using update request note or activity to set a custom field value

[Gary@ADL]

Hi Guys,

 

is there any way we can use a node in the business process section to update a custom value - e.g. h_custom_a

 

it only seems to let you update specific  values i.e. logging category, details etc,

 

the custom fields are in the same table as the detail, site, logging category etc so this shouldn't be too unfeasible

 

ideally id like it so my workflow create an activity automatically which has a date picker, once this activity has been completed id like to use the update request node to put the date specified into a custom field, so we can then report on this date.

[Steven Boardman]

Hi @Gary@ADL

Thanks for the post.

We can certainly look at having the ability to update custom fields from our Update Request node, but i fear this is only half of what you are looking for here.  From your description it reads to me that you would like to take the output from an activity (date / time) and push that into one of the custom fields?

It is not currently possible to Get the information from a task associated to a request to pass variables to the Update Request node, so there is more needed here. 

I would like to be clear on what is needed here so we can assess what is actually needed in terms of additional options. 

Would you be able to walk us through the use case for adding this?  it sounds like you need the ability to almost add a Progressive Capture style question or questions during the BPM and then pass the output to a custom field on the request? 

Not directly related to this, but you can currently update the custom fields of a request with answers from progressive capture questions when a request is raised, not sure if this would help in this case but there is more on this on the wiki here:

https://wiki.hornbill.com/index.php/Progressive_Capture_Workflow 

If you look under the Mapping Answers from Custom Forms section.

If you could let us know a little more details on specifically what you need to achieve here that would be great?

Thanks

Steve

[Gary@ADL]

12 minutes ago, steven boardman said:

it sounds like you need the ability to almost add a Progressive Capture style question or questions during the BPM and then pass the output to a custom field on the request? 

Hi @steven boardman - yes that's exactly it,

 

we're basically doing an incident management process, and we looking to be able to input a custom field for when the incident was fixed, (separately from when the call was resolved/closed)

 

we also have another instance where we could use this - during this process, we have the option at any time to send a scripted email to the business - currently this is done by an automatically created task, and if you mark the task yes at any point it sets a value (logging category in our case since we don't use it otherwise), and sends an email to the business (notifying them of a problem). when the problem Is resolved, the BPM looks to see if the logging category is set, if it is - a problem resolved email is sent to the business. - using the logging category here isn't ideal, which is why we'd rather set a custom field instead.

[Gary@ADL]

or even if we couldn't use the 'user-activity' to directly set the custom field, and instead use another automated task straight after to set the custom field value based on the outcome of the task ,that would also help, which is what I was sugge4sting in my first post I think (but mapping straight from the activity to the custom field would be better still!)

[Steven Boardman]

Hi @Gary@ADL

Thanks for the clarification, i have started discussions regarding this internally and as we get progress on any options i will post back here to keep you updated. 

Thanks

Steve

[Martyn Houghton]

@steven boardman @Gary@ADL

We would also be interested in the ability to update the custom fields as an activity in the BPM process.

Cheers

Martyn

[Guest Paul Alexander]

Excuse me for jumping in on an old thread....but I'm also looking for the ability to update custom fields from a BPM.

I realise that this is quite an old topic, but I can't see where to do this (I'm a noobie) so am I missing something or has this feature not been released yet?

 

thanks

 

Paul

[Steven Boardman]

@Gary@ADL @Martyn Houghton @paul.alexander@vinci.plc.u

Just an update on this requirement.

The work has now been completed and will be available in the next Service Manager build, which should be available within the next two weeks, so watch out for the release notes. 

This business process option will allow you to update the custom fields of the request forms.  You can either predefine values, or pass in variables such as the outcome of tasks, tasks descriptions, completion date of task, PC custom form answers etc .

You will also have the option to append the updates to any existing text which is present in the custom fields already. 

As with the use of the Progressive Capture mapping to custom fields feature, consideration needs to be given to the TYPE of custom fields which you are updating, single line, multi-line, date/time etc to ensure the update values you are providing can be presented / edited (if required) in the custom fields on the request details section where the custom fields are displayed. 

Steve

[Gary@ADL]

awesome thanks @Steven Boardman

[Martyn Houghton]

@Steven Boardman

Thanks, that will be really useful.

Cheers

Martyn