Using Policies to Manage Requests › How to Create a Condition › Conditions Based on the Attributes of Service Options

Conditions Based on the Attributes of Service Options

A service option consists of a row of service option elements. You create conditions for service options within the context of the service option group to which they belong.

For service options and service option elements, you can specify conditions that use match functions.

You can use the following attributes to specify conditions based on service options:

The following attributes may require explanation:

category, category class, and category subclass

To use the values for category, category class, and category subclass, view the file named category.xml, and record the values that you want to use in your conditions. This file is located in a different folder for each localized version of CA Service Catalog. For example, for English (icusen), the category.xml file is located in the %USM_HOME%\view\webapps\usm\locale\icusen\billing folder.

This file may differ based on the language of the operating system. For details about this file, see the Implementation Guide.

estimatedCost

Specifies the estimated cost of a service option in a service in a request. The Catalog system calculates this cost when the request is submitted.

To find the cost of a service option in a service in a request, select Home, Requests and view the details for the request that contains the service option of interest.

external_id, code, and keywords

The service builder specifies the values for the attributes named external_id, code, and keywords when defining the service option elements of the service option group of a service. Service builders typically use these attributes to add meta information about services, especially for categorizing services.

Using the CA Service Catalog GUI, you can check the values of the external_id, code, and keyword for a service option, as follows: click Service Builder and open the service option group of interest. In that service option group, open the service option element that you want to check. On the Service Option Element dialog, click the Options tab and check the value of the external_id, code, and keyword fields.

track_as_asset

Specifies a numeric value indicating whether to track this service option as an asset in CA APM, as follows:

0 - No

1 - Yes

Note: This attribute is relevant only when CA Service Catalog is integrated with CA APM.

Using the CA Service Catalog GUI, you can view the Service Option Element Options Window--Options Tab to check whether a specific service option uses this attribute. To do so, access this window as explained for the previous attributes (external_id, code, and keywords) and check the value of the Track as an Asset field.

Service Options as Row Numbers in Service Option Groups

You identify service options in conditions by their row number in the service option group. On the CA Service Catalog GUI, you can find this row number by selecting Service Builder, Service Option Groups, and opening the service option group you want.

When you do so, each service option in the group appears in a table; each row contains one service option. In the condition, specify the row number of the service option of interest. For example, if row 2 contains a service option named Windows server, specify $(_.sog['sogname']serviceoption[2] to include this service option in the condition.

By default, serviceoption[1] specifies that this service option is intentionally selected by the requestor, not automatically included with the service.

Formats

Use the following format for conditions with a match function:

$(anySoWith('attribute',operator,'value'))

Use the following format (without spaces) for conditions without a match function:

$(_.sog['sogname'].serviceoption[rownumber] operator 'value' )

For both formats, enclose string values in single quotation marks, and enter numeric values without quotation marks.

Examples

Consider the following examples:

• To specify the assignee when the name of the service option group is Procure Laptop and the category of the first service option is 1, use this condition:

  $(_.sog[‘Procure Laptop’].serviceoption[1].category==1)

  This condition specifies that the pending action is assigned to the approver or fulfiller when the service option group is named Procure Laptop and the first service option in it belongs to Category 1. By default, Category 1 signifies hardware.

• To specify the assignee when the name of the service option group is New Hire Onboarding and the estimated cost of the third service option is 30 monetary units (for example, Euros), use this condition:

  $(_.sog['New Hire Onboarding'].serviceoption[3].estimatedCost==30.0)

• To specify the assignee when the name of the service option group is Handheld Devices and the estimated cost of the service option in the third row of the group is 300 monetary units (for example, dollars), use this condition:

  $(_.sog[‘Handheld Devices’].serviceoption[3].estimatedCost==300)

Examples with the Match Function

Consider the following examples:

• To specify the assignee when the service option group includes a service option (in any row) with a category class greater than 10, use this condition:

  $(anySoWith('category_class',gt,10))

  This condition specifies that the pending action is assigned to the approver or fulfiller when any service option belongs to a category class greater than 10. By default, a category class greater than 10 signifies that the request is not related to any IT category, such as hardware or software.

• To specify the assignee when any service option in the request includes a category subclass greater than 10, use this condition:

  anySoWith('category_subclass',gt,10)

• To specify the assignee when the external_id (a string) of any service option ends with the string "MB," use this condition:

  anySoWith('external_id',endsWith,'MB')

• To specify the assignee when the category of any service option in the request is greater than 10 but less than 30, use the following condition:

  anySoWith('category',gt,10) && anySoWith('category',lt,30)

• To specify the assignee when both of the following are true, use this condition:
  • The value of the external_id attribute of any service option in the request begins with the case-sensitive word "Memory"
  • The request contains a service option group named Procure Server and the category attribute of its first service option (row 1) has a value of 1, signifying hardware

  anySoWith('external_id',startsWith,'Memory') && _.sog['Procure Server'].serviceoption[1].category==1

• To specify the assignee when any service option in the request is tracked as an asset in CA APM, use this condition:

  $(anySoWith('track_as_asset==1'))

  Note: This attribute is relevant only when CA Service Catalog is integrated with CA APM.