Assign actions and playbook blocks

You can assign actions or playbook blocks to a specific user or SOC role in the playbook designer. The assignee decides the outcome of the manual action or playbook block for the playbook run. You have the option to include a message about the action that needs to be taken by the assignee. You can also enable Time to respond and add in the time they have to complete the action. The timer starts the countdown from when the playbook reaches that part of the flow.

If they don't respond in the time allotted to the action, the action will fail. When you build your playbook, make sure to use If Step fails to decide whether to stop the playbook entirely at this stage or skip this step. You can also use the conditional step If previous Step failed in order to push the playbook flow in a different direction.

For more information on assigning actions to end users, refer to Assign Approval Links in Actions.

Assign an action in a playbook 

1. Double-click the required action in the playbook. 
2. Select Manual from the Action Type list.
3. Select the user or SOC role from the Assign To list.
4. Add a message explaining what needs to be done. You have the option to insert a placeholder in your message. This message will be displayed to the user in the Pending Actions widget in the case overview and in Your Workdesk
5. Optionally, enable Time to respond and enter the time that the action needs to be completed by.
   If the user does not respond in the time selected here you can choose to use the If Step fails together with If previous action fails in the next playbook conditional step in order to control the flow.
6. Click Save.

After a playbook is triggered, usually following an alert being ingested into the platform, it runs until it gets to the manual action. This action appears in the Pending Actions widget in the case overview and in Your Workdesk. The user needs to execute or skip the action. 

Assign playbook blocks

1. Open the required playbook with an existing block.
2. Double-click the playbook block. Note that the block is displayed in green.
3. Select Manual Action from the Action Type list.
4. Select the user or SOC role from the Assign To list.
5. Add a message explaining what needs to be done. You have the option to insert a placeholder in your message. The user will receive a message when their input is required.
6. If required, enable the Time to Save field and enter the time for the assignee to approve or decline the playbook block.
7. Click Save.

After a case has been ingested into the platform and an alert triggers the playbook, it runs until it gets to the manual action. The manual action appears in the Pending Actions widget in the case overview and alert overview or on Your Workdesk. If the Time to respond field has been filled out, then a ticker will appear with the time the user has left to respond to this action.