task is completed and no further action is required. | Closed | |
Pending | Information is received for a pending task. Case agent starts working on the task. | In Progress |
Approver rejects the task. | Approval Rejected | |
Case agent assigns the task to a user. | Assigned | |
Case agent completes the task. | Completed | |
Case agent cancels the task. | Canceled | |
Task is completed and no further action is required. | Closed | |
Approval Rejected | Case agent starts working on the task again to rectify the problem and resend it for approval. | In Progress |
Case agent makes appropriate changes and assigns the task to a user. | Assigned | |
Case agent cancels the task. | Canceled | |
Failed | Case agent reassigns the task to another user. | Assigned |
Case agent completes the task. | Completed | |
Completed | Case agent cancels the task. | Canceled |
Task is completed and no further action is required. | Closed |
Lifecycle of an automated task
Automated tasks can be completed successfully or fail. If an automated task fails, you can either rerun the failed task, or manually change its status to Completed, if required. For more information, see Updating-tasks-and-tracking-progress.
The following figure illustrates the lifecycle of an automated task:
Case business analysts can configure approvals for automated tasks before an automated task starts or after it is completed. Learn more about it in Approvals for automated tasks.
Lifecycle of an external task
Tasks that can be associated with an external application or service are external tasks. The lifecycle of external tasks is the same as that of manual tasks. You can integrate the tasks in your application with an external application. For the integration with an external application or a system, the case agents select task type as external.
For more information about integration of third-party application with your application, see Integrating-BMC-Helix-Business-Workflows-with-other-applications.
Task status and associated status reasons
Out-of-the-box, a task status has associated status reasons. A status reason determines why a task is set to a status.
The following table lists the task statuses and associated status reasons for manual and automated tasks:
Task type | Task status | Status reason |
|---|---|---|
Manual | Completed | Successful |
Failed | ||
Workaround applied | ||
Execution Skipped | ||
Automated Task | Failed | Error |
Incomplete Task | ||
Completed | Successful | |
Failed | ||
Workaround applied | ||
Execution Skipped |
Time spent in each status
The total time spent in each status during a task lifecycle, starting from Stage to Completed is recorded in BMC Helix Business Workflows. If a task changes to the same status multiple times, such as In progress to Pending to In progress to Completed, the cumulative time spent in each status is also captured. This captured data helps to analyze the following parameters:
- Time spent by each support group in different statuses
- Wait time on tasks
- Mean time to task resolution
- Average wait time
- Average time to task resolution, for example, how long the task was in the pending status in this month versus last month
The time spent in each status of a task lifecycle is captured in seconds (ss) format. You can change the format in which the time is recorded.
A Reporting Editor or Reporting Admin can generate a report and view the recorded data in a reporting tool. The image below shows a sample report in BMC Helix Dashboards.
Where to go from here