Active Roles 7.2.1 - Administrator Guide

Modify Requested Changes activity

Modify Requested Change activity is intended to update the change request that started the workflow, allowing you to add or remove changes to the properties of the workflow target object at workflow execution time. For example, in a workflow that starts when creation of an object is requested, you can use this activity to modify the properties that are going to be assigned to the new object, or change the container in which to create the object. In a workflow that starts upon a request to change an object, you can use this activity to modify the requested changes to the properties of that object.

This activity has the following configuration options:

• Target changes  You can define the property changes to add or remove from the change request. When you configure this activity, you can choose the properties you want the activity to change and, for each property, choose to remove the property from the request, clear the property value in the request, or specify the new value to be assigned to that property. For a multi-value property, you can choose to add or remove a value from that property. The following options are available:
  • Text string  Use the given string of characters as the value of the property. You can type the desired string.
  • Property of workflow target object  Use the value of a certain property of the target object of the request that started the workflow. You can select the desired property from a list of object properties.
  • Property of workflow initiator  Use the value of a certain property of the user whose request started the workflow. You can select the desired property from a list of object properties.
  • Changed value of workflow target object property  Use the value that is requested to be assigned to a certain property of the workflow target object. You can select the desired property from a list of object properties.
  • Workflow parameter value  Use the value of a certain parameter of the workflow. You can choose the desired parameter from a list of the workflow parameters.
  • Property of object from workflow data context  Use the value of a certain property of the object that will be selected by the activity on the basis of the data found in the workflow run-time environment. You can choose the desired property and specify which object you want the activity to select at workflow run time.
  • Value generated by rule expression  Use the string value of a certain rule expression. By using a rule expression you can compose a string value based on properties of various objects found in the workflow run-time environment. You can create the desired rule expression when you configure the activity.
• Notification  You can configure the activity to subscribe recipients to the notifications of the following events:
  • Activity completed successfully  When configured to notify of this event, the activity causes Active Roles to send a notification e-mail if no significant errors occurred during execution of this activity.
  • Activity encountered an error  When configured to notify of this event, the activity causes Active Roles to send a notification e-mail if any significant errors occurred during execution of this activity.

  The notification settings specify the event to notify of, and notification recipients. When executed by the workflow, the activity prepares a notification message appropriate to the specified event. Active Roles retains the message prepared by the activity, and sends the message to the specified recipients upon occurrence of that event. The notification settings are similar to the notification settings of a Notification activity (see Notification activity earlier in this document).

• Error handling  You can choose whether to suppress errors encountered by the activity. The following option is available: Continue workflow even if this activity encounters an error. If this option is not selected (default setting), then an error condition encountered by the activity causes Active Roles to terminate the workflow. If you select this option, the workflow continues regardless of whether or not the encounters an error condition.
• Additional settings  You can configure the activity to:
  • Change the container where to create new objects while ensuring that the policies and workflows are applied from the container where the object will actually be created rather than from the container that was originally specified in the object creation request.
  • Add or remove Active Roles controls from the request.

  Controls are certain pieces of data that can be used to provide additional information to Active Roles on how to process the request. If no controls are added to a request, then Active Roles determines how to process the request based solely on the type of the request. You can configure the activity to add certain controls to the request (include controls) or to ensure that certain controls never occur in the request (exclude controls). For information about Active Roles controls, see Active Roles SDK.

Configuring a workflow

Workflows provide a powerful and convenient way to add new logic to directory data management and provisioning processes in Active Roles. To configure a workflow, you create a workflow definition and then use the Workflow Designer to add and configure workflow activities.

This section covers the following tasks:

• Creating a workflow definition
• Configuring workflow start conditions
• Configuring workflow parameters
• Adding activities to a workflow
• Configuring an Approval activity
• Configuring a Notification activity
• Configuring a Script activity
• Configuring an If-Else activity
• Configuring a Stop/Break activity
• Configuring an Add Report Section activity
• Configuring a Search activity
• Configuring CRUD activities
• Configuring a Save Object Properties activity
• Configuring a Modify Requested Changes activity
• Enabling or disabling an activity
• Enabling or disabling a workflow
• Using the initialization script

Creating a workflow definition

The Active Roles console provides the Workflow Designer for creating and configuring workflows. First, you create a workflow definition. Then, you use the Workflow Designer to construct a workflow, saving the workflow configuration data in the workflow definition.

To create a workflow definition

1. In the Active Roles console tree, expand Configuration | Policies, right-click Workflow, and select New | Workflow.
2. Follow the steps in the wizard for creating the workflow definition.
3. On the Workflow Type page, accept the default setting.

By default, the wizard creates a so-called change workflow that starts upon a request to change data in the directory. Another option is to create an automation workflow that can be run on a scheduled basis or on user demand. See Automation workflow for further details.

Once you have created a workflow definition, you can open it in the Workflow Designer to add workflow activities and specify workflow start conditions.

You can create containers to store related workflows and other containers. To create a workflow container, right-click Workflow in the console tree and select New | Container. To create a workflow definition in a given container, right-click the container in the console tree, and select New | Workflow.

You can delete a workflow definition as follows: In the console tree under Configuration | Policies | Workflow, right-click the object representing the workflow definition, and click Delete.

Configuring workflow start conditions

The workflow start conditions determine which operations cause the workflow to start. For example, an approval workflow could be configured so that any request to create a user in a specific container starts the workflow, thereby requiring approval for the request. You can specify the start conditions for a workflow by editing its definition in the Workflow Designer.

To view or change the start conditions for a workflow

1. In the Active Roles console tree, expand Configuration | Policies | Workflow, and select the workflow you want to configure.

   This opens the Workflow Designer window in the details pane, representing the workflow definition as a process diagram.

2. In the details pane, click the Workflow options and start conditions button to expand the area above the process diagram, and then click the Configure button.
3. Click the Conditions tab in the Change Workflow Options and Start Conditions dialog box.

This displays a page where you can view or change:

• Operation conditions
• Initiator conditions
• Filtering conditions
• “Run as” options