Streamline your change management processes by incorporating intelligent, automated logic directly into your change templates. With Conditional Actions, you can define specific criteria that, when met, trigger designated actions, allowing you to handle diverse, sequence-driven change scenarios with greater efficiency and precision.
This article guides you through understanding and setting up conditional actions within your change templates.
Understand conditional actions
Conditional actions allow administrators to introduce "if-then-else" logic into change templates. This means you can automate different sequences of actions based on the attributes of a change request. Here are the key components:
Conditions: These are the criteria the system checks. Conditions are typically based on change attributes such as 'Urgency', 'Priority', or 'Impact'. You can define one or more conditions.
Condition Groups: You can group multiple conditions together.
Conditions within the same group are combined using an AND operator (all conditions must be true).
Multiple condition groups can be linked by an OR operator (if any group's conditions are met, the associated actions trigger).
'Then' Actions: These are the operations executed if a condition or a group of conditions evaluates to true. You can add multiple actions, such as sending for approval, assigning a task, or updating change attributes.
'Else' Fallback Actions: These are the operations executed if none of the defined conditions or condition groups are met. This ensures a default path for changes that don't match any specific criteria.
For example, you could configure a conditional action to automatically send a change for CAB approval if its 'Urgency' is 'High' AND 'Priority' is 'Urgent', OR if its 'Impact' is 'High'. If neither of these conditions is met, a fallback action might assign it to a specific team for standard review.
Set up conditional actions in your change templates
Follow these steps to add and configure conditional actions within a change template:
Access your change templates
Navigate to Settings > Your Workspaces > Catalog (Service management).
Select the Change tab.
You can either click Create to build a new template or select an existing template to modify.
Add a conditional action to a stage
Within the template editor, go to the Stages tab.
If you need a new stage, click Add stage, provide a name (e.g., 'Initial Review'), and click Add.
Expand the stage where you want to introduce the conditional logic.
Click Add action within that stage.
From the list of available actions, select Conditional action.
Define the 'If' conditions
Once you've added a conditional action, you'll configure its logic:
In the 'If' section of the conditional action panel, click Add condition to start your first condition group.
Choose an attribute from the dropdown list (e.g., 'Urgency').
Select the desired operator (e.g., 'is') and the value for that attribute (e.g., 'High').
To add another condition to the same group (AND logic), click the + icon (or similar 'add condition' button within the group). Define the attribute and value for this new condition (e.g., 'Priority' is 'Urgent').
To create a separate condition group (OR logic), click Add group. Then, click Add condition within this new group and define its attribute and value (e.g., 'Impact' is 'High').
This setup would mean the 'Then' actions trigger if (Urgency is High AND Priority is Urgent) OR (Impact is High).
Specify the 'Then' actions
These actions execute if any of your defined condition groups are met:
In the 'Then' block of the conditional action configuration, click Add action.
Select the type of action you want to perform from the list (e.g., 'Send for approval', 'Assign a task', 'Update change attributes').
Configure the specifics of the chosen action. For example, if you selected 'Send for approval', you might choose an approval policy and name the action (e.g., 'CAB Approval').
Click Add (or a similar button) to save this action to the 'Then' block.
You can add multiple actions to the 'Then' block by repeating these steps.
Set up 'Else' fallback actions
These actions execute if none of the 'If' conditions are met:
After configuring your 'Then' actions, click Continue (or scroll to the 'Else' section).
In the 'Else' block (often labeled as 'If no condition matches' or similar), click Add a conditional action or Add action.
Select the type of fallback action you want to perform.
Configure the specifics of this fallback action.
Click Add (or a similar button) to save this action to the 'Else' block.
Finalize and publish your template
Once you have configured all conditions, 'Then' actions, and 'Else' actions, click Continue or Add at the bottom of the conditional action panel to save its configuration.
After setting up all stages and actions in your template, click Publish to make the change template live.
Leverage conditional actions for advanced workflows
Conditional actions empower you to build sophisticated and adaptable change templates. By defining rules based on change attributes, you can ensure that changes are routed correctly, necessary approvals are sought automatically, and tasks are assigned to the right teams without manual intervention. This feature is particularly useful for:
Implementing risk-based approval processes.
Automating different workflows for standard, normal, and emergency changes.
Ensuring compliance by adding specific checks or tasks based on change characteristics.