Working with processes

The process windows enable you to add or update information for a process (such as a Request or a Change), and also progress the processes. The process type and ID (for saved processes) appear at the top of the page, along with the current process component (note, assignment, and so on).

Completing windows

You can complete and update most fields in Workspaces. To save your changes, click OK or Apply on the window (for information about how to use the Web Access System Preferences to change the text that appears on these buttons, see System preferences). For records that have already been saved, fields that you can update are indicated by Update icon .

Some fields are related to others on the window and will complete automatically when you select a value in the related field. Others are copy related, and will copy a value from one attribute to another using a copy rule. For information about related fields and copy rules, and how copy rules in Workspaces differ, see Copy related attributes.

CAUTION: If any Locking Policy is enabled on an object in Object Designer, currently the Optimistic locking policy is applied in Workspaces.

The windows in your system may have been designed to change appearance when data is entered into them. For information about designing dynamic windows, see Dynamic windows.

You can expand and collapse individual group boxes in Workspaces using the arrow icons in the header of the group box, and you can expand and collapse all of the group boxes on a window using the + Expand All and – Collapse All icons in the page header.

You can use the TAB key to move between fields, and when a category field has focus, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate around the category control. To select the highlighted value in a category control, press TAB or ENTER.

Date/time controls that set only the date component update when you click the required date. However, date/time controls that set either only the time component or both the date and the time components do not update until you click tick icon . The labels of fields that you must complete are marked *.

HTML fields on read-only windows display the formatted content, and a formatting toolbar appears on editable HTML-enabled fields.

HTML toolbar

The following buttons and keyboard shortcuts are available on the formatting toolbar:

Icon	Functionality	Keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + or ⌘Cmd +)
	bold	b
	italic	i
	underline	u
	text color
	text size
	insert image	p
	insert link	k
	numbered list
	bulleted list
	show/hide HTML code

Some fields on process windows that display related objects may have been configured to display their label as a hyperlink. Clicking this hyperlink displays the read-only window for the related object above the current window. Click Cancel to close it.

Progressing processes

The exact steps required to complete a process depend on how the process has been designed – see your IT team for more information. The actions available on the process can change depending upon the process you are using and its status. The actions that are available to you also depend on your privileges. You can see which actions are available on the Actions panel.

You can expand or collapse the Actions panel using the arrow icons next to the panel title. By default, the panel is collapsed on smaller screens and expanded on larger screens. Actions that progress the process appear at the top of the panel above a separator; optional actions appear below the separator.

To progress a process:

In the Actions panel, click the required action.
If the action has a window or a query list associated with it, the window or list appears, otherwise a confirmation message appears. The original window moves down the screen, beneath the action window, and becomes read-only. This means that you can easily refer back to the original window and copy information from it. When you click Cancel on the action window, the original window moves back up the screen.

Creating subclasses from a process

You can create subclasses of certain objects. For example, the Configuration Item object has many subclasses such as Server, Laptop, Workstation, and so on. In a process, when you click an action to create a new instance of an object that has subclasses, a list appears labeled Select which type of this item you want to create, from which you can select from the available subclasses.

Viewing additional items

You can add multiple instances of certain components to processes (for example, notes, assignments, reminders). These types of component are called collections, and are available to view from a control at the bottom of the process window. You can expand the different sections of this control one at a time, and then click an item in one of the sections to open it.

For more information about the different types of process components, see Typical process components.

History in Workspaces

Analysts can view a process chronologically by clicking History at the bottom of the Actions panel. If required, you can filter the History to display only actions on selected objects or actions by selected users or groups. You can see only those items that your privileges allow you to see.

If you want the History to be available to all user types, set History visible for Analysts only to false on the System preferences page in Web Access. For more information, see System preferences.

There are two types of view for History:

Timeline displays the actions performed on a process on a timeline, with manual actions on the left and automatic actions on the right. If you have the appropriate privilege, clicking an item in the timeline opens the appropriate page so that you can view more details or update the item.
Document displays the fields from the windows for each of the actions, ordered chronologically. A Print button enables you to print the document view.

You can apply a number of filters to help you to see the items that interest you in the History.

To apply filters to History:

Expand Preferences, then select the Actions that you want to appear in History.
The selected actions appear below the control. You can remove actions from the filter by clicking the x alongside their name.
Select the Created By User and Created By Group values as required.
Use the View the Last (hours/days/months/years) controls to specify the time period you want to see the history for.
In the Order By list, select Earliest First or Latest First.
In the View Type list, select Timeline or Document.
Select Show automatic actions if you want automatic actions to appear in History.
Select Show entries for auditable attributes if you want changes to attributes that have the Is Auditable? property set to True in Object Designer to appear in History.
If you have set the View Type to Document, select Show empty fields if you want fields that contain no values to appear in the document view. Otherwise, empty fields are omitted from the document view.
Click Apply to apply the filters to the current History.

Clicking Save saves the selected filter definitions as your preference for showing History for the current type of process. When you next open History, these filters are automatically applied for that type of process.