CraigP

As part of our automated alert process, we extract an alert ID from the request description populated when the request is raised by a routing rule template. It's been brought to my attention that the alert ID isn't being populated anymore, and it seems to me that this may be due to calculations in the Substring node no longer working. We extract the alert ID by using the Search node under String Utilities, and then using the result in the Substring node. From parameter is set to variable - &[global["flowcoderefs"]["stringUtilsSearch"]["result"]]+10 To parameter is set to variable - &[global["flowcoderefs"]["stringUtilsSearch"]["result"]]+49 As of sometime in the past week, this no longer seems to work. Why is this? Is there some kind of syntax I need to include now? How else would one do this if the ability to add to a variable has been removed?

I was confused by a request that failed on an Update Request node (updating status to resolved) earlier with the same error. However, that is the only failed request I've seen today

Hi Matt Hopefully I'm not misunderstanding, but if it is just a decision between two approving teams based on a yes/no question then I feel like simply having a decision node with two branches in the BPM seems best to me! I don't think you'd need any parallel processing. To access the intelligent capture answers in the BPM you need to have a "Progressive Capture Answers" node (Entity > Requests > Get Request Information > Progressive Capture Answers) before the decision node. This will give you access to the "Custom IC" options in the variable picker when creating a Custom Expression on the decision node. You can then expand this to find the appropriate Intelligent Capture and question you're looking to check the answer for.

From my perspective there is clearly value in being able to link requests/assets via the BPM in that if you have a task that requires the analyst to link something, there is no easy way to confirm that they have in fact done so before moving on in the business process. If there was a Hornbill automation node to do this, you can have a mandatory question on the task asking for the request/asset ID (ideally a live lookup of existing assets/requests, which also is still not currently an option - to my knowledge only users and group lookups in task fields at time of writing), and then have the next node link that request/asset using the ID provided in the task. Having the "Link Request" option in the UI is fine for ad-hoc situations where a call is related to another one, but if you actually want to link requests/assets for the purpose of automation (e.g. Resolve/Update Linked Requests and Update Assets nodes), then surely you need to be able to make 100% sure that the request/asset was linked in the first place (i.e. not rely on someone to remember to manually do it). +1

Can someone please tell me how to update the "MAC Address" and "Network IP Address" using the additionalProperties parameter on updateAsset2? Is it just not configured correctly to update fields with spaces in their display names? I've since additionally tried no spaces, as well as replacing spaces with "--", "-" and "_". I've also tried adding the "Watts" field (because it is a field name with no spaces) to the JSON string and found it successfully updated that field while still not updating the others. So I feel that rules out there being an issue with the JSON string I'm providing, or the other parameters I am not filling in. Alternatively I have found that I can successfully update these fields using the data/entityUpdateRecord API, but I read elsewhere that it may be ill-advised to use this due to other related tables not being updated as part of this operation. However, my query about exactly what I need to be weary of breaking when using this has not been answered either. I've noticed it doesn't populate the history page on the asset in asset manager, but I am making sure to update the "last updated" and "last updated by" fields as part of the API call.

Yes, I was just going off the name as per the entity explorer. I did try all lower case and the database column names too but that didn't seem to work either

Hi @Steve Giller is there any additional information you need to provide the "additionalProperties" parameter? I'm trying to update the Network IP and MAC Address fields as well but they are not updating when providing the following JSON string: [{"name":"Network IP Address","value":"ExampleIP"},{"name":"MAC Address","value":"ExampleMAC"}] Just to confirm I have also set the "assetClass" parameter to "computer", which I assume is required so it knows which related table to try populate.

Ah fantastic, thank you for the swift response! Following that format it has in fact allowed me to change the type as well. Cheers!

What is the "generalProperties" parameter expecting for updateAsset2? As a test I am providing it '{"h_description":"Test", "h_room":"Test"}', but this does not appear to make the expected amendments to the Description and Room fields. Despite this it's not returning any errors either, so it is not clear to me what is wrong with this format, or what additional information I might need to provide in the JSON string. It would be very useful to have examples on the API documentation for the API calls where you might be passing multiple properties through one API parameter. While I am here, I might as well clarify that I started looking into the updateAsset2 API call with the intention of trying to change the Type of an asset. My colleague who manages the Asset Management section has created a new type under the "Computer System" class, and wants to change the type of some existing assets to this new type. Is this possible considering they are still the same class?

Hi Fizza I think you may be looking for the com.hornbill.servicemanager.requestList.restrictions.service and com.hornbill.servicemanager.requestList.restrictions.type Application Settings under Service Manager

Hi @Victor Can you please give specific examples of where related data might be broken when using data entityUpdateRecord? I use this to automate updates to assets in bulk e.g. a mass movement of stock process where many laptops need to have their used by attribute cleared and their location, site and state/substate updated. This has been in place for a few years now and I haven't noticed anything amiss, but as you say, maybe things look fine in the Asset Manager section and Assets tables but something else is wrong?

How do I re-order catalog items of different request types as they appear under a service on the Employee Portal? I understand you can drag and drop to re-order requests of the same type in the Service Portfolio, but I have a service with one IN and multiple SRs, and I'd like to move that one IN to the bottom of the SRs, it seems like INs just default to the top

Thanks Jeremy, I do recall toggling the appropriate system setting a while back to allow for the Actions button to appear if you select multiple incidents across different services. This isn't that the Actions button itself isn't there, rather that the assign button within the Actions section doesn't seem to appear when selecting multiple incidents. However, I think this thread can be ignored now. Looks like it was my own doing as I made a change to the business process last month to lock out the assignment before a certain stage in the process. I was being told differently at first, but upon further investigation it seems all the affected incidents are the ones at this stage in our incident process.

A colleague has reported that the ability to assign multiple incidents to themselves via the Actions button has disappeared recently. When I select one incident in the request review, the "Actions" pane has an "Assign Request" button, but if I tick multiple incidents in the request view and click on "Actions", the "Assign Request" button no longer appears. Has there been a change to the system that would affect this? Is there any rule around what tickets can be assigned in bulk and which can't (e.g. if they're not in the same service or something like that)?

I have since seen that no functionality has really been removed from task assignment, it's just that now re-assigning to another team or assigning to both a user and team requires assigning it to yourself first, then re-opening it to edit again. I'm still being chased by my colleagues about this. It seems like this just adds extra clicks to assigning tasks, increases confusion for those unaware of the new way to re-assign to a different team, and opens up more opportunity for human error (e.g. user from a team assigns it to themselves, but then doesn't open it again to assign the team as well, thus the team task view loses visibility of the task). Yet I can't see any clear benefit in why this amendment was made. It's been over a week since the original post, but still no information about why this was done, and whether it's going to be reverted (or at least tweaked). Please can we have an update?

Hi Steve Thanks for clarifying the Admin role, but this still doesn't address the fact that there has clearly been some amendment to task assignment. As per my post above, the user field is no longer in group assignment, and the team assignment drop down is greyed out. I've now toyed around with some tasks assigned to my team, and it seems if I assign the task to myself, I can then go back to team assignment and assign it to any team. I see there is a "Share with team" option for "User Assignment" (which I assume is supposed to replace the ability that we previously had to assign to a user within a team) but this doesn't appear until you assign it to yourself, save it, and then re-open the edit pane. This is so many more steps to assign to a user within a team, so is open to errors and teams losing visibility of tasks assigned to users if those users don't re-open the edit window to share it with the team. It really seems like the task functionality is going backwards rather than being improved. It's strange enough that there is no role or system toggle to allow any user to re-assign any task, now there are additional steps just to assign it to a user within a team, or to another team. Much like Adrian says above, I have also been the person my colleagues come to in order to re-assign tasks assigned to the someone ill or on leave etc. Please advise what Hornbill expects their customers should do in the situation where a task is assigned to a user who is offline and unavailable to complete/re-assign it.

Hi We're experiencing this too. I've just come back from leave to find a few emails from colleagues saying their ability to assign tasks has changed. Any update on this?

Hi We're experiencing this too. I've just come back from leave to find a few emails from colleagues saying their ability to assign tasks has changed. The assign to user within a group ("Group & User" is listed on the wiki) seems to have disappeared, so my colleagues can no longer assign tasks to themselves and still have the task visible to their team. I have the Admin role and I used to be able to re-assign any task for any team, but now I don't even appear be able to re-assign tasks assigned to one of my teams to a different team (the team drop down is greyed out).

Hi James Thanks for the information. I've now checked our Working Time Calendar and can confirm the Easter bank holidays are not specified on it. It is standard Monday - Friday 8am-6pm. We've since tested with another one and it seems to have behaved in a similar way. It was due to breach on 17/04 at 11:38, so it was placed on hold at 09:46 on 17/04 (using an On Hold option that has "Pause Until Date/Time" ticked). It automatically came off hold on 21/04 at 09:46 and then proceeded to breach on 21/04 at 11:40. Now I noticed there were those 2 minutes difference between original breach time and the new one. According to the timeline, a colleague placed it on hold using an indefinite on hold status, and then two minutes later it was then changed to the on hold status I mentioned above which requires a date to come off hold to be entered. So in my mind I was wondering if the timer only shifts for On Hold statuses set up in a specific way? I tried to have a look at the Service Level Diagnostics for this IN, but not entirely sure if there is any useful information. I did notice that there were 3 entries for System Timer creations, not sure why this may be, or if it is relevant? Thanks!

We've had a situation recently where a an Incident had a resolve by date for the 13/04. My colleague put the call on-hold on 6/04 due to needing further information from the customer who was on leave. The ticket was set to come off hold when they were due to return on the 12/04, but then still proceeded to breach at the original resolve by time on 13/04. My colleague was expecting the resolve by date to move along with the time it was put on-hold, but this didn't appear to be the case. Why was this? It seems to defeat the purpose otherwise. With this in mind, can I please have clarification on exactly how the On-Hold status interacts with preventing breaches? I imagine it should at least stop it from breaching if it is on-hold when the request goes past its resolve by date, but does it then just breach automatically when it comes off hold? If it doesn't breach immediately then when will it breach after coming off hold?

A colleague has noticed that the "resolve linked requests" option isn't available for linked requests that are on-hold. Is there a system setting to allow this to be possible? Alternatively is there an easy way within the Service Manager UI to find all requests linked to a request and change their status to open?

It seems that filtering open requests where "Within Resolve Time" is False doesn't work as one would expect. Looking at the requests table suggests to me that this is because the "Within Fix" value hasn't been set yet. Could "Within Fix" not be marked as false as soon as it has breached? While writing this I realised that I could instead use "Resolve By" "is before" option, but it appears you have to specify a date for "before", and can't just set it to "is before today". Will I have to update the view every day to be the current date?

Ah, overlooked those options further down the list for so long! Thank you

How do you add more values when you are selecting filter options in the Reporting section? I swear I did this by accident once, but since then haven't been able to work out how to replicate. The "Add Value" button seemingly just greys out once you've added one, despite "Value(s)" implying you should be able to add multiple?

Thanks Gerry, that is understandable. I would like to initially be able to use the Azure functionality such as adding and removing users from groups.