7 Managing Your To-Do List

A To-Do list is a list of tasks within a process. Tasks are the constituent elements of the processes for approving requests and their associated resources, and making the resources available for provisioning.

Before resources in a request can be provisioned to target users, other users who are assigned as approvers for tasks of the provisioning process must provide approval. If approvals are required for self-registration, then the approval tasks associated with user self-registration requests also require action by an assigned approver before the registration process can be completed.

Only users who are task approvers for provisioning tasks, or administrators of the organizations to which the target users belong, can view tasks in a request. If you are an approver for any task in a request, then you can view all the tasks in the request, but you can approve only the tasks that are assigned to you. You can also view pending requests for users whom you manage.

You define a process by using the Process Definition form in the Design Console. When defining the process, you specify whether the process is of the Provisioning or Approval type. By selecting the Provisioning type, the process becomes a provisioning process. Each resource is associated with one mandatory provisioning process. Tasks can then be assigned to the users.

This chapter discusses the following topics:

• Reviewing Pending Approvals

• Managing Open Tasks

• Managing Attestation Requests

Reviewing Pending Approvals

You can use the Pending Approvals page to view and complete tasks that are assigned to you. In addition, you can view requests that are assigned to the users for whom you are the manager.

To review pending approvals:

1. In the left navigation pane, click To-Do List, and then click Pending Approvals.

   The Pending Approvals page is displayed, with a list of all the requests that contain one or more tasks for which you are an approver. By default, the page is displayed with pending requests that are assigned to you.

2. To view pending requests that are assigned to users that you manage, select the Assigned to user(s) you manage option.

   The appropriate pending requests are displayed.

   You can also query for specific requests by using the Search list, which provides the following search criteria:

   • Request ID

   • Requester

   • Assigned To

   The results table has a description of the search criteria. Enter the appropriate value in the corresponding field. For example, to use the Request Type criterion, select the corresponding value from the Request Type list. The results table displays the following fields:

   Field	Description
   Request ID	The unique and system-generated identification number of the request.
   Request Type	The request type can be: Add, revoke, enable, or disable resources for users or organizations Enable, disable, delete, create, or modify entity
   Requester	The user who created the request.
   Request Preview	The summary of the request. The information being displayed includes the user ID or organization and the resource.
   Assigned To	The user assigned to approve this request.
   Status	The status of the request.
   Approve/Deny	The request to either approve or deny it.
   Reassign	The request to be reassigned to another user or user group.

   
   

3. To approve a pending request, select the appropriate option in the Approve/Deny column, and then click Approve.

   The request ID is removed from the results table.

   To deny a pending request, select the appropriate option in the Approve/Deny column, and then click Deny.

   The request ID is removed from the results table.

4. To reassign a pending request, select the appropriate option in the Re-Assign column, and then click Re-Assign.

   The Re-Assign Pending Approvals page is displayed.

5. Select the option for the user or group to which you want to reassign the request, and then click Re-Assign.

   The Confirm page is displayed.

Managing the Display of Pending Approvals

You can use the Remove Open Tasks scheduled task to manage the display of pending approvals. This is described in the "Managing the Display of Open Tasks" section.

Managing Open Tasks

The Open Tasks page lists open (pending or rejected) tasks that are defined for a provisioning process. The Open Tasks page displays all open provisioning tasks that are assigned to you or a user for whom you are the manager. Use the Open Tasks page to retry a task if the task has a Rejected status, reassign a provisioning task to another user, or specify a response for a provisioning task. This section describes the following tasks:

• Viewing Open Tasks

• Retrying Rejected Tasks

• Reassigning Open Tasks

• Setting Responses to Open Tasks

• Manually Completing Rejected Tasks

• Managing the Display of Open Tasks

Viewing Open Tasks

You can view all open provisioning tasks that are assigned to you, or the users and user groups that you manage.

To view open tasks:

1. In the left navigation pane, click To-Do List and then click Open Tasks.

   The Open Tasks page is displayed.

2. Use the Filter By search criteria to sort the tasks by the following categories:

   • Task Name

   • Resource Name

   • Organization Name

   • User ID

   • Assign Before (enter date – yyyy-MM-dd)

   • Assign After (enter date – yyyy-MM-dd)

   Enter the appropriate value in each field. To use the Open Task Type and Object Type criteria, select the corresponding value and then click Go. The results table displays the following information about the provisioning task:

   Field	Description
   Task Name	The name of the task that you have defined in the Process Definition form for this resource name.
   Task Status	The current status of the resource task.
   Resource Name	The name of the resource associated with this provisioning task.
   Description	This is a description of the task.
   Process Form	This is a link to the process form associated with the task.
   Request ID	This number identifies the request with which the task is associated.
   Organization Name	The organization with which the task is associated.
   Target User	The user for whom the provisioning process was started.
   Date Assigned	The date that the provisioning task was assigned.
   Assigned To User	The user name of the user to whom the provisioning task is assigned.
   Retry	If this check box is selected, then it indicates that the status of the provisioning task is Rejected. Use this check box to retry the provisioning task if it is in the Rejected state.
   Reassign	Use this check box to assign this provisioning task to another user or user group.
   Set Response	Use this check box to set a response for this provisioning task.
   Complete Manually	Use this check box to manually complete the provisioning task if it is in the Rejected state

   
   

Retrying Rejected Tasks

You can retry tasks that are in the Rejected state. To perform this procedure:

1. Perform the procedure described in the "Viewing Open Tasks" section to display the list of open tasks.

2. Select the Retry check box for the task that you want to retry, and then click Retry.

   If the task is completely successfully, then it is moved to the Completed state.

   Note:

   The number of times that you can retry a rejected task is defined in the Design Console. See Oracle Identity Manager Design Console Guide for more information.

Reassigning Open Tasks

You can assign open tasks to other users. To reassign open tasks:

1. Select the required tasks, and then click Reassign.

   The Re-Assign Open Tasks page is displayed

2. Select a user ID or group ID, and then click Reassign.

   Only one user ID or group ID can be selected.

   A Confirmation page is displayed. This page displays the user ID (first name and last name) in the first sentence and the provisioning task as a bulleted list item.

3. Click Confirm Reassign Tasks, or click Cancel.

   The Open Tasks page is displayed.The provisioning task that you have reassigned is no longer in the results table.

Setting Responses to Open Tasks

To set a response to an open task:

1. Select one or more provisioning tasks, and then click Set Response.

   The Specify Task Responses page is displayed.

2. Select a response for the provisioning task, and then click Set Responses.

   Otherwise, click Cancel.

   A Confirmation page displays the response for this provisioning task.

3. Click Confirm Response for Tasks, or click Cancel.

   The Open Tasks page is displayed. The provisioning task for which you set a response is no longer displayed in the results table.

Manually Completing Rejected Tasks

To manually complete tasks that are in the Rejected state:

Note:

You can perform this procedure only for open tasks that are in the Rejected state.

1. Perform the procedure described in the "Viewing Open Tasks" section to display the list of open tasks according to your requirements.

2. Select Complete Manually for the task that you want to complete manually, and then click Complete Manually.

   The task is moved to the Completed state.

Managing the Display of Open Tasks

Along with information about tasks at various stages, information about open tasks and pending approvals is stored in the Oracle Identity Manager database. This information is distributed between two tables. In addition to these two tables, a single table stores a copy of information about open tasks and pending approvals. When a search for open tasks or pending approvals is performed, this table is queried for the required information. This feature reduces the time taken to fetch and display open tasks or pending approvals.

After a period of time, the number of open tasks and pending approvals may increase and cause a corresponding increase in the time taken to fetch and display information. To improve the performance of data fetch operations, from the single table that stores a copy of information about open tasks and pending approvals, you can remove the records that have stayed at the Open or Pending stage for longer than a specified number of days. You use the Remove Open Tasks scheduled task to achieve this.

Note:

The Remove Open Tasks scheduled task deletes only a copy of information about open tasks and pending approvals. This information is still available in the two tables that store information about all tasks.

However, open tasks and pending approvals for which the copy of information has been deleted are not displayed on the Administrative and User Console. If you want to view deleted information, then you must create reports that query the original tables in which this information is retained. See Oracle Identity Manager Audit Report Developer's Guide for more information.

You can use APIs of the Request and Provisioning operations to create a report based on information about open tasks and pending approvals from these tables. See the Javadocs for more information about APIs of these operations.

To use the Remove Open Tasks scheduled task:

See Also:

Oracle Identity Manager Design Console Guide for detailed information about each step of the following procedure

1. Enable the scheduled task.

2. Specify the frequency at which the scheduled task must run.

3. Specify a value for the Day Limit attribute of the scheduled task. The value of this attribute indicates the number of days for which information about an open task or pending approval must be retained in the table before the information is deleted. The default value of this attribute is 60 days.

When the scheduled task runs, it removes all open task and pending approval records that have been in the table for longer than the specified number of days.

Managing Attestation Requests

Attestation is a mechanism by which reviewers are periodically notified of a report they must review that outlines the provisioned resources that certain users have. The reviewer can attest to the entitlements accuracy with an appropriate response. You can display all open attestation tasks that are assigned to you, and certify, reject, decline, or delegate attestation tasks.

The rest of this section discusses the following topics:

• Viewing Attestation Requests

• Saving Attestation Actions

• Updating Comments and Delegations

• Submitting Attestations

Viewing Attestation Requests

Attestation requests enable you, as a reviewer, to determine if user entitlements are valid. You can certify, reject, decline, or delegate requests for attestation.

Note:

A request that is declined is reassigned to a member of a process owner group.

To view attestation requests:

1. In the left navigation pane, click To-Do List, then click Attestation.

   The Attestation Request Inbox page is displayed. This page contains a results table that provides the following information about your pending attestation process requests:

   Field	Description
   Process Names	Specifies the name of the process.
   Process Code	Specifies the code for the process.
   Data Type	Specifies the type of data being attested.
   Scope	Indicates whether the attestation scope is by manager, group, organization, or resource.
   Delegated By	Identifies the user who delegated the task to you. This field is blank if the task is assigned by the attestation process.
   Current Request	Specifies the date and time on which the attestation task is created.

   
   

2. In the results table on the Attestation Request Inbox page, click the link of the process name that you want to manage.

   The request page shows the entitlements that the user must attest to as a part of the task. The reviewer can also see the details (process form data) of the entitlement that they are attesting to. The results table contains the following columns:

   Field	Description
   User	The user whose entitlement is being attested
   Resource	The resource for which the entitlement is being attested. The data is a link with pop-up a page that displays the entitlement process form data as it is on the Attestation Date.
   Descriptive Data	A description of the provisioned resource instance
   Last Attested	The date and time when this entitlement was last attested
   Comments	Comments that you entered about the entitlement
   Actions	The Certify, Reject, Decline, and Delegate options that you can select from to specify the action for the entitlement

   
   

3. To display only records for which actions are not already specified, select Hide records where action has already been specified.

4. To view additional rows in the results table, click Next.

Saving Attestation Actions

The following procedure describes how to save an attestation action.

Note:

Saving an attestation is not the same as submitting one. To submit attestations, follow the procedures in "Submitting Attestations" .

To save an attestation action:

1. Follow the steps listed in "Viewing Attestation Requests" to select the attestation process that you want to save.

2. On the Attestation Request page, select any actions you want to take for the listed entitlements and click Save.

   The Save Actions page is displayed. This page shows a table that lists the resource entitlements in the current attestation request for which you have selected an action. Any entitlement for which you select the Delegate action also lets you search for a reviewer in the Delegated Reviewer field.

3. On the Save Actions page, enter any desired comments for the listed entitlements, or select a reviewer for any entitlements with a value of Delegate in the Reviewer Action column.

4. The reviewer can provide values for the Default Comment and Default Delegated Reviewer columns.

   These values are used for all entitlements on a page when a specific value is not provided in the table.

5. Click Save.

Updating Comments and Delegations

To update an attestation request:

1. Follow the steps in "Viewing Attestation Requests" to select the attestation process that you want to update.

2. Follow the steps in "Saving Attestation Actions" to enter comments or select delegated reviewers for any entitlements.

3. Click Update Existing Comments & Delegation Information.

   The Update Comments and Delegates page is displayed. The table shown on this page lists the entitlements in the current attestation request for which you have selected an action.

4. On the Update Comments and Delegates page, select the entitlements that you want to update, enter comments (if required), and select the reviewer to whom you want to delegate the attestation request.

5. Click Save.

Submitting Attestations

The following procedure describes how to submit an attestation.

Note:

You can submit an attestation only if you have designated an action for each entitlement in the current attestation process request. If you have not designated an action, then the Submit Attestation button is inactive.

To submit an attestation:

1. Follow the steps in "Viewing Attestation Requests" to select the attestation process that you want to submit.

2. Follow the steps in "Saving Attestation Actions" to enter comments or select delegated reviewers for any entitlements.

3. On the Attestation Request page, click Submit Attestation.

   The Attestation Request Confirmation page is displayed.

4. On the Attestation Request Confirmation page, click Submit.

5. After the task is submitted, it is removed from the attestation inbox.