Learning about Task Management

The following screenshot displays a task that is related to a change request:

Process overview

The Task Management process starts with the creation of a task and ends with the completion of the task. Out-of-the-box, you can create tasks for the following phases of a change request. However, you can configure the Task Management process to create tasks at any phase of a change request. For more information, see Configuring-task-phases.

• Review
• Business Approval
• Implementation

You can create tasks manually or automatically, and the status flow of both the type of tasks is the same. The following diagram shows the status flow of a task with respect to a change request:

The following table describes the end-to-end process of a task:

Task Templates

A task template defines a unit of work that carries out a single step in handling a change. At runtime, task templates are generated as tasks. 

The following figure provides an overview of using change templates for standard changes. For example, each time you get a request to activate a phone line, you can perform some of the same steps, such as using change templates for standard changes.

• Verify the employee's specific details
• Search for an available phone number to assign
• Activate the line
• Test the line
• Schedule an appointment for a technician, if necessary
• Notify the employee that the service is active

The following figure illustrates the definition and execution stages when an advanced task group template is used:

Task Management System (TMS) has two stages: the Definition stage and the Execution stage. During these stages, the application administrator performs the following actions:

• In the Definition stage, the application administrator performs the following actions:
  • Configures the TMS objects
  • Determines the associations that establish the relationship and hierarchy between TMS objects
  • Defines and configures:
    • Task Groups Templates
    • Tasks Templates
    • Association Templates
    • Flow Templates and Variable Templates
• In the Execution stage, the application administrator performs the following actions:

  • Instantiates the predefined Task Group, Task, Association, and Flow Templates within the applications that integrate with TMS.

    Important

    The process of transforming objects configured within the Definition Stage to actionable objects within the Execution Stage is called instantiation.

  • Copies instantiated objects according to their parent object's (task group templates) mapping and their relationship definitions to the corresponding child objects.

When a task group template is instantiated at runtime, the corresponding task group and tasks as well as mapping and relationship definitions are copied according to the task group template definition (task group template, tasks, associations, and flows).

Sequencing mechanism

You can use sequence numbers to define the order in which tasks or task groups are executed. This sequencing mechanism saves you time, by eliminating the need to manually define the flow between tasks or task groups.

For example, as a change request user, you can add three tasks from the list in a task template, and then specify the order in which they execute (1, 2, and 3). This is equivalent to configuring a successor and predecessor model as Start'Task1'Task2'Task3.

The sequence for each task or task group that you enter is converted to a flow definition in TMS. In the preceding example, when three tasks are ordered as 1, 2, 3, three flows are created automatically as follows:

Flow#1: Start ' Task1
Flow#2: Task1 ' Task2
Flow#3. Task2 ' Task 3

The sequencing mechanism has the following fixed settings on the flow object that cannot be changed:

• Evaluate if Predecessor Failure? "No"
• Evaluate if Predecessor Canceled? "Yes"
• Flow to Successor when "All Complete"

With these settings, all tasks and task groups in the same sequence must be completed before the tasks or task groups in the next sequence level can begin. For example, in the following table, Task 4, 5, and 6 (at Sequence level 2) are activated only if Task 1 (at Sequence level 1) and Task 2 (at Sequence level 1) is completed.

When a task or task group is added, the default sequence is the next available sequence level. For example, in the following table, if a Task 10 is added to the list of existing tasks, it would be set at sequence level 4.

After a task is added, you can change the ordering using the sequence number. Increasing the sequence number moves the task down the list. Decreasing the sequence number moves the task up the list.

During runtime, the following rules ensure the integrity of the process flow:

• The sequence cannot move to a prior sequence level that is completed.
• The sequence level cannot be changed on an active or completed task.

You can change the sequence number using the up and down buttons on the user interface, or by setting the sequence number directly in the corresponding column on the table field.

During the Definition stage, sequence and dependency information is stored in the Flow template. During the Execution stage, the association information is stored in a separate Flow table.

The following figure illustrates the sequencing model.

Flow mechanism

The flow mechanism defines the sequence and dependency between task templates within a task group template, and between tasks within a task group.

Flow is a configuration process that determines how a task or task group is processed at runtime. For example, tasks and tasks groups can be carried out sequentially or simultaneously. Flow is defined based on the association between a task and task group. Flow cannot be established if no association exists. Association is what the other instances are, in relation to the current instance. Flow is how these instances are executed.

A flow consists of one or more flow relationship records. Each flow relationship record is capped by an inbound and outbound task object. The task object is a task template (Definition stage), task (Execution stage), task group template (Definition stage), or a task group (Execution stage). The inbound task object to a flow relationship record is called the predecessor. The outbound task object to a flow relationship record is called the successor.

When you define a task group template, you can establish how the associated task group template and task templates relate to one another. This is called flow, and determines the sequence in which task groups and tasks are generated at runtime.

A task or task group can be executed simultaneously or sequentially. When the flow is defined as a sequence, all predecessors must be completed before the successor task or task group can start.

The flow is also determined by the outcome of the predecessor. The resulting output can be stored as a variable. The values in these variables can be used by workflow to decide the behavior of the flow.

For example, in the following illustration the flow, represented by the diamond, indicates that if Task 1 is flagged as successful, Task 2 is activated. Otherwise, Task 3 is activated.

The following figure illustrates a branching flow. 

The flow configuration is evaluated along with other advanced settings, such as conditions, actions, and behavior, when the task is completed (State = closed, success, failed, or canceled). 

For a detailed example of building flow into your tasks, see Creating-task-templates.

Testing your knowledge

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Do you want to learn more?

For more information about creating task, see Creating-and-modifying-tasks.