Integrating Task Management System with other applications

The Parent Application Template and Parent Application Object are building blocks that provide examples of how you can integrate Task Management System (TMS) with another application.

TMS comes with sample parent application objects and parent application templates. You can create a task at runtime from a parent application template. These parent objects are containers that manage all the related associations and flows of their children.

To define parent templates

The parent template object is a container that emulates how another application's template supports the relationships to Task Templates and Task Group Templates and the information flows between them. This is similar to Task Group Template's relationships and flows.

1. On the IT Home Page, click Parent Application Template.

2. On the Parent Application Template form, provide vales for the required fields:

   Field name	Description
   Name	Enter the name of the task group.
   Summary	Enter a brief description of the purpose of this task group template.
   Company	Select a company. This task group is available only to the company you select.
   Status	Select Active to enable the template for use at runtime. Select Inactive to deactivate the template. Inactive objects cannot be used at runtime. Usually, you set an object to Inactive when it is no longer used at runtime, but might be needed again in the future. When it is needed again, you can set it to Active. Select Potential to put the template into inactive status. You can design the template without activating it.

3. Provide values for the optional fields:

   Field name	Description
   Notes	Enter a description of the parent template's function or any other helpful text for future administrators and designers.
   Assigned To	Select the assignee to whom this parent template is assigned to at runtime.
   Assignee Groups	Select the group to which this parent template is assigned at runtime.

4. Click Save.

To define and interact with parent application objects

You use the Parent Application Object form to select task templates. You can also create ad hoc tasks on the Parent Application Objects form.

To define parent application objects

1. From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Task Management System > Parent Application > Parent Application Object, and then click Open to open the Parent Application Object form.
2. On the Parent Application Object form, enter a Name, Summary, and Company.
3. Set the status of the parent object to New, Assigned, Work in Progress, Pending, or Closed, and then click Save.

To relate a task template to the parent application object

1. From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Task Management System > Parent Application > Parent Application Object, and then click Open to open the Parent Application Object form.
2. On the Parent Application Object form, create or open a parent application object.
3. On the Tasks tab of the Parent Application Object form, select Task Template from the Type field, and then click Relate.
4. On the Template Selection dialog box, select the task in the table, and then click Relate. 
   The dialog box closes and a new task appears in the Tasks and Task Groups table of the parent application object. At runtime, you can use these tasks from your parent application object.

To relate a task group to a parent object

1. From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Task Management System > Parent Application > Parent Application Object, and then click Open to open the Parent Application Object form.
2. On the Parent Application Object form, in the Type field, select Task Group Template, and then click Relate. 
   The tasks that comprise the selected task group appear in the table at the bottom of the Select Template dialog box.
3. On the Template Selection dialog box, select the task group in the table, and then click Relate. 
   The selected task group template creates runtime tasks or task groups that appear in the table of the parent application object. At runtime, you can use these task groups from your parent application object.

To relate an ad hoc task

1. From the Application Administration Console, select Custom Configuration > Task Management System > Parent Application > Parent Application Object, and then click Open to open the Parent Application Object form.

2. On the Parent Application Object form, in the Type field, select Ad hoc, and then click Relate.

   Important

   Only the manual type is available for ad hoc tasks.

3. On the Task dialog box, enter a name and summary.
4. Choose a priority, and then enter additional details as needed, for example, in the Requester tab.
5. Click Save.
   The ad hoc task appears in the Tasks and Task Groups table in the parent application object.

To hide the parent application object

If you do not want the parent application object to be visible on the IT Home page, you can hide it.

1. Log in to the AR System serverusing an ID with administrator privileges.
2. Open Developer Studio.
3. From the All Objects folder in the navigation pane, select Forms.
4. From the Forms window, open the TMS:ParentApplicationObject form.
5. From the menu bar, select Open Form > Form Properties.
6. From the navigation pane of the Form Properties dialog box, select the Permissions link.
7. In the Permissions table of the Permissions dialog box, change the Task Manager permission from Visible to Hidden.
8. Click OK, and then click Save.