How To Use IBM App Connect To Build Flows

This article illustrates three scenarios that demonstrate how you can use IBM App Connect to build flows that integrate with apps. The connectors that we will use for these scenarios are;

1. IBM Sterling Order Management (OMS) - a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, designed for organizations to either enhance their existing e-commerce initiative or launch a new omnichannel initiative. OMS helps manage complexities and improve an organization’s supply chain efficiencies and business responsiveness by cost-effectively orchestrating global product and service fulfilment across the extended enterprise.
2. Zendesk Service - a cloud-based customer service platform that is designed to improve communication between an organization and its customers. It helps to keep businesses in sync, you can view, organize tickets, and generate reports or analytics. It delivers an omnichannel customer experience.
3. IBM OpenPages with Watson - an AI-driven, highly scalable governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) solution that runs on any cloud. It functions within a single environment and is designed to help identify, manage, monitor, and report on risk and regulatory compliance.

Scenario 1 - IBM Sterling Order Management

IBM App Connect supports connecting to an IBM Sterling Order Management System account by using either a REST API or an IBM MQ server.

You can use IBM App Connect to perform actions or events on the following objects:

Connect to IBM Sterling Oms (Via Rest)

Provide the following information to connect IBM App Connect to your IBM Sterling Order Management System account:

Connect to IBM Sterling Oms (Via MQ)

Provide the following information to connect IBM App Connect to your IBM Sterling Order Management System account:

‘*’ - Indicates mandatory fields

Create Orders in IBM Sterling Order Management System for Orders Created in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales

Consider this simple scenario where you use IBM App Connect to create orders by using the IBM Sterling Order Management System’s create order asynchronous operation whenever any new orders are created in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales.
For example, in this flow, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales checks for a new sales order every 5 minutes, and if a new sales order is created, an order is created in IBM Sterling Order Management System.

Create a Pickup Ready Order Event Through Flexengage Based on the IBM Sterling Order Management System Delivery Method

Consider the sequel scenario where flexEngage creates a pickup-ready order even if the IBM Sterling Order Management System delivery method is empty. An email is then sent from flexEngage with the order pickup details.

1. The event-driven flow is triggered whenever a new order is created in the IBM Sterling Order Management System.
2. The flexEngage ‘Create confirm order event’ operation notifies the consumer via email that the order has been confirmed with the order details.
3. The flow includes an If and Else conditional statement node to process each of the orders.
   1. If the IBM Sterling Order Management System DeliveryMethod is empty, the flexEngage ‘Create pickup ready order event’ operation notifies the consumer via email that the order is ready for collection with the order pickup details.
   2. Else, the flexEngage ‘Create ship order event’ operation notifies the consumer of the order shipping details via email.

Scenario 2 - Zendesk Service

The connection fields used to connect IBM App Connect to your Zendesk Service account differ based on your chosen authorization methods. You can opt to log in to IBM App Connect by using BASIC, BASIC OAUTH, API KEY, OAUTH 2.0 CODE, or OAUTH 2.0 PASSWORD authorization methods.

Provide the following information to connect IBM App Connect to your Zendesk Service account.

For more information about connection fields, see How to use IBM App Connect with Zendesk Service.
The following are Zendesk Service objects that can be run in IBM App Connect.

IBM App Connect allows users to create custom objects on Zendesk Service.

Create a Ticket in Zendesk Service When a New Email Is Received

Consider the following scenario where you use IBM App Connect to create a flow to integrate Zendesk Service with an email service provider and a messaging application.

Zendesk Service creates a ticket with the email details and attachments when you receive a new email through the connected email server account. A notification gets sent through a Slack channel upon successfully creating a ticket.

The steps involved in this event-driven flow are as follows:

1. The event-driven flow is triggered whenever a new email is received through the connected email server account.
2. The Zendesk Service Create ticket operation creates a ticket when a new email is received. For example, a ticket is created with the email details such as the subject, description, and sender email address.  
3. The Zendesk Service Upload attachment operation uploads the attachment (if any) with the attachment’s file name and content in binary format.
4. The Zendesk Service Create ticket comment operation uploads the attachment.
5. A Slack message gets sent to the intended channel with the ticket details.

Tips

   Before you add the email attachments to the flow, there are a few things you should know.

1. You can attach files only to the comments in the ticket.
   1. Upload the attachment to a new ticket comment.
      1. To add an attachment to a ticket comment, you need to copy the token received in the Upload attachment response.
      2. Paste the token received from the Upload attachment response into the Uploads property of the Create ticket comment operation. By pasting the token, it adds the attachment to the ticket comment.
   2. Upload an attachment to an existing ticket comment (multiple attachments).
      1. To upload multiple attachments to a ticket comment, you need to paste the previous token in the Token property of the Upload attachment operation.
         1. Copy the token received in the Upload attachment response.
         2. Add the token that is received from step (i) to the current Upload attachment's Token property.
         3. Paste the token received from the Upload attachment response into the Uploads property of the Create ticket comment operation.
   3. You can attach the attachment to a ticket comment in any one of the following operations.
      • Create ticket
      • Update ticket
      • Create ticket comment

Create an Incident or Problem in Servicenow When a Ticket Is Created in Zendesk Service

Consider the sequel scenario; when a ticket is created in Zendesk Service, an incident or problem is created in ServiceNow, and a Slack notification gets sent to the relevant squad.

The steps involved in this event-driven flow are as follows: 

1. The event-driven flow is triggered whenever a new ticket is created in Zendesk Service. In this flow, Zendesk Service checks for new tickets every 5 minutes.

2. Include an If and Elseconditional statement node from the Toolbox.
   1. If the Zendesk Service ticket type is ‘incident’, an incident is created in ServiceNow. A Slack message is sent to the intended channel with the incident details.
   2. Else if the Zendesk Service ticket type is ‘problem’, a problem is created in ServiceNow. A Slack message is sent to the intended channel with the problem details.

Scenario 3 - IBM OpenPages With Watson

To allow IBM App Connect to your IBM OpenPages with Watson account, you need to fill the connection fields that you see in the IBM App Connect Designer Catalog page or flow editor.

The following are IBM OpenPages with Watson objects that can be run in IBM App Connect.

You can define custom properties on objects, which will be discovered by IBM App Connect based on the account used.

For more information on connection fields and Templates gallery, see How to use App Connect with IBM OpenPages with Watson.

Create an Issue in IBM OpenPages With Watson When an Incident Gets Created in Servicenow

Consider the following scenario; when an incident is created in ServiceNow, an issue is created in IBM OpenPages with Watson. This flow helps you to keep incident data in sync between ServiceNow and IBM OpenPages with Watson.

For this scenario:

1. The event-driven flow is triggered whenever a new incident gets created in ServiceNow.
2. If, the ServiceNow incident priority is greater than 4:
   1. ServiceNow retrieves the system user based on the system user ID.
   2. IBM OpenPages with Watson retrieves the user along with the username details.
   3. If the ServiceNow user exists in IBM OpenPages with Watson, a Slack message gets sent to the intended channel. This message is sent to notify you that the user will not be created in IBM OpenPages with Watson.
   4. Else, IBM OpenPages with Watson creates the user with the user’s details, and a Slack message gets sent to notify you that the user is created.
   5. IBM OpenPages with Watson creates an issue that is assigned to the user with the incident details.
3. If the ServiceNow incident priority is not greater than 4, a Slack message gets sent to the intended channel. This message is sent to notify you that an issue will not be created in IBM OpenPages with Watson.

Add a Document in IBM Watson Discovery When a File Gets Created in IBM OpenPages With Watson

Consider the following scenario; when a file is created and downloaded in IBM OpenPages with Watson, the document gets added to IBM Watson Discovery.

For this scenario:

1. IBM OpenPages with Watson checks for new files every 1 minute.
2. If a new file gets created, the file gets downloaded by IBM OpenPages with Watson.
3. The file gets uploaded as a document in IBM Watson Discovery.

You can view the Templates gallery in your IBM App Connect Designer instance.

• Create an issue in IBM OpenPages with Watson when an incident is created in ServiceNow.
• Add a document in IBM Watson Discovery when a file is created in IBM OpenPages with Watson.

You must enable the Designer AI features in your containerized environment in order to access the IBM App Connect templates. For more information, see The preloaded IBM App Connect templates.

You can also import these use cases directly into your IBM App Connect Designer. These templates are added to a public GitHub repository.