Intelligent Capture Designer

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Introduction Progressive Capture is a graphical workflow tool that provides a new and simple way to define the capturing of information for a particular application. An application that uses Progressive Capture will include a number of small forms for collecting information related to the application. These forms can be optionally added, ordered, and branched depending on the information being captured.

Related Articles Service Manager Progressive Capture

Nodes

When building a progressive capture script there are a few different nodes that are available to use when considering your design

• Start

Every progressive capture flow will have a Start node. This is the entry point for all progressive capture scripts.

• Form

You can choose from a number of pre-configured small forms (in Form Properties) and place them in the sequence you need.

• Custom Form

Allows you to create your own form complete with custom fields and values.

• Branch

Allows a custom expression to alter the flow to show different PCF's.

• Switch

Allows you to link progressive capture's together and seamlessly switch from one to another

• End

Every progressive capture flow will have at least one of these to end the flow.

Branches

In progressive capture, branches allow the workflow designer to send the analyst down different routes to potentially collect different information depending on the choices that are made on progressive capture forms. It is important to remember that a branch node will always inherit the outcomes from its parent progressive capture forms. This means that if you place a branch node after the request details form (as shown in the below screenshot), the only pieces of data that you can make a decision on are the Summary and Description fields (only 2 fields on this default form).

To add a custom expression to a decision node you must first connect the decision node to the next node in the flow. You can then click the linking line and define your custom expression. You can define multiple outcomes from a decision node, however you must always have at least one valid outcome, otherwise the progressive capture flow could potentially have nowhere to go which will make it error.

Switch Process

In Progressive Capture the Switch Process node provides the ability to seamlessly move to or link Progressive Capture flows together. One example of where this maybe useful is in Service Manager when choosing a Request Catalog item from the Services Progressive Capture form, the switch process can be used to switch to the the Progressive Capture flow which is assigned to the chosen Request Catalog item.

Using this node replaces the previous behaviour of jumping from an initial progressive capture to another, and in essence any forms used in both are evaluated and re-used when jumping, it also removes the need to evaluate which forms in the second progressive capture to use, and any issues associated with progressive capture forms being skipped.

Using this node, will in effect continue from the initial progressive capture, into the next progressive capture rather than replace it. This means it does not need to evaluate which forms to skip, it simply ignores any forms already used in the initial progressive capture.

Advantages of using the Switch Process Node

• When switching processes the UI for the analyst is smooth as you are linking one process to another not replacing one with another
• The ability to return / revisit the forms in the initial process capture flow, once you have switched or linked to a second process capture flow in order to change values / choices or even change which progressive capture to switch / link too.
• You don't need to include the same forms in both Progressive Captures, for example the Customer Search form could just be used in the initial progressive capture, and removed from the catalog item progressive capture (obviously if it already exists it will simply be ignored).

Example

Following the use of the Services Details form, you may include a Branch node, and have two outcomes.

• 1. Using a Custom Expression, perform a check to see if 'Service details -> catalogProgressiveCaptureId Is Set (if a request catalog item has been selected) from here link to the Switch Process node
• 2. Using another Custom Expression perform the same check but set this to Is Not Set (a Service rather than a request catalog item has been selected) and build your logic accordingly, equally you could define multiple other outcomes from this branch node to reflect the different service choices and paths you wish to take.

On the Switch Process node, you can configure this to link to a specific new process, or use a Variable to link to the progressive capture linked to the request catalog item which has been chosen. In this example this is what we will do and the Variable to use would be Service details -> catalogProgressiveCaptureId

• Note: with the introduction of the Switch Process option, the behaviour will alter slightly on the Services Details form, is as much as the user will now have to select the Next button if they are selecting either the Service or the Request Catalog Item in order to progress the progressive capture. Previously if a Request Catalog Item was chosen the progressive capture would immediately progress without the need to click Next.

Sharing and Visibility

Progressive capture owners will be able to view their own captures, and captures which have been shared with them from the Progressive Capture List.

When creating or editing a capture it is possible via the Manage Process Settings and Grant Access To option to share your process with:

• Roles
• Users
• Groups - Configured via the Organisational group structure

It is possible to share captures with multiple users, roles and groups. Once a capture has been shared, the user will be able to view the capture from the Progressive Capture list.

To remove visibility to a specific User, Role or Group simply select the Trash Can icon next to the item you wish to stop sharing the capture with.

To enforce the above sharing and visibility controls, ensure the system setting security.bpm_access_controls.enabled is set to On from the administration console:

• Home > System > Settings > Advanced

Default Form Configuration

Default forms can be customised

When selecting a default Hornbill PCF there are two ways in which you can customise it:

1. Mark as Mandatory - Setting this option to true means that a value or values will need to be provided by the analyst before they can advance to the next progressive capture form. The default setting for each form is false. Mandatory fields are indicated by the vertical red bar on the left edge of the field. If a field is required and you attempt to move to the next PCF without providing a value, you will be shown an error message.

2. Define Additional Display Fields - Certain PCF's have the ability to display additional information such as the Organisation Details and Customer Search forms. A Hornbill administrator can select which additional data is displayed when an analyst selects a value from the selected progressive capture form.

Customised Forms

As well as standard forms, Hornbill also provide the ability to create your own custom forms. With custom forms, you can create multiple questions of different field types for analysts to answer during progressive capture.

New - A Never Skip configuration option has been added, which can be set to True, this will ensure that this form is never bypassed in your progressive capture flow, even if custom questions have default values set, and the questions are not set to mandatory. This will ensure the user will always be presented with the form to at least validate the default choices, or change them if required.

Node Properties

• Custom Form Name - The display name for the node on the progressive capture designer
• Purpose - A text field to record the purpose of the custom form (optional)

Form Settings

• Language - A default language version of the custom form is provided, but you can opt to create different language versions of the custom form by selecting another available language and populating the labels, answers in different languages.
• Form Id - This is the unique identifier for the custom form, this can be used later to identify the answers to your questions when using the Hornbill Business Process Workflow engine.
• Form Prompt - This is any text you wish to appear with the custom form to help identify it's purpose
• Never Skip Form - This option can be set to True if you want to ensure the form is not bypassed in the progressive capture flow, when moving from one PC flow to another (this is not required if using the Progressive Capture Switch Process node option)

Form Fields

The form fields are the questions you wish to ask on the custom from.

• You can add new questions by selecting the 'add field button
• You can edit an existing question by selecting the note and pencil icon of an existing question
• You can delete an existing question by using the trash can icon of an existing question
• You can re-order how the questions will appear by using the up and down arrows to move the questions into the required order.

Field Properties

• Field Id - This is the unique id for the question on the custom form. This can normally be left, unless you are wanting to map the answer from this question to a custom field on a request, where a field mapping needs to be given. Read about field mappings
• Label - This will be the label used to represent the question on the custom form
• Description - You can use this field to provide hints / tips or advice on how to complete the answer to this specific question

Field Flags

• Show this field in summary panel once form is completed - Tick this option if you want the question and answer to appear on the right hand side confirmation panel during the progressive capture flow
• This field requires a value to be provided - Tick this option is you want to make the answering of this question Mandatory
• This field will be visible on the form - Tick this option if you want the field to be visible on the form - sometimes this is not needed, if you are passing a fixed value into a field and you can hide this from the user
• This field will be read only - Tick this option if you wish to use the field to be for information only
• This field will be visible in read mode if it has no value

Field Type Settings

• Field Type - This specifies the type for the field you are adding

• Single line text field - Use this option if you want to present the user with a single line input box
• Multi line text field - Use this option if you want to present the user with a multi-line input box
• Static checkbox group - Use this option if you want the user to select one or multiple values from a definable checkbox list
• Dynamic checkbox group - Use this option if you want the user to select one or multiple values from a pre-defined checkbox list (choosing which simple list to use as a data provider)
• Static drop down select box - Use this option if you want the user to select one option from a definable select box list
• Dynamic drop down select box - Use this option if you want the user to select one option from a pre-defined select box list (choosing which simple list to use as a data provider)
• Static radioset - Use this option if you want the user to select one option from a definable radio button set
• Dynamic radioset - Use this option if you want the user to select one option from a pre-defined radio button set (choosing which simple list to use as a data provider)
• Date Control - Use this option if you only require the user to provide a date
• Date & Time Control - Use this option if you require the user to provide both a date and time
• Orion user group picker - Use this option if you want the user to select a group or groups from the pre-defined organisational groupings
• Label - Use this option if you want to add a separator into the questions being asked, or on the answers section of the request

• Different field types will have different configuration options including:

• Ability to set default values
• Ability to define values for static checkbox, static select box, static radio set options (display name and value)

Analyst view when logging a request:

Mapping Fields from Customised Forms

When creating customised forms, and custom questions the default behaviour is for the question and answer to be visible on the request form in a Questions collapsable section. It is also possible to map the answer from a custom question to one of the default fields on a request.

When creating a custom question on a customised form, each question will require a Field ID to be specified, it is here that the mapping can be performed. When defining the Field ID, if you use any of the following values, the answer to this question will be mapped to the field you have specified.

Available Fields to Map to

• Summary - To map to this field the Field ID needs to be set as h_summary
• Description - To map to this field the Field ID needs to be set as h_description
• Custom Fields a - p - To map to any of the custom fields the Field ID need to be set using the following format h_custom_a or appropriate for the custom field you would like to map too.

When custom questions have been mapped to a default request field, the question and answer are still available in the Questions section on a request as well as the default fields mapped too.

• This will allow for the original answer to be retained
• The default fields values can be changed once logged

Considerations

• If the Default Request Details form is used in your progressive capture flow, and you try to map to h_summary or h_description, the values will not overwrite or be written to the summary or description fields, but the custom questions and answers will still be written to the Questions section on the request.
• If the same mapping is used on different custom forms in your progressive capture flow, the first mapping will be written to the specified default field on the request, and any subsequent mapping to the same field will not overwrite this value, but will be written to the Questions section on the request.

Using Custom Questions and Answers in Email Templates & Measures

If you have a requirement to include the answers to custom questions in email templates within your business process, it is now possible to utilise the above mapping to write the answers to the custom questions into default fields which are immediately available to use as variables when creating your email templates.

By using the above mapping to any of the requests custom fields, when creating your email template, simply look for the Extended Information options available from the variables drop down pick list. They will look like this: {{Extended Information.H_custom_x}}. The Extended Information options are listed as 1 through to 20 and these equate to the custom fields a through to p which you will have mapped to. By selecting the required variable in your email template, this will pass through the answer from your custom question which has been mapped to the corresponding custom field.

• Update - From Service Manager 2.41 mapped answers are also written to the custom columns in the primary h_itsm_requests table (custom a-p), this will allow the custom fields to be used when defining email template variables using the available custom fields, and also as criteria when creating measures in the Advanced Analytics. This update only applies to data in mapped fields for requests logged after the release of Service Manager 2.41. The mapped answers are still also mapped to the above Extended Information table.