10 Managing Tasks

In Oracle Identity Self Service, you can view task instances of specific types. These types are associated with specific Oracle Identity Manager components. The task types are approval, provisioning, and attestation tasks.

The approval tasks can be viewed and managed from the Pending Approvals section of Identity Self Service. These tasks are instantiated by request service and correspond to associated requests that are in the user or administrator's queue to be approved.

The provisioning tasks can be viewed and managed from the Open Tasks section of Identity Self Service. These tasks correspond to tasks instantiated by requests, or pending manual provisioning tasks, or failed automatic provisioning tasks in the user or administrator's queue.

The attestation tasks can be viewed and managed from the Pending Attestations section of Identity Self Service. These tasks correspond to outstanding attestation process in the user or administrator's queue.

These approval, provisioning, and attestation tasks can be used by both administrators and end-users. For example, an IT department personnel responsible for delivering a laptop to an employee may not be an Oracle Identity Manager administrator, but needs to view and change provisioning tasks.

Note:

Only approval tasks are fetched from Oracle Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Server and rest of the tasks come from Oracle Identity Manager.

This chapter contains the following topics:

Managing Approval Tasks
Managing Provisioning Tasks
Managing Attestation Tasks

10.1 Managing Approval Tasks

Oracle Identity Manager request service interacts with SOA Server to handle various aspects of human interaction in Oracle Identity Manager workflows. This request service is used to assign tasks to roles and users. You can perform various operations upon tasks assigned to you. For example, you can approve, reject, or claim a task, or request for more information. The process flow in corresponding Oracle Identity Manager workflow is dependent on the outcome of given tasks.

10.1.1 Viewing Approval Tasks

To view for approval details:

In the left pane, under Requests, click Pending Approvals.

The Approval Details page is displayed. The My Tasks tab is displayed by default. You can click the following tabs to view the following:

My Tasks: All tasks in your queue.
Initiated Tasks: All tasks initiated by you.
Administrative Tasks: All tasks for which you have an administrative role.

All tabs in the Approval Details page display the details of your tasks in columns described in Table 10-1:

Table 10-1 Columns in the Approval Details Page

Column	Description
Title	The title of the task.
Priority	The priority of the task.
Assignees	The user to whom the task is assigned.
State	The state in which the task is in, such as Assigned or Completed.

From the View menu, select Worklist Views menu.
From the Worklist Views menu, you can select any one of the following views:
- Inbox: Displays all types of tasks in an unified inbox view.
- Due Soon: Displays all tasks that are due in a few days.
- High Priority: Display all tasks with high priority.
- Past Day: Displays all tasks assigned in the previous day.
- Past Week: Displays all tasks assigned in the previous week.
- Past Month: Displays all tasks assigned in the previous month.
- Past Quarter: Displays all tasks assigned in the previous quarter.
- New Tasks: Displays all new tasks that have been created.
From the Assignee list, select any of the following:
- Me: Displays all tasks assigned to you.
- My Group: Displays all tasks assigned to the role you have.
- Me & My Group: Displays all tasks assigned to you and the role you have.
- Me & My Group All: Displays all tasks assigned to you and all the roles you have.
- Me (Previously): Displays all tasks that were previously assigned to you, but are not assigned to you now.
- Me (Review Only): Displays all tasks that are assigned to you for review.
From the State list, select any one of the following:
- Any: Displays all tasks in your queue irrespective of the state.
- Assigned: Displays all tasks that are currently assigned to you.
- Completed: Displays all tasks in your queue that have been completed.
- Suspended: Displays all tasks in your queue that have been suspended.
- Withdrawn: Displays all tasks in your queue that have been withdrawn.
- Expired: Displays all tasks in your queue that have expired.
- Errored: Displays all tasks in your queue that generated an error.
- Alerted: Displays all tasks in your queue for which the assignees have been alerted.
- Information Requested: Displays all tasks in your queue for which information has been requested.
You can select appropriate options from the View Worklist menu, the Assignee list, and the State list to display a list of task shown as a combination of your selection.

10.1.2 Searching Tasks

In the Approval Details page, you can perform the following search operations:

Performing Simple Search for Tasks
Performing Advanced Search for Tasks

10.1.2.1 Performing Simple Search for Tasks

To perform simple search for tasks:

In the left pane, under Requests, click Pending Approvals.
In the Search field of any tab, enter a search criterion. For example, if you enter request in the Search field, all tasks with the word 'request' in the task title are displayed.

Note:

The simple search does not support wildcard characters.
Click the icon next to the Search field. The tasks that match the search criterion you specified are displayed.

10.1.2.2 Performing Advanced Search for Tasks

To perform advanced search for tasks:

Open the Pending Approvals section.
In any tab, click Advanced. The Advanced Search dialog box is displayed.
To specify a task type to search, click the lookup icon next to the Task Type field. The Task Type Browser dialog box is displayed.
Click Search. The available task types along with process names are displayed.
Select a task type. The details of the process type are displayed in the right panel, as shown in Figure 10-1:

Figure 10-1 The Task Type Browser Dialog Box

Description of "Figure 10-1 The Task Type Browser Dialog Box"
Click OK. The task type is added in the Task Type field.
From the Add Condition list, select a condition. For the purpose of this example, select Assignees.
To add more conditions, click the plus icon next to the Add Condition list. The Assignees field is added.
For the Assignees field, select a search operator, such as contains or does not contain.
To search and select an assignee, click the lookup icon next to the Assignees field. The Identity Browser dialog box is displayed.
From the list, select Users to display the users as assignees.
Specify a search condition, such as first name, last name, or user ID, in the field, and click Search. A list of users that match the search condition is displayed.
Select the user that you want to specify as assignee. The details of the user is displayed, as shown in Figure 10-2:

Figure 10-2 The Identity Browser

Description of "Figure 10-2 The Identity Browser"
Click OK. The selected user is added to the Assignee field in the Advanced Search dialog box.
If you want to save the search condition you specified as a view for future use, then perform the following:
1. Select the Save Search as View option. Some fields related to saved search are displayed, as shown in Figure 10-3:
  
  Figure 10-3 The Advanced Search Dialog Box
  
  Description of "Figure 10-3 The Advanced Search Dialog Box"
2. Select any one of the following to share the view:
  - Definition only: Shares the definition of the view without the data that is searched.
  - Data: Shares the data as well as the definition of the saved search.
3. In the Users and Group fields, search and select users and groups with whom you want to share the saved search as a view.
4. Click Save as View. The search is saved as a view.
Click Search. The tasks that match the search condition you specified are displayed.

10.1.3 Viewing Task Details

When you click the request title link of any of the approval tasks in any of the tabs in the Pending Approvals section, task details are shown for that approval task in a new browser window.

The task details page displays a detailed view of the request in the Summary Information section, the Request Details tab, the Approvals tab, and the Cart Details section. It allows complete management of the listed task.

In the Cart Details section, the approver can provide data, without which (if the field is marked as mandatory) the approver will not be allowed to approve a request. For example, when an approver opens a task related to self-registration request, the organization field is marked as mandatory, but no value is specified for this field by the requester. Therefore, the approver must specify a value for this mandatory field.

In the next level of approval, the approver can modify the data, if required. Similarly, if the approver sends the task to another user for more information (using the Request Information operation), then the user to whom it is assigned can see an additional section called "Additional Request Information" in Task details and the user can send a response to the information requested.

In addition, the following tabs display details associated to the request:

Request Details: This tab displays the target users or beneficiary information, and related requests, if any.
Approvals: The complete approval flow with all approvers. You can select the Future participants option to display the next level approvers. You can select the Full task actions option to display all the approvals for the task.

The various operation that you can perform in the task details page are described in the subsequent sections.

10.1.4 Adding Comments and Attachments

After you view the task details, you can add comments and attachments prior to performing any operation on the task such as approving, rejecting, or reassigning the request. An attachment can either be a hyperlink or an actual file. It is recommended that the size of the file attachment that you upload be less than 2 MB. If you want to upload file attachments of size greater than 2 MB, then you must change the ADF configuration and increase the size limit. For more details, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

To add comments and attachments:

Under Requests, open the Pending Approvals section.
On any tab, search for and select the task for which you want to add comments or attachments. The details of the task are displayed in a new browser window.
To add a comment:
1. Expand the Comments section if it not already expanded.
2. Click the Create Comment icon. The Create Comment dialog box is displayed.
3. In the Comment field, enter the comments related to the task, and then click OK.
4. Click Save to save the comment.
To add an attachment:
1. Expand the Attachments section if it not already expanded.
2. Click the Add Attachment icon. The Add Attachment dialog box is displayed.
3. Select one of the following options as the attachment type:
  - URL: Specify the URL to an attachment.
  - Desktop File: Allows you to select and upload a file from the desktop.
4. Click OK.

10.1.5 Approving a Task

To approve a task that is assigned to you:

Open the Pending Approvals section, and then click the My Tasks tab.
Search for and select the task that you want to approve.
From the Actions menu, select Approve. Alternatively, click the task to view its details in a new window, and then click Approve.

The task is approved and is no longer displayed in the tasks table.

10.1.6 Rejecting a Task

To reject a request that is assigned to you:

Open the Pending Approvals section, and then click the My Tasks tab.
Search for and select the task that you want to reject.
From the Actions menu, select Reject. Alternatively, click the task to view its details in a window, provide any comments, and then click Reject. The task is rejected and is no longer displayed in the tasks table of the Approval Details page.

10.1.7 Reassigning a Task

To reassign a request that is assigned to you:

Open the Pending Approvals section, and then click the My Tasks tab.
Search for and select the task that you want to reassign.
From the Actions menu, select Reassign.

The Reassign Task dialog box is displayed.
Select any one of the following options:
- Reassign (transfer task to another user or group): To reassign the task to another user, group, or application role. On selecting this option, you can search and select users, groups, or application roles for reassigning.
- Delegate (allow specified user to act on my behalf): To delegate the task to a user that you can search and select. The delegated user will take actions on the task on your behalf. The privileges of the delegatee are based on the delegator's privileges.
Search for user, groups, or application roles to which you want to assign the task, and click the Move selected items to other list icon to include the selection in the Selected list.
Click OK. The task is assigned.

Note:

The functionality supported by Oracle Identity Manager task list is a subset of functionality offered by SOA human workflow component.

10.1.8 Suspending a Task

To suspend a task:

In the Approval Details page, search and select the request that you want to suspend.
From the Actions menu, select Suspend. Alternatively, in the task details page, from the Task Actions menu, select Suspend.

A message is displayed stating that the task is successfully suspended.

10.1.9 Withdrawing a Task

To withdraw a task:

In the Approval Details page, search and select the request that you want to withdraw.
From the Actions menu, select Withdraw. Alternatively, in the task details page, from the Task Actions menu, select Withdraw.

A message is displayed stating that the task is successfully withdrawn.

10.2 Managing Provisioning Tasks

This Open Tasks section of the Identity Self Service displays all provisioning tasks assigned to you or pending actions in your inbox. In addition, failed automatic provisioning tasks that you must review to take corrective action are displayed in your inbox. You must take corrective action, such as retry and manually complete, on those tasks.

The provisioning tasks feature is used by administrators as well as users. For example, the person in IT administration who is responsible for delivering a laptop computer to an employee may not be an administrator in Oracle Identity Manager, but must view and change provisioning tasks.

A provisioning operation such as creating or updating an account, or granting or revoking an entitlement can fail due to one of the following reasons:

Mandatory information in the process form associated with the provisioning task is missing.
Password specified for the account does not comply with the password policies configured on the target application.
Target system is unavailable.

When a provisioning operation fails, you can configure the provisioning workflow to assign the failed task to an administrator or resource owner for taking an action. These tasks are visible in the Open Tasks page under the Administration region. When you click Open Tasks, all tasks assigned to you for remediation are displayed. In this page, you can perform actions such as viewing the details of a rejected task and retrying it. If the task is no longer valid, you can manually complete it.

You can perform the following tasks in the Provisioning tab:

Searching Provisioning Tasks
Viewing Provisioning Task Details
Adding Notes to a Task
Reassigning a Task
Viewing Task Assignment History
Viewing Form Details
Modifying Form Details
Retrying a Task
Manually Fulfilling Tasks

10.2.1 Searching Provisioning Tasks

The first section in the Provisioning tab page allows you to search for the provisioning tasks assigned to you or on which your action is pending. Specify values in the following fields to search for the provisioning tasks:

Match: Select All if you want to match all the search criteria that you specify. Select Any if you want to match any search criteria that you specify.
Task Name: Specify a task name that you want to search. To do so, select any one of the Starts with, Ends with, Equals, Does not equal, Contains, or Does not contain search operations.
Task Status: Select Pending or Rejected to search for tasks for which your action is pending or for rejected tasks respectively.

After specifying the search criteria, when you click Search, the search results table is displayed. Table 10-2 lists the fields in the search results table:

Table 10-2 Fields in the Provisioning Tasks Search Results Table

Field	Description
Task Name	The name of the task
Task Status	The status of the task, which is Pending or Rejected
Application Instance	The name of the application instance, which is affected by this task
Beneficiary	The user whose provisioned application instance will get affected because of this task
Date Assigned	The date and time when the Provisioning task has been assigned to the Assignee
Assignee	The user to whom the task is assigned
Request ID	The ID of the provisioning request task
Account Name	The name of the account being provisioned

10.2.2 Viewing Provisioning Task Details

To view provisioning task details:

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select the task whose detail you want to view.
From the Actions menu, select Open. Alternatively, you can click Open on the toolbar. The Task Details page in displayed in a new window.

Table 10-3 lists the fields in the Task Details window:

Table 10-3 Fields in the Task Details Window

Field	Description
Task Name	The name of the task
Resource Name	The name of the resource, which is affected by this task
Description	A description of the task
User	The beneficiary user name
Status	The status of the task, Pending or Rejected
Response	The response set by the user on the Set Response page Note: For information about setting response, see "Setting Response for a Task".
Response Description	The description of the response that is defined in the Response tab of the Task Definition section in Oracle Identity Manager Design Console
Notes	The additional comments entered by the approver
Assigned to	The user to whom or role to which the task is assigned Note: If the task is assigned to a role, this property will come as "Assigned to Role" with the role details.
Error Details	The error, if any, while setting the response
Projected Start	The date when the task is scheduled to start
Projected End	The date when the task is suppose to end
Actual Start	The date when the task was started
Actual End	The date when the task was ended
Last Update	The date when the task was last updated

10.2.3 Setting Response for a Task

As an approver, you can set a response for the task while taking an action on the task. To set a response for a task:

Note:

Response cannot be set if there are no response codes defined for the corresponding tasks. Response codes are defined by using Oracle Identity Manager Design Console. For more information about defining response codes, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Identity Manager.

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select a task for which you want to set a response.
From the Actions menu, select Open. Alternatively, you can click Open on the toolbar. The Task Details window is displayed.
In the Task Details window, click Set Response.
In the Specify Task Responses page, select one of the multiple responses defined, and click OK. The response is set.

10.2.4 Adding Notes to a Task

Notes are additional comments provided by the approver. These comments are optional.

To add notes to a task:

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select a task for which you want to add notes.
From the Actions menu, select Open. Alternatively, you can click Open on the toolbar. The Task Details window is displayed.
In the Task Details window, click Add Notes. The Add Notes for Task window is displayed, as shown in Figure 10-4:

Figure 10-4 The Add Notes for Task Window

Description of "Figure 10-4 The Add Notes for Task Window"
In the Enter Additional Notes field, enter the note that you want to add to the task.
Click Add Notes.

10.2.5 Reassigning a Task

As the approver, you can reassign a task to another user or role for taking appropriate action on the task. When the task is reassigned to another user, the assignee becomes the approver. When the task is reassigned to a role, any one member of that role can approve or reject the task.

To reassign a task to another user or role:

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select the task that you want to reassign.
From the Actions menu, select Open. Alternatively, you can click Open on the toolbar. The Task Details window is displayed.
In the Task Details window, click Reassign. The Select User Assignee for Task window is displayed, as shown in Figure 10-5:

Figure 10-5 The Select User Assignee for Task Window

Description of "Figure 10-5 The Select User Assignee for Task Window"
Select User or Role depending on what you want to search for. A list of users or roles is displayed, depending on your selection. You can also filter the search by specifying a criteria for filtering and entering a value in the Filter By field.
In the Reassign column, select a user or role to whom you want to assign the task.
Click Reassign.
In the Confirm Tasks to Reassign page, read the details of the action that you are performing and select Confirm Re-assign Task to reassign the task or select Cancel Re-assign Task to cancel the task reassignment.
Check whether the value in the Assigned to section is properly updated according to the above reassignment action.

10.2.6 Viewing Task Assignment History

To view the assignment history of a task:

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select a task for which you want to view the task assignment history.
From the Actions menu, select Open. Alternatively, you can click Open on the toolbar. The Task Details window is displayed.
In the Task Details window, click Task Assignment History. The Task History window is displayed, as shown in Figure 10-6:

Figure 10-6 The Task History Window

Description of "Figure 10-6 The Task History Window"

The task assignment history is displayed in the fields, as shown in Table 10-4:

Table 10-4 Fields in the Task History Window

Field	Description
Task Status	The status of the task, Pending or Rejected
Task Action	The source details of the task, for example, when the task is first created it will be "Engine". If the user reassigns the task, it will be "User".
Assign Type	The type of the assignee of the task, for example, when the task is assigned for the first time, it is "Default Task Assignment". If the task is reassigned, then its value is either user or role.
Assigned to User	The user to whom the task is assigned
Assigned to Role	The role to which the task is assigned
Assigned By	The user who assigned the task
Assigned Date	The date when the task was assigned

10.2.7 Viewing Form Details

You can view the process form attached with a task. These are process forms associated with the underlying process definition. A task is embedded in the process definition.

To view the process form attached with a task:

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select a task whose process form you want to view.
From the Actions menu, select View Form. Alternatively, you can click View Form on the toolbar. The View Form window is displayed.

10.2.8 Modifying Form Details

You can edit the process form associated with a provisioning workflow to provide missing information, if any.

To modify the process form details:

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select a task whose process form you want to modify.
From the Actions menu, select Edit Form. Alternatively, you can click Edit Form on the toolbar.
In the Edit Form window, modify the required details and click Save.

10.2.9 Retrying a Task

As the approver, you can retry a task when an error was generated while setting the response in the first attempt. To retry a task:

Note:

Only automated tasks can be retried, and an adapter must be attached to the task. Manual tasks cannot be retried.

Under Administration, open the Open Tasks section.
In the Provisioning Tasks page, search for and select a task that you want to retry.
From the Actions menu, select Retry. Alternatively, you can click Retry on the toolbar.
A warning message is displayed prompting you to confirm whether you want to retry the task.
Click Retry.

10.2.10 Manually Fulfilling Tasks

There are two types of provisioning operations:

Automated: These are provisioning operations that take place in an automated manner by using an Oracle Identity Manager connector for a particular target application.
Manual: These are provisioning operations that are manually performed with human intervention.

A manual fulfillment task is created during manual provisioning operations. In addition, a manual fulfillment task is created during automated provisioning operation if you want to introduce manual steps to mandate an administrator to take some action either before or after the provisioning operation.

To complete a manual fulfillment task:

Log in to Identity Self Service.
In the left pane, under Requests, click Pending Approvals. The Approval Details page is displayed.
In the My Tasks tab, select the manual fulfillment task to view the details. The manual task details are displayed in a new window with sections such as Details, Contents, Cart Details, History, Comments, and Attachments.
In the Details section, change any value as desired, and then click Fulfill. A message confirming that the account data has been successfully updated is displayed.
If required, in the Comments and Attachments sections, add comments and attachments, respectively. See "Adding Comments and Attachments" for more information.
Click Complete.

10.3 Managing Attestation Tasks

Attestation enables users designated as reviewers to be notified of reports they must review. These reports describe provisioned resources of other users. A reviewer can attest to the accuracy of the entitlements by providing a response. The attestation action, along with the response the reviewer provides, any associated comments, and an audit view of the data that the reviewer views and attests to, is tracked and audited to provide a complete trail of accountability. In Oracle Identity Manager, this process is known as an attestation task.

An attestation process is the mechanism by which an attestation task is set up. Input that an attestation process requires includes information about how to define the components that constitute the attestation task and how to associate the attestation task with a schedule at which the task must be run. This definition is also the basis on which the attestation task can be initiated when required.

The Pending Attestations section in Identity Self Service displays all attestation processes assigned to you or pending your actions in your inbox.

Note:

Using Oracle Identity Manager integrated with Oracle Identity Analytics (OIA) replaces the attestation functionality.

You can perform the following tasks in the Pending Attestations section:

Searching Attestation Tasks
Viewing Attestation Request Detail

10.3.1 Searching Attestation Tasks

To search for attestation tasks:

Log in to Identity Self Service.
In the left pane, under Requests, click Pending Attestations. The Pending Attestations page is displayed.
Select any one of the following options:
- All: To search all the tasks that match the criteria you specify.
- Any: To search any task that matches your criteria.
In the Task Name field, enter the name of the task that you want to search. To do so, select the Starts with, Ends with, Equals, or Contains search operators.
In the Start Date field, specify a start date of the task by using the Start Date icon next to the field. To do so, select the Equals, Before, or After search operators.

Click Search. The attestation tasks that match the search criteria are displayed in a search results table. Table 10-5 shows the fields in the search results table:

Table 10-5 Fields in the Attestation Task Search Results Table

Field	Description
Task Name	The name of the task.
Process Code	An unique identifier for the task that is entered by the user.
Start Date	The start date of the attestation task.
Type	The type of task. This is hard coded as 'Access Right'.
No of records	The number of records displayed as the search result.

10.3.2 Viewing Attestation Request Detail

To view attestation request detail:

In Identity Self Service, under Request, click Pending Attestations. The Pending Attestations page is displayed.
Search for and select the task that you want to view.

From the Actions menu, select Open Task Details. Alternatively, you can click Open Task Details on the toolbar. The Attestation Request Detail window is displayed, as shown in Figure 10-7:

Note:

Multiple users, designated as reviewers can view the attestation request details. However, only one user, whoever does it first, can submit the attestation.

Figure 10-7 The Attestation Request Detail Window

Description of "Figure 10-7 The Attestation Request Detail Window"

Table 10-6 lists the fields in the Attestation Request Detail window:

Table 10-6 Fields in the Attestation Request Detail Window

Field	Description
Process	Name of your attestation process created.
Request Time	The time when the request is created.
Hide records where action has already been specified	Whether or not the records for which action has been specified must be hidden from the list of attestation requests.
User	User whose entitlement is being attested. The data is displayed as a link. When you click the link, the user profile page is displayed with the user details for the attestation date.
Resource	Resource that is the basis for the entitlement being attested. The data is displayed as a link. When you click the link, a page is displayed with the process form data of the entitlement for the attestation date.
Descriptive Data	Description of the provisioned resource instance.
Last Attested	Last response that was provided for the attestation.
Comments	Reviewer comments. The comments will be updated in this field, when you click Update Existing Comments and Delegation Information. Long comments are truncated, and tooltips are used to show the full text of the comments.
Actions	Action to be performed on the request. The value can be one of the following: Certify Reject Decline Delegate
Submit Attestation	Click this button to submit the attestation request.
Save	Click this button to save the attestation request for future submission.