Rolling out an activity

For a partner to be able to complete an activity, you need to roll out the activity to the partner.

The activity must be created in the activity designer and also must be saved as Final.

To test the activity before you mark it final, highlight the activity in the Definitions tab, click the arrow in the Actions column, and select Test. You can also click Test when the activity is open for editing. You must have test mode set up first.

If the activity to roll out includes an API, consider this information about DNS updates:
Important: When new domains (URLs) are created and new Domain Name Service (DNS) records are added to an external DNS, it can sometimes take 8-48 hours for the changes to fully propagate to the SoftLayer DNS servers. This delay can occur whether the URL is in the sponsor's company's network or in a third-party network. The delay can also occur if there is a public DNS change for any URL or domain that IBM PEM accesses. However, the impact normally is experienced only the first time a new URL is used.

For example, <domain>.com is part of an API call in an IBM PEM activity. If the IP address behind this domain changes for any reason (possibly due to a failover on <domain>.com), it takes this designated amount of time for the SoftLayer DNS to update. Until that time, anyone who runs the IBM PEM activity still uses the old IP address. The API call fails until after the new IP address is updated in the SoftLayer DNS.

You can roll out an activity to partners with the status Registration Pending, Approval Pending, and Approved, but not to partners with the status Rejected.
Note: Any partner in a pending status receives an email notification when an activity is rolled out to the partner.

When you roll out an activity, any roles that were added for a task are associated with the activity.

  1. Sign in to the PEM Portal as a Sponsor Administrator.
  2. Select Activities. The Definitions tab is displayed.
  3. In the Actions column for the activity, click Rollout. The Activity Rollout window is displayed.
    Tip: If Rollout does not appear in the Actions column, you might need to mark the activity as Final instead of Draft.
  4. Provide a name for the activity, an optional description, and an optional date by which the activity is expected to be closed.
  5. Optional: To schedule email notification alerts or notify partner users to complete the activity, enter the alert information:
    1. Enter the Due Date by when the sponsor expects the partner to complete the activity.
    2. Enter the Alert Start Date indicating the date from when the email notification alerts are sent.
    3. Enter the Alert Interval indicating the email notification alert frequency in days.
  6. Click Next. On page 2 of the Activity Rollout window, you can map context data elements.
    1. To supply values for context data, click the mapping button (...) next to the context data XML tree.
      A window with two panes is displayed. One pane has a tree of XML nodes and the other pane is a mapping window for providing the value for the selected node. If the node is an API configuration, activity file or image file, a table is displayed when the node is selected. Otherwise, a text box is displayed.
      Note: The elements that are displayed in the mapping window depend upon the element that is selected. For example, if an API configuration node is selected in the mapping tree, only API configuration table records are displayed in the mapping window. For image nodes, Logo files are displayed, and for activity nodes, Activity files are displayed.
    2. Select a node and enter a value for the node. For API configuration, file, or image nodes, select a row to map the data.
      You can also click Unmap to unmap a value.
      When you click Next, the values are set in the context data XML. In the case of an API configuration, Activity file, or image file, the primary key is stored in the XML code.
  7. Click Next.
    On page 3 of the Activity Rollout window, you can choose whether to roll out the activity to partners by name or by partner groups or attributes. On the Groups tab, you can select a group or search by group name to filter the list of groups. You can also click Attributes or Trading Partners to display the list of attributes or partners.
  8. Choose at least one way to roll out the activity:
    • To companies in a specific group: Go to step 9.
    • To companies with a specific attribute value: Go to step 10.
    • To companies by name (under Trading Partners): Go to step 13.
  9. To roll out the activity to partners by associated group, select the check box next to the group name.
    1. Select a group in the Group List, and click the right arrow ("greater than" symbol) (>) to add the group value to the Selected Group List.
      Note: You can also click the left arrow ("less than" symbol) (<) to move a group out of the Selected Group List.
    2. Optional: Enter a group name in the Search by group name field.
      If the group exists, it is listed in the Group List.
  10. To roll out the activity to partners by attribute value, click Attributes.
  11. Select an attribute type from the list.
    A list of values for the attribute is displayed.
  12. Select the check box next to the attribute value.
    1. Select an attribute value in the Attribute Value List, and click the right arrow ("greater than" symbol) (>) to add the attribute value to the Selected Attribute Value List.
      Note: You can also click the left arrow ("less than" symbol) (<) to move an attribute out of the Selected Attribute List.
    2. Optional: Enter an attribute value in the Search by attribute value field.
      If the attribute value exists, it is listed in the Attribute Value List.
  13. To roll out the activity by partner name, click Trading Partners.
    A list of partners is displayed, and you can search by using the following IDs to filter the list:
    • You can search for SSO enabled partners using the Company Name/Unique ID, User ID, or Email ID.
    • You can search for SSO disabled partners using the Company Name/Unique ID or User ID.
  14. Select the check box next to the partner name in the Partner List.
    1. Click the right arrow ("greater than" symbol) (>) to add the partner to the Selected Partner List.
      Note: You can also click the left arrow ("less than" symbol) (<) to move a partner out of the Selected Partner List.
    2. Optional: Enter a partner name in Search by partner name field.
      If the partner exists, it is listed in the Partner List.
  15. When you are finished selecting groups, attributes or partners, click Next.
    A summary displays the groups, attributes, and partners to which the activity is going to be rolled out.
  16. Click Finish.
    An email notification is sent to the selected partners, stating that an activity is assigned to their organization. You see a confirmation message.
  17. Click OK to close the confirmation message.
    Tip: For optimal performance while rolling out an activity through Rollout REST API, rollout to 50 or less number of partners in a single REST API call.