Adding tasks to tickets in Smart IT

A task is a unit of work that needs to be completed as a step in resolving a ticket. If the solution to a ticket involves more than one action, procedure, or process, consider dividing the solution into separate tasks. Dividing the solution into separate tasks can help you to better manage and monitor the incident request as it moves toward resolution. Remedy with Smart IT allows you to add tasks to incidents, work orders, change requests, and activity tickets.

BMC Change Management provides the Task Phase Management feature that allows implementation of phase-related task completion. For more details about task phase management, seeTask Phase Managementin the BMC Remedy Change Management online documentation.

You can also add tasks to problem investigation and known error tickets. You must consider the following points:

  • You can create tasks by using the From Scratch option. The option to create tasks by using templates is not available.
  • The sequencing and activation process is not applicable on task from problem and known error

You can use a task template to add a task to a ticket, or you can create an ad hoc task. Task templates are predefined tasks that you can quickly add to an incident request. An ad hoc task is created manually without using a template. When using task templates, you can also add tasks that are divided into subtasks. A task that has subtasks is called a task group. Subtasks in a task group are called "children" of the task group.

Although tasks and task groups are related to specific tickets, information about the tasks and task groups is stored on a separate Task form. You can relate an unlimited number of tasks or task groups to a ticket.

Related topics

Task templates (BMC Change Management documentation)

Task group templates  (BMC Change Management documentation)

Task Phase Management (BMC Change Management documentation)

Configuring task phases(BMC Change Management documentation)

Configuring change rules (BMC Change Management documentation)

Overview-of-information-displayed-on-a-ticket-in-Smart-IT

Before you begin

Before you add tasks to tickets, ensure that the administrator has configured:

Also, to create tasks, you must have the requisite permissions:

  • You must have User or Master permissions for the parent ticket type to add a task to it or modify an existing task.
    For example, to add a task to an incident, you must be an Incident User or Incident Master.
  • You must also belong to the support group assigned to that ticket.

Note

Task user and Task manager permissions are included with other BMC Remedy ITSM permissions, such as Infrastructure Change User.  

To perform task actions in Smart IT

On the tasks section on the ticket, users can perform the following actions from the Actions menu:

  • Filter tasks—Displayed if task phasing is enabled; allows you to select the phases for which tasks must be displayed
  • Add Blank Task—Add a new task
  • Add Task from Template—Add a task by using a task template
  • Reorder Tasks—Reorder the tasks listed in the tasks section

To add a task

You add tasks directly from the ticket.

  • Open the ticket you need to add the task to.
  • On the Tasks tab, add a task.
  • Select one of the following choices. 
    • Add a blank task—Select this option to create the task from a single task template, or to create an ad hoc task. 
    • Add a task from a template—Select this option to create a task from a single task template or task group template.

  • For an ad hoc task, provide a task title and description.
    (Optional) If you are using a template, you can search for a template by typing a part of the name in the search field. Alternatively, you can filter the list of templates using the following criteria:

     Type

    Activity type

    Single Tasks

    Manual—An action (for example, replacing a cable) is performed by a person

    Automatic—A predefined instruction is automatically executed by the task

    Task Groups

    Standard—A flow mechanism establishes how the tasks relate to each other

    Sequencing—Sequencing strictly specifies the order of tasks

    From the search results, select the task to use to create the task.

  • Save the task.

After adding a task, update task details. For example, schedule a start and stop time, add attachments, or select an assignee. If the ticket is auto-assigned, the task uses the assignment rules of your organization. You can also add attachments to the tasks.

To add attachments to tasks

When using Smart IT on mobile devices, you can attach files from the following locations:

  • Files stored on the local devices
  • Files stored on cloud storage such as, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and Box.

On iOS devices, the Add Attachment option, and on Android devices, the From files and Dropbox options enables you to attach files that are on cloud storage when you create or edit change requests, and when you add a comment.

To assign tasks

Tasks can be assigned to the same person, to several people, or to a support group. The person or support group to whom the task is assigned is the task implementer. After a task or task group is assigned to a task implementer, the task implementer receives notifications to perform each of the assigned tasks. Task implementers can log their progress as they complete each task.

When you create or edit a task, you can quickly assign it to yourself by using the Assign to me link. You will see the Assign to me link only if you belong to the same support group to which the task is assigned.

  •  If you are part of only one support group, after you click the Assign to me link, the task is assigned to you without opening the Update Assignment pane.
  • If you are part of multiple support groups, when you click the Assign to me link, the Update Assignment pane is displayed on the task profile. The system searches for support groups to which you belong across all support companies, support organizations, and support groups. You must select one of the search result and save the selection. For more information, see Overview-of-information-displayed-on-a-ticket-in-Smart-IT.

When a task is assigned to you, it appears in the Ticket Console as separate ticket. When you open the task, it has a link back to the parent ticket, which you can open to see the full context of the task.

Overview of task reordering

If there is a change in the priority of planned tasks, you can change the task sequence as required. Smart IT provides the capability to change task sequences of Staged tasks by dragging them from within the task list or by manually updating their sequence number. Smart IT allows you drag and move tasks in the Tasks section of the ticket. Task sequencing is available for incident, work order, change requests, and activity (from release) tickets.

A logged in user who can add tasks can also change the sequence.

Note

Task sequence is not supported for Problem or Known Error records.

When reordering tasks, consider the following:

  • Only Staged tasks can be reordered.
  • The task list is in the Edit mode when moving tasks and you cannot click a task to work on it, in this mode.
  • A task that is a part of a task group cannot be moved outside the parent task group. However, the entire task group can be moved as a single unit.
  •  A task cannot be moved above a task or task group that is closed or bypassed. 
  • Child tasks with Standard task group cannot be moved. Only child tasks with Sequencing task group can be moved internally.
  • Nested tasks are read-only and cannot be reordered. 
  • Nested task groups can be reordered, but tasks within nested task groups cannot be reordered.
  • For change management tasks, when task phasing is enabled, you cannot drag a task from its existing phase to another phase. The same rule applies to task groups.

To reorder tasks

Moving a staged task above an active task or task group, changes the sequence number of the staged task to the same as that of the active task and updates the status to Pending.
For example, you drag a staged task above an active task with sequence 3, the status of the staged task is changed to Pending and its sequence is updated to 3.

When you move a task group above an active task or task group, the status of the first task in the task group is changed to Pending, and the sequence of the task group is changed to the same as the active task or task group.

You can reorder tasks using two methods: Drag a task to the new location or enter a sequence number in the input box displayed.

  • The drag-and-drop functionality allows you to drag the existing task and move it to the desired sequence in the task list. The sequence of all tasks is updated when you move the task. However, entering a number in the input box will only move that task to the logical location in the sequence. If your task sequence follows a progression, for example 10, 20, 30...n, tasks are renumbered in a regular numerical sequence, starting with 1. Do not use the drag-and-drop functionality to reorder tasks if the numbering follows a progression.   

    • If you move a task with sequence 4 to before the task with sequence 2, it is renumbered to 2 and the task with sequence number 2 is renumbered to 3. All task numbers that follow are updated in ascending order. 
    • If you move a task with sequence number 3 above two tasks with sequence number 2, the task you move is renumbered to 2 and both tasks with sequence number 2 are renumbered to 3.

  • The sequence input box allows you to manually update a task sequence by entering the new sequence number for a task. The task is moved to the logical place in the task sequence and the sequence numbers of other tasks are not changed. It is advisable to use this method to reorder tasks if the numbering follows a progression because using the drag-and-drop functionality updates the sequence number to a regular numerical sequence of 1, 2, 3...n.

To reorder tasks:

  • From the Actions menu, select Reorder tasks.
  • This enables reordering of tasks and a sequence number input box is displayed for each task. 
  • Click or tap the drag and drop icon and move the task to the desired place in the task list.
    When you drag a task to a new position in the task list, the sequence of all tasks is automatically updated.
  • If you want two tasks to run in parallel, you must manually enter the sequence number for the tasks in the input box provided.
  • The Save and Revert options are enabled when you move any task.
    Click or tap Save after you have completed reordering your task list.

Note

Reordering can move a staged task to an active state, for example, to the Assigned state. As long as you are in the Edit mode, you can continue to reorder this task. Once you save your changes, you cannot reorder these tasks as they are now active.

To specify task phases

In change requests, you can create tasks and specify the phase in which you want to run them. To do so, the administrator must enable Task Phase Management in BMC Remedy ITSM.

Consider the following example:

On the TMS:ConfigPhaseManagement form, the administrator has configured the following phases for tasks created from change requests.

Change request phase 

Review 

Planning 

Implementation 

Completed 

Sort order 

1

2

3

4

Activation status 

Request for Authorization

Planning in Progress

Implementation in Progress

Completed

Note

If the sort order is not configured according to the status flow, the phase management does not work correctly in Smart IT. When configuring sort order, ensure that the status flow is in ascending order:

Sort order

Status transition

1

Draft

2

Request For Authorization

3

Request For Change

4

Planning In Progress

5

Scheduled For Review

6

Scheduled For Approval

7

Scheduled

8

Implementation In Progress

9

Completed


On the Change Configuration Rules form, select a company and specify the following options:

  • Enable Task Phase Management—Yes
  • Enforce Task Closure at Each Phase—No

As a service desk agent, create a change request in Smart IT. The change request is created in the Draft status. From the change request, create a task from scratch or by using a task template. On the task profile, you can specify the task phase from the Phase list. Based on the phases specified on the TMS:ConfigPhaseManagement form, you can select one of the four phases—Review, Planning, Implementation, and Completed. The task is created for the specified phase of the change request. Similarly, you can create tasks for each phase.

When Task Phase Management is enabled, on the Tasks tab of the change request, you can select an option from the Phase list to filter tasks for a particular phase. The default filter is based on the current active phase.

Change request phase

Details

Review 

When the change request is moved to the Request for Authorization status, the system activates the first sequenced task created for the Review phase.

Planning 

After the change request is approved, it is moved to the Planning in Progress status. The following considerations are important:

  • The system activates the Planning phase and the first sequenced task of the Planning phase.
  • In this phase, you can create tasks for the current active phase—Planning—and for the future phases—Implementation and Completed.
  • In phase selection, the Review phase (the previous phase) is not available for selection.
  • You cannot create tasks for the Review phase.

Implementation

You must consider the following when the change request is moved to the Implementation in Progress status:

  • The system activates the Implementation phase and the phase first sequenced task of the Implementation phase.
  • In this phase, you can create tasks for the current active phase—Implementation—and for the future phase—Completed.
  • You cannot create tasks for the previous phases—Review and Planning.

Completed

You must consider the following when the change request is in the Completed status:

  • If there are any pending tasks except for the tasks set for Completed phase, you cannot move the change request to the Completed status.
  • When you close all pending tasks, the change request is automatically moved to the Completed status.
  • The system activates the first sequenced task of the Completed phase.
  • You cannot create new tasks.
  • To move the change request to the Closed phase, you must complete all the tasks in the Completed phase.

On the Change Configuration Rules form, if the Enforce Task Closure at Each Phase option is set to Yes, then the system functions as follows:

  • If tasks are pending in the current phase, you cannot move the change request to the next phase.
  • When the change request is moved to the Completed phase, you can create tasks only for the Completed phase.

For more information, refer the KA #000137960.  

 

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