Closing/Ending a Supplier Event

[Ann]

Morning All

Hope you are safe and well.  Please would it be possible to help/advise?  We cannot see how to close or end a supplier event. When raised via the sub-status change on an incident the event is triggered for the supplier, but there appears to be no way to end the event. The option is greyed out on the event via the supplier and there is not correlation to the incident being resolved etc.  Thank you.

Kind Regards

Ann

 

[Conor]

Hi @Ann

The only way to end a supplier event at the moment is to manually change the status on the Incident from 'On Hold' to 'Active', this will end the event.

I've just tested this myself, and it's not possible to end the event from the supplier record (I doubt this will change though, as it's the Incident driving the event), and an auto update via email from the supplier won't currently end the event either (this also means that if your on-hold status gets turned to an active status automatically by an email update, the status will have to manually go back to 'On-Hold' before manually being moved to 'Active' again in order to end the supplier event).

This is new functionality as I'm sure you are aware, so it is being improved as we speak. Again as I'm sure you are aware you will get the enhancements automatically as soon as they are released (no timescale for this one atm AFAIK, but it is certainly on the roadmap)

 

[Ann]

Afternoon Conor

Thank you for the above information.  

Kind Regards

Ann

[Ann]

Afternoon Conor

We currently do not have an active sub status, please can you confirm that we need to create one?

There doesn’t appear to be a way currently to remove a sub-status so that the call essentially returns to its original logged state. We can add additional sub-status if that is required?  Thank you.

Kind Regards

Ann

 

[BobbyB]

Conor, thanks for the update.  Alisha and I are currently trying to get this to work with our new Incident Process but we're finding that even on a standard priority 3 type of Incident, as soon as you put the call On-Hold, it stops the supplier activity as completed.  Can the On-Hold, Off-Hold sub-statuses be linked to the supplier module so that if we need to put the call on-hold, it then pauses the supplier clock and then have the module stopping when the call is resolved?

@Ann @Alisha @Conor

 

Thanks,

Bobby

[BobbyB]

Good morning @Ann @Alisha @Conor

I’ve done a couple of tests this morning using a normal P3 incident and then linked this to the Hornbill Service Manager supplier.  Here’s my results:

Linking the supplier module was straight forward, and the event started without any issues.
Putting the test call ‘On-Hold’ completed the Supplier Event.
Not putting the call ‘On-Hold’ but then Resolving the call did NOT stop the Supplier Event and it’s currently still running on the test call which is Resolved.

In order for the Supplier Event to work with our processes (standard ITIL), we need the functionality to:

1.    Pause the Supplier Event when the linked call is placed On-Hold and then restart when the linked call is then back to an Open state.
2.    Complete the Supplier Event when the linked call is Resolved.

 

Thanks,

Bobby

[Conor]

Hi @BobbyB

Just to be sure that I'm following here - do you have the supplier event starting on an Off-Hold/Active status? 

In my environment I've set the sub-status to only allow supplier events starting when a request is put On-Hold, and then the event stops when the request is put back Off-Hold/Active.

The reason I'm confirming this is because traditionally the request will go On-Hold while the request is with the supplier, because the support team cannot do anything while the supplier is working on the request, so it pauses the timer and awaits the supplier response. When the supplier comes back with the fix/resolution then the request will become active again and the supplier event is then finished.

There's no reason not to continue the way you have it set up though, as the app allows supplier events  to start and end on active statuses too, so I believe point 1 will work already.

For point 2 have you tried updating the sub-status in the BPM when the request gets resolved? This may be similar to the point at the very top of this thread:

On 1/18/2021 at 11:41 AM, Conor said:

I've just tested this myself, and it's not possible to end the event from the supplier record (I doubt this will change though, as it's the Incident driving the event), and an auto update via email from the supplier won't currently end the event either (this also means that if your on-hold status gets turned to an active status automatically by an email update, the status will have to manually go back to 'On-Hold' before manually being moved to 'Active' again in order to end the supplier event).

This is new functionality as I'm sure you are aware, so it is being improved as we speak. Again as I'm sure you are aware you will get the enhancements automatically as soon as they are released (no timescale for this one atm AFAIK, but it is certainly on the roadmap)

In which case I will feed this back to the relevant development team, however I know the app is being enhanced at the moment and I believe that this will be part of a future enhancement already... I will let the team confirm that though

[Ann]

Afternoon @Conor

Please would it be possible for an update as to when this enhancement is likely to be released into the live environment please?  I know this is currently causing us a few issues which we are eager to resolve.  Thank you.

Kind Regards

[Conor]

Hi @Ann

I've double checked with the relevant development team and they've said it's not currently on the 90 day rolling roadmap. It is on the list of planned enhancements for Supplier Manager, but it won't be added in the next 90 days.

Thanks

Conor

[BobbyB]

Hi @Conor, exactly what enhancements are being planned?

Many thanks,

Bobby

[Conor]

Hi @BobbyB

That's a difficult question... From what I understand we don't publish the rolling roadmap for any application other than Service Manager firstly, but secondly they all tie in together too which means that while the Supplier Manager dev team may have created something to address the above issue (for example), other teams such as the Service Manager dev team, the Hornbill platform team, etc. also then need to create something to allow the Supplier Manager enhancement to show and function correctly. Each team obviously have their own priorities, as well as working together on things like this. Then this all needs to be tested by other independent teams to ensure it works as expected, and then it gets rolled out to all Hornbill customers automatically. The point being it's not as simple as checking off items on the list, so it's difficult to answer what will be available within the next 90 days. 

Couple that with the fact that I'm personally not involved in any development work, it's even more difficult for me to answer. I've asked the question of course, but I don't get clear answers myself. I can confirm that this enhancement is in the pipeline and will be addressed as quickly as possible. This is a very new application and there will always be things that need to be added/enhanced to provide the best functionality and experience, particularly at the start and this feedback is very valuable to help us to help our customers with the right functionality and experience. For the moment I feel the compromise is that it is a free application, and we are maturing the application and addressing these points ASAP. 

Kind regards

Conor

[Ann]

Morning @Conor

Hope you are well.  We were just wondering if there were any updates on the above please or further details on the enhancements please?  Thank you.

Kind Regards

Ann

[Conor]

Hi @Ann

This was released to live on the 19th of April, so you will have it ready to go. It's detailed here under the change section.

Thanks

Conor