Autotask Assign to Current User

[will.good]

Hi,

Not sure if this is possible. I am looking for a way to create an autotask that i can use as a custom button to assign to the person who presses it?

 

I can't seem to find a way to get current user details to action this on the autotask business process if anyone has any ideas?

[Smurfy]

Hi @will.good
This is similar to what I asked. I was doing a different auto task but I too would like to be able to select the source user
 

 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @will.good

In your Auto Task workflow you can use the variable &[global["session"]["userId"]] to assign request to the person that clicks on the Auto Task button.  Just to mention that I wouldn't recommend using this variable in a regular BPM workflow as the context of the user can change and you may get incorrect assignments, but works well in an Auto Task

[will.good]

Hi @James Ainsworth

Just trying to add this in, can't seem to understand how to get the info to use this variable?

 

I have tried the below but get the error of "Warning : The node is referencing a context variable that does not exist - &[global["session"]["userId"]]" 

[James Ainsworth]

Hi @will.good

You do not require the Get User Details to do this.   Just the Assign to Owner node is all that is needed.  It should look a little like this.  If you don't know the team, there may be a little extra work needed to try to gather that.

 

[will.good]

Hi @James Ainsworth

I have copied what you have sent over but it is still not liking it for some reason.

Stage :	Stage 1
Node :	Assign to Owner
The node requires at least one incoming connection

accept-request.draft.bpm.txt

[James Ainsworth]

The error This node requires at least one incoming connection is something I've seen a couple of times.  Trying saving the Auto Task workflow, exit the designer, go back in and remove and then re-add the link between Start and Assign to Owner.  This isn't related to the variable.  There just seems to be something sensitive about removing the first node in a workflow that sometimes causes this.  Let me know how you get on.

[Smurfy]

Hi 
I know you are discussing the node error which is something different (I've had it before on occasion) but for the node configuration I used the type as "Assignment" and the task as "assign to owner (variable)" that way I didn't need the team.
Not sure this that helps?

Our firewall wont let me upload an image 

[QEHNick]

This doesn't appear to work, the variable is not selectable and when typed in manually, results in this error.

 

Quote

Xmlmc method invocation failed for BPM invocation node 's1/flowcode-48a9d40a': 0200 apps assignTeamOwner FlowCode Exception (com.hornbill.servicemanager/entities/Requests/fc_bpm/assignTeamOwner): Input parameter validation error: The element was not expected at location '/methodCall/params/ownerId'

 

[Sam P]

I created a Custom Button / AutoTask combo for this and in my experience it only works when the request is already in a Team that you are a member of....I have also preceded it with a Get Team Information node

[QEHNick]

Ah, that's a shame @Sam P. In my scenario, I'd like to be able to grab any call regardless of what team it lies with. 

I can see it has some merit though. I'll whip up something and see if it works for me.

[QEHNick]

I've had a  chance to try this out. Although it executes without error, it also does nothing.

assign2me.draft.bpm.txt

[QEHNick]

Still no joy.

[James Ainsworth]

I believe this is because you are using the Team Name rather than the ID as described in the info popup.  Once I changed this on my instance this worked.

 

A couple of other considerations. 

1.) The Team option is not required on the assign Hornbill Automation, so provided that the team is already assigned to the request, you can actually leave this blank.  You have two prior nodes in this Auto Task that get the team that is assigned to the request and then you are just reassigning the request to the team that it is already assigned to.  So, you could do this with just your Assign 2 Me node, and nothing else.

2.) You could add some control to your Custom Button Auto Task.  For example you could have a rule that only shows the button if the Team is already set

3.) Within the Auto Task you can use Hornbill Automations to add further testing and resilience to your Auto Task flow.  While I've not tested this, as an example you may be able to do things like get the groups that the user belongs to and then test to see if that user is a member of the team currently assigned to the ticket.

 

[QEHNick]

Thanks @James Ainsworth.

I've made those modifications, however, it still does nothing.

assign2me.draft.bpm.txt

[Berto2002]

I can get this working as above, if the current user is in the currently assigned team. But the re-assignment happens "in the background" because it doesn't show on the screen until I reload the Request! So whoever uses it has to just believe it's worked; which means it's a bit rubbish, really.

It REALLY needs to be a feature Hornbill introduces. EVERYONE wants this and it would make a MASSIVE productivity improvement for ALL Customers; each user can set a default team and there's always a one-click button on every request for them to have that ticket always assigned to them in that default team. @James Ainsworth how do we get this on the roadmap instead of faffing around trying to fudge it? We can even give it a funky name like call it the "Grab It" button.

[Berto2002]

Another issue with this kludge; the assignment through this method does not get 'noticed' by the workflow! So any BPM that is "wait for assignment" doesn't get triggered; so it's largely useless for any team assigning to an owner for that purpose.

I have to state again; we need this "assign to me" feature formally introduced by Hornbill PLEASE!

[QEHNick]

1 hour ago, Berto2002 said:

.... the re-assignment happens "in the background" because it doesn't show on the screen until I reload the Request! 

 

This explains why it is not appearing to work! Thanks for clearing that up, I can confirm that it does behave as described by @Berto2002

I have notified teams of this "feature" and received a lot of thumbs up.

I agree with @Berto2002, it needs to be a default feature.

[QEHNick]

And now I've removed the function based on evidence provided by @Berto2002.

So frustrating. A native function is required.

[Steve Giller]

On 7/29/2022 at 9:37 AM, Berto2002 said:

EVERYONE wants this

Just to manage expectations slightly:

While enhancements are driven in part by Customer engagement, 4 organisations does fall a little short of "everyone"

As the functionality to assign a Request to yourself is readily available from the Action Bar the "added value" of this enhancement is relatively small.

[Berto2002]

I understand that from a Developer's perspective but from a Customer perspective (like someone in Service Desk who assigns 20 tickets a day to themselves), there is a significant saving to be made with such a button I think; and across the Hornbill Customer estate, there are 100s of hours of productivity to be gained. The assignment process to self is an arduous 8 (or 9)-step process so making it 1-step would quite a gain:

1. click the action icon
2. select the group drop-down
3. scroll to the right team
4. click the right team
5. click the owner drop-down
6. type the first few letters
7. select the right owner
8. [re-do one of the above if you clicked or typed imperfectly because you're busy]
9. press Assign

In due course, maybe this thread will pick-up a few more +1 if I'm right :-)

[Steve Giller]

While this is not an option you might be able to make significant savings by optimising your workflows:

• The Suspend -> Wait for Assignment can be set to show the Assignment Action in the UI
• The BPM can be used to select the correct Team, in many cases particular CIs will have a default Team who deals with the issue.

That takes care of 1-4 and then it's just a matter of typing the first few letters of you name and clicking assign. Still not a single click, but much quicker than leaving it to be fully manual.

[Alisha]

On 7/29/2022 at 9:37 AM, Berto2002 said:

I can get this working as above, if the current user is in the currently assigned team. But the re-assignment happens "in the background" because it doesn't show on the screen until I reload the Request! So whoever uses it has to just believe it's worked; which means it's a bit rubbish, really.

It REALLY needs to be a feature Hornbill introduces. EVERYONE wants this and it would make a MASSIVE productivity improvement for ALL Customers; each user can set a default team and there's always a one-click button on every request for them to have that ticket always assigned to them in that default team. @James Ainsworth how do we get this on the roadmap instead of faffing around trying to fudge it? We can even give it a funky name like call it the "Grab It" button.

+1 Yes please for us as well. This would make it a lot more efficient.
The Auto Task is okay but it has its limitations.