Creating an SLM Start Clock/Stop Clock Task

SLM Start Clock and SLM Stop Clock tasks enable you to set explicit points in your workflow where you want the clock on a SLA linked to a request to started or suspended.

SLAs linked to a request will be closed once the request to which it is linked is set to an open-resolved state of closed.

Within ASM, SLAs linked to a request are automatically started as soon as the request becomes authorized, and closed with closure of the request. However, when considering real world situations, there are often pre-approval and post-implementation steps that occur outside of when an agreement should be run. As a result, there can be a significant time period from when a pre-authorized request is created to when it is actually approved to be implemented, causing any SLAs on the request to breach. SLM Start Clock and Stop Clock tasks enable you to explicitly specify on your workflow when a SLA linked to a request shall start and suspend, meaning that your request SLAs will not unexpectedly breach.

The SLM Start Clock task is used to start or resume an SLA linked to the current request. The SLM Start Clock task performs the same function as the Start Clock button on the Request Service Window. Similarly, the SLM Stop Clock task is used to suspend a SLA linked to the current request. The SLM Stop Clock task performs the same function as the Stop Clock button on the Request Service Window.

It is possible that when the SLM Start Clock/Stop Clock task becomes active, it will not be able to start/suspend the SLA. This can occur when:

• the SLM Task option has not been selected in the SLM explorer option on the current request

• there is no SLA linked to the request

• the SLA is already running when a SLM Start Clock task becomes active

• the SLA is already suspended when a SLM Stop Clock task becomes active.

Before you Start

To use SLM Start Clock/Stop Clock Tasks on a Request, the SLM Task option must be selected on the Request SLM window.

The SLM task functionality must first be enabled by selecting the SLM Task option on the Service Level Management window of the request/workflow template. If there are SLM tasks on the workflow but the SLM Task option is not selected on the request, ASM will ignore all of these SLM tasks.

1. Drag the SLM Start or Stop tasks onto the dependency diagram if it is not already there.

2. On the dependency diagram, double-click the SLM Start Clock or SLM Stop Clock task icon to view the SLM Start or SLM Stop Task Details window.

3. Complete the task fields. See Also: Creating a Task

4. Save the details.

Selecting the Settings in the SLM Explorer Option

Since the SLM tasks are representations of the Start SLA Clock and Stop SLA Clock buttons on the Request Service Window, the SLA Immediate option can be used in conjunction with the SLM Task option in the SLM explorer option to achieve any of the following:

• When SLA Immediate is unselected and SLM Task is selected, the SLA on the request will start once the request becomes authorized. Any SLM tasks found on the workflow will be used to start or suspend the SLA.

• When SLA Immediate is selected and SLM Task is not selected, the SLA on the request will start immediately, that is, when the request is first saved or deferred. Any SLM tasks found on the workflow will be ignored since the SLM Task functionality has not been enabled.

• When SLA Immediate and SLM Task are both unselected, the SLA on the request will start once the request becomes authorized. Any SLM tasks found on the workflow will be ignored since the SLM Task functionality has not been enabled.

What happens when a SLM Start Clock/Stop Clock task becomes active

SLM Start/Stop Clock tasks will run automatically in a workflow. Once a SLM task has been run on a workflow, the task history will be updated with details of what action ASM has taken on the SLA linked to the request. As with other tasks, this task history entry will also be visible on the request history.

ASM will always start/suspend the SLA which is currently linked to the request. The table below provides a summary of the possible history entries with which ASM will update on a SLM task.

When an SLM Stop Clock task is used to suspend an SLA linked to a request, the SLA indicator on the Service Window may still display an active SLA. This is a known technical limitation of this functionality.

Start Clock/Stop Clock events in the Task History

The history of any SLM Start Clock/Stop Clock task will be updated whenever the task becomes active. This includes when the SLM Start Clock/Stop Clock task cannot start/suspend the SLA.

SLM Task History Entry	Explanation
SLA Clock Started	ASM has started/resumed the SLA currently linked to the request
SLA Clock Stopped	ASM has stopped the SLA currently linked to the request
SLM task ignored since there is no agreement linked to the request	ASM has performed no action on the request, since there is no SLA currently linked
Start Clock task ignored since the agreement is already active	The SLA linked to the request is already running e.g. by a previous SLM Start Clock task on the workflow, or the SLA Immediate option is selected on the request. Therefore, ASM has ignored this task and no change has been made to the SLA linked to the request.
Stop Clock task ignored since agreement is already suspended	The SLA linked to the request has already been suspended e.g. by a previous SLM Stop Clock task. Therefore, ASM has ignored this task and no change has been made to the SLA linked to the request.