Manual

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Contents 1 Overview 2 Creating a New Manual Task 3 Manual Task Field Descriptions 4 Specifying When a Task Runs 5 Monitoring Task Execution

Overview

Manual tasks are used to create a pause in the workflow during which the user must take some action. The processing on a Manual task is described below.

1. While its upstream tasks are running, the Manual task remains in Waiting status. When the manual task launches, it goes immediately into Action Required status, meaning a user must perform some manual activity. The system also sets the Started Time in the Manual task instance to the time the task goes into the Action Required status.
2. Optionally, the user can re-set the Started Time on the Manual task by issuing the Set Started command as follows:
   1. From the Activity display or the Workflow monitor, right click on the Manual task.
   2. Select Set Started or select Commands > Set Started if you are using the Workflow monitor.

   
   The system re-sets the Started Time.

3. When you have completed the activities called for in the Manual task, you need to indicate that the task is completed and that the workflow can continue:
   1. From the Activity display or the Workflow monitor, right click on the Manual task.
   2. Select Set Completed or select Commands > Set Completed if you are using the Workflow monitor. The Manual task goes into Success status, the End Time is set, and the workflow continues.
      

   Or, if the Manual task is not completed but you want the workflow to continue anyway, select Force Finish.

You can also set a Manual task to Started or Completed status from the command line interface. See Command Line Reference for instructions.

Creating a New Manual Task

1. From the Navigation Pane, select Manual Tasks.
2. From the trigger wizard, select New. OpsWise Automation Center displays the Manual Task screen, shown below.
3. Using the field descriptions provided below as a guide, complete the fields as needed.
4. Click the Submit button to save the record and return to the menu, or, right-click on the title bar and select Save to save the record and remain on the current display.
5. If appropriate, repeat these steps for any additional tasks you want to add.

Shown below is a sample Manual task screen. The task run statistics shown at the bottom appear after the first time this task has been launched.

Manual Task Field Descriptions

The table below describes the fields, buttons, and tabs on the Manual task definition and task instance screens. Most fields appear on both screens; however they do not always appear at the same spot. In the latter case, the table provides a field description at the location found on the task definition screen. Some fields appear only on one of the screens. Field labels shown in bold appear only on the task instance screen and are labelled as such.

Field Name	Description
Task Name	Required. Name used within OpsWise Automation Center to identify this task. Up to 40 alphanumerics; variables supported. It is the user’s responsibility to develop a workable naming scheme for tasks.
Invoked by	Task instance only; system-supplied. How the task instance was launched. Options: Trigger: [Trigger Name] - The instance was launched by the named trigger. Workflow: [Workflow Name] - The instance was launched by the named workflow. Manually Launched - The instance was launched by a user. To identify the user who launched the instance:
Task	Task instance only; system-supplied.
Instance Reference Id	Task instance only; system-supplied.
Member of Groups	User-defined. Allows you to select one or more Opswise groups that this task definition belongs to. Click on the lock icon to unlock the field and select groups.
Summary	User-supplied description of this task.
Status	Task instance only; system-supplied. See Task Status.
Status Description	Task instance only; system-supplied. Provides additional information, if any, about the status of the task.
Start Time	Task instance only; system-supplied. The time the task started.
Duration	Task instance only; system-supplied. The amount of time the task took to run.
End Time	Task instance only; system-supplied. The time the task completed.
User Estimated End Time	Task instance only; system-supplied.
Shortest Estimated End Time	Task instance only; system-supplied.
Average Estimated End Time	Task instance only; system-supplied.
Longest Estimated End Time	Task instance only; system-supplied.
Hold on Start	If enabled, when the task is launched it appears in the Activity display with a status of Held. The task runs when the user releases it.
User-Estimated Duration	The estimated amount of time it should normally take to run this task. The value in this field is used by OpsWise Automation Center to calculate the User Estimated End Time when the task is launched. You can view this information by selecting the Task Instance record from the Activity screen.
Late Start	If enabled, and if the task instance starts after the time specified in the Late Start Time field (see below), the task instance is flagged as late. To determine whether a task instance started late, open the task instance and locate the Started Late field; the field is checked if the instance started late.
Late Start Time (hh:mm)	The time after which the task start time is considered late. Use hh:mm, 24-hour time.
Late Finish	If enabled, and if the task instance finishes after the time or period specified, the task instance is flagged as late. You can specify a time or duration to determine a late finish (see Late Finish Type below). To determine whether a task instance finished late, open the task instance and locate the Finished Late field; the field is checked if the instance finished after the specified time or lasted longer than expected.
Late Finish Type	If Late Finish is enabled, use this field to specify whether you want to use time (see Late Finish Time below) or duration (see Late Finish Duration below) to determine whether the task instance finished late.
Late Finish Time (hh:mm)	If Late Finish Type is Time, use this to specify the time after which the task finish time is considered late. Use hh:mm, 24-hour time.
Late Finish Duration	If Late Finish Type is Duration, use this to specify the longest amount of time this task instance should take to run. You can specify any combination of days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
Early Finish	If enabled, and if the task instance finishes before the time or period specified, the task instance is flagged as early. You can specify a time or duration to determine an early finish (see Early Finish Type below). To determine whether a task instance finished early, open the task instance and locate the Finished Early field; the field is checked if the instance finished before the specified time or did not last as long as expected.
Early Finish Type	If Early Finish is enabled, use this field to specify whether you want to use time (see Early Finish Time below) or duration (see Early Finish Duration below) to determine whether the task instance finished early.
Early Finish Time (hh:mm)	If Early Finish Type is Time, use this to specify the time before which the task finish time is considered early. Use hh:mm, 24-hour time.
Early Finish Duration	If Early Finish Type is Duration, use this to specify the shortest amount of time this task instance should take to run. You can specify any combination of days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
First Time Ran	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The date and time this task first ran.
Lowest Instance Time	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The shortest amount of time this task has taken to run.
Last Time Ran	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The last date and time the task ran.
Average Instance Time	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The average amount of time this task takes to run.
Number of Instances	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The number of times this task has run.
Highest Instance Time	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The longest amount of time this task has taken to run.
Last Instance Duration	System-supplied. Displays after task has been run. The amount of time the task took to run the last time it ran.
Submit button	Submits the new record to the database.
Update button	Saves updates to the record.
Launch Task button	Manually launches the task.
Delete button	Deletes the current record.
Task Virtual Resources tab	Allows you to create virtual resource definitions for controlling access to resources by multiple tasks. See Creating Virtual Resources.
Variables tab	Displays all variables associated with this task.
Actions tab	Allows you to specify actions that the system will take automatically based on events that occur during the execution of this task. Events supported are task instance status, exit codes, late start, late finish, and early finish. Actions include: Abort Action - Abort the task if certain events occur. For details, see Setting Up Abort Actions. Email Notification - Send an email if certain events occur. For details, see Creating Email Notifications. SNMP Notification - Send an email if certain events occur. For details, see Creating SNMP Notifications. Set Variable - Set a variable if certain events occur. For details, see Setting Variables in a Workflow.
Task Instances tab	System-supplied. Displays a list of all instances generated by this task.
Triggers tab	Displays a list of all triggers that have been defined to launch this task. Also allows you to add new triggers. For instructions, see Triggers.
Notes tab	Displays all notes associated with this task. See Runbook Notes.

Specifying When a Task Runs

You can run the task as part of a workflow, specify triggers that run the task automatically based on times or events, or run the task manually.

Monitoring Task Execution

You can monitor all system activity from the Activity screen and can view activity history from the Activity History screen.