Creating an Outbound Action Task

An Outbound Action task is used as part of a workflow to automatically send an Outbound Action to another system as part of the workflow. This task facilitates initiating an Outbound Action outside of the Service Desk, that is, without having to forward a call or task externally.

The Connector Polling Service must be running for the Outbound Action to be sent successfully to the external system.

Your organization must be licensed for each connector if you want to connect to external systems other than products of the ASM family and LDAP-compliant directory servers.

  1. Search for the Request Details window, if it is not already on screen.
  2. ClosedDisplay the dependency diagram.

    Click the Dependencies button on the toolbar or select the Update Dependencies explorer option on the Request Details or Task Details window.

    3. If you are working on a specific request, and the workflow template you have used to create the request already has tasks defined in it, you will see these tasks here. You can open them and change their details such as dates, assignment, or expenses. You can add new tasks or delete them from the current request without affecting the template.

  3. ClosedAdd the Outbound Action task to the Dependency Diagram.

    Select the icon from the task palette and drag it to position. Alternatively, right-click in the window, and from the menu that appears, select New and then the Outbound Action task entity type. Then link the task to the previous task in the workflow.

  4. Double-click the task icon on the dependency diagram to display the Outbound Action Details window.
  5. Complete the common task fields on the Outbound Action Details window.
  6. Expand the Mapping Details section, if necessary, and complete the details.

    7. Source Select the external system to which you want to send the Outbound Action, or the integration source for the stored procedure you wish to run. Integration sources are configured in the Integration Platform.
    Action Select the Outbound Action the task must create in the external system. These values are defined on the integration source.

  7. Select the Outgoing tab to map the fields for outgoing messages related to this Outbound Action. This allows you to specify how field values from ASM must correlate with the field values on the external system when an outgoing message is sent by ASM relating to the Outbound Action.
    • Click Add. In the Add Fields window, select the fields (from the external system) you want to map to fields on the task. Click OK.
    • On the browse table, click the corresponding cell in the Internal Field column. Then select to pick a static value or a field from the task or request.

      • Depending on the field’s data type, additional options can be selected, including: field transformations, profile maps, or resolution rules.

    • Add more field mappings if needed.
    • To delete any mapped fields, select the mapping and click Remove. In the warning dialog box, click Yes to remove the field mapping or No to cancel.
    • Select Send Notify for system generated history messages to send a NOTIFY outgoing message to the external system whenever a system-generated entry (such as an agreement escalation) is added to the history of the task.
  8. Select the Incoming tab (see the steps for incoming messages below) to map the fields for incoming messages related to this Outbound Action. This allows you to specify how the field values from the external system must match the field values in ASM when an incoming message is received by ASM.
    • Click Add. In the Add Fields window, select the task or request fields you want to map to fields used in the external system. Click OK.
    • On the browse table, click the corresponding cell in the Action Field column. Then select to pick a static value or a field from the external system. These fields are defined at the level of the connector for the selected integration source.

      • Depending on the field’s data type, additional options can be selected, including: field transformations, profile maps, or resolution rules.

    • In the Update column, select the conditions for populating the field in ASM. Always always matches the ASM field value with the value in the external system field. This means that any change to this field in the external system automatically updates the field value in ASM. Only When Blank only populates the ASM field with the value of the external system field if the field in ASM is blank. This means that an existing value in ASM cannot be overridden by a field value in the external system.

      • The On Initial Population Only update condition does not apply to Outbound Actions.

    • Add more field mappings if needed. To delete any mapped fields, select the mapping and click Remove. In the warning dialog box, click Yes to remove the field mapping or No to cancel.
  9. Save the task details.

Actioning an Outbound Action Task

If necessary, you can manually action the task by selecting:

Take Back to send a CANCEL message to the external system. The analyst can then action the task as required.
Complete

to manually close the task and allow the workflow to proceed down the successful branch. This sends a COMPLETE message to the external system and the workflow follows the Success branch.

The Success branch is also followed if ASM receives a COMPLETE message from the external system for this Outbound Action. The Outbound Action Task is automatically closed upon receipt of this COMPLETE message.
Not Complete to manually complete the task and allow the workflow to proceed down the failed branch. This sends an NOT COMPLETE message to the external system.

When the task is activated as part of a request, a CREATE message is automatically sent to the external system specified in the task details. When the required action is taken on the external system, an incoming message from the external system can automatically complete or ‘not complete’ the task. This sends a COMPLETE or NOT COMPLETE message. On completing successfully, the workflow follows the successful branch, otherwise, it follows the failure branch.

The task history is updated regardless of selection.

All incoming and outgoing messages relating to the Outbound Action task can be viewed by clicking Outbound Actions on the Task Details explorer pane.