Workflows allow you to automate processes within Service Manager, making interactions with Service Manager more efficient. For example, you can configure workflows that will automatically close completed change requests, or configure workflows that will automatically notify Service Manager users when approvals are required. Using the Server Manager console, you can configure change management workflows that configure change request conditions and apply change request templates. You can also configure activity management workflows to configure activity management conditions and apply activity templates.
Change request templates
Change request templates store a common set of settings, applying these settings to new change requests. For example, you can create a change request template related to adding a new database to a SQL Server instance that includes commonly used properties, minimizing the amount of information that a user is required to enter when requesting such a change.
To create a change request template, perform the following steps:
1. In the Library workspace of the Server Manager console, click Templates, and then in the Tasks pane, click Create Template.
2. On the Create Template dialog box, specify a name for the template. Select the Change Request Class as shown in Figure 1, and select a Management Pack in which to store the new template.
FIGURE 1 Create change request template
3. When you click OK, the Change Request Template form will be displayed. In this form, provide information that will be pre-populated on a change request template. As shown in Figure 2, this can include the area of the organization that the template applies to, the priority the change request should be assigned by default, as well as default impact and risk values.
FIGURE 2 Configure change request template
4. On the Activities tab, you can add activities to the template. These additions can include any configured activity including runbook automation activities. Usually with Change Requests, you’d add a Default Review Activity as shown in Figure 3 , which would allow another user to review and authorize the change request.
FIGURE 3 Change request template activities
Change management workflows
You can use change management workflows to automate the process of dealing with change management requests. To create a change management workflow, perform the following steps:
1. In the Administration workspace or the Service Manager console, expand the Workflows node, and click Configuration.
2. In the Configuration pane, click Change Request Event Workflow Configuration, and in the Tasks pane, click Configure Workflow Rules.
3. In the Configure Workflows dialog box, click Add.
4. On the Workflow Information page of the Configure Workflows For Objects Of Class Change Request dialog box, shown in Figure 4, specify a name, whether the event that triggers the workflow is when an object is created, or updated, and a management pack in which to store the workflow.
FIGURE 4 Workflow information
5. On the Specify Criteria page, ensure that Change Request is selected. In the list of available properties, select a criteria that will determine whether the change management workflow is applied. For example, in Figure 5, the change management workflow will be applied if the change request area is set to Security.
FIGURE 5 Workflow criteria
6. On the Apply Template page, click Apply The Selected Template. You can then choose one of the existing change management templates to apply. Figure 6 shows the Security Release Change Request template selected.
FIGURE 6 Apply template
7. On the Select People To Notify page, specify whether users should be notified when this change management workflow is triggered.
8. On the Summary page, review the settings, and click Create to create the change management workflow.
Activity management workflows
Activity management workflows allow you to automate the management of activities based on the properties of the activity. For example, you might create a workflow to assign all unassigned manual activities to a particular member of the IT staff. To create an activity management workflow, perform the following steps:
1. In the Administration workspace of the Server Manager console, click Configuration under the Workflows node.
2. In the Configuration pane, select the Activity Event Workflow node, and then click Configure Workflow Rules in the tasks pane.
3. On the Select A Class dialog box, shown in Figure 7, click the activity class to which you want the workflow to apply.
FIGURE 7 Activity class
4. On the Configure Workflows dialog box, click Add.
5. On the Workflow Information page of the Configure Workflows For Objects Of Class, specify a name for the activity management workflow, a management pack to store the workflow, and whether the workflow will be triggered upon object creation or object modification.
6. On the Specify Criteria page, select a property and criteria that will trigger the workflow. For example, in Figure 8, the criteria is that the Activity Status equals Failed.
FIGURE 8 Activity criteria
7. On the Apply Template page, you can choose to apply a template.
8. On the Select People To Notify, you can choose to notify specific people. When you choose to notify a person, you select who is to be notified and the message template.
9. On the Summary page, click Create.
