Dynamic Approvals for Service Catalogs 1

Owned by Enterprise IT
May 08, 2024


Many of the times, we cannot achieve business objectives with a Static Approval process. We have specific conditions where the record needs to be routed to different Approvers based on factors, such as Region, Country, or with some other criteria. In such a case, we need to set up one Static Approval process for each such condition. Now, Dynamic Approval processes can be configured for Service Catalogs. In Dynamic Approval process, the Approvers are assigned dynamically to the record from the Custom Tables based on the values provided by the users on the Service Catalog.

Prerequisites

  1. Configure Custom Tables in Web Services: For information about how to configure Custom tables in Web Services, see Creating Custom Tables in Web Services on Configuring Web Services.

  2. Import Custom Data into Custom Tables: For information about how to import custom data into Custom tables in Web Services, see Importing Custom Data into Custom Tables on Configuring Web Services.

  3. Create Service Catalogs with Autofill Control to Use Custom Data of Custom Table 
    Under the FORM BUILDER tab of the FORM BUILDER page (Catalog > User > Create Service Catalog > Fill the required details under FORM DETAILS tab> click NEXT > On the FORM BUILDER tab drag and drop Autofill control under Default Group), a new option, Custom Table is added for Options drop-down list under PROPERTIES section. Select the Custom Table to view the custom tables created in Web Services    . For more information about creating Service Catalogs, see Creating Service Catalogs with Autofill Controls.

Configuration

  • Configure Dynamic Approvals for a Service Catalog
    On the PROPERTIES pop-up page (Admin > Basic> Infrastructure > Workflow > On the FILTERS pop-up, select Module as Service Catalog Management and select required Tenant from drop-down list > Click SUBMIT> Select the required Catalog form Catalogs tab to Configure Custom Table Approver or Dynamic Approver Workflow > Drag and drop the Approval component from the Activity tab> Right-click on the Approval block and click Properties), a new Approver option, Custom Table Approver is added. For information about how to configure Dynamic Approves in Workflows, see Configuring SR Approval Workflow.



    Figure: PROPERTIES pop-up: Custom Table Approver

    Note:

    The Field Name drop-down list displays the field name of autofill control(s) mapped to Custom Table on the FORM BUILDER tab of Service Catalog Management FORM BUILDER page.
    The Approver Column drop-down list displays the custom table column(s) whose Data Type is integer.


Example

Consider an organization A, which is located across the globe with different Business Heads for each State. While raising any request based on the Country, State, and City selected by user, the corresponding Business Head should be chosen as an Approver for that request.

In this case, perform the following steps:

  1. Create a new Custom Table in Web Services to store Location and Approver details - Creating a basic table involves naming the table and defining its columns and each column's data type.

  2. Import the custom data into the Custom table.

  3. Create a Service Catalog with Autofill Control to Use Custom Data of Custom Table.

  4. Configure Dynamic approvals in Service Catalog Workflow.

  5. Create a Service Request using the Catalog configured with dynamic approval.

 Steps

Consider the following sample Custom Table and Custom Data as an example.


Figure: Custom Table( Location_table)

Note: The Approver ids are taken from the UserID column of summit user master table based on e-mail id or NTID.

Figure: Summit User Master Table

 Step-1: Creating a New Custom Table in Web Services

To create a new Custom Table, perform the following steps:

  1. Select Admin > Basic > Infrastructure > Web Services. The WEB SERVICE EXPLORE page is displayed.

  2. On the WEB SERVICE EXPLORE page, click CREATE NEW. The WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page is displayed.

  3. On the WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page, select Create SQL Table from drop-down list.

  4. Specify the SQL Table Name ( Ex: Location_table).

    WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page
    Figure: WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page

  5. Click  icon in FIELDS section to view FIELD PROPERTIES.

  6. Type in Field Name (or Column Name) and select the Data Type value from drop-down list. For information about the fields on the FIELD PROPERTIES section, see Field Description.
    For the above mentioned example, you need to create a Custom Table as shown in the below table:

    Column Name
    Data Type
    Country
    varchar
    State
    varchar
    City
    varchar
    EmailID
    varchar
    Approver
    int
     Field Description

    Field

    Description

    Field Name

    Specify the name for the field (or column).

    Data Type

    Select the required data type for the field (or column) from the drop-down list. The available data types are:

    • nvarchar - Select the data type as nvarchar to store Variable Characters (letters and numbers) in the field (or column).

      Note: In size parameter specifies the maximum column length in characters.

    • int - Select the data type as int to store a whole number (not a fraction) in the field (or column).

    • numeric - Select the data type as numeric to store numbers that have fixed precision and scale.

    • decimal - Select the data type as decimal to store numbers that have fixed scale.  

    • bit - Select the data type as bit to store a single bit with a value of 0, 1 or NULL

    • datetime - Select the data type as datatime to store date and time combination in the field (or column).

    • text - Select the data type as text to store text or combinations of text and numbers in the field (or column).

    Auto Identity

    Select this check box to define a field (or column) as Auto increment field.

    Primary Key

    Select this check box to define a field (or column) as Primary Key.

    Note:

    Primary keys must contain unique values and cannot have NULL values.

  7. Click ADD NEW FIELD to add fields (or columns) as shown below.


    Figure: WEB SERVICE DESIGNER: FIELDS (or COLUMNS)

  8. Click GENERATE SQL to generate SQL Query.


    Figure: GENERATE SQL 

  9. Click SAVE to generate a new SQL /Custom Table successfully.


 Step-2: Importing Custom Data into Custom Table
The Administrators can use the following methods to import data into Custom Table:
  • Import the data form source system (such as: AD, SAP or HR) via API
  • Backend Import: Import a CSV formatted file into your database using SQL Server Management Studio.
  • SQL Query or Stored Procedure
To import data into Custom Table using Stored Procedure, perform the steps given below:
  1. On the WEB SERVICE EXPLORE page, click CREATE NEW. The WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page is displayed.
  2. On the WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page, select Create SQL Procedure from drop-down list.
  3. Specify the SQL Stored Procedure Name.
  4. Select Edit Query check box.


    Figure: SQL Query

  5. Type in the store to insert new records in a table.

     Sample
    The SQL INSERT INTO Statement is used to add new rows of data to a table in the database.

    The SQL INSERT INTO syntax will be as follows:

    INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME 
    VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...valueN);

    The following statements would create three records in the Custom Table (Location_Table).

    CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[Location_table procedure]

    AS

    BEGIN

    insert into Location_table(Country,State,City,EmailID,Approver)
    values(''USA'',''Alaska'',''Fairbanks '',''james@xyz.com'',''206'')

    insert into Location_table(Country,State,City, EmailID,Approver)
    values(''USA'',''California'',''Los Angeles'',''michael@xyz.com'',''207'')

    insert into Location_table(Country,State,City,EmailID,Approver)
    values(''Canada'',''Ontario'',''Toronto'',''david@xyz.com    '',''208'')

    END

  6. Click SAVE to insert values into table.


 Step-3: Creating a Service Catalog with Autofill Control to Use Custom Data of Custom Table

Consider that you are going to create a service catalog (Ex: General Request) with three Autofill controls (Label Name as: Country, State, and City) and use Custom Table Custom Data as data source for those Autofill Control.

To create Service Catalogs with Autofill Controls, Perform the steps given below:

  1. Select Catalog > User > Create Service Catalog.

  2. On the FORM BUILDER page, under the FORM DETAILS tab, Service Catalog Management is selected from the Module list and Catalog Item is selected from Purpose list.

  3. Select the required Tenant, Category, and Owner Workgroup from drop-down list.
  4. Specify the Catalog Name (Ex: General Request).


    Figure: FORM BUILDER page: FORM DETAILS tab

  5. Type in the other mandatory details. For information about the fields on the FORM DETAILS tab, see Field Description.

    Field

    Description

    Module

    Select the Module name from the drop-down list.

    Purpose

    Select the Purpose from the drop-down list.

    • Catalog Item

    • Information Item (For more information see: Creating Information Service Catalog)

    Tenant

    Select the Tenant name from the drop-down list.

    Category

    Select a Category from the list.

    Owner Workgroup

    Select the owner of the Workgroup from the drop-down list.

    Catalog Name

    Type in the name for the Service Catalog item (Ex: General Request).

    Tile Color

    Select a color for the Tile.

    Catalog Type

    Select the Service Catalog type from the list.

    Description

    Type in the description of the Service Catalog item.

    Keywords

    Specify the keywords or set of keywords for the Service Catalog. Using the specified keywords, the respective Service Catalogs can be searched while raising an SR on the NEW SERVICE REQUEST page.

    Global Catalog Item

    If this check box is selected, the Service Catalog item is available to all the Tenants.
    Note: Global Catalog Items can be created under a Global Category.

    Enable Bulk SR Creation

    If this check box is selected, SR creation using Excel upload becomes enabled on the NEW SERVICE REQUEST page.

    Link to Other Category

    If this check box is selected, User can select an additional categories under which the catalog item needs to be displayed.

  6. Click NEXT. The FROM BUILDER tab displayed.


    Figure: FORM BUILDER page: FORM BUILDER tab

  7. On the FORM BUILDER tab drag and drop three Autofill control under Default Group.

  8. Type in the Label for the controls as Country, State, and City.

  9. Select the data source as Custom Table for all three controls from Options drop-down list.

  10. Select the data source table (Ex: Location_table) from Type drop-down list.

  11. Select the data source for each control from Dynamic Column drop-down list (Ex: For Country as Country, State as State, and City as City)

  12. Configure Country as Parent for State control and configure State as Parent for City control.

     Screenshot



  13. Click NEXT. Under the PREVIEW tab you can view the Service Catalog attributes that you added. 


    Figure: FORM BUILDER page: PREVIEW tab

  14. Click NEXT. Under the ADDITIONAL INFO tab, you can configure the other additional information, such as levels of approvals, Service Catalog images, dependency diagrams, business agreement SLA and OLA information, and so on.

    Additional Enhancement

    Enable Conditional Service Request Value

    Under this option, you can assign the Workgroup and an Analyst for an SR based on attributes of the Catalog. The Analyst dropdown will display all the applicable users for the workgroup.

    Once the Owner of the Assigned Workgroup is selected then the selected workgroups owner becomes the analyst of the SR.

    If the workgroup owner is not mapped as the Analyst, then the system will pick the first available analyst as the default analyst of the SR.

    This condition-based routing will have higher priority over the Default Analyst option.



    Figure: Enable Conditional Service Request Value



  15. Click SAVE. A pop-up message is displayed. Click OK to create a WORKFLOW for the Service Catalog. The WORKFLOW page is displayed.



    Note: Alternatively you can follow below steps to configure approval workflow for service catalog.


 Step-4: Configuring Dynamic approvals in Service Catalog Approval Workflow.

To Configure Dynamic Approvers in Service Catalog Approval Workflow, perform the steps given below:

  1. Click Admin > Basic > Infrastructure >Workflow. The FILTERS pop-up is displayed.

    image2019-7-25_14-54-39.png

    Figure: FILTERS pop-up

  2. On the FILTERS pop-up, select Module as Service Catalog Management and select the required Tenant (Ex: IT Information Technology) from the drop-down list.

  3. Click SUBMIT. The WORKFLOW page is displayed.

  4. Under the Catalogs tab, select a Catalog (Ex: General Request).

  5. Click Activity tab to view Approval, Notification and Condition.

  6. Drag and drop the Approval component from the Activity tab to the working space.

    Figure: WORKFLOW page: Activity tab 

  7. Double-click on the Approval block or right-click and click Properties. The PROPERTIES pop-up is displayed. For more information about the fields on the PROPERTIES pop-up, see Field Description.


    Figure: PROPERTIES pop-up

    Field Description

    Field

    Description

    Title

    Specify the title for the Approver.

    Note: The same name is displayed as the Group name if only one Approver is added to the Group.

    Approver

    Select the Approver as Custom Table Approver.

    Field Name

    Select the required autofill control field name from the drop-down list.

    Note: The Field Name drop-down list displays the field name of autofill control(s) mapped to Custom Table on the FORM BUILDER tab of Service Catalog Management FORM BUILDER page.

    Approver Column

    Select the required custom table approver column/field from the drop-down list.
    Note: The Approver Column drop-down list displays the custom table column(s) whose Data Type is integer.

    Auto Approval

    Select the check box to configure the Auto Approval or Rejection of the Service Request created using the catalog.

    • Approve: Select the option and enter the time in the Approve/Reject Duration field to automatically approve the Service Request if the configured time exceeds.

    • Reject: Select the option and enter the time in the Approve/Reject Duration field to automatically reject the Service Request if the configured time exceeds.

    E-mail Notifications for End User

    If selected, the End Users can send Notifications to the Approvers for the SRs.

    Refer Back to Requestor

    If selected, the Approver has the option to refer back the Service Request to the Requestor.

    Refer Back to Previous Approvers

    If selected, the Approver has the option to refer back the Service Request to the previous Approver.

    Custom Group

    Select the required option in the drop-down list.  The custom groups configured in the FORM BUILDER while creating the Service Catalog is displayed in the drop-down list. If the group is selected, the Approver must fill the fields configured in the group while approving the Service request.

  8. Fill in all the mandatory fields and click SAVE to save the modifications without closing the pop-up window.

  9. Click SAVE AND CLOSE to save the modifications and close the pop-up window.

  10. Connect each component to define the Workflow.



  11. Click SUBMIT to save the Workflow successfully.

    Additional Enhancement

    Dynamic Approval implementation for Approval Group fields.

    1. While configuring workflow, in the workflow condition, we can include the approver group custom attribute whose data source is mapped to a custom table.

    2. Approver can select a field (data source is Dynamic table) and based on the approver selection next approval can be decided.

    Note

    Without condition, Dynamic Approval will not work. Moreover, the condition should contain the fields to be selected by the approver.


 Step-5: Logging Service Request
To log Service Requests from Dashboard and Request module:

  1. On the USER DASHBOARD page (Dashboard menu), click NEW REQUEST under SERVICE REQUEST section. Alternatively, select Request > User > New Service Request.

  2. The NEW SERVICE REQUEST page is displayed.

  3. Select the Tenant for which you want to log the SR. Select the Category, and the Catalog/Package for the new SR under the DETAILS section.

    New Service Request page
    Figure: New Service Request page

  4. Based on the Service Catalog/Package you select, the related fields are displayed. Type in the required details.


    Figure: New Service Request: Request tab

  5. Click Next.

  6. On the Approval tab, you can view the Approval levels and the Approver details.


    Figure: New Service Request: Approvals tab

  7. Click Approver link to view the approver details.


    Figure: DYNAMIC APPROVAL pop-up

  8. Click SUBMIT. A confirmation message is displayed with the newly created Service Request ID and USER DASHBOARD, MY SERVICE REQUESTS and NEW SERVICE REQUEST buttons. Based on the selection of a particular button, the end user is re-directed to the respective page.

    Note:

    • If the Custom Table Approver or Dynamic Approver is not available for a selected combination, the Set Approver link is displayed to select an Approver under the Approvals tab of the NEW SERVICE REQUEST page. 

    • Click Set Approver link to view the Set Approver pop-up. 

    • Search and Select the users using Type in search box.


    Figure: New Service Request: Set Approver