How do you enforce Change PIR inputs when the last Completed Activity updates record without it

Mark_Wahlert

Hi
Our change team is struggling to capture the PIR comments and results since the Activities when all completed simply update the work item without prompting the owner of the change PIR. So in short, the request updates to Completed and no one fills out the PIR. This is a big issue for the Change Team, so I'm wondering if anyone has a way to enforce the entry of PIR before the work item can be Completed? 

Tom_Hendricks

Mark_Wahlert said:

Hi.Adding a manual step is something we are hoping to avoid.

We rolled out SCSM with a PIR Manual Activity at the end of every CR for this exact reason.  My advice: don't do it.  Not only did it not address this problem well, but it created other problems of its own.

Since IR workflow allows user to update status and be prompted to ensure resolution details are provided, it seems SR and CR don't, as they are driven by the activities.
 I think we just need to work on our user training to remind everyone to fill in the results, once they update the last activity to completed they never revisit to close the CR, so prompting them to enter results would be handy.

I would love to see the option of having a prompt to enter PIR information in after the status is Complete.  I imagine the challenge is that workflow changes the status, not users.  So the user may change the last activity to complete, but the CR would still be In Progress, even (for a short time) after the save.  Prompting the user at the right time could be tricky, but it would be a great challenge for someone to tackle!

We are now handling it the same way as you just described--process and training.  That is good, and should be in place anyway, but I certainly don't mind lending our users a hand whenever possible.

In the meantime, something I have considered is having an Orchestrator/SMA runbook run periodically to notify assignees of CRs that are completed but do not have PIR info filled out, via email.  Basically, a nag.  You could do this manually with a simple report, also.

Mikhail_Scherbakov

Hi,

In our environment we solve this issue by automatic WF which copy notes and comments from all included MA and RA in PIR in "history" form.

[DateTime] Activity Title (ImplemeterName) - TextOfComment or ReviewerComment

Additionally we block completion MA without comments in SSP. As result our Analyst can not forget to put PIR. :-)

Everything else is the scope of awareness and learning process.

damon_mulligan

Is there currently a Manual Activity at the end to prompt someone to complete a PIR? What field on the Change Request is that info supposed to be entered in? Are you asking to make a certain field required at a certain point? 

Mark_Wahlert

Hi.Adding a manual step is something we are hoping to avoid. Since IR workflow allows user to update status and be prompted to ensure resolution details are provided, it seems SR and CR don't, as they are driven by the activities.
 I think we just need to work on our user training to remind everyone to fill in the results, once they update the last activity to completed they never revisit to close the CR, so prompting them to enter results would be handy.

Tom_Hendricks

Mark_Wahlert said:

Hi.Adding a manual step is something we are hoping to avoid.

We rolled out SCSM with a PIR Manual Activity at the end of every CR for this exact reason.  My advice: don't do it.  Not only did it not address this problem well, but it created other problems of its own.

Since IR workflow allows user to update status and be prompted to ensure resolution details are provided, it seems SR and CR don't, as they are driven by the activities.
 I think we just need to work on our user training to remind everyone to fill in the results, once they update the last activity to completed they never revisit to close the CR, so prompting them to enter results would be handy.

I would love to see the option of having a prompt to enter PIR information in after the status is Complete.  I imagine the challenge is that workflow changes the status, not users.  So the user may change the last activity to complete, but the CR would still be In Progress, even (for a short time) after the save.  Prompting the user at the right time could be tricky, but it would be a great challenge for someone to tackle!

We are now handling it the same way as you just described--process and training.  That is good, and should be in place anyway, but I certainly don't mind lending our users a hand whenever possible.

In the meantime, something I have considered is having an Orchestrator/SMA runbook run periodically to notify assignees of CRs that are completed but do not have PIR info filled out, via email.  Basically, a nag.  You could do this manually with a simple report, also.

Mark_Wahlert

@Tom_Hendricks Thanks for that.
Yea the workflow does seems to be an issue here, it's just unfortunate we essentially need workarounds for what users consider a standard feature. The education part is often somewhat painful, but we'll persevere.

The report and nagging is a good idea, at least we can produce a list of CR owners where PIR content is outstanding. Name and shame might do the work for us.

Mikhail_Scherbakov

Hi,

In our environment we solve this issue by automatic WF which copy notes and comments from all included MA and RA in PIR in "history" form.

[DateTime] Activity Title (ImplemeterName) - TextOfComment or ReviewerComment

Additionally we block completion MA without comments in SSP. As result our Analyst can not forget to put PIR. :-)

Everything else is the scope of awareness and learning process.