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MAS 9.2 – Work Queue Manager

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It’s been two years since I last wrote about the Work Queue Manager and there have been several enhancements nearly all of which were delivered for MAS 9.1. The system I am using is MAS 9.2.

If you can’t see the Work Queue Manager in the Administration module, you will need to grant Read access to the Work Queue Manager for your Security Group and then use Manage/Apply Template and action Apply Template. Afterwards, logout and log back in. This adds all the Object Structure permissions.

New Work Queues are Inactive

The Work Queue Manager will be found in the Administration module, if you have security privileges set up for you. It is a Maximo Application Framework (MAF) application with the new look user interface. There are some standard work queues some of which are displayed on the Operational Dashboard.
Work Queue Manager

When you open the Work Queue Manager, you’ll see that it is an application using the new Maximo Application Framework (MAF) and not one based on the older “classic UI”. There is a Create Work Queue button in the top right of the application. We will go all the way through the creation of a work queue, adding fields, but we will not add any actions.

When you use Create Work Queue you'll find a three step wizard with the first step - Define Work Queue. You need to provide a unique Name, a Description and a Priority. You can make work queues specific to members of one or more Person Groups.
Create Work Queue – Define Work Queue

In the Create Work Queue, and the first of three pages in the wizard, you will need to provide a unique name (AJE02), a description (Service Requests – Open) and a Priority (2). You can leave the description and priority blank, but I would at least provide a description of the purpose of the work queue, in this case to show open Service Requests.

You do not need to add Person Groups which restricts access to this work queue. We’ll see later that there is an Add Members action where you can add person groups after the work queue has been created.

Use the blue Next button to go to the second page in the wizard – Select Query.

In the second step of the wizard you'll need first to select an Object Structure. MXAPIWODETAIL is the default and used with work orders, MXAPISR is used with Service Requests.
Create Work Queue – Select Query – Select Object Structure lookup

In the second page of the wizard, you’ll need to first select an Object Structure, I’ve queried for MXAPISR and selected it. The default is MXAPIWODETAIL which is the main object structure for work orders.

In the second step of the wizard you will then select a query associated with the Object Structure. These may include public queries defined in the applications that use the main object of the object structure, the public queries saved in the WOTRACK or SR applications.
Create Work Queue – Select Query – Select Query lookup

You will need to pick a query. These will be the queries associated with the selected Object Structure and public queries associated with the applications that use the main object in the object structure. The bottom two that start SR: are coming from the public queries defined in the Service Requests application. I created the query OPENSR which is based on the SR status – ((status = ‘INPROG’ or status = ‘NEW’ or status = ‘PENDING’ or status = ‘QUEUED’)).

In the second step of the wizard, the third field is to select which application should be launched from one of the work queue records.
Create Work Queue – Select Query – Select Launch Application lookup

The third mandatory field to select is the Launch Application. The query is for the service desk, and they use the SR application, so that is the one I’ve selected.

Finally in the second step of the wizard you select the fields from the object structure that you wish to display as columns in the work queue.
Create Work Queue – Select Query – Add Fields dialog

You now need to select the fields you want from the object structure. As you can see, I have already selected ticketid, description, status, assetnum, location, reportedpriority and internalpriority.

With all fields defined in the Select Query page of the wizard (2nd step) you are now ready to use the blue Next button to move to the optional third step - Add Actions.
Create Work Queue – Select Query

The Select Query part of the wizard is now filled out; there is a button Add Fields if there are additional ones you wish to add, you can also use the button to the right of each field to delete it. You use the blue Next button to go to the third page in the wizard.

The Add Actions page allows you to select actions appropriate to the selected object. In this case SR actions that might change the status or set ownership to a particular Person Group (team).
Create Work Queue – Select Actions

The third and final part of the Work Queue creation wizard allows you to select actions. We will not be selecting any actions.

You use the blue Create button to create the new work queue.

After the new work queue has been created it is displayed so that you can check the columns and data retrieved by the query. There is a button to Edit Work Queue.
Work Queue – After Work Queue created

The Work Queue is then displayed so that you can see the results. Notice at the top of the page on the right the status is Inactive, in prior versions the initial status was Active. A default of Inactive is appropriate for an administrator created record. There is also an Edit Work Queue button.

Duplicate a Work Queue

Two of the new actions added in MAS 9.1 were Duplicate and Add Members. You need to hover over the work queue for you to see the action button (three vertical dots) on the right.
Work Queue Manager – Actions

In the Work Queue Manager some new actions were added in MAS 9.1, Add Members and Duplicate, let’s start with Duplicate. The Edit and Delete actions existed in MAS 9.0.

I’ve had someone ask previously where to find the actions. The three dot – More Actions button, only appears if you hover over a work queue record.

The Duplicate Work Queue dialog has just one field, for you to provide the new unique name for the work queue.
Work Queue Manager – Duplicate Action dialog

I’ve duplicated work queue AJE02 and a dialog opens for you to change the name, I’ll make it AJE03. The name is the unique reference; its description will be the same as that for Service Requests – Open.

After you have used the Duplicate action the first page in the wizard is displayed showing the new work queue. The record has been saved, you can use the Cancel button (bottom left) and then return to edit it later.
Work Queue Manager – Edit Work Queue (after duplicate)

After using the OK button, you will be in the Edit Work Queue screen for the new work queue. I need to go and create a query for closed work orders first, so I’ll use the Cancel button in the bottom left. Incidentally, the record has already been saved after the duplication, in case you were wondering.

The duplicate work queue will need a new description, the description from the originating work queue has been copied. You can also change the priority and add Person Groups, the teams which have access to the new work queue.
Work Queue Manager – Edit Work Queue

For the duplicated work queue AJE03 I’ve now changed the Description to – Service Requests – Closed. Use the Next button in the wizard to navigate to the Select Query page.

On the duplicate work queue we are changing the query to find Service Requests which are no longer open, they may not yet be closed.
Work Queue Manager – Edit Work Queue – Select Query lookup

I’m also changing the Query and selecting SR:SR-Closed – Closed, Cancelled, Rejected and Resolved SRs. The query is ((status = ‘CANCELLED’ or status = ‘CLOSED’ or status = ‘REJECTED’ or status = ‘HISTEDIT’ or status = ‘RESOLVED’)).

You will need to navigate to the last page – Add Actions before you get to see the blue Update button.

We now have two new work queues AJE02 – Open SRs and AJE03 – Closed SRs, the second one created by using the new Duplicate action.

Add Members Action

With the duplicated work queue we are using the new Add Members action.
Work Queue Manager – Actions

The other new action added in MAS 9.1 was Add Members which I’ve selected. I’m adding teams (Person Groups) to work queue AJE03.

The Add Members action allows you to add one or more Person Groups to the work queue, I have added TIER1 and TIER2, two Service Desk teams.
Work Queue Manager – Add Members Action dialog

The Add Person Groups dialog opens and I’ve searched for – Tier – and selected the two Service Desk teams TIER1 and TIER2. When you use the OK button the two Person Groups would have been added to work queue AJE03.

Person Groups exist at the System level and there is no status, so you could find a lot of records to pick from. For a global organization you should perhaps think of some naming convention for Person Groups, which should include consistent descriptions to make it easier to find the right record when filtering.

Reworking of the Wizard

The Work Queue Manager wizard had some user interface improvements in MAS 9.1. The first is the fields and Person Groups displayed on page 1 of the wizard - Define Work Queue, they are now spread across 70% of the page width, previously it was about 50% which looked cramped.
Work Queue Manager – Edit WQ – Define Work Queue

There has been some reworking of the Work Queue wizard since MAS 9.0. The first thing I noticed is that it is more spread out on the screen, previously it was about half the screen, now more like 70%. The Previous/Next buttons are on the right, but that may have been a general change to the user interface. The Cancel (bottom left) is now less like a button, it previously had an outline and looked like a button, that again may have been a general change to the UI.

The Work Queue Manager screen real estate is now wider on the second page of the wizard, now called Select Query. However, the big change is at the bottom of this page which now shows the selected fields and a button Add Fields.
Work Queue Manager – Edit WQ – Select Query

The second page in the wizard is now called Select Query; it was previously called Define Query. It too benefits from using more of the screen real estate.

The Fields table is quite different; you previously had two panels Available Fields and Selected Fields now the fields selected are shown and there is a button Add fields and a button in the table for deleting a field.

The Add Fields dialog is how the bottom of the second page of the wizard used to look. Two panes, the left side for searching and selecting a field, the right pane for showing the selected fields. You can change the order of the fields using the dice-like button on the left of the right-hand pane.
Work Queue Manager – Edit WQ – Select Query – Add Fields dialog

The Add Fields dialog is similar to how it was displayed in MAS 9.0 at the bottom of the second page of the wizard. There are two panes, to select fields and on the right to show the selected fields. The dialog allows you to add fields, delete fields and most importantly change the order of the fields using the dice (drag) button on the left of the right-hand panel.

I’ll move the Reported Priority and Internal Priority after the Status field and before the Asset and Location fields.

The Select Query page of the wizard shows any changes you made in the Add Fields dialog. I had reordered the fields.
Work Queue Manager – Edit WQ – Select Query – After adding fields

After closing the dialog with the OK button, the Field table at the bottom of the Select Query page now shows the revised order of the fields.

When I did my quick review of the changes made in MAS 9.1 and MAS 9.2, I didn’t think it was possible to change the field order, I’m pleased that it still exists although a little tucked away as part of the Add Fields dialog.

In the third page of the wizard - Add Actions you can add some of the actions associated with the main object of the Object Structure. I've added one to enable the closure of a Service Request.
Work Queue Manager – Edit WQ – Add Actions

The third page doesn’t look as if it has had any reworking of the wizard user interface, and now it looks as if it really does need some. There is still plenty of white space to the right of the two panels and each panel would benefit from the Action and Description being side by side, instead of the description set below the action.

I’ve added an IBM Idea MASM-I-1940 – Work Queue Manager – Add Action part of the wizard needs UI improvement in line with the changes made in MAS 9.1 – which you can vote on here – https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASM-I-1940

I have added an action to the AJE03 work queue to allow Service Requests to be closed, the work queue includes service requests at Resolved status.

When you are creating a work queue based on the object structure MXAPIWODETAILS, in the Select Fields dialog you will find several links to child objects where you can select the fields from those objects. The example shows three, ASSET, ASSETCI and LINEARASSET. The links are all in capital letters, attributes are in lower case. The image shows that I selected the asset's description.
Work Queue Manager – Add Fields dialog – Object Structure MXAPIWODETAIL

One of the best enhancements to work queues is the ability to select fields from related records. If you create a work queue for work orders using the object structure MXAPIWODETAIL and search on “asset” as I have done you will see the related records are in capitals and to the right, there is a chevron (>) which will open up the fields in the related object. As you can see on the right I have selected asset.description so the asset’s description is also shown in the work queue.

This is a feature of Start Center Result Sets which uses the relationship name to the child object. With work queues I initially assumed that you were selecting from child objects in the object structure rather than relationships, but in fact you are looking at the relationships and not child objects, relationships where the Cardinality field is referenced as SINGLE. I’ll be showing you how to set this up in a minute.

When you navigate into a related record you see the attributes of that record. After selecting your attributes you can return to the main object by using the breadcrumb at the top left and clicking on Root.
Work Queue Manager – Add Fields dialog – Object Structure MXAPIWODETAIL – Selecting from ASSET relationship

When you navigate into a related record, I’ll navigate through the relationship called ASSET, you will see the fields from the child object of the relationship, in this case ASSET. I’ve filtered by description to select the asset’s description. Notice at the top, the navigation breadcrumb, you can select Root to go back to the main object of the object structure MXAPIWODETAIL which is WORKORDER.

Our Work Queue AJE03 is based on the object structure MXAPISR which has no related records. At first, I wondered whether this was a defect but at the time I was still thinking about child objects in the object structure. For the SR object which is a view on TICKETS a lot of the relationships are on the TICKETS object, and none of the relationships defined against the SR object have a cardinality of SINGLE, hence why there are no related records. I would recommend creating new relationships rather than modifying existing ones, if you found an existing relationship and changed its cardinality, you won’t know the consequences of this.

For the Service Request object there are no related records. I'm in Database Configuration for the SR object and creating my own relationship to the ASSET object.
Database Configuration – Adding relationship to SR object

I’ve created a new relationship on the SR object called AJE-ASSET to the Child Object of ASSET. I copied the Where Clause from the similar relationship on the TICKETS object – assetnum=:assetnum and siteid=:assetsiteid. I set the Cardinality field to SINGLE and added a Remark.

Now that a relationship exists on the SR object with a cardinality of SINGLE then you will find it in the Add Fields dialog. The attribute and its description is the name you give to the relationship in capital letters.
Work Queue Manager – Add Fields dialog – Object Structure MXAPISR

Back on work queue AJE03 and the Select Query – Add Fields dialog you can see that the relationship AJE-ASSET now appears. You use the chevron (>) button on the right.

I have navigated into the Asset record and now I can filter for the attributes of the asset to find and select the description field.
Work Queue Manager – Add Fields dialog – Object Structure MXAPISR – Selecting from ASSET relationship

After navigating into the Asset object, you see its attributes allowing you to filter and select Description, aje-asset.description is shown in the Selected Fields panel on the right.

After updating the work queue, the work queue is displayed and if I filter for all service requests with an asset, I see the asset's description alongside.
Work Queue Manager – SR Work Queue showing Asset and its Description

After using the blue Update button, the Work Queue now shows the asset’s description to the right of the asset field. You could do the same for Location, but you will end up with two columns called Description, there is no ability to change the column names, they are using the Title that you see for the attribute and object in Database Configuration.

Default Work Queues

In MAS 9.1 three standard work queues were delivered, you can find them by filtering for DEF, they all start with DEF. Two are based on a work order and the other based on labor.
Work Queue Manager – Default Work Queues added in MAS 9.1

There were three standard work queues that were added as part of MAS 9.1, you can find them if you filter by DEF.

All three use new queries added to the Labor or Work Order Tracking applications:

MAS 9.2 – Display Name in Actions

In the Actions application there is a new Display Name field positioned below the Type field on the left.
Actions – Display Name field added in MAS 9.2

There was a new field added to the Actions application in MAS 9.2 – Display Name.

When you are creating or editing a work queue then on the last page of the wizard - Add Actions - the two panes now show the Display Name if the action has one.
Work Queue Manager – Add Actions showing Display Name of action

The Display Name is displayed in the Add Actions part of the Work Queue Manager wizard. You can see it for the Selected Action SR GIVE2TIER1, but it also appears on the Available Actions pane on the left.

Currently, the Display Name is not used when the Work Queue is displayed in the Operational Dashboard and the blue actions banner appears after you have selected a record.
Operational Dashboard – Work Queue showing its actions

The Display Name is not displayed when the Work Queue actions are displayed in the Operational Dashboard. Nothing appears if you hover over the action. The action does work; Service Request 1002 was assigned to Tier1 as the Owner Group.

Work Queues in Operational Dashboards

The Operational Dashboard has a Work Queue card with two forms Single, showing the results of a single work queue (shown on left), and Multiple, which gives a count of the number of records found by each work queue (shown on right). You can click a work queue to navigate into it.
Operational Dashboard showing Single and Multiple Work Queue cards

There was one other change in MAS 9.1 which is worth mentioning and that is that there is now an option in the Work Queue card to display a Single Queue or Multiple Queues. The Single Queue option is shown on the left and is like a Result Set on the Start Center. If you select one or more rows the blue action bar will be shown. This was new in MAS 9.1.

Previous versions displayed the work queues as the Multiple Queues option shown on the right, where you select the work queues that you wish to display, then you need to launch a work queue to see the work queue fields and actions.

There were several other enhancements to how Work Queues are displayed in the Operational Dashboard in MAS 9.2 and I’ll be covering those in the next article.