Microsoft Patches Biggest "Feature Request" with Service Manager 2012r2 UR7

I could not resist using this image

Here we are at UR7 for Service Manager and for better or worse, sarcasm, and negativity aside - it looks like Microsoft has finally seen fit to improve the core product and not focus on just the data warehouse. To what am I referring? "Click Apply and Die".

If you've been working in Service Manager, no doubt you've eventually run into the issue where you create some type of Work Item, hit apply, make some changes, hit apply again and then Service Manager vomits...

 

Just reading the sentence is simple enough, expanding for more information and you may feel you need as though you need to be working on the development team for SCSM to understand what's going on. What's more, if you've never seen the error (or as I'm assuming, you've seen it repeatedly) - eventually you start to realize that the error occurs when you've made a change, out of box SCSM workflows engage altering the state of the work item, and when you try to update the error occurs.

Starting with UR7 for SCSM 2012 R2 - the error is no more! Well. Sort of. I'll be honest, I'm fine with the error so long as I know just what exactly changed...

Which you do now! Way to go UR7! Want to know how I really feel? Scroll to the top and stare at the image longer. Ok. But that's just a text box. It tells me what exactly changed which is useful. I wish I had a better idea that it was happening...

WABAM!!! THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE SERVICE MANAGER ROCK MICROSOFT!

Alright. That...that is pretty cool. To be fair, it should have just been there on day 1.

Hey. Easy there. You sound more cynical than me. Only kidding. I'm with you! If you said the above while witnessing the new UR7 functionality you are not alone! This is one of those things that seems like it should have just been there since release. At least this is something they saw fit to just up and resolve (no less at the SDK level!) and not eschew to vNext. As a result, this doesn't jeopardize any custom workflows you may have created, that you may have purchased from 3rd parties, so in other words...brilliant!

Also an interesting really minor update they made in UR7 -

If a User changes from having a manager in AD to NOT having a manager, the relationship is not updated in the CMDB. With UR7, SM will sync these changes too.

As you may recall, I published a post some time ago about creating Direct Report style requests and in it apart from the two to three custom management packs you'll have to develop to achieve it the one that now I technically have to recount is Travis Wright's blogpost from 2009 and using that as a reference I said "this is how you can get the enabled property of users into Service Manager." Technically speaking, with the above fix you don't have to leverage the Enabled property on said Service Requests anymore. HOWEVER! It doesn't mean that the enabled property within Service Manager can't be useful elsewhere! Maybe reactivate disabled accounts? Ehhh? Ehhh?!?

Seriously. Microsoft. Guys. Girls. SCSM Product Team. Whoever on that development team over there. Way to go and knock out what only can be referred to as an "essential." If this is any indication of your new CEO's company then I politely ask...

Please do not stop

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