Trigger event/something at specific date and time

[Rshear]

Hi All,

I'm looking for possible solutions to the below:

I need to change the status of a business service (CI class) at a time and date specified on another record. E.g. when a change is raised against a business service I want the business service state to change when the change implementation date and time hits (as seen on the change record).

Obviously this is a one off (i.e. different for every change) and the dates and times can be different so based on my experience scheduled jobs doesnt feel like the way to go. I could also trigger a scheduled event but believe they only stay in the queue for 7 days.

Has anyone got any tip, advice or experience on how to do this?

[rbeeman]

Hi Russell,

Here is a script timer based on an input variable that we use that you can use as a sample:

//setup glideDateTime's for the termdate at 2am UTC, which is 6pm PST, that way when we getDisplayValue our dates are accurate
// after whatever timezone change it's going to get based on the user that initated this workflow.
var termDateVar = current.variables.hrterm_term_date.toString();
var termDate = new GlideDateTime(termDateVar + ' 02:00:00');
termDate.addDaysLocalTime(1);
var now = new GlideDateTime(gs.nowNoTZ());
//get the difference and return seconds.
var timerDuration = gs.dateDiff(now.getDisplayValue(), termDate.getDisplayValue(), true);
gs.log(current.number + ' - timer info - termDateVar: ' + termDateVar + ' termDate: ' + termDate.getDisplayValue() + ' Now: ' + now.getDisplayValue() + ' Diff: ' + timerDuration);
//setting answer to number of seconds
answer = timerDuration;

And here is the Run Script in the workflow that I screenshotted above used in a loop with a static timer:

var startDateVar = current.u_emp__action_effective_date;
var startDate = new GlideDateTime(startDateVar + ' 07:00:00');
startDate.addDaysUTC(-3);
var now = new GlideDateTime(gs.nowNoTZ());

if (now >= startDate) {
   workflow.scratchpad.firstEmailSent = now;
   workflow.scratchpad.threeDays = "true";
} else {
   workflow.scratchpad.threeDays = "false";
}

Both are keying off of a catalog item variable as an input to determine when to progress.

[tony_fugere]

Robert's input is beautiful and exactly where I was headed with this topic.

To answer your question about "how can I tell how long to wait?"... this timer solution that I suggested and Robert provided example scripting for sets a different timer dynamically for each workflow context. So, for example, someone creates a Change Request with:

• Planned start of November 30, 2015 @ 14:00:00
• Triggers workflow which causes the Timer Activity to start on November 17 @ 10:00:00

If you review the Workflow Context, you will find that the Timer Activity automatically calculates the duration between these two dates and sets a timer for 13 days, 4 hours, 0 minutes and 0 seconds.

Between Robert and my posts, are we answering your questions so far?