Manual Task vs Automated Task

[molayd]

Hi members,

It can be seen in most of the industry standard Order Orchestration & Management Systems that there is clear distinction between manual task (for capturing user inputs, perform swivel chair jobs etc.) and automated tasks (for executing complex business rules, integration with external systems etc.).

How it is implemented in OMT? We have flow designer but that's very generic, IMHO and it is a NOW platform feature rather than OMT specific feature. Though there is Order Task (sn_ind_tmt_orm_order_task) but there is nothing to specify whether it is manual or automated?

One way to use order task as both that trigger a subflow once an order task is created. Is it right principle to follow? Please highlight if there is any alternate approach.

Thanks,

Molay 

[ShashankInamdar]

Hi @molayd  That is a great question.

You are right in stating that OMT leverages the Flow Designer capabilities that the NOW platform provides.

Order Tasks are an extension of the Task Class, and inherently are classified as Manual Tasks, that can be assigned to a user or a group via Assignment fields.

Having said that, Order Tasks can also be auto completed without assignment.

Creation of a particular Order Task type can be used as a trigger to invoke a Flow.

For the Auto Tasks, there are a multiple automated actions possible. Some of the most commonly ones used in Telecom use cases -

• REST Actions - either available as a Spoke via Integration Hub or purpose built new Actions
• Internal Data updates - many OOTB Flow Designer Actions available, such as Lookup, Create/Update Record etc.
• Re-usable business Logic - built as sub flows or Flows that is triggered on specific conditions.
• Telco specific Actions - OOTB actions available such as Create Install Base, Validate Related Items, Create Work Order, Create Project Task etc.
• Platform supported Actions - OOTB actions such as Create Change Request, Send Email, Send Notification etc. across multiple Apps

And then there is the ‘everything in between’ such as the flow logic, Error handling, Do-until, retries, Wait for Condition etc.

I understand why you may feel it is very generic.

As a best practice, it is recommended to bring a structure to the workflows that needs to be built in Flow Designer - identify the Manual v/s Auto Tasks, the reusable components and bring this all together.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Shashank

[molayd]

Thanks Shashank.

I would prefer to go with subflow triggered based on creation order task to have auto task in workflow. But how to control trigger/retrigger/no-trigger of such subflows for inflight cancel scneario? Using Cancel Task Fields (Order Task) field? Shall we use revision_operation attribute of the order task?

Regards,

Molay