Add a task to a change model

User Roles: Change Manager

Using Task Planner, you can add, edit, or delete tasks, which are part of change model record. In the graphical interface, you can specify tasks as dependent on other tasks by adding a connector between two tasks. Tasks that do not have dependencies may be open in parallel but are still governed by the Open In Phase and Close By Phase attributes, as well as the task conditions.

Change task attributes

When adding a task to a model, specify the following attributes:

• Title
• Task Category
• Task Template
• Open In Phase – Species the starting change phase in which the task will be activated for the change. If the task is dependent on another task, it will have a Planned status.
• Close By Phase – Specifies the ending change phase by which the task must be closed. If there are still open tasks for a phase, the change will not be allowed to go to the next phase. If left blank, the ending phase will match the starting phase.
• Mark as required/Set properties as read-only – Specifies whether or not this task can be re-planned or removed when you plan tasks using Task Planner from a change record.

• Task Condition – Defines the conditions for task creation.

  • The task condition is evaluated at each update of the change record when the change is in the Open In Phase defined for this task.
  • If you leave this field blank, the condition will evaluate to true.
  • When the condition evaluates to true after a change update, the task is created and linked with the change record.
  • Once a task has been created and linked with the change, the condition for this task will not be re-evaluated anymore.
  • When the condition is true in the first instance but false after the change is updated, the system does not automatically close the task and you need to close it manually.
  • The condition of a planned task is shown as read-only in Task Planner from the change record.
  • If a task is dependent on a conditional task that has not been created because its condition evaluates to false, this task will still be created (with a Ready status) when the change reaches the Open In Phase defined for this task.

As these tasks are created for a Change, task information is automatically applied to the new task record.

For task dependencies to function, each task status must follow a convention to use a numeric value for the task status value. The global list “Change Task Status” contains the status values listed in the following table.

Tasks that do not have any dependencies are automatically opened with the“1=Ready” status. Tasks that are dependent on other tasks are opened with the “0-Planned” status. Once all tasks that another task is dependent on have reached a status of 20 or greater, the dependent task will have its status changed to “1-Ready”.

 To see a working example, view the Generic Task workflow. It utilizes format “chm.task”, and the statuses above. The initial “Waiting” phase will transition to “Active” when the task status > 0 which means it is not planned.

Using the behavior of the tasks statuses set by Process Designer, you can create your own task flow or modify a copy of the Generic Task workflow.  If you are using task statuses that are not using the numeric values, task dependencies will not function.

You can move a task from one phase to another by setting appropriate conditions. The following condition is an example to move a task from the “Waiting” phase to “Active”.

(Status in CurrentRecord> 0 AND Variable $L.tableAccess.update = true)

You can set multiple dependencies for a task. If a task is set with dependencies, the task can start only after all the dependent tasks are completed. The following table outlines the various statuses of a child task which is “dependent” on the parent task when you open a change.

To add a task to a change model, follow these steps:

1. Click Change Management > Configuration > Change Models in the System Navigator.

2. Click Search to select a change model.

   Or

   Click New to create a new change model record.

   Note Select a category to display the task editor in the Task Information section.

3. In the Task Information section, click the Edit button, and then click Add Task. A new task is added in Task Planner.

4. Select the new task, click the Task-Properties tab, and perform these steps:

   1. Type a task description in the Title text box.
   2. Select a task category from the drop-down list.
   3. Optionally, select a task template from the drop-down list.
   4. Select a change phase to create the task from the Open In Phase list.

   5. Optionally, select a change phase to close the task from the Close By Phase list.

      Note The ending phase must be no earlier than the starting phase. If left blank, the ending phase will be same as the starting phase.

   6. Optionally, select the Mark as required/Set properties as read-only check box if you do not want this task to be modified or deleted when you plan tasks in Task Planner from a change record.

      Note After you select the check box, a red dot appears on the top left corner of the task.

   7. Optionally, add conditions to create the task.

      Note “CurrentRecord” in the condition editor refers to the Change record.

      Caution You cannot add a new task until you define mandatory details of the previous task in the Task Planner window.

5. Click Add Task to add another task.

   Or

   Hover the mouse on the new task added in the graphical interface until you see a hand symbol, and then drag the mouse pointer to add a new task.

6. If needed, click Delete in the toolbar to delete a task.
7. (Optional) After you finish adding tasks, click Auto Layout to allow task planner to automatically arrange the tasks and dependencies.
8. Click OK to save the change model tasks.

Related topics

Configuring change models

Processes and Best Practices

Create a new change model

Map change model fields into change records

Use change models in the Service Catalog connector

Enable or disable the Apply Change Model option for a change workflow phase