Copying requests

[lomixture]

One of our analysts has raised the below:

"I have also noticed that if you click the 3 dots next to Raise new it shows you can copy request which I thought 'great, means I can put a request for 10 separate cars and amend the details as necessary' but this is just an exact copy of the original request I logged.  When we have to send out X number of vehicle service requests, it would be really useful if it could copy the basic info, my name, area and all data except the variable fields, or make it so the copy of the request can be amended for those fields we need to change.

It is very time consuming typing every field and slows us down tremendously."

 

Is this something that could be looked into, as in this instance the individual could be logging 30+ almost-identical requests and having to fill in the customer information and basic info multiple times.

Thanks in advance

[Steve Giller]

The Copy Request function is exactly what it says, a button to copy a Request.

What you are describing is a Request Template.
These are available as part of the Auto Responder functionality so you could achieve this by raising the request via email.

You could also build this into an Auto Task triggered by a Custom Button and copying the required information over using the Log Request node, which allows you to copy specific values across, set others to fixed values or variables, and leave others blank as required.

[Berto2002]

@lomixture here's another idea for you.

We had this issue for Changes. We wanted our engineers to be able to Copy a previously completed change and then just tweak the details before submitting it through the full process.

A Copy of any Request copies it's data and then launches immediately into the same BPM*

So in that BPM you need something that detects it's a copy. In our case, that was Priority; if a CR had a Priority in the first stage of the Change Workflow that means it must be a copy because we only apply Priority during the second, Build, stage.

So you have a decision which pushes all copies to a Human Task which asks the analyst to fill-in the information that is different about this CR from the last CR. In our case, it's only the Summary that really matters because we will ask them to manually review all the other details later; but there is nothing stopping you from having multiple data captures here for each variable field. You can use this to alter the customer also.

After that, you use the update request node/s (or update customer) to map the response/s to the variable/custom field/s they need to be in and we then throw it back into the main Workflow to continue.

Outcome; you end up with a ticket just like the one you copied but with variable details amended before it starts firing out to the customer etc.

A downside is this only works with a specific Workflow because you need these nodes here to present the Human Task and map the outcomes; but it sounds like you have a specific high volume case here where bespoke workflow would be valid.

These are the nodes that do the work:

Does this help?

* the 'same' BPM is literal; it runs the same VERSION of the BPM as the original Request. This can be a risk after a while because if your published version of that workflow moves on, your copies will not use it and so you'll wonder why some tickets are using a retired workflow! So if you do this approach, make sure you tell the team to raise a fresh whole new Request after a release of that Workflow and then use that as a new 'template' to copy from.

[lomixture]

On 28/09/2023 at 15:15, Steve Giller said:

The Copy Request function is exactly what it says, a button to copy a Request.

What you are describing is a Request Template.
These are available as part of the Auto Responder functionality so you could achieve this by raising the request via email.

You could also build this into an Auto Task triggered by a Custom Button and copying the required information over using the Log Request node, which allows you to copy specific values across, set others to fixed values or variables, and leave others blank as required.

Thank you @Steve Giller, I think this might be the best option as the specific anaylst raising the issue is not a common user of the system and only really does one task so having a template via email might work out best. I will look to use some executive hours to see how this might look for us, thanks!