Activity

An Activity is a task that must be carried out as part of the solution to the Ticket. Using Activities, part of the work on a certain Ticket can be loaded on the other people. On this account, Activities can be given its own deadline and responsible person, independent of the Ticket itself.

Activities are one of the central entities in the Incident, Problem and Change Management process. Activities are similar to Ticket Descriptions in many ways. They can be assigned to a Ticket in the same way as Ticket Descriptions. They contain broadly similar information. Activities however contain more information than Ticket Descriptions and have several extra functions.

While a Ticket Description states a straightforward fact relating to the Ticket, Activities have their own Deadlines and responsible Persons / Support Group. Activities also have separate duration. This makes Activities ideal for allocating and monitoring specific subtasks within more complex Tickets. Tasks can be described and assigned to specific people and / or groups. Deadlines and durations can also be allocated and monitored. This allows the subtasks to be allocated deadlines and responsibilities that are independent from those of the Ticket itself. Activities also have their own Priority and Status.

Activities associated with a Ticket are listed in the lower half of the Ticket View. The Ticket Descriptions are listed first. Click on the Activities tab to open the list of Activities.

Structure of an Activity

An Activity is described in 5 tabs: Master, Person Responsible, Details, Ticket and Report.

The initial information contained in an Activity is broadly similar to the information contained in a Ticket Description.

In the Master section, the following fields are listed:

Activity Numbers: Activities have their own identifying number.
Status: Activities have their own Status, which is independent of the Status of the overall Ticket. Possible Values are Pass On, Complete, Give Back, Updated.
Statement Type: The Statement Type for this Activity. This characterizes the Shorttext and helps to keep the variations to a minimum by eliminating the need for extra descriptive words. Typical statement Types for Activities would be Check, Install, Upgrade, etc.
Support Group: This lists an existing Support Group who are assigned the Activity. See also Person Responsible Tab below.
Priority: It defines the Priority of the activity (the same as with the Ticket).
Person responsible(Last Name): This lists an existing Person who is assigned the Activity. See also Person Responsible Tab below.
Autorecalculation: This checkbox determines the behavior of planned start and planned end dates of an activity.
If selected, the 'Date Planned Start' and 'Date Planned End' fields will be disabled and the start/end dates of the activity will be calculated on the basis of previous activities (or a ticket). If clear, the 'Date Planned Start' and 'Date Planned End' fields will be enabled and the fixed date and time set by a user will be used regardless of previous activities.

Please see the example in the 'Processing of Activities' topic.
Date Planned Start: This is the Date and Time from which work on the activity may begin. There could be dependencies on other activities that mean that an activity cannot be processed immediately. Use the arrow control on the date field to use the Calendar function. Use the square control on the date field to reset the date.
Date Planned End: This is the Date and Time by which the activity should be completed. Use the arrow control on the date field to use the Calendar function. Use the square control on the date field to reset the date.
Delay Time(h): Is the maximum amount of time the activity can be delayed.
Estimation(h): Estimated time that is needed to execute the activity.
Shorttext: The shorttext is used to decribe the activity in one sentence.
Description: The description is used to decribe the activity in detail.
Implementation Description: To document the result of the activity the implementation description is used.
Duration: The time that is needed to execute the activity.
Failure: Check this Checkbox if the activity failed.

Reason for Failure: Enter a reason for the failure.

In the Person responsible section, the following fields are listed:

Person Responsible: This lists an existing Person who is assigned the Activity. Use the standard icon on the right to select another person.
Support Group: Shows the existing Support Group assigned to the Activity. Use the standard icon on the right select another Support Group.
Note: For the 'Person Responsible' and the 'Support Group', you can also assign the corresponding Person or the Support Group as a Resource. Instead of using the standard 'Search/Assign' button, which enables you to browse for a Person or a Support Group in a catalog, use the 'Assign Resource' icon which opens a Resource View where you can pick a resource. Please see also the Valuemation Resource Management.

Service Provider: This lists an external Service Provider who has been assigned the Activity. Use the standard icons on the right to browse and select an existing Service Provider or to create a new one.

The Person Responsible Tab contains details of who is currently responsible for the Activity, independent of the responsibility for the Ticket itself. Responsibility for an Activity could be passed on to a Person or a Group, or even an external Service Provider.

On the Detail Tab, the following fields are listed:

Reference 1 Type: This is a Valuemation Business Object Type that is relevant to the Ticket description. A key value for this B.O. Type can be entered in the field Reference 1.
Reference 1: A key value from the B.O. Type named in Reference 1 Type.
Reference 2 Type: This is a Valuemation Object type that is relevant to the Ticket description. A key value for this Object type can be entered in the field Reference 2.
Reference 2: This is a Valuemation Object type that is relevant to the Ticket description. A key value for this Object type can be entered in the field Reference 2.
Attachment: The location of a relevant file (e.g. Screen Captures, Log files, etc.).

Date Created/ Last Change: Is filled automatically.

Ticket Tab:

Filled automatically.

On the Report Tab, the following fields are listed:

Activated On: Is filled automatically when the activity is activated.
Begin date: Is entered automatically when the activity is assigned to a Support Group.
End Date: Is filled automatically when the activity is accepted or rejected.
Activity Creator: Information about the person who created this Activity.
Optional: If checked, the activity is marked Optional.
Report (Y/N): If checked, it can be used for reporting purpose.
Solution: Marks this Activity as a solution. This marker can be set to flag a solution that may be of interest to others. The Knowledgebase search can be used to search for Activities that have the Solution marker set.

General Visibility: With this checkbox it can be controlled, if the change initiator is informed about this activity or not.

The lower section contains the following reference catalogs:

Source Activities
Shows the list of preceding activities.
Target Activities
Shows the list of following activities.
Expected Changes
The expected changes related to the activity. See also the 'Create RFC (User Request)' topic.
Process Instances
Process instances related to the activity.
Documentation
Serves as a container of various documentation attachments related to the Activity. If you want to add a new document, use the 'Add new documentation' button at the bottom of the catalog which calls a 'New: Documentation' editor.

Here you can classify the new document by:
- Documentation Type - select one of the predefined documentation types.
- Status - set the required status to your document.
- Category - set the corresponding category.
- Description - add a short description.
- Documentation Tags - you can specify some key words for searching.
- Doc Links used - if selected, you can create and add new attachments to the document below on the 'Document Links' tab.