Configuring InBasket

Users can now easily view tasks that are not assigned to them directly. Users can search for tasks in other users’ InBasket.

By default, only members of the Administrators group have the permissions necessary to see others’ tasks.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Select My Innovator --> My InBasket in the TOC. Click the magnifying glass icon to access the Search grid.

3. Clicking the My Inbasket icon in the TOC causes the following menu to appear:

   

   By default, the search grid displays tasks assigned to you with ‘Active’ status.

   

4. Click in the grid to filter the search criteria. A menu similar to the following appears:

   

   • Clear Criteria erases any search criteria that you entered.
   • Claimed by Me displays a list of the tasks that you have claimed.
   • Claimed by Others displays a list of tasks that have been claimed by other users.
   • Claimed by Anyone displays tasks claimed by you along with tasks claimed by other people.
5. Click to view the search results. The InBasket search grid now displays all the tasks.

By default, the configurable InBasket supports Workflow Tasks. However, you can now create and add new Task/Activity ItemTypes to the InBasket Task. Let us consider an example of creating a Meeting Task ItemType and adding it to the InBasket Task Item. Creating InBasket Task ItemType involves four main procedures. The procedures are described in the following sections.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Select Administration > ItemTypes. The following menu appears:

3. Select Create New ItemType. The ItemType window appears.

   

4. Enter Meeting in the Name field and click . In the Properties tab, click the New Property icon and add the Meeting ItemType properties as defined in Table 3.
   The Meeting ItemType properties

5. In the TOC Access tab, add users (Identities), who should be able to see the ItemType in the TOC Pane so that they can select the Item.
6. In the Can Add tab, add users (Identities), who can add a new Item of this type to the database.
7. In the Permissions tab, add users (Identities) to indicate the access rights to the ItemType.
8. Click the Save and Done buttons to save and unlock.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> ItemType.
3. From the grid, search for InBasket Task Item, double-click on it and then click to open the Item for editing.

4. In the Poly Sources tab, click to add a new related Item. The Select Items ItemTypes search dialog box appears.

   

5. Enter Meeting in the Name field to search for the Meeting ItemType. In our example, we create a Meeting Task Item as a related Item with the following properties on the Properties tab
   The Meeting ItemType properties

   Property Name	Label	Data Type	Data Source	Length
   assigned_to	Assigned To	Item	Identity
   container	Source Item	Item	NULL (or any value)
   container_type_id	Source Item	Item	ItemType
   due_date	Due Date	Date
   instructions	Instructions	String		1024
   item	Work Item	Item	NULL (or any value)
   item_type_id	Item Type	Item	ItemType
   my_assignment	My Assignment	Boolean
   name	Activity	String		128
   start_date	Start Date	Date
   status	Status	String		64
   icon	Icon	Image
   language_code_filter	Language Code Filter	String		3

6. Add the following forms to the Views tab.
   The Views tab form

   Form Name	Type	Description
   Meeting Task	Default	Form to be displayed to the user for actions such as View, Edit, and so on related to the Meeting ItemType.
   Meeting Task Complete	Complete	An empty form/or a placeholder used when the Meeting Task is Complete.

7. In the TOC Access tab, add users (Identities), who should be able to see the ItemType in the TOC Pane so that they can select the Item.
8. In the Can Add tab, add users (Identities), who can add a new Item of this type to the database.
9. In the Permissions tab, add users (Identities) to indicate the access rights to the ItemType.
10. Click Class Structure. Add a node for Meeting Task.
11. Click Save and Done to save and unlock the ItemType.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> SQLs.
3. Create a SQL View to drop the Meeting table:
   
   1. Click File --> New or use the right mouse button (right-click) and select New SQL from the context menu.

   2. The SQL window appears. Configure the following properties:

      Name = Meeting_Task_Step1_Drop

      Type = Table

      Execution Flag = Manual

      SQL:

      Expand Collapse

      IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.tables WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[innovator].[Meeting_Task]'))
      DROP TABLE [Meeting_Task]
      IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.views WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[innovator].[Meeting_Task]'))
      DROP VIEW [Meeting_Task]

   3. Click Save and click Unlock to save and unlock the SQL Item.
   4. Navigate to Actions --> SQL Execute in the SQL window.
   5. Verify and ensure that table [innovator].[ Meeting_Task] is dropped from your database.

4. Create a temporary view for Meeting Task ItemType
   
   1. Navigate to Administration --> SQLs.
   2. Click File --> New or use the right mouse button (right-click) and select New SQL from the context menu.

   3. The SQL window appears. Configure the following properties:

      Name = Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View

      Type = View

      Execution Flag = Manual

      SQL:

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      CREATE VIEW [Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View] 
      AS 
      SELECT STUFF(MEETING_TASK.id, 13, 1, '0') AS ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.ASSIGNED_TO    AS ASSIGNED_TO, 
      MEETING_TASK.ITEM           AS ITEM, 
      MEETING_TASK.Item_TYPE_ID   AS ITEM_TYPE_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.START_DATE     AS START_DATE, 
      MEETING_TASK.Due_DATE       AS DUE_DATE, 
      MEETING_TASK.INSTRUCTIONS   AS INSTRUCTIONS, 
      '1'                    AS MY_ASSIGNMENT, 
      MEETING_TASK.NAME, 
      MEETING_TASK.CONTAINER      AS CONTAINER, 
      MEETING_TASK.CONTAINER_TYPE_ID AS CONTAINER_TYPE_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.STATUS            AS STATUS, 
      MEETING_TASK.Agenda AS AGENDA,
      it.open_icon AS ICON,
      MEETING_TASK.CLASSIFICATION,
      MEETING_TASK.KEYED_NAME, 
      MEETING_TASK.CREATED_ON, 
      MEETING_TASK.CREATED_BY_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.OWNED_BY_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.MANAGED_BY_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.MODIFIED_ON, 
      MEETING_TASK.MODIFIED_BY_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.CURRENT_STATE, 
      MEETING_TASK.STATE, 
      MEETING_TASK.LOCKED_BY_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.IS_CURRENT, 
      MEETING_TASK.MAJOR_REV, 
      MEETING_TASK.MINOR_REV, 
      MEETING_TASK.IS_RELEASED, 
      MEETING_TASK.NOT_LOCKABLE, 
      MEETING_TASK.CSS, 
      MEETING_TASK.GENERATION, 
      MEETING_TASK.NEW_VERSION, 
      MEETING_TASK.CONFIG_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.PERMISSION_ID, 
      MEETING_TASK.TEAM_ID,
      lang.code                                                       AS language_code_filter
      FROM   innovator.Meeting AS MEETING_TASK
      INNER JOIN innovator.ITEMTYPE AS it on it.name = N'Meeting Task'
      LEFT OUTER JOIN innovator.LANGUAGE AS lang 
      ON lang.ID is NOT NULL 

   4. Click Save and Done to save and unlock the SQL Item.
   5. Navigate to Actions --> SQL Execute in the SQL window.
   6. Make sure that temporary View with name Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View is created in your database.

5. Rename view for Meeting Item Type.
   
   1. Navigate to Administration --> SQLs.
   2. Click File --> New or use the right mouse button (right-click) and select New SQL from the context menu.

   3. The SQL window appears. Configure the following properties:

      Name = Meeting_Task_Step03_Rename_View

      Type = Table Execution Flag = Manual

      SQL:

      Expand Collapse

      sp_rename 'Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View', 'Meeting_Task'

   4. Click Save and Done to save and unlock the SQL Item.
   5. Navigate to Actions --> SQL Execute in the SQL window.
   6. Make sure that temporary view Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Temp_View is renamed to Meeting.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Click Meetings in the TOC. In our example, we created a Meeting ItemType. The following menu appears:

3. Click CreateNew Meeting to create an instance of Meeting ItemType.
4. Provide the required information for the Meeting ItemType:
   
   • Container: Document
   • Name: Meeting Task
   • Start Date: Today
   • Due Date: Today+1
   • Status: Active
   • Assigned to: Administrators
   • Instructions: Activity Instructions 1
   • Item: Doc_1 (create if necessary)
5. Click Save, Done and Close.
6. Navigate to My Innovator --> InBasket.
7. Execute search.

The Meeting Task appears in the InBasket.

The InBasket Task is a Poly Source Item. To add a new column or a new property to any of the Poly Source Items, you need to add the column or the property to all the other Poly Source Items as well as to the InBasket Task Item. Adding a new column to the InBasket involves five main procedures, which are described in the following sections. Let us consider the example of adding a column named Agenda to the newly created Meeting ItemType.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> ItemTypes.

3. Search for the newly created InBasket ItemType in the search grid. Select the Item and open for editing. In our example, we have created the Meeting ItemType. Let us open the Meeting ItemType for editing. The Item window appears.

   

4. Click to unlock the ItemType.
5. In the Properties tab, click to create a new property. A blank row is added in the relationship grid.
6. Provide the required information for the property. In our example, we add the details for Agenda column.
   
   • Name: agenda
   • Label: Agenda
   • Data Type: Text
7. Click and .

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> ItemTypes.
3. From the grid, search for InBasket Task Item and open the Item for editing.
4. Click the Poly Sources tab.

The Poly Source Items appear.

You need to edit and add the property to each of the Poly Source Items. Start with the Workflow Task Item.

5. Right-click on the Workflow Task, click Open. The Workflow Task Item window appears.

   

6. Click to unlock the Workflow Task Item for editing.
7. In the Properties tab, click to create a new property.
   A blank row is added in the relationship grid.
8. Provide the required information for the property. Here we add the details for Agenda column.
   
   • Name: agenda
   • Label: Agenda
   • Data Type: Text
9. Click Save, Unlock and Close on the Workflow Task Item window.
10. Repeat step 5 to step 9 for Meeting Task.
11. Close the InBasket Task Item window.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> SQLs.
3. Search for the Drop SQL View that we created for the new ItemType. In our example, we created Meeting_Task_Step1_Drop SQL View. For more information, refer to section 5.2.3 SQL Table and View Execution.
4. Select Meeting_Task_Step1_Drop in the search grid, right-click and select SQL Execute from the context menu.
5. Search for the Create Temp SQL View that we created for the new ItemType.
   In our example, we created Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Temp_view. For more information, refer to section 5.2.3 SQL Table and View Execution.
6. Select Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Temp_view in the search grid, right-click and select Edit from the context menu.
   The SQL Meeting_Task_Step02_Create_Temp_view window is displayed.

7. Add the following line to the SQL field.

   Expand Collapse

   MEETING_TASK.Agenda AS AGENDA

   

8. Click and to save and unlock the SQL Item.
9. Click Actions --> SQL Execute in the SQL window and then close the SQL window.
10. Search for the Rename SQL View that we created for the new ItemType.
    In our example, we created Meeting_Task_Step03_Rename_View. For more information, refer to section 5.2.3 SQL Table and View Execution.
11. Select Meeting_Task_Step03_Rename_View in the search grid, use right mouse button (right-click) and select SQL Execute from the context menu.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> SQLs.
3. Rebuild SQL view for Workflow Item Task.
   
   1. From the search grid, search Workflow_Task_Step01_Drop.
   2. Select Workflow_Task_Step01_Drop in the search grid, right-click and select SQL Execute from the context menu.
   3. From the search grid, open Workflow_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View.
   4. Click to edit the Workflow_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View.

   5. In SQL field, add the following line:

      Expand Collapse

      CONVERT(NVARCHAR(128), NULL) AS AGENDA,

      

   6. Click and to save and unlock the SQL Item.
   7. Click SQL Execute from the Actions menu.
   8. Close the window.
   9. From the search grid, search Workflow_Task_Step03_Rename_View.
   10. Select Workflow_Task_Step03_Rename_View in the search grid, use the right mouse button (right-click) and select SQL Execute from the context menu.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to Administration --> ItemType.
3. From the grid, search for Workflow Task Item and click .
4. Save, unlock, and close the Workflow Task Item.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for the Meeting Task Item.
   
   Note

   InBasket Task won’t let you edit and save the Item Type until after you’ve saved, unlocked, and closed the Poly Items connected to it.
   
   
6. From the grid, search for InBasket Task Item and click .
7. In the Properties tab, click to create a new property.
   A blank row is added in the relationship grid.
8. Provide the required information for the property. In our example, we add the details for Agenda column.
   
   • Name: agenda
   • Label: Agenda
   • Data Type: Text

   

9. Click Save, Unlock and Close in the InBasket Task Item window.

1. Log on to Aras Innovator with administrative privileges.
2. Navigate to My Innovator --> My InBasket.

The InBasket search grid displays the newly added column. In our example, we can now see the newly added column Agenda […].

When creating an import package that adds a column to the Configurable InBasket you must ensure that the order in which the property is added to the PolyItems is correct or the import will fail. In the example below there are steps on how to create a package that will add a column that shows the Part_Number of an InBasket task.

1. From the source database, use the Export tool to export the Workflow_Task and InBasket_Task ItemTypes, and their corresponding SQL queries
   
   • The Workflow_Task and InBasket_Task ItemTypes, and SQL queries are located in the com.aras.innovator.inbasket package definitions

2. From the InBasket_Task.xml you will need to remove the following lines (typically located near the end of the file):

3. From the InBasket_Task.xml you will need to remove the new column property (shown below) to avoid errors during the import.

4. In the new import package folder, create an … /Imports/Fixes folder
5. Inside the fixes folder you will add the xml files shown below:
   
   • Workflow_Task.xml
   • InBasket_Task.xml
   1. 1 Workflow_Task.xml will look something like the following:

<AML>
<Item type="ItemType" id="321BD822949149C597FD596B1212B85C" action="edit">
<Relationships>
<Item type="Property" id="EB9B7F4B06064C378EF5CEC3E94FB58E" action="add">
<column_alignment>left</column_alignment>
<data_type>string</data_type>
<is_hidden>0</is_hidden>
<is_hidden2>0</is_hidden2>
<is_indexed>0</is_indexed>
<is_keyed>0</is_keyed>
<is_multi_valued>0</is_multi_valued>
<is_required>0</is_required>
<label xml:lang="en">test</label>
<range_inclusive>0</range_inclusive>
<readonly>0</readonly>
<sort_order>4608</sort_order>
<source_id keyed_name="Workflow Task" type="ItemType" name="Workflow Task">321BD822949149C597FD596B1212B85C</source_id>
<stored_length>32</stored_length>
<track_history>0</track_history>
<name>test</name>
</Item>
</Relationships>
</Item>
<Item type="ItemType" id="BC7977377FFF40D59FF14205914E9C71" action="edit">
<Relationships>
<Item type="Morphae" id="9657383E16C64B86AB06E17CDD20AE23" action="add">
<related_id keyed_name="Workflow Task" type="ItemType" name="Workflow Task">321BD822949149C597FD596B1212B85C</related_id>
<sort_order>128</sort_order>
<source_id keyed_name="InBasket Task" type="ItemType" name="InBasket Task">BC7977377FFF40D59FF14205914E9C71</source_id>
</Item>
</Relationships>
</Item>
</AML>

The code highlighted in yellow is taken from the exported Workflow_Task.xml where the information is that of the property that will be used for the new column. The code highlighted in green is taken from the deleted lines of the InBasket_Task.xml.

2. 3 Inbasket_task.xml will only include code to add the new column property as shown below:

<AML>
<Item type="ItemType" id="BC7977377FFF40D59FF14205914E9C71" action="edit">
<Relationships>
<Item type="Property" id="6DCBE94B46044404B74F15A613A02811" action="add">
<column_alignment>left</column_alignment>
<data_type>string</data_type>
<is_hidden>0</is_hidden>
<is_hidden2>0</is_hidden2>
<is_indexed>0</is_indexed>
<is_keyed>0</is_keyed>
<is_multi_valued>0</is_multi_valued>
<is_required>0</is_required>
<label xml:lang="en">test</label>
<range_inclusive>0</range_inclusive>
<readonly>0</readonly>
<sort_order>1024</sort_order>
<source_id keyed_name="InBasket Task" type="ItemType" name="InBasket Task">BC7977377FFF40D59FF14205914E9C71</source_id>
<stored_length>1024</stored_length>
<track_history>0</track_history>
<name>test</name>
</Item>
</Relationships>
</Item>
</AML>

6. To ensure that the fixes folder is imported with the import tool, you will need to add the path as follows:

<package name="com.aras.innovator.solution.InBasketFix" path="InBasketFix\Import">
<dependson name="com.aras.innovator.inbasket" />
</package> 

It is possible to set up the Configurable InBasket to handle multiple languages so that it selects the values appropriate to the client environment. The following sample shows how to adjust the InBasket to handle the German locale:

1. Edit the Workflow_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View SQL item.
   
   1. Open the Workflow_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View SQL item for editing.

   2. Change the query for Instructions column:
      From:

      Expand Collapse

      COALESCE(CASE WHEN lang.CODE='en' THEN act.MESSAGE END, act.MESSAGE) AS INSTRUCTIONS,

      To:

      Expand Collapse

      COALESCE(CASE WHEN lang.CODE='en' THEN act.MESSAGE
      WHEN lang.CODE='de' THEN act.MESSAGE_DE END,
      act.MESSAGE) AS INSTRUCTIONS,

   3. Change the query for Activity column:
      From:

      Expand Collapse

      COALESCE(CASE WHEN lang.CODE='en' THEN act.label END, act.label, act.NAME) AS NAME,

      To:

      Expand Collapse

      COALESCE(CASE WHEN lang.CODE='en' THEN act.LABEL 
      WHEN lang.CODE='de' THEN act.LABEL_DE END,
      act.LABEL, act.NAME) AS NAME,

   4. Save, unlock, and close the Workflow_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View SQL item.

2. Rebuild SQL view for Workflow Item Task.
   
   1. From the search grid, search for Workflow_Task_Step% SQL items.
   2. Right-click on Workflow_Task_Step01_Drop in the search grid and select SQL Execute from the context menu.
   3. Right-click on Workflow_Task_Step02_Create_Tmp_View in the search grid and select SQL Execute from the context menu.
   4. Right-click on Workflow_Task_Step03_Rename_View in the search grid and select SQL Execute from the context menu.