Adding a rule

A rule defines a singular piece of functionality, such as making a field mandatory. A rule can perform calculations, validate fields based on data or lists, set required fields, and more. Rules can also specify conditions that determine when the rule should execute or who can execute rules run in the order they appear in the rule set. The order can be changed using the Move Up and Move Down buttons. If there is an error executing a rule, rule processing will stop. It is important to order the rules such that validation rules come first in the list, and then any rules that will perform actions. For example, to validate data and send an HTML email, place rules to validate data first and then the rule to send an HTML email. If the rules were reversed, the HTML email will be sent with invalid data or an invalid workflow state if the rules are part of a transition.

All rule sets in a phase, except the "On Enter" and "On Exit" rule sets, run before a record proceeds from one phase to another. The "On Exit" rule sets run before a transition occurs. "On Enter" rule sets run when a record moves to that phase.

The "On Exit" rules are the best place for notifications when a record leaves a phase especially when multiple transitions are used or when integration notifications are triggered.  Transitions are used to add validations that are required before leaving to the current phase. For example, in a change phase, the start date and end date are entered before proceeding to the Approval phase and no input is required if you are abandoning the change. In this case, if the "On Exit" rules are run before the transition rules, you will be sending out notifications but the actual transition would not have happened. Therefore, the order of execution of rule is Transition > On Exit > On Enter.

For example, rules may run in the following situations:

• When a record enters or exits a specific phase of the workflow
• When a record is created, updated, or deleted in a certain phase of the workflow because a workflow action is invoked
• When a workflow transition occurs
• When a workflow action is invoked

The following rule types are available in out-of-box Service Management deployments.

Rule type	Description
Assignment	Automatically distribute records (such as tasks or records) to the groups and individuals who are most able to process them
Call a process	Call a Service Manager process record
Case Exchange	Trigger certain activities for the Case Exchange integration
Clear Fields	Clear the specified field and related fields
JavaScript Validation	Use JavaScript to perform actions and validations
Launch a Script	Launch a Service Manager script
Launch a URL	Call a URL to launch a web page
Mandatory Fields	Set fields as mandatory
Mandatory Variables	Set variables as mandatory
Popup Message Box	Create and configure popup message boxes that appear to end users
Run Action	Run actions on records that have a specified relationship to the record that triggers the rule
Run JavaScript	Use JavaScript to perform actions and validations
Run Scheduled Action	Run actions on the current record after a specified length of time has passed
Run a Wizard	Run a Service Manager wizard
Send HTML Email	Send an HTML Email to users or a group
Send Notifications	Send Service Manager notifications
Set Field	Set a field value using JavaScript
Set Field from Number	Set field based on a number record
Start or Stop Clock	Start and stop a Service Manager clock
Validate against List	Validate a field against a list (global or defined)
Validate against Table	Validate a field against a field in another table
Validate Date	Validate a date against a date range
Validate Text/Number	Validate a field against a range of text or a number in another field of same table