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  • 1.  How to expedite a change order using web services

    Posted Jul 20, 2016 09:29 AM

    Hi there,

     

    Using CA Process Automation (ITPAM), how do I expedite a change order on CA Service Desk Manager 14.1, via SOAP (Web Services)?

     

    Any advice would be much appreciated.

     

    Regards,

    Mo



  • 2.  Re: How to expedite a change order using web services

    Posted Jul 20, 2016 12:43 PM

    Perhaps you could describe what you mean by "expedite"?



  • 3.  Re: How to expedite a change order using web services

    Posted Jul 21, 2016 03:30 AM

    Hi Lindsay,

     

    By expediting a change order, I mean do the following on CA Service Desk Manager, but with ITPAM (CA Process Automation)

     

    Click on the link at the bottom to view the article.

     

    Expedite a Change Order

    You can use the Expedite Change Order command to change the status of unnecessary tasks to Skip so the change order can be completed quickly.

    Note: Skip must be defined as a valid status for the task.

    To expedite a change order

    1. Select Change Orders from the Scoreboard.The Change Orders folder expands to reveal nested folders for Assigned, Unassigned, and All Scheduled change orders.
    2. Select the appropriate folder under Assigned, Unassigned, and All Scheduled for the change order whose children you want to expedite.The Change Order List page appears.
    3. Click the change order number.The Change Order Detail page appears.
    4. Select Expedite Change Order from the Actions menu.The Expedite Change Order page appears.
    5. (Optional) Enter comments in the Remarks field to explain the action.
    6. Click OK.The Expedite Change Order page closes and the Workflow Tasks tab on the Change Order Detail page shows all unnecessary tasks with status of Skip.

     

    Expedite a Change Order



  • 4.  Re: How to expedite a change order using web services

    Posted Jul 21, 2016 12:31 PM

    This is really a question about Service Desk. I notice you also asked the question in that forum.



  • 5.  Re: How to expedite a change order using web services

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jul 21, 2016 01:01 PM

    Lindsay is correct, this is a question the Service Desk team will need to address.  Basically, if it can be done through the Service Desk API, it can be done within Process Automation.

     

    I did look into the Service Desk reference guide and am not seeing any soap calls for this, furthermore I found this:

    Technical Reference Guide Release 12.9.00

     

    In a CA SDM workflow, a ticket with a running CA Workflow or CA Process Automation instance cannot be closed. The Accumulate, Expedite, and Insert Task functions are disabled for tickets using CA Workflow.

     

    Which to me indicates that this will not be possible through the API.

     

    I have moved this to the Service Desk community for further assistance and clarification.



  • 6.  Re: How to expedite a change order using web services
    Best Answer

    Posted Jul 21, 2016 09:50 PM

    Hi Mo,

     

    This can be done through the API but not in a single action. As Michael points out, there is no 'expedite' function in the API.  So you will have to write a process that is triggered from a Change Order (probably by the 'Update Status' activity notification) and which will do the following:

    • select all tasks belonging to the CO that have status Wait or Pending
    • for each such task update the task status to 'Skip'

    If you want this to handle 'child' CO's as well then you obviously need to nest the above in another loop that retrieves the 'child' COs for the CO from which the process is launched.

     

    You will also need to consider whether there are any notifications or other events that may be triggered along the way.  For example, if you set a task to 'Skip' the next task will automatically become Pending: what events might that trigger in your workflow?  You will also need to ensure that 'Skip' is a valid status for every task - or else handle any error that may result from attempting to update a task to an invalid status.

     

    To make this robust in a production setting (where for example an analyst may be manually updating a task that your process is trying to set to 'Skip') you will need to invent or preferably adopt and adapt a solid exception handling framework.  I recommend the exception handling in the 'Content Pack for ITIL', which you can download for your SDM version from the product page at https://support.ca.com.  Don't worry about installing any of the SDM components of the pack, just import the PAM component and take a look at how it all hangs together.

     

    Regards,

    James