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Cancel Another Service

Add the Cancel Another Service action to return or unassign another service as part of the workflow of the current service. This makes it possible to return or unassign dependent services automatically.

Services can depend on other services. For example, dependent services that are commonly used in onboarding processes are:

  • Service Windows User Account
  • Service E-mail account with a dependency on the service Windows User Account
  • Service Distribution groups with a dependency on the service E-mail account

People lose their qualification for a dependent service when the parent service has been returned. This is an issue if the return workflow of the dependent service contains references to, or requires data from, the parent. For example, when the return workflow of the service Windows User Account finishes, the user no longer exists in Active Directory. Therefore, the return workflow for service E-mail account fails, because the Windows user account no longer exists. Result: “orphaned” services. You can handle these situations with the Cancel Another Service action: you can take dependent services into account before the return workflow of the parent service is completed.

When you include an action in the return workflow of the service Windows User Account to deprovision the dependent service E-mail account, this service is returned before the Windows user account is returned. And when you include an action in the return workflow of the service E-mail account to deprovision the dependent service Distribution groups, the services can be returned correctly:

  1. Start return workflow of service Windows User Account.
  2. Pause the return workflow of service Windows User Account because of dependent service E-mail account.
  3. Trigger the return workflow of service E-mail account.
  4. Pause the return workflow of service E-mail account because of dependent service Distribution groups.
  5. Trigger and complete the return workflow of service Distribution groups.
  6. Resume and complete the return workflow of service E-mail account.
  7. Resume and complete the return workflow of service Windows User Account.

Configuration

Field Explanation and Tips
Action Name Optionally specify a friendly name for the action. This name must be unique in the workflow.
Wait for return workflow to finish Pause the transaction until the return of the specified service has been completed. This is useful if other actions depend on it.
  • Clear the option to let the transaction continue, while the delivery of the other service runs in the background. Although this may result in faster delivery, this may also cause unexpected results: The transaction of the current service may succeed, even if the delivery of the other service fails.
  • This option is grayed out if you select the option Unassign (skip workflow execution).
Unassign (skip workflow execution)

Select this option to return the service, but not execute its return workflow. This prevents business owners from having to complete the same actions multiple times.

Expiration Specify when the action expires. If the action has not been performed in time, it fails. The expiration time is only considered if you selected the option Wait for return workflow to finish.
  • You can use placeholders to make the expiration time dynamic.
    • When the action is executed, the placeholder needs to resolve into an integer (e.g. "9"). Invalid input (e.g. "Nine") causes the action to ignore the expiration time. The transaction continues immediately.
Workflow Detail Specify the level of detail that is shown when people track the service status. Depending on your configuration of this field, the Label field specifies the status information.
  • Select Default to show the behavior that you configured at Setup > Behavior.
  • Select Status only to show the status of the service.
  • Select Workflow action to show the status of the action.
  • Select Full details to show the status of the action and its actor.
  • Select Use custom label to configure a custom text.
  • This action adds an exception to the workflow that specifies what happens when the action expires. This alternative workflow is only considered if you selected the option Wait for return workflow to finish.
  • If you create a Building Block of a service whose workflow contains a Cancel Another Service action, this service is also included.
See also