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Author: Gary Sherman

Chief Technology Officer, Vice President of Products

Gary Sherman
Gary Sherman
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Posts by Gary Sherman:

My favorite business rule

January 7, 2008 I like it when customers log notes to their cases by the web using Dovetail SelfService.   I *really* like it when customers close their own cases by the web.   How do I know when this happens? By a business rule, of course.   Object Type: Case Rule Name/Description: Notify the case owner when case is modified via the web. Start Events: Log Note, Close Task Cancel Events: None Conditions: [Logger] = websupport Action Title: Notify Case Owner Who to Notify: [Current Owner] Start Action: 0 minutes From: Event Creation Using: Elapsed Time Repeat : Never Message:   RE: About [Object Type] [Object ID] :: [Object Type] [Object ID]  was modified via [Logger] [Object Type] [Object ID] was modified via [Logger]. Site: [Site Name] Contact: [Contact First Name] [Contact Last Name] Contact Email:  [Contact Email] Case Title: [Title] Additional Info: [Addl Actlog Info] Click the link below to view this [Object Type]: [URL to Dovetail Agent]/console/console.asp?command=casebyid&param1=[Object ID] For your convenience, the Case History: [Case History] What makes this…

Testing Business Rules

January 3, 2008 More and more I'm starting to pay attention to the discussions regarding DSLs (Domain Specific Languages). Specifically, I've been thinking about business rules as a sort of DSL. Scott Bellware and I have had many conversations about this. To me, how we define business rules is a good example of a Business DSL.   A simple business rule example: Object Type: Case Rule Name/Description: Notify all queue members upon dispatch Start Event: Dispatch Cancel Events: Accept Conditions: None Action Title: Notify Queue Members Who to Notify: Current Queue Members Start Action: 0 minutes From: Event Creation Using: Elapsed Time Repeat Every: 4 hours Repeat for: 999 days Message: [Object Type] [Object ID] has been dispatched to queue [Current Queue].     Ayende had a recent post that touched on keeping DSLs under source code control, and testing DSLs.   This got me to thinking about an issue we have in Clarify today.   If…

An RSS feed for Dovetail Recent Knowledgebase Articles, courtesy of Dapper and Yahoo Pipes

December 19, 2007 We publish our knowledgebase articles online: http://www.dovetailsoftware.com/resources/knowledgeBase.aspx. We use the Dovetail SDK to query the solutions in our Clarify/Dovetail database and build the HTML pages.In addition, we have a page that lists the latest 20 articles: http://support.dovetailsoftware.com/selfservice/solutions/recentThis is nice, but it means that one would have to visit the web page to see any new articles.I would like to be notified when new articles are added. Between email spam and Microsoft Outlook, my faith in (and enjoyment of) email is dwindling on a daily basis. But my love of RSS feeds and Google Reader continues to grow. So, how can I get new KB articles pushed to me by RSS?One way would be to go back to our dev team and have them add an RSS feed for that page. Could be done. Not too hard. But that would take…

Who creates your business rules?

December 14, 2007 I'm curious - in  your organization, who creates the business rules in Clarify?Specifically, who enters them into the system? Is it a developer, a workgroup manager, someone in IT, the business users themselves? A Clarify Admin (if so, is this someone in IT, or in a business unit)?How technical is this person?Any and all replies appreciated! 

Auto-Destination Rules have nothing to do with RuleManager

December 11, 2007 A very common misconception is that RuleManager is responsible for evaluating Auto-Destination rules. Perhaps it's because both contain the word "rule". Not sure. Let's all say it together: Auto-Destination Rules have nothing to do with RuleManager. Nicely done. OK, now, let's explore auto-destination rules in more detail.What's an Auto-Destination Rule?An auto-destination rule is a mechanism for assisting in the routing of a workflow object  (such as a case) to the correct place.From the Clarify documentation:If your organization is large and uses many queues, auto-destination helps reduce the time a user spends searching for the right queue.Example (in plain English):When dispatching a case with a case type of New Employee, then the case should be routed to the New Employee queue.Example (in Clarify Syntax):OBJECT TYPE="rule", NAME="rule1" UNIQUE_FIELD = "title,operation"     FIELDS         title = "Case";         operation = "DISPATCH";         rule_text…

IE7Pro allows Internet Explorer to be tweaked, customized, and scripted

December 10, 2007 I recently StumbledUpon IE7Pro, which is an add-on for Internet Explorer. Although my primary browser is Firefox, I use IE for our web applications, including Dovetail Agent.IE7Pro adds a whole bunch of useful enhancements. There are two that are quick wins that I love: Spell Check, and Move the IE menu bar.Spell CheckI still find it amazing that IE doesn't have spell check built-in. In the past, I've used ieSpell. I've now turned off ieSpell and use the spell checking within IE7Pro. It works as spell check does in Firefox, in that it adds a red line under any misspellings. Simply right-click on the word to access the suggestions. Put the Menu Bar back where it belongsThis is just one of those minor annoyances.IE7 out of the box puts the menu bar below the address bar: Using IE7Pro, I can put the…

Are Queue Supervisors also Queue Members?

  We've recently had a couple questions from customers in regards to queue members and supervisors. There is definitely some weirdness here, so hopefully this post will clear up a little confusion.   In Clarify, there are two relations from queue to user: queue2user, a ManyToMany relation, which is the users assigned to the queue queue_supvr2user, a ManyToMany relation, which is the users supervising the queue Queue Membership in the Clarify UI   In the Clarify Classic Client, when you add a user as a supervisor, you see the user listed only as a supervisor.   For example, here I just added the user "texas" as a supervisor of the WebSupport queue. Notice that he shows up in the Supervisors list, but not in the Members list. As expected. Notice there are only two queue members listed.   Queue Membership…

Hierarchical drop-downs in Dovetail Agent

Many customers use hierarchical (multi-level) drop-down lists in their Clarify/Dovetail implementations. So, when one level of a select list changes, the down-level lists change as well. Clarify allows up 5 levels for a list. As an example, in baseline Clarify, there's a list titled CR_DESC that is a three level list for CPU, Operating System, and Memory. When I change the CPU from PC to Sun, the operating system and memory lists need to change as well. Default values show: Changing the CPU to "SUN" changes the O/S and Memory lists: In a client/server app, this is pretty easy to do, as the onchange event of one list can simply update the down-level lists, either by making a call back to the server, or by accessing data that has been cached on the client machine. In a web application, this…