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Tracking Asset Changes Using the Change Queue
Tracking Asset Changes Using the Change Queue

View, audit and process asset changes on your base via a central feed

R
Written by Raymond Carrel
Updated over a week ago

Overview and Benefits of the Change Queue

When an in-life asset is changed in The Layer, associated records on third party billing systems may also need to be changed.

The Change Queue feature provides a way to quickly and easily set up tracking for changes to specific fields within asset records, where a direct API link doesn't exist.

This allows administrators to view and track all changes centrally, prompting changes to be checked and updated on third party billing or provisioning platforms.

Your external platforms may have different requirements; fields enabled for change tracking are fully customisable by Billing Route, which can be set as early as product inventory, or later on, once an asset has been created. However you decide to implement this, all changes will be traced centrally, for onward processing on third party billing or provisioning systems.

The Change Queue and Billing Queue apps are Premium features, used most effectively together. If you're interested in making use of this functionality, please contact your Account Manager.


Before You Start - Understanding Billing Routes

Before you start using this feature, it's important to understand that changes are tracked by Billing Platform, so it's important to create and link Billing Platforms to your inventory.

Once inventory items are assigned default billing routes, these carry through to the converted asset information; however, the default can be amended manually at any time from quote through to converted asset. For information on how to create Billing Routes and assign these to your Inventory items, see this article.

It's important to note that the Change Queue tracks services only.


What's the workflow for tracking asset changes?

As illustrated below, we track changes on:

  1. Asset Edit via Customer Record

  2. Asset Upgrade/Update via Data Capture

  3. Asset Update via Data Manager

Workflow for change tracking

How do I set up the Change Queue?

⚠️Permission required: Apps - Change Queue


Firstly, ask an administrator to enable the App - Change Queue role for your user account.


Create Billing Platforms

Navigate to Settings - Integrations - Billing Platforms.

If your Billing Platform is not already created, click the + Add New button, give your platform a name, a description and click Save.

You don't need to fill in the functions or statuses areas at this stage, you can fill these in later, see this article for information on how to do this. We'll fill the templates area in later in this article.

Tip: if the Default box is checked, the Billing Platform will be automatically selected when the Billing Queue App is opened. See this article for more information.


Select which operations to track

Next, decide which properties you wish to track. This can be customised per Billing Platform, so you may need to repeat this for each one.

You can select the tracking operations from the menu, then click Save. Currently, only Update operations are supported.


Please note that the Change Queue is not able to track changes where a field is set to or from a null value, with the exception of Cease Date and Expiry Date; all changes to these two fields will be tracked.

Example: the below change in either direction will not be picked up.

Changing the site from one to another will show an entry in the Change Queue.

⚠️Info: You may use the Data Capture Action New and Cease in your instance of the Layer; asset changes from New and Cease Actions are not tracked in the Change Queue.

For more information on Data Capture actions, see this article.


Adding Change Queue Export Templates

If you wish to export your change queue for a particular platform, you can create an export template from Settings - Integrations- All Billing Platforms.


Here, you can view existing templates or create a new one, by selecting New Change Queue Export.

To create a new export, fill in the required fields, then Save:

Template Name* (mandatory): name of your template
Display Text* (mandatory): this is how your export will appear in the Change Queue.
Template Description: brief description, to be visible on the "all templates" grid view.
Platform Feature: if your export will relate to a specific feature or integration, select this from the drop-down list.
Change Queue Export Schema: if you've selected a platform feature in the field above, this drop-down menu will contain the available export schemas for selection, if available.



Assign Change Queue Export Templates to your Billing Platform

Next, return to the All Billing Platforms menu and select your Platform Name. Your Export Template will be selectable in the Change Queue Export Templates field. Add as many as required to this field and click Save Changes.

Your Export Templates will now be visible as export buttons in the Change Queue.


How can I use the Change Queue to track asset changes?

Permission required: Apps - Change Queue


Viewing the Change Queue

Within Apps, you'll see the Change Queue application.


View by Billing Platform

Your default Billing Platform will appear automatically; you can use the drop-down menu to toggle between platforms, or view all platforms together.


View by Changed Field

Within the Billing Platform view, you can opt to View All changes, or filter by change field. Your sidebar displays live counts of new changes per entity, so you can quickly filter and view only those changes which require your attention.

The queue is comprehensive and you'll see a full breakdown of all tracked fields which have changed, including the field which has been changed, it's old and new value, which user made the changed and the change date:


Process Asset Changes

Users can mark each item as processed, or ignore if the change isn't relevant. You can use the check boxes beside each line item, or select Check All.

Once you've made your selections, confirm the action:



Select a reason for the update:


This will apply the selected reason to all checked changes.

You can include completed changes in your view, or show all changes:


Customise your view of the Change Queue

If you wish, you can also customise your view of this grid by dragging the column headers along. This is helpful if certain users have particular fields they pay more attention to as part of their role! When you have your columns in the required order, click Save.

Selecting Confirm will auto-apply the view settings the next time you access the Change Queue.
Selecting No will allow you to Load the saved view the next time, if you choose.

This bar will then display a Customised message if non-default view settings are in use. You can click Reset to reverse this to default at any time.


Finally, users with permission can choose to apply their view settings to other users. Click Apply to to open the multi-select screen for both users and teams, make your selections and click Apply.

Permission required: Allow grid customisation for Users or Teams


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