I ran into this problem when creating a workflow for a standard time off type of request - there wasn't a way to force the 2nd date (in this case, the end date) to key off of the 1st, or start, date and therefore prevent the user from selecting something like 9/27/08 to 9/25/08 for his/her time off.

A coworker of mine helped me come up with a way of comparing the dates inside of the form itself, rather than looping out of the form. This way, the workflow would not progress if the end date was not greater than the start date and we can utilize custom validation to handle both the model and the error message. Consequently, the user would be required to fix the date issue right then and there.

There may be an easier/quicker way to handle this, but here's what we came up with:

In this example scenario, we...

We've been using the Workflow Solution for several months now, and while the integration with Altiris Helpdesk is pretty tight, it is missing some key features that just drive me nuts. One of those is the inability to dynamically assign a worker to an incident.

To solve this issue, I've created a simple SQL integration component that queries the Worker table for a list of all the active workers and queues, and their associated Worker ID number. This list can then be put in to a drop down list component. Once a user selects a user name, the associated variable also returns the worker ID. This can then be used in the Associations tab of the Create incident component.

In some situations, your workflow process may need to be split into two or more separate streams. For example, you might need to have three people approve a request before continuing. If you did them sequentially, it would take a lot longer to obtain all the necessary approvals.

Updated: Correction, the parallel tasks are not discarded upon the first path reaching an end point. However, the practice of merging is still extremely important to avoid accidental firing of downstream tasks and data dependencies that may not exist. To implement merging, execute the following steps.

Add the Workflow.Advanced.dll to your project by clicking on the "Import Components" button in the left pane of the Designer interface. Select the highlighted item and click Add.

If you can't find the Altiris Agent tickle function in Workflow, this one is for you. For the uninitiated, the tickle function refers to the ability of the NS to instruct a managed computer to check-in immediately, as opposed to waiting for its next scheduled check-in interval. It's commonly used when you need a handful of computers to immediately perform an NS related activity such as installing software or applying a patch.

From the toolbox in Workflow Designer, use Altiris > Platform > Altiris Agent > Execute Power Management Cmd to target one or more computers by Guid.

Use Altiris > Platform > Altiris Agent > Execute Power Management on Collections to target one more collections of computers.

...