Configure Entry and Exit Criteria for New Item Requests

You can configure the criteria that govern when a new item request can exit a workflow status or enter into the next status.

Here's an outline of how you configure the criteria:

1. Define the criteria in a validation rule set.

2. Assign the criteria to a workflow status in the new item request type.

Define the Criteria in a Validation Rule Set

You can define rule sets that validate the entry and exit criteria for new item requests. Criteria can be based on attributes or descriptive flexfields.

Here are business entities that can be used in the rule sets:

Business Entity	Provides Access To
Change Header	Descriptive flexfield segments on new item request header rows. The attribute group Change Header Main, which contains attributes corresponding to the basic attributes of a new item request header: Priority, Reason, Need-by Date, Requested By, and Description.
Change Line	Descriptive flexfield segments (but not attributes) on new item request lines.

Example: Define two product rules that allow the new item request workflow to exit from a status only if its Reason is Cost and Priority is High.

1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, go to the following:

   • Offering: Product Management

   • Functional Area: Product Rules

   • Task: Manage Item Rule Sets

2. Click Create to create a rule set.

3. In the Create Rule Set dialog, do the following:

   1. Composite: Select No.

   2. Type: Select Validations.

   3. Association Type: Select New item request.

   4. Association Name: Select New item request.

   5. Click Save and Continue.

4. On the Rules tab, click Create to create a rule for the rule set.

5. In the Create Rule dialog, here's how you create a rule to enforce Cost as a compulsory field:

   1. Sequence: Enter the sequence number in which you want to execute this rule. This is required in case you have multiple rules. For example, enter 10

      Severity is automatically set to Reject.

   2. Click OK.

   3. Here's how you create the rule expression:

      If Expression: Right-click and select Insert Attribute to insert an attribute that applies to the new item request.

      Business Entity: Select Change Header.

      Attribute Group: Select Change Header Main.

      Attribute: Select Reason.

      Click Insert. The following expression is inserted:

      [ChangeHeader].[ChangeHeaderMain].[Reason]

   4. Modify the expression to form the following comparison expression:

      isNull([ChangeHeader].[ChangeHeaderMain].[ReasonCode])||[ChangeHeader].[ChangeHeaderMain].[ReasonCode]!= "COST"

   5. In the Validation Condition field, enter false.

   6. User Message: Just to be clear, it's recommended to add a user message such as:

      You must set the reason as cost.

   7. To validate the rule's syntax, click Validate.

   8. Click Save.

6. Similar to the rule set you created for cost, you must create a rule set for priority that results in the following expression:

   isNull([ChangeHeader].[ChangeHeaderMain].[Priority])||[ChangeHeader].[ChangeHeaderMain].[Priority]!= "HIGH"

   User Message: Just to be clear, it's recommended to add a user message such as:

   You must set the priority as high.

Assign the Criteria to the New Item Request Workflow

After defining a rule set that validates the entry and exit criteria, you can assign that rule set to a new item request status.

The status types that can have entry or exit criteria are listed in the table:

Status Type	Entry Criteria?	Exit Criteria?
Open	No	Yes
Definition	Yes	Yes
Approval	Yes	No

Here's how you associate the entry and exit criteria with the new item request type:

1. In the Setup and Maintenance work area, use the following:

   • Offering: Product Management

   • Functional Area: New Item Requests

   • Task: Manage New Item Request Type Details

2. Click the Workflow tab and select the workflow status for which you want to setup the entry and exit criteria.

3. Select the entry and exit criteria in the Entry Criteria and Exit Criteria columns.

   Note that the rule set you created in a previous step appears in the entry and exit criteria columns.

4. Click Save and Close.