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Common Tasks
Product has tasks and behaviors that are common throughout the application, and can be applied in many of its functions. For your convenience, they are listed here.
Close vs Cancel buttons
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Admin, the system should visually tell you if you have made any changes to the Role object while you are editing it.
"Close" vs "Cancel"
Guidelines
- When you are on any "edit" page (Robots, User, Roles, Schedule, Settings, etc.) the system will show the "Close" button if you have not made any change to the data.
- When you click the "Close" button, the system will take you to the previous page from where you came.
- As soon as you make the first edit to the page, the system will change the "Close" button to the "Cancel" button.
- At any given time, the system will show either the "Close" or "Cancel" button; their position on the page will be the same.
Context-sensitive Help in Product 11.0 pages
- Audience & purpose
-
As a Product Admin you want to see "Schedules" specific help when you are trying to create a new schedule and click on help.
- A user may need to refer to help content when trying to perform an action.
Description
When you are opening the Help from any Product page, the system will take you to the page specific help.
- For example, when you are on the "Create User" page in Product, click "Help with current page" in the Help menu to take you to the "Create User" specific help page.
Security
Note:
- You must authenticate to access the Help content.
- If you have already authenticated yourself and the session is active, the system will directly open the Help content.
Create a new automation
- Audience & purpose
-
As an Automation Admin you want to run your Robots on your enterprise devices. You also want to schedule automations.
- This is the equivalent of running an Automation and creating new Schedules in version 10.3 LTS.
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This also allows running an automation or a scheduling from four different places.
- For example, in addition to the Repository page, a new automation can be triggered from the "Devices", "In Progress", and "Scheduled" pages.
Product schedule management
Note the following points.
- You can reach the "Create New Automation" page from the "In Progress" page or from "Scheduled" page.
- You can also reach this page from the "Robots" and "Devices" page.
- Breadcrumbs are shown depending on the page you came from.
- For example: "Automations → In progress → New automation" or "Automations → Scheduled → New automation".
- Icons on all the pages will show tool-tips when hovered over.
Using the Name+Robot tab
Guidelines:
- When you reach the "Create New Automation" page from the "In Progress" or "Scheduled" pages, the "Name+Robot" tab will be shown.
- The "Automation Name" field will be populated by default with a "Robot Name" followed by the "timestamp" which includes milliseconds.
- You can edit the pre-populated "Automation Name".
- In the "Select Automation Robot" section, only "TaskRobots" will be shown.
- You can select a TaskRobot and save the details.
- The "Save" & "Next" buttons will be enabled only when you have either selected a Robot, or edited the default Automation Name.
- As soon as a TaskRobot is selected, the system will identify and show its dependencies in the preview of the third tab ("Files+Queue").
- Click the "Save & Next" button to collapse the "Name+Robot", and
- The tab preview will show the name of the Automation and the Robot.
- You will see a check mark for 3 seconds and the "Schedule+Devices" expanded tab will be shown.
Using the Schedule+Devices tab
Guidelines:
- By default, the Schedule occurrence will have the "Run Now" option selected.
- This means a Robot will immediately be run (not being scheduled for future run).
- You can select one or more devices or Device Pool(s) where the Robots will run.
- For the selected devices, you can see the details of upcoming schedules.
- As soon as a Robot and a Device are selected for a particular automation, the "Run Now" button at the top will be enabled.
- If the "Schedule Occurrence" is selected other than "Run Now", the "Run Now" button will change to "Save Changes".
- You will not be allowed to "Save Changes" unless a Robot and Device is selected for the Automation.
- Once you have made choices for Schedule Occurrence and Devices, clicking the "Save" button will collapse all the tabs with "Schedule Type", and "Devices" will be shown in the tab preview.
- You will see a check mark for 3 seconds, then the "Files+Queues" expanded tab will be shown.
Using the Files+Queue tab
Guidelines:
- This tab will show a preview of the Robot dependencies.
Using the "Create New Automation" page from the Robots page
Guidelines:
- If you come to the "Create New Automation" page from the Robots → My Robots page, you will land on the "Schedule+Devices" tab since the Robot was already selected.
- The "Name+Robot" tab will preview the "Robot Name" and the "Default Automation Name".
- The breadcrumb trail will display "Robots → My Robots → New Automation".
- When you land on this page "Dependencies" will be previewed in the third tab, per the already selected Robot.
Using the "Create New Automation" page from the Devices page
Guidelines:
- If you come to the "Create New Automation" page from the Devices → Robot Runners page, you will land on the "Name+Robot" tab.
- The "Schedule+Device" tab will preview the "Schedule Type" as "Run Now" along with the selected Devices.
- The breadcrumb trail will display "Devices → Robot Runners → New Automation".
- When you click "Run Now", the running Robot will be displayed in the "In Progress" table.
Credential Vault data should not be cached or stored outside of the Credential Vault
- Audience & purpose
-
As an Automation Expert you are storing your mail server details in Credential Vault.
- You do not want the system to show any of that data in the auto-complete browser form.
Security aspects
Any data that is to be stored in Credential Vault, should not be stored/cached anywhere outside of the Credential Vault.
- Control Vault data is sensitive.
- It must be encrypted by AES-256 and should only be stored in the Credential Vault.
- It should not be stored in the browser cache in plain text form.
Displaying a Product page name in a browser tab
- Audience & purpose
-
As an Product Admin you want a Product browser tab to show an easily recognizable preview of an application.
- When there are many tabs opened in a user's browser, only the "Control" or "Product" part may be visible to the user. The complete name should identify the application.
- If different Product applications such as (Product, Robot Insight, RobotFarm) are opened side by side, the application name will tell which tab is for which application.
Description
Product pages will show "Product | <page title> | Product" as the name of the tab.
- Mouse hover on the tab will show the full name of the tab: "Product | <page title> | Product".
- The preceding <page title> is the name of the page which is opened in the user's browser.
Displaying a "Page not found" message
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Admin, when you are visiting a page and the page does not exist (e.g., the object was deleted), the system will show you the appropriate message.
Description
When you are trying to access a Product page that does not exist (e.g., you are returning to a page and the object was deleted) the system will show the message, per the following screenshot.
- This confirms that the page does not exist.
Security aspects
This message should not be shown when you do not have access to a particular page.
- When you do not have permission to view a particular page, the system will show the following message.
You do not have permission to view this page. Contact your system administrator.
Displaying a toast message for a successful action
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Administrator you want to see a confirmation/toast message when you have successfully created a new user account.
Success toast message
Guidelines:
- The toast message will be a "Success" confirmation message and the same for all the features.
- The toast will auto-disappear in three seconds.
- If you hover over the toast it be kept on screen.
- You can immediately hide it by clicking the "Close" icon.
- Only one toast message will shown at a time.
Displaying error messages
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Administrator, you want to be notified when Product is not able to process your request.
Viewing an error message
Guideline:
This will notify you what went wrong, why it went wrong, and the corrective action you can take.
Exporting table data from Product
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Product Administrator, you want to export the list of inactive users from Product. This will allow you to quickly share the automation data with outside parties.
Exporting table data
You will be able to export selected data or the complete data from the any of the Product tables.
- Selecting the "select all" checkbox and export will result in the export of all the data present in the table, even if the complete data set is not loaded on screen.
- You will be able to export the filtered data from the table. See the following screenshot.
- If the data table has some hidden columns, the system will ask for confirmation from you if these hidden columns should also be exported. See the following screenshot.
- If you click "Export" without selecting any table item, the following message will be displayed.
- Columns in an exported CSV file will be in the same order as that on user's screen (consider your column reordering).
- Exported data will be per the sorting applied by the user on the screen.
- Data will be exported in a CSV file.
- The format rule for the name of the exported CSV file is: <Page title>.<YYYYMMDD>.<HHMMSS>.
- For example: Audit Log.20170725.180500 (as per the format rule).
Audit logging
The system will log an Audit entry for the export operation.
Filtering table data on a Product page
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Administrator, you want to see the list of users whose first name is "Michael". This facility will help users quickly reach the needed information.
Data filtering guidelines
Filtering should be performed on the entire data in the respective table, and not just on the visible data available on the page.
- You will be able to perform a free text search on all of the columns of a data table.
- For example, when you type "Status=line", the system will show results wherever "Status" contains "line".
- For the Devices table, all devices with offline status will be listed.
- When you filter column names, the system will provide dynamic suggestions.
- For example, when you are searching for usernames and type "Robe", suggestions will keep narrowing down with every additional character typed.
- Only existing values will be considered for suggestions.
- You will be able to select the value of a column from a pre-defined list of available auto-populated search terms.
- For example, if you want to filter on "Status", you will be shown "Connected", "Disconnected", and "Offline" values from which to choose.
- The search term count will also be displayed and keep getting updated as and when search terms are updated.
- If you have filtered some records and then do a sort:
- The sorting will be performed only on the filtered data as per the applied filter on the entire data table (e.g., from the backend).
- If you selected some rows from the table, then when filtering them the row selections will be cleared.
Using "AND" vs "OR"
- When you perform a search on one column, you will be able to further update the search results.
- If a second search is performed on a different column, it should be treated as "AND".
- For example, Status=Disconnected "AND" name=John.
- If a second search is performed on the same column, it should be treated as "OR".
- For example, Status=Disconnected "OR" Status=Offline.
Remembering filters
Filters will be applied for the session you are logged into (e.g., it will not change when you refresh the page, go to some other page, etc.).
- Filters will be reset to their defaults the next time you login.
- If the system automatically logs you out, the system will remember your last filter.
Help Tray
- Audience & purpose
- As an Automation Expert you want to refer to online help documentation from Product.
Description
This provides one central place from where all help resources (online help/support mail/phone number/website) can be reached.
- The Help Tray can be opened via a "question mark" icon located on the right-side of the toolbar.
- The Help Tray is not accessible to any user who does not have Product access.
- All users must authenticate with Product to access Help.
Internationalization support in Product 11.0
- Audience & purpose
- As a Japanese Product admin you want to see Product in the Japanese language.
Description
You will be able to configure Product in foreign languages at the time of installation.
- Once a locale is selected from the installation, you will not be able to change the locale.
- Once a locale is selected, the Product UI only show the selected language and not English (labels, messages, etc.).
- The system will allow a language expert to configure the labels and text on the Product User Interface (e.g., it will not only be a plain translation from English to Japanese).
- The front-end and back-end will have a resource file.
- Quality Assurance will be done for the German, Spanish, and Japanese languages.
- Internationalization:
- Will have no impact in API-based calls.
- Will have no impact on backward compatibility.
Security
Internationalization will not change the security architecture of the platform in any way.
Lazy-loading of data in Product tables
- Audience & purpose
-
For Product users, this topic describes the common behavior for the loading of data in all Product tables. This includes:
- Less waiting time loading table data: Data is loaded in smaller chunks instead of loading all table data in one go.
- Less load on the server: Server performance is not adversely impacted in servicing other requests.
Lazy-loading data
The system will get the first 100 records per the default sorting and load them in the table.
- When you scroll, load the next set of 100 records per the sorting.
- If you perform sorting or filtering, repeat the above process from scratch (e.g., JIRA sorting).
- When you select several row items, keep scrolling down, and finally perform a bulk operation (e.g., delete, export), the system will perform the bulk operation on all of the selected items. (e.g., export row number 12, 102 and 902).
Page refresh and warning message across Product pages
- Audience & purpose
-
As an Automation Admin you want the system to reload the data entered by yourself when you refresh your Product page to fetch the latest system data.
- For example, when you are creating a role and then refresh the page, the system will reload the role name, description, and other details entered by you.
- At the same time, a list of available users will reflect the latest data.
-
Also,
- You need to be warned of any possible data loss if you unintentionally navigate to some other Product page.
- On page refresh, the system will reload the user-entered data to save you time.
Page Refresh
Page refresh will always show the latest data to you (e.g., system data coming from the back-end).
- When you move from one page to another, the latest data will be shown to you.
- For example, if you go to the table landing page, then to the Details/Edit page or vice versa, you will always see the latest data.
- If you are in the middle of a Create/Edit of an object (user, role) and you refresh the page, the system will reload the data that was entered by you.
Selected table items
The table items selection will stay for the entire user session. This includes page refresh, page switches, etc.
Permission check before action
When you perform any action on a page:
- The system will first check whether you have the corresponding permissions.
- The actioned object(s) exists at the time of performing the action.
Warning Message
Note the following guidelines.
- Whenever you have performed any item selection, filter, or sort, and you are moving to a different feature page, the system will show the following warning to you in a pop-up message:
If you navigate away from this page, your changes made may not be saved. Are you sure you want to proceed?
- The preceding message will also be shown when:
- You are in the middle of a Create/Edit item from any of the tables, and instead of clicking on primary page actions (e.g., "Save", "Cancel", or "Run"), you click on any other button/link (e.g., primary navigation, bread crumb, back button).
Show/hide table columns control
- Audience & purpose
- As an Anywhere Automation Enterprise Expert you don't want to see "Source" details in the Audit trail. This control enables you to hide the Source details column and personalize the page view.
Control description
Using this control, you will be able to hide any column that you want, unless specified otherwise (usually there is one column that cannot be hid).
- You will be able to see that column later on.
- All columns that you hide will appear at the bottom of the control.
- As soon as you select/unselect a column from the table icon, that action will immediately be reflected in the table.
- A newly "created/shown" column will be added to the right of the first column in the table by default.
- To close the control, click anywhere outside of the control.
- This control will be available on all "Landing-page" tables:
- Activity → In Progress
- Activity → Schedule & Run
- Administration → Users
- Administration → Roles
- Audit Log
- Robots → Credentials
- Robots → My bots
Showing the count of selected items in Product data tables
- Audience & purpose
-
As an Automation Product Admin, you want to see the count of how many user records are currently selected.
- This will help you understand how many records you are going to export.
- It will help you understand that a table level operation (e.g., export, bulk delete, bulk pause, etc.) will be performed on a number of table records.
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Sometimes, selected items could be very far away from each other.
- For example, item number 7, 34, 65, and 98 are selected from a list of 100 items.
- This count will directly tell you the number of records which will be impacted by table level actions (e.g., export, delete, etc.).
Showing the count of selected items
The system will show the count of items selected by you for all Product tables (such as Users, Roles, Audit Logs, etc.).
- The system will retain the selected items:
- Upon page refresh/reload.
- If you go to the "View details" page of any of the items.
- If you move to a different feature page, the system will remove the selected items.
Sorting table data
- Audience & purpose
-
As an Automation Admin you want to sort Devices data as per the "Username" data table column.
- This will enable a quick re-arrangement of data for better visualization (e.g., sorting with regard to time)
Sorting a column
Guidelines:
- You can to sort up to three data table columns by pressing the [Shift] key.
- Sorting will be performed on the entire table data and not just the data that is currently visible to you.
- Column headers will display the applied sorting.
- The system will remember the last sort applied by you per session.
System message types
- Audience & purpose
-
For all Product users, these are descriptions of the different types of messages used in Product applications:
- Error
- Warning
- Confirmation
- Informational
Error messages
An error message alerts users of a problem that has already occurred.
- By contrast, a warning message alerts users of a condition that might cause a problem in the future. Error messages can be presented using system-level messages, on-page messages, field-level messages, or modal dialog boxes.
- Effective error messages inform users that a problem occurred, explain why it happened, and provide a solution so users can fix the problem. Users should either perform an action or change their behavior as the result of an error message.
- Well-written, helpful error messages are crucial to a quality user experience. Poorly written error messages result in low product satisfaction, and are a leading cause of avoidable technical support costs. Unnecessary error messages break a users' flow.
Warning messages
A warning message is a system-level message, on-page message, field-level message, or modal dialog box that alerts the user of a condition that might cause a problem in the future.
- The fundamental characteristic of warnings is that they involve the risk of losing one or more of the following:
- A valuable asset, such as important financial or other data.
- System access or integrity.
- Privacy or control over confidential information.
- User's time (a significant amount, such as 30 seconds or more).
Confirmations
A confirmation is a modal dialog box that asks if the user wants to proceed with an action.
- Confirmations have these essential characteristics:
- They are displayed as the direct result of an action initiated by the user.
- They verify that the user wants to proceed with the action.
- They consist of a simple question and two or more responses
- Confirmations are most useful when the action requires the user to make a relevant and distinct choice that cannot be made later.
- That choice often involves some element of risk that isn't obvious to the user, but risk isn't essential to confirmations.
- These elements are necessary to justify the interruption of responding to a modal dialog.
Informational message
The information in an informational message is useful and relevant, but never critical.
- Consequently, informational messages do not require immediate user action and users can freely ignore them.
- They can be seen in a system-level message, on-page message, field-level message, or modal dialog box.
Message types
Message types are classified according to their orientation within the application.
- System-level message
- If the message is system-wide (for example, cannot connect to server).
- The message will appear at the top of the page, above the page title.
- Page-level message
- The user gets the message after clicking the command button.
- Page refreshes:
- The message appears at the top of the page, below the page title because the page has refreshed.
- If the message is lower on the page, the user might not see it.
- If the message is related to a field, mark the field.
- Field-level message (text fields)
- A user will see this either while they are typing or after moving to the next field, but before they click the command button.
- It appears above the field so as to not interfere with text suggestions.
- Modal message
- Used rarely.
- Used for confirmation of destructive acts.
- Used to educate users about something. For example, "You cannot delete that because you do not have the permissions."
- It always has one or more command buttons.