Workflows
Workflows are the engine behind this web portal. Created by linking different activities in a graphical user interface a workflow takes the information provided by the alarm when it is triggered, then works through a sequence you have defined. The primary purpose at a business partner or customer level is to automate processes that would normally occupy a user such as resolving issues or escalating alarms, effectively replacing the business rules that may already be in place.
In general a workflow is triggered by an alarm from a monitored device. Each alarm raised contains alarm specific information regarding the hardware vendor and type, alarm name and so on. Other information regarding the business partner, customer and even support contract details and call out lists can be retrieved by activities included within the workflow. All this information may then be used to define the steps that should be taken to resolve the issue or escalate it.
The alarms themselves have a rules engine that allow the rules to be quantified to determine which workflows if any should be run. If one or more alarm rules match all the listed requirements, one or more defined workflows will be run. More information regarding alarm rules can be found in the Alarms page.
While most alarms are generated by a vendor specific piece of hardware that has error-ed or failed, an alarm may also be generated when a monitored device is still operational but has exceeded a threshold you have defined. These alarms are instead generated by the web portal itself based on templates which take parameters you set to define thresholds relevant to hardware the template is to be applied to.
Alarm and Workflow administration
The following steps are an example of how a new alarm rule may be created and associated with a workflow and callout list.
- Navigate to Availability > Management > Alarm Rules
- Click the Create Rule button to open the New Alarm Rule utility. Rule Editor
- Give the Rule a relevant name.
- Select a callout group or list. If the callout list required does not exist, select to create a new list and give the list a name and click the Create button. The list will be created and at a later stage you can administer the users that are members of this list.
- Select a workflow to be used. If the workflow does not currently exist then select to create a new workflow. Provide a name and description and select a template on which the new workflow will be created. Click the Create button. The workflow will be created and will be administered later.
- In the Alarm Rule Builder select the appropriate setting for Stop Processing on Match. If the rule being created should activate the workflow selected and only this workflow, this should be set to On. Otherwise leave this as Off and other rules may also process this alarm.
- In the Alarm Rule Builder add all the required conditions that need to be met for the associated workflow to be triggered. This may be as generic as 'All Severity 2 alarms for Customer D' or as specific as 'Station 1234 on equipment X for Customer Y'.
- In the alarm rules list test the rules to ensure the new rule captures the required alarm as expected. Test Alarm Rules
- Navigate to Availability > Call Out Lists. Call Out List Manager
- Right click on the list created during the rule creation process above and add the required users.
- Navigate to Service Desk > Workflow > Definitions. Workflow Definitions
- Edit the workflow to meet your requirements. Workflow Designer
- Once satisfied with the workflow, publish the workflow to make it operational.