Reopen a single catalog task in a workflow

Cirrus · ‎08-08-2018

Hi,

I am fairly new to scripting in ServiceNow and am wondering if this is even possible? We are having issues with people reopening sctasks by changing the state, so I have been able to lock this down using ACL once state = 'Closed'. However, there are also genuine needs to reopen a task (maybe closed in error). Thanks to Dressman, we have implemented the following script which restarts the entire workflow (inc REQ and RITM) when the sctask is re-opened:

current.state = "1";
current.work_notes = "Task reopened";
current.update();

      //Reopen the item record & restart the workflow.
      var i = new GlideRecord('sc_req_item');
      i.addQuery('sys_id', current.request_item);
      i.query();
      while (i.next()) {
         if(i.context != '')
            new Workflow().restartWorkflow(i, true);
         i.state = "1";
         i.stage = "fulfillment";
         i.comments = "Item reopened because task " + current.number + " was reopened.";
         i.update();
      }

      //Reopen the request record
      var r = new GlideRecord('sc_request');
      r.addQuery('sys_id', current.request_item.request);
      r.query();
      while (r.next()) {
         r.request_state = "in_process"
         r.work_notes = "Request reopened because item " + current.request_item.number + " was reopened.";
         r.stage = "requested"
         r.update();
      }

My problem is this. The script works a treat for single task workflows, but as soon as we have workflows with multiple tasks it causes problems because every task completed up to that point gets reopened, causing duplication and unnecessary workload.

What I was wondering is for multiple task workflows, is it possible to amend this script to only reopen the current.sctask ie the task that has just been reopened (and the REQ and RITM if its the last task) without reopening all tasks closed up to this point? Using Turnstiles is not an option because we never know which task might get reopened.

Thanks

Brian Lancaster · ‎08-09-2018

I think I figured out a work around. Not sure it is the best way to do it but it works. Here is what I did. All business rules are on the sc_task table.

1. I created a true/false field on sc_task table called Prevent Reopen (u_prevent_reopen) with a default value of false.

2. Created a Before update business rule with the below code.
Condition - you may need to add additional closed state if you have them.

current.state.changesTo(3) || current.state.changesTo(4)

Code:

(function executeRule(current, previous /*null when async*/) {

	// Add your code here
	current.u_prevent_reopen = true;

})(current, previous);

3. Added the following line of code the UI Action right under the current.work_notes = 'task reopened'

current.u_prevent_reopen = false;

4. Created another before update business rule with the below code.

Condition

current.state.changesTo(1) && current.u_prevent_reopen == true

Code

(function executeRule(current, previous /*null when async*/) {

	// Add your code here
	current.state = previous.state;

})(current, previous);

View solution in original post

Brian Lancaster · ‎08-08-2018

Where is this script running? I don't see anything that would re-open all tasks off hand unless there is a business rule that copies that state from the RITM to the tasks.

Cirrus · ‎08-09-2018

Thanks Bricast. The script is a UI Action on the sc_task table triggered when the state = Closed Complete

Brian Lancaster · ‎08-09-2018

I put this in my personal dev instance. It is doing the same thing for me. There may be an OOB business rule that is doing that but so far I have not figured it out.

Brian Lancaster · ‎08-09-2018

Just found it. It appears to be an issue with restart workflow line of code. So when it restarts the workflow the workflow goes thought sees the tasks that are already created and sets them back to open. However you cannot get ride of that line of code as it will prevent the closer of the RITM when the tasks are closed again. I would go back to Dressman and see if they have any way to get around this as I'm not sure what could be done.