Understanding Work Request Properties
When you create a work request or retrieve a WMS-initiated work request from an external database, the Bentley OpenUtilities Workflow Manager component stores information about the job in the My Work folder. This information typically consists of the name of the work request, the customer's name, the project's estimated start date, and other properties.
Certain information about a work request is required and must be provided when the work request is created using the New Work Request dialog box. Optional information can be added at any time. Values for several properties (such as Owner and Creator) are system-generated. If the work request is WMS-initiated, most information about the work request may already be provided by the external system when you retrieve the work request.
In the Workflow manager, a work request is defined by the following default properties.
- Name
- State
- Customer
- Work Flow
- Description
- Estimated Start Date
- Estimated Complete Date
- Required Complete Date
- Owner
- Creator
- Notes
The Workflow Manager can be configured for additional work request properties to support business requirements as well as the requirements of an external work management system (see Custom Work Request Attributes and WMS-Related Work Request Properties).
As long as the work request remains in the "Initiated" state, the work request data is purely textual. Once you link designs to the work request through the Associate Design or Attach Design operations, the work request includes spatial data and cost data. For more information about associating and attaching designs to work requests, see Linking Work Requests with Designs.
Custom Work Request Attributes
The Workflow Manager can be configured to handle custom work request attributes by providing a special form for these details. The information is either entered by the user or retrieved from an external work management system. The form is accessed by clicking the More button on the New Work Request dialog box or the Work Request Properties dialog box.
WMS-Related Work Request Properties
Some work management systems associate job-related requirements and remarks with WMS-generated work requests. If configured to support this functionality, the Workflow manager can retrieve the information from the external system and display it along with the work request's other properties. When a user manually adds or edits this information, the Workflow Manage sends the updates back to the work management system. For more information, see Adding Work Request Notes, Requirements, and Remarks and Updating Work Request Properties.