Custom fields for Catalog Items?

[Lyonel]

Hi,

Long shot: is it possible to have a couple of custom fields against catalogue items? And if so, would it possible to retrieve them via PCF / BPM?

Having a couple of fields would really help me simplify our BPMs and reporting considerably.

Thanks,

Lyonel

[Steven Boardman]

Hi @Lyonel Thanks for the suggestion.

We have the option to add custom fields at the service level and to be able to use the BPM - get request option to access the values in the service custom fields. 

We are always looking to evolve areas which are useful to customers and the next scheduled work for catalog items is to enable subscription to them, one down from the service subscriptions. 

To help us understand how the custom fields at the catalog item level could help you (and perhaps others), could you provide an example of where you could use these to help rationalise your BPM's?

Thanks

Steve

[Lyonel]

@Steven Boardman thanks for your reply.

In practice, we could use a custom field for :

• storing the ID of the team a request should be assigned to by default (saving a huge amount of work in the BPM)
• displaying the name of the team on the service page / catalog item details (so that analysts can see where it will go,  instead of having a black box BPM)
• storing the name / ID of the manager responsible for this catalog item (indeed, some services are supported by multiple managers depending on the CI) which would considerably increase accuracy of reporting

If I had these 3 fields, it would save me in total:

• approx. 50 actions (decisions / task assignment) per BPM, 5 of them at least => 250+ actions! (If we include the ID of the manager in a field, then we are talking of 300+ actions in BPM) => this would considerably improve performances when creating a new request too.
• 1 report (and maintaining an Excel file on a regular basis to match each CI to a team)
• Improve the request creation with 1st level analysts raising requests against the proper service / CI
• Improve visibility to analysts on assignments
• Improve by at least 10% our monthly reporting, saving me  and my colleagues 15 minutes per month at least on data analysis

I know it is a big ask, but if it can be included in a future release, such changes would really make my life (and any admin's life) a bit easier for my company

 

 

[samwoo]

+1

[Aaron Summers]

+1

[Steven Boardman]

@Lyonel thanks very much for the further explanation and use cases, it is clear to see how this may help you in many different ways. So to summarise ideally rather than free text custom fields you would be looking for two key new attributes for a CI

* Let's call it a CI owner (a user look up field) 

* A default CI assignment team (a team drop down based on the teams marked as supporting the service)

If we had these, you would then be looking for a few changes in other areas to drive your efficiencies

* In the business process a new Automated Task called Assign to CI Team or even CI owner?

* in the business process a new Automated Task called Get CI Details which would return / make available the CI owner / Assignment team for decisions  and to be used as variables in many places

Let me know if that covers what you are looking for?  

Steve

[Lyonel]

@Steven Boardman having two fields that specific would be fantastic! But maybe too specific? I am aware of all your other customers, so I don't want to be so pushy 

But yes having 2 fields like this at C.I. level would be wonderful for us!

As for BPMs, a simple Automated task "get CI Details" (like we already have - see below) would be more than enough I think.

In short, yes the changes you suggest would be perfect for us, but what about other customers? Is it maybe too specific?

 

[Steven Boardman]

@Lyonel again thanks for the confirmation.  I do agree some of this maybe quite specific but equally we would rather look at default fields where the purpose and use is clear appose to simply adding in a growing number of custom fields as a catch all.

In the case of the assignment team field, having this as a default (optional) field, with a team picker filtered to those teams who support the service makes sense and would not really be as user friendly if it was just a custom field.

Obviously the more community support for these or other requirements always helps us prioritise which changes to work on and the order.

I will of course now raise these and update this post as progress is made

Thanks

Steve

[HGrigsby]

+1

for us as well

Helen

[Steven Boardman]

@HGrigsby thanks i've added you too

 

[HHH]

+1 this is definitely a great idea which will ease it for us.

[Aaron Summers]

I'm learning from @samwoo as I progress Hopefully one day, I get to take over his job....

Edited March 8, 2018 by Aaron Summers

[mojahidm]

+1

[Steven Boardman]

Thanks @mojahidm i've got Axiell added as interested and will update here as this progresses