Intro to Stages in Workflow

Goal

• Tracking Catalog Items with Stages
• Adding Tasks
• Adding Stages

 
Stages in Workflow with Service Catalog

The Workflow Editor provides a way to help a user track a process through the use of Stage icons. The designer may choose to assign a Stage to an Activity in the Workflow that represents a significant point in the process being automated. As the workflow progresses through the Activities and encounters a Stage, the Workflow Engine updates the value of the stage icons.

The overall state of the Stages are stored in the Workflow Context.

NOTE: This section on Stages is an introduction to add completion to the Service Catalog and Workflow Relationship. Stages will be covered is detail in the Workflow 301  Lab.

1. Workflow > Workflow Editor.
2. Click Open.
3. Select the K14 WF 201 Example - RITM Stages.

4. Select the Gear Menu > Check Out.5. Select the Gear Menu > Properties.

5. Notice that this workflow is also on the sc_req_item table. Notice the two stage properties in the right column of the Workflow Properties form.

• Stage Rendering: Linear
  • The order that the stages are drawn in the icon list will be the order that the user specifies.
• Stage Order: User Specified
  • When the rendering is Linear, the Icon Stage order always follows the ordering that is specified in the Stage Definition.

6. Close the Properties form.
7. Select the Gear Menu > Edit Stages.

This list is represents the stages that are available for assignment in this workflow. Notice the Order values. This is the order the icons appear in the list of Request Items.

8. Select the New button.

9. Fill out the forms as follows:

Name: K14 Finished
Value: finished
Order: 500

10. Click Submit.

11. Close the list.
12. Double-click on the Assign the RITM to User Activity.

13. Click the Search icon. 

14. Select Assignment.
15. Click Update.

Notice the Stage now displays in the Activity.

16. In the Get Manager Approval Activity, assign the Waiting Approval stage.
17. In the Fulfill the RITM item Activity, assign the Fulfillment stage.
18. In the Mark RITM as Closed Activity, assign the K14 Finished stage.

Your screen should look like this:

NOTE: A Catalog Item named K14WF 201 – Stage Catalog Example has been pre-configured for you to run this workflow.

19. Return to the main ServiceNow tab.
20. Self-Service > Service Catalog
21. Select the Knowledge 14 -WF 201 Lab Category
22. Click Knowledge 14 -WF 201 Stage Catalog Example.

23. Select the Order Now button.

Notice:

• The Icons in the Stage column are the stages that were added to each relevant Activity in the K14 WF 201 Example - RITM Stages.
• The Approved at the top of the list. We didn’t have an Approved stage!

If there is a Gateway Approval that is part of the process, that approval state will show at the top of the icon list for Service Catalog Items.

24. Select the K14 WF201 – Stage Catalog Example link on your order form.

NOTE: If the Self Service view is active, switch to the Catalog view. This will make it easier to work through this portion of the lab.

25. Scroll to the Related Lists.
26. Select the Approvers Related List.
27. Right Click > Approve the K14 Manager Approval.
28. Select the Catalog Tasks.
29. Right Click > Close Task on the Open task.
30. In the Request field, select the form icon. Notice that the coding of the icons represents all the Stages.

Summary

The Workflow Engine allows a designer to define stages that represent significant points in the progression of the process. Stages are assigned to Activities in a workflow. By assigning the Stages to the Activities of a Service Catalog Item, the Workflow Engine can report the status of the process. This status is reflected in the Stage Column of the RITM record using colored icons.

This stage summary provides a non-technical view of the workflow progression to the Service Catalog customers, making it a powerful element of workflow design.

This lab demonstrated one method of defining and reflecting stages using the Linear Renderer in the Workflow Properties. There is a suite of Stage Renderers and Configurations that are available in the Workflow Engine. These will be covered in more detail in the Workflow 301 lab.