Having Trouble Getting a Catalog Variable’s Display Value to Show in Service Operations Workspace

[ceexantus]

Hello, 

I’ve got a catalog variable called departing_customer (reference to sys_user). On the catalog item form, I already concatenate the user’s name, employee number, and title — so it shows something like:

John Smith – 12345 – Software Engineer

That part works perfectly on the catalog side.

The problem is when the RITM gets created and I open it in Service Operations Workspace. The variable shows up under the “Variables” section, but it only displays the plain reference value — not the concatenated one.

I’ve tried a bunch of approaches already:

• Catalog client script using g_form.setDisplayValue()

• Before/After business rules on sc_req_item updating sc_item_option and sc_item_option_mtom

• Updating both the value and display_value fields

• Even tried a Display Business Rule just to reformat on load

No matter what, the Workspace still just shows the raw reference (either name or sys_id), not my custom formatted text.

What I’m trying to do is only change how it’s displayed in SOW, not how it’s stored or referenced — basically, just want the RITM to show the same concatenated string the user sees on the catalog form.

Has anyone figured out how to make Service Operations Workspace respect custom variable display values?
If so, did you do it with a formatter, a Display Business Rule, or something else entirely?

Any pointers or examples would be a lifesaver — I’ve read through a bunch of community posts already, but nothing seems to quite stick for this specific case.

Thanks in advance!