Use workflow to Link an existing Request to a new Request

[Berto2002]

We have set Standard Change types in a SimpleList and I would like to have the new Request workflow automatically linked to the original Standard Change based on a user selection in PCF.

Workflow would be along the lines of:

1. User selects Standard Change Type in Human Task (Simple List with RequestID of the original record as the Value)
2. Workflow Gets RequestID outcome from the PCF
3. Workflow "Adds Linked Request" with that RequestID

Then we can report on the number of iterations of that Standard Change we have go through the system and control which is referenced through the SimpleList updates via CAB.

But the Linked Requests only has "Update" and "Resolve" not "Add" options. Is this possible another way?

The best I can think of to refer over is to add the Raw Value from the SimpleList to the External Reference field to make it at least reportable and visible.

[James Ainsworth]

Hi Berto2002

Thanks for your post.  I'll have a look, but while I'm doing that have you considered creating a separate Request Catalog Item for each standard change?  I believe you could still use your simple list in progressive capture, but this would then perform a switch to the request catalog item that represents that standard change.  You should then be able to report on all requests that have been raised using that request catalog item.  Let me know if this is something that you would like to look into and I can give you some more detail on setting it up.

[Berto2002]

James, this is an interesting idea. The switch meaning that the Std Chg Cat Items could be 'hidden' from normal views and just operate in the background. The advantage of this approach is that the Cat Item (and thus the type of standard change) would be visible on the main Request view. However, we are trying to state to our agents that the procedure approved in the original CR is the benchmark and unless there is a link to that, the Agent needs to always manually search to find it.

The product contains the facility to Add Connections and to Add Assets. It seems logical that an enhancement idea for Adding Linked Requests could be worth considering. However, I appreciate the view may be that Requests are 'transient'. But then think of how this could be used to automatically link Incidents with Known Errors also; KEs tend to stay around a lot longer and I can imagine SDesk being presented with an option to select a list of KE's in a Human Task. But even better; simply allow the Dynamic Drop Down boxes in the Capture Fields to search against the Request Summary and/or RequestID table and this really helps.