Tutorial: Creating a software request offering

Let's say that you want to create a software request offering that enables an end user to request access to Jira.

Add the offering

Follow the steps in Creating a request offering to create your offering. Give your offering a name, for example, Request Jira access.

Configure the offering

1. Open the Request access Jira offering.
2. Click Fulfillment
3. Add a rule, for example, Department Equals Engineering or Status Equals Active
4. Click Preview workflow

Create the request form

On the Preview workflow page, complete the following steps:

• Update the request form title and description
• Create the request form fields

Update the request form title and description

The request form appears in the request form that the user sees in the Request Portal.

1. Select the Survey tab in the sidebar.
2. Click Edit.
3. Update the title and description. The description accepts up to 10,000 characters. To include metadata fields or variables in the title or description, click .
4. Enter the label for the submit button, such as Submit or Approve. The label accepts up to 16 characters. This button is displayed at the bottom of the request form that you send to the user.
5. Click Save.

Create the request form fields 

The request form fields appear as inputs in the request. For example, for the Request Jira request form, you may want to have the following mandatory fields as inputs:

• Project or Team Name
• Access Level
• Manager Name

To add the fields, complete the following steps:

1. Click the Variables tab in the sidebar.
2. Click ADD VARIABLE.
3. Enter the name of the variable and select a data type from the list. You can choose to add object data types as variables. 

Tip 
If you want to create a request that enables users to choose from a list of software, you can create a variable with software as the data type. When users fill out the request, they can pick the software they want from a list.

Add the variables to the request form

1. Click the Survey tab   in the sidebar. 
2. To add the variable to the survey, click Add field . 
3. Select a variable from the list. 
4. In the Field attribute dropdown, specify the field visibility. 
5. Optional. Supply an alternative label or name for the field that will appear in the survey.
6. Optional. Add a description. The description will be displayed next to the field, such as Select the checkbox to confirm. 
7. Repeat steps 1-6  to add all the fields to the survey. Click and drag to change the order of the fields so the information is presented clearly.

Creating a workflow survey

Create the workflow

Add your workflow blocks to the workflow. For example, you may wish to add:

• A Decision block that must be approved by an administrator or super user
• An Update block that updates the request status
• An API block that performs an action, such as creating, updating, or deleting a user
• A Notify block that tracks the workflow progress

Approving the request using the decision block

You can use a decision block in the workflow to send an email to an Oomnitza admin to approve the user request. Use workflow variables to add the request form input to the email.

You do not need to link a survey in the decision block for a request offering unless you want to send an additional survey. The default survey that is created when you preview the workflow is set to issue when the request offering workflow is initiated. You can view this information in the Begin block.

Creating a workflow using a decision block

Updating the request status using an update block

You can use an update block in the workflow that changes the status of the request to Approved or Rejected. This enables the workflow to automatically update the status to Approved or Rejected accordingly, providing a streamlined and automated process for managing requests.

Using the Update block

Performing an action using the API block

You can use an API block in the workflow to perform an action, such as creating a new user account. For example, the Jira Create new user API request requires the following information:

• The user's email address
• The user's first name
• The user's username

To capture the end-user details, you have two options:

• Using the Requested for field
• Using the Initiated By variable: {{WFVarRuntime.initiated_by}}.

You can access the values associated with these options by appending the field name, like this:

• {{WFVarRuntime.initiated_by.email}}
• {{WFVarRuntime.initiated_by.first_name}}
• {{requested_for.email}}
• {{requested_for.first_name}}

Since custom field names can differ from system to system, it is recommended you check that you are using the correct field name by going to Configuration > Data Model > Field Configuration and selecting the field from the list. The correct field name is located in the External ID.

Using the API block

Tracking the progress of the workflow using the Notify block

To stay updated on the status of the workflow and effectively handle workflow errors, you can use a Notify block. This block serves the purpose of keeping you informed about the progress of the request and provides a mechanism to handle any potential errors that may occur during the workflow execution.

Using the Notify block

Validate the workflow

Important
Make sure that the workflow is validated and active. Otherwise, there will be errors when activating an offering and submitting requests.

Activate the offering

1. Re-open the offering in the request catalog
2. Review the form on the Request Form Preview page before activating
3. On the Information page, update the Status to Active.

Result
The request offering is visible to the user in the Request Portal menu. Once the user submits their request, the workflow is triggered.