Example of creating task templates with a workflow

The following procedure is an example of how to create task templates or task group templates with workflow. The example illustrates how you can leverage the flow logic in a task group template to bypass tasks.

To build TMS workflow to bypass tasks

1. Create a variable template:
   1. From the Application Settings list, choose Task Management System > Task Configuration > Variable Template, and then click Open.

   2. In the Variable Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	Phone Type
      Company	Your company
      Type	Local
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   3. Save and close the Variable Template form.
      For more information, see Variable-templates.
2. Create the phone contact task template:
   1. From the Application Settings list, choose Task Management System > Task Configuration > Task Template, and then click Open.

   2. In the Task Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	0 - Phone Contract
      Summary	Fill Out Phone Contract
      Type	Manual
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   3. Click the General tab, and then select your company.
   4. Click the Assignment tab, and then enter the assignment settings.
   5. Click the Output tab, and then map field Character 01 to Phone Type as the local output variable.
   6. Click Add to create the output variable mapping.
   7. Save the Task Template form.
      For more information, see Task-templates.
3. Create the first phone task template:

   1. In the Task Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	1 - ATT Phone Type Selection
      Summary	Select from ATT, Apple, Motorola
      Type	Manual
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   2. Click the General tab, and then select your company.
   3. Click the Assignment tab, and then enter the assignment settings.
   4. Click the Input tab, and then map Phone Type as the local input variable to the Character 01 field.
   5. Click Add to create the input variable mapping.
   6. Save the Task Template form.
4. Create the second phone task template:

   1. In the Task Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	1 - Apple Phone Type Selection
      Summary	Select from ATT, Apple, Motorola
      Type	Manual
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   2. Click the General tab, and then select your company.
   3. Click the Assignment tab, and then enter the assignment settings.
   4. Click the Input tab, and then map Phone Type as the local input variable to the Character 01 field.
   5. Click Add to create the input variable mapping.
   6. Save the Task Template form.
5. Create the third phone task template:

   1. In the Task Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	1 - Motorola Phone Type Selection
      Summary	Select from ATT, Apple, Motorola
      Type	Manual
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   2. Click the General tab, and then select your company.
   3. Click the Assignment tab, and then enter the assignment settings.
   4. Click the Input tab, and then map Phone Type as the local input variable to the Character 01 field.
   5. Click Add to create the input variable mapping.
   6. Save the Task Template form.
6. Create the last task template:

   1. In the Task Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	2 - Register Phone
      Summary	Register Phone
      Type	Manual
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   2. Click the General tab, and then select your company.
   3. Click the Assignment tab, and then enter the assignment settings.
   4. Click the Output tab, and then map field Character 01 to Phone Type as the local output variable.
   5. Click Add to create the output variable mapping.
   6. Save and close the Task Template form.
7. Create the task group template.
   For more information, see Advanced-task-group-template-Standard-type.
   1. From the Application Settings list, choose Task Management System > Task Configuration > Task Group Template, and then click Open.

   2. In the Task Group Template form, create an entry with the following selections:

      Field	Setting
      Name	New Cell Phone Template
      Summary	Cell Phone Procurement
      Company	Your company
      Type	Standard Important: Select Standard, not Sequencing (the default).
      Template Category Tier 1	Select Change Management System
      Status	Active

   3. Click the Association tab, and then add the task templates you created to the list of current associations.
   4. Click the Flow tab to define the flow relationships between the tasks.
      To bypass tasks, you must configure the output of the previous task to be the input on the next task in the process flow. You then must qualify some tasks so that a particular selection by the person working the task determines the task flow.

   5. Create the following Flow Relationships:

      From Task Group or Task (Predecessor Name)	To Task Group or Task (Successor Name)
      Start	0 - Phone Contract
      0 - Phone Contract	1 - Apple Phone Type Selection
      0 - Phone Contract	1 - ATT Phone Type Selection
      0 - Phone Contract	1 - Motorola Phone Type Selection
      1 - Apple Phone Type Selection	2 - Register Phone
      1 - ATT Phone Type Selection	2 - Register Phone
      1 - Motorola Phone Type Selection	2 - Register Phone

      To create the flow relationship, you select a task from each of the tables, and then click Flow To. If you make a mistake, click Remove to delete the relationship.

   6. Edit the flow relationship of all the predecessor tasks at level 0 (Phone Contract) that flow to the successor of the three separate phone type selections at level 1.
      For example for the Phone contract to Apple Phone Selection, select the entry under the Flow Relationships, and then press Edit.
   7. Click the Input tab on the Flow Template dialog box, and then map Phone Type as the local input variable to the Character 01 field.
   8. Click Add to create the output variable mapping.
   9. Click the Qualification tab, and then enter the following qualification criteria:
      'Character 01' = "Apple"
   10. (Optional) Edit the evaluation and flow criteria, as needed.
   11. Create flow qualification criteria for the ATT and Motorola tasks:
       'Character 01' = "ATT"
       'Character 01' = "Motorola"
8. Create a sample change request.
9. Add the New Cell Phone task group template to the change request.
10. Use the Process Flow Status bar to work the change request to Implementation In Progress status.

11. Click the Tasks tab, and then click View Flow.
    You see how your task flow is branched in the Task Flow Viewer. The following figure illustrates tasks branched in the Task Flow viewer.

     

     

12. View the first assigned task (0 - Phone Contract) in the change request.
13. In the Task form, click the Data tab.
14. In the Phone Type field, enter ATT.
    Many field types are available to you for mapping variables. This example only used a character field. But there are also numeric fields, date/time fields, and so on. When you mapped 'Character 01' to the 'Phone Type' variable, the field label is updated to show the variable name.
15. Work the task to the Closed status.
    When you return to the change request, you now see that the Apple and Motorola tasks have been bypassed.

This procedure has been a short example of a standard task group template showing how tasks can be bypassed using built-in workflow in TMS. The bypass state is not selectable by the user, but rather is a result of workflow processing within the task group flow. If users try to bypass the tasks manually, they will see an error.