Automating tasks for quicker case resolution


Case business analysts can automate tasks in a case so that the tasks can be executed automatically without any user intervention. For information about task automation concept, see Task automation. You can create task templates to define an automated task and you can associate these templates to a case.

Related topics

Automated-tasks

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You must perform the following tasks to create a task template for an automated task:

Task

Action

Reference

1

Create a task template for an automated task.

2

(Optional) Add dynamic fields to the task template so that you can use these fields as input or output for the next steps in the task.

3

(Optional) Add dynamic groups to the task template so that you can categorize the dynamic fields.

4

Edit process to define your automated task.

If you are using dynamic fields in the task template,  modify the process to update the dynamic fields.

5

Associate the task template for your automated task to a case template.

To create a task template for an automated task

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
  2. Click Settings Gear icon.PNG.
  3. Select to Task Management >Templates.
  4. On the Task Templates page, from the Line of Business list, select the line of business for which you want to create a template.
    If you have access to a single line of business, the line of business is selected by default.
  1. Click icon_autoTaskTemplate.PNG.
  2. On the Create Task Template page, enter values for the Template Name.
  3. Complete the additional fields as explained in the following table:

    Based on the line of business, the values for task labels, task categories, task assignments, and owner groups fields are available for selection.

    Field

    Description

    Create New Process?

    Choose whether you want to create a new process or use an existing process.

    • To create a new process, click 2102_ToggleIcon.jpg
      A new process is created that consists of only the Start element, Stop element, and basic properties. You must edit this process as per your requirements. You do not need to register the process.
    • To use an existing process, click 2102_ToggleIcon.jpg.

    New Process Name

    If you choose to create a new process, specify a process name.
    Important: The process is stored in the line of business bundle in which you create the task template. For example, if you create a task template in Facilities line of business, the process is stored in the com.bmc.Facilities bundle.

    Task Summary

    Specify a summary for the automated task.

    Task Priority

    Select the priority for the task from Critical, High, Medium, and Low.

    Stage

    Select a stage that you want to assign to this template.

    Important: This list displays only those stages that you created for the line of business for which this template is created.

    Learn about creating a stage in Defining-stages-for-tasks.

    Task Description

    Describe the automated task template.

    Task Company

    Select the company for which you want to create the template. Select one of the following options:


      • Global—All companies in a tenant can view the template.
      • A company name—Only agents of the selected company can view the template.

    Label

    Select a label for the task template.
    You can filter the templates based on a specific label.

    Task Category Tier 1, Task Category Tier 2, Task Category Tier 3, Task Category Tier 4

    Select the categorization tiers for the task. Categorization helps in the task assignment and classification. 
    For example, when a task is created without an assignee, the task category can be used to assign the task.

    Important: If there is an active domain, Category Tier 1 displays values that belong to that domain.

  4. Complete the task metadata fields as explained in the following table:

    Field

    Description

    Template Status

    Select one of the following statuses:

    • Draft—This is the default status of a new template. 
      In the Draft status, the template is not available for use.
    • Active—The template is available for use.
      Important: Only active templates are searchable and available for use. 
    • Inactive—The template is redundant, and no longer in use.

    Owner Company, Owner Organization, and Owner Group

    To make a support group or user the owner of the template, complete the following steps:


      1. Select a combination of Owner Company, Owner Organization, and Owner Group
        Agents in the owner company can view the template. A list of all the users of the support groups directly related to the selected combination of company and organization is displayed. Additionally, if there is an active domain, only support groups from that domain are displayed. For example, if you select the company as Calbro Services and the owner organization as Human Resources, all groups defined for Human Resources are displayed in the list.
      2. Click Save.

    Important:

    • You can make a support group or a user of the support group of any other company that you have access to as the owner of the template.
    • In the Owner Company field, only Operating - Internal, Operating - Customer, and Service Provider companies that you have access to are listed.

    Details of the individual or group to which the case should be assigned is displayed based on selected values.

  5. Click Save.

Best Practice
We recommend that you associate a separate process for every automated task template. If you create multiple task templates by using the same process, the dynamic fields associated with different task templates get combined and are displayed on every template page.

Important

A process that is associated with an automated task in the BMC Helix Business Workflows versions earlier to 19.02, now has a document variable added to it.

 To add dynamic fields to the task template for an automated task

After you create a task template for an automated task, you can add dynamic fields to the task template either from the dynamic field library or by creating a dynamic field directly from the template. To add dynamic fields to the task template, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
  2. Click Settings Gear icon.PNG.
  3. Navigate to Task Management > Templates.
  4. On the Task Templates page, from the Line of Business list, select the line of business for which you want to update a template.
    If you have access to a single line of business, the line of business is selected by default.
  5. Select the required task template for an automated task. Ensure that the template is not in the Active status.
  6. On the template page, click Manage Dynamic Fields.

    • To add a dynamic field to a template, perform the following steps:
      1. Click Dynamic Field > New Field.
      2. Specify the details such as Field NameField Description, and complete the additional details as described in the following table:

        Field

        Description

        Field Value Type

        Select the type of the dynamic field from the list. 
        The field values support all value types except multi-select and radio button types.

        Information Source

        Select the source from which you want to collect the response to the dynamic field while creating a case.
        You can choose one of the following sources from the list:

        • Requester—A requester provides responses to the dynamic fields while creating a case.
        • Agent—A case agent provides responses as required while working on a case.
        • Task assignee—A Task assignee provides responses when executing a task associated with the case.
        • System—Select this option when you want an automated task to populate the information automatically without any user intervention. 

        Required

        To make the response to the dynamic field mandatory while resolving a case, select Required 2102_ToggleIcon.jpg.

        Confidential

        To make the dynamic field confidential, select Confidential 2102_ToggleIcon.jpg.

        Hidden

        To make the dynamic field, select Hidden 2102_ToggleIcon.jpg.

        Has default value

        Select 2102_ToggleIcon.jpg to specify a default value for the field value, and enter the Value. 

        Important: This option is not available for List and Attachment type field values.

    • To add dynamic fields from the dynamic field library, perform the following steps:

      1. From the Available Dynamic Fields list, select a dynamic field. 
        The list displays all the Active dynamic fields which are available in the dynamic field library.
      2. (Optional) Update the Information Source and Required fields.
  7. Click Save.

To add a dynamic group to the task template for an automated task

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
  2. Click Settings Gear icon.PNG.
  1. To add a dynamic group to a task template, select Task Management > Templates.
  2. On the Task Templates page, from the Line of Business list, select the line of business for which you want to update a template.
    If you have access to a single line of business, the line of business is selected by default.
  1. Open the required template from the list.

    You can edit templates that are in the Draft status.

  2. On the template details page, click Manage Dynamic Fields.
  3. On the Manage Dynamic Fields dialog box, click +Dynamic Group, complete the following fields, and click Save.

    Field

    Description

    Group Name

    Enter a name for the dynamic group. The name is unique for every group.
    Important
    : Do not use a dot (.) in the name of the dynamic group.

    Group Display Label

    Enter a label for the dynamic group.

    Active

    Select this option to display the group while creating a task.

    Publish in Library

    Select this option to publish the group to the dynamic group library so that you can use the group in another case template.
    If you do not select this option the group is only available for the case template in which you create the group.

  4. On the Manage Dynamic Fields dialog box, expand the dynamic group, and add dynamic fields to the group by using any of the following ways:
    1. To add a new dynamic field to the group, click +Dynamic Field, and specify the values for the dynamic field.

    1. To add an existing dynamic field to the group, in the Available Dynamic Fields section, search for the dynamic field, and drag the field to the group.
      The dynamic fields available in the line of business of the template are displayed in the Available Dynamic Fields section.
  1. To change the order of a dynamic field in the group, drag the field to the desired location.
  2. Click Save.

To edit process and manage dynamic fields associated with a task template for an automated task

While creating a task template, if you have selected to create a new process, you must edit the process that gets created by default to meet your requirements. Also, if you have added dynamic fields or dynamic groups to your task template and you want to update them automatically by using the process, in the process you must add steps to manage the dynamic fields and dynamic groups. You can use the Update Task Data element in the Process designer of BMC Helix Innovation Studio for managing the dynamic fields and dynamic groups. 

To edit process and manage dynamic fields associated with a task template, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
  2. Click Settings Gear icon.PNG.
  3. Select Task Management > Templates.
  4. On the Task Templates page, from the Line of Business list, select the line of business for which you want to update a template.
  5. Select the required task template for an automated task. Ensure that the template is not in the Active status.
  6. On the template page, click Edit Process.
    The Process designer of BMC Helix Innovation Studio opens in a new window. In the Process designer, a template of the process is displayed with the Process and Document variables populated.
  7. In the Process designer, modify the process as per your requirement.
  8. (Optional) If you have added dynamic fields to your task template, perform the following steps to update them automatically:
    1. From the Palette, drag the Update Task Data element to the canvas where you want update the dynamic fields or dynamic groups in the process.
    2. In the Element properties pane, enter values in the required fields, such as Action Type NameLabel, and so on, and complete the other details as described in the following table:

      Section

      Field

      Description

      GENERAL

      Run as

      Select the Inherit from Process option from the list.
      The process in which you want to use the Update Task Data element is set to defined requirements.

      INPUT MAP

      Task ID

      1. Click Click to build an expression. 
      2. On the Edit Expression page, select ID.png from the list displayed in the Available Values pane.

      The Task ID option indicates the task ID of a task created by using a task template so that the dynamic fields associated with the task template are updated.

      Document Definition Name

      Select a value from the list.
      The document definition name must be same as that of input Document Definition.

      Add/Remove Documentation Nodes

      Click this option and from the list select the dynamic fields which you want to update, and click Apply.
      The list displays all the dynamic fields associated with the task template. 

      After you add the dynamic fields, click Click to build an expression to enter an expression for updating the dynamic fields.

  9. Click Save and go to the previous window to see the template details page.
  10. Change the status of the template to Active.

To associate a task template for an automated task to a case template

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Business Workflows.
  2. Click Settings Gear icon.PNG.
  3. Select Case Management > Case Templates.
  4. On the Case Templates page, from the Line of Business list, select the line of business for which you want to update a template.
    If you have access to a single line of business, the line of business is selected by default.
  1. Select the required case template. Ensure that the case template is not in the Active status.
  2. On the template details page, click Add Tasks.
    A list of active task templates for the selected company is displayed.
  3. Select the template for the automated task that you want to use and click Save.

Best Practice
We recommend that you associate task templates to a case template in sequence in which you want the tasks to execute. For more information about sequence of tasks, see Task-flow.

Agents can also add an automated task to a case. For more information about adding tasks to a case, see Associating-cases-to-related-items-and-users.

Modifying a task template for an automated task

Only a case business analyst can modify a task template for an automated task. You can modify the following template details based on your access permissions:

Access to the application or library that you want to edit

Submitter

Belong to template owner group

Template details that you can modify

✅️

✅️

✅️

Dynamic fields and other details such as priority, categories, metadata, and so on

✅️

❌️

✅️

✅️

✅️

❌️

✅️

❌️

❌️

Dynamic fields only

❌️

❌️

✅️

Other details except dynamic fields

❌️

❌️

❌️

None

 

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