Creating a Standard Task

A standard task entity type can be used to create any kind of task that cannot be created with the existing task entity types.

This task entity type provides you with the flexibility to specify details that suit your requirements.

1. Search for the Request Details window, if it is not already on screen.

2. Select the Update Dependencies explorer option on the Request Details window, or the button from the toolbar. The Task Dependencies window appears with icons for task entity types displayed below the toolbar.

3. If the workflow template you have used to create the request already has tasks defined in it, you will see these tasks here. You can open them and change their details such as dates, assignment, or expenses. You can add new tasks or delete them from the current request without affecting the template.

4. Add the task to the Dependency Diagram.

   Select the icon from the task palette and drag it to position. Alternatively, right-click in the window, and from the menu that appears, select New and then the task entity type. Then link the task to the previous task in the workflow.

5. On the dependency diagram, double-click the Task icon to view the Task Details window.

Complete the Common Task Fields

See Also: Creating a Task

1. Set the Screen Set for the task. By default, the System's default task screen will be used, but you can select Screen Set from the Task Explorer window, and choose a different screen set.

Best Practice: If your agents will primarily be working from Tasks, as is the norm, you might well want to consider creating a task screen for your new workflow that looks just like, or very nearly the same as the request screen. This will allow agents to see everything from the request on the task, and they will not need to bounce around in ASM to see all that they need to see for a given task (this applies only to Standard Tasks and Internal Approval screens).

1. Complete the Task Status, Title, Description (this forms the body of the notification email, in many cases), and where present, the Request Status on Rejection (Approval Tasks) and Request Status on Completion.

Updating the Request Status on completion of the task will automatically update the request's overall, or "Completion Status" so that it is easy to tell exactly where the request is at all time. For example, after the Approvals are completed, you might want to automatically change the request status to "In Progress".

1. Enter the time it should take this task to complete.

2. OLAs can be applied to tasks by Task Type and Assigned Group. If you are using OLA for tasks, it is important to specify the correct task type and assigned group to get the correct OLA applied to the task.

3. All CMDB items linked to the request are displayed on this type of task in the Linked CIs and Linked Services fields. If required, you can schedule changes against linked CI the CMDB items and create a planned outage against these items as they will not be available for use when they are being updated.

Outages against a linked CMDB item can be created through a request or task. See Outages and Availability for more information. Also see, Managing Availability.

1. Complete the Resource Management details, if appropriate.

2. After you have completed the fields,

   • forward the task internally - Assign the task to a Group

   • Save your task's changes