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Application Interviews

Purpose

Application Interviews is the Clarity Transform menu group for structured interviews with application owners. It has three screens:

  • Interview Questions, where you configure the questions asked in an interview.
  • New Interview, where you start an interview session for an application, send the invite and commit the confirmed answers.
  • All Interviews, where you open an existing session to resume or review it.

A session is created when you start an interview on New Interview.

Where to find it

  • Discover → Application Interviews → Interview Questions
  • Discover → Application Interviews → New Interview
  • Discover → Application Interviews → All Interviews

Interview Questions

The screen header is Interview Questions. Its subtitle reads: "Configure interview questions for app owner meetings. Simple questions can still map directly to one field, while richer question kinds can define grouped, sequencing, or contextual prompts across the related records already scoped into an interview session."

Question design guide

A Question design guide card on the screen has these sections:

  • How scope resolution works: lists the scopes root, related-devices, related-applications, related-databases and mixed.
  • Which question kind to use: lists the question kinds simple-field, grouped-confirmation, sequencing and contextual-note.
  • Field mapping rules: covers field_name, config_json, targetFieldName / noteFieldName and help_text.
  • Sequencing example: a JSON example.

Columns

All questions are in one grid. Each question carries its own Entity Type, Scope Type and Question Kind.

  • Question Text
  • Question Kind
  • Scope Type
  • Entity Type: the configured values are Application, ApplicationService, Device and Database.
  • Field Name
  • Display Order
  • Is Active
  • Answer Type: the configured values are Auto, Dropdown and Freeform.
  • Is Required
  • Help Text

Actions

The grid uses the standard toolbar: the add icon (tooltip Create New followed by the entity name), the edit icon, Remove selected, Clear selection, Reload table data, Enable spreadsheet editing, Export CSV and Import CSV. There is no page-level save button.

Each row has a View Details action (the eye icon).

Form

The add icon opens the Create new entry form. The edit icon opens the Edit entry form, with the same fields filled in. No field is marked as required. The fields, in order:

  • Question Text
  • Question Kind: simple-field, grouped-confirmation, sequencing or contextual-note. Help: "simple-field updates one field per target. grouped-confirmation applies one shared answer to all resolved targets. sequencing captures ordered steps for related records. contextual-note writes one shared note back to the configured field."
  • Scope Type: root, related-applications, related-application-services, related-devices, related-databases or mixed. Help: "root targets the selected record. related-* targets come from the entities already resolved into the interview session and move-group scope. mixed uses every scoped entity in the session." The form offers related-application-services, which the on-page guide does not list.
  • Entity Type: Application, ApplicationService, Device or Database.
  • Field Name: help: "Required for simple-field. For sequencing use the persisted sequence field (for example migration_sequence). grouped-confirmation and contextual-note can leave this blank when config_json supplies targetFieldName or noteFieldName."
  • Display Order: a text box.
  • Is Active: a checkbox, unchecked by default.
  • Answer Type: Auto, Dropdown or Freeform.
  • Is Required: a checkbox, unchecked by default.
  • Help Text: help: "Shown directly in the interview form. Use this to explain why related records appear and what the interviewer should confirm before saving the response."
  • Config Json: its help gives two JSON examples, one for sequencing (with targetEntityType, targetFieldName set to migration_sequence, requiredFieldName and requiredValue) and one for contextual notes (with noteFieldName set to migration_planning_notes). There is no Config Json column in the grid.

These fields are hidden in the form: Id, Created On, Created By, Last Updated and Last Updated By.

The footer has Cancel and Save.

Filters

Each column has a filter row, and the grid has a Search: box and a page-size selector (10, 25, 50 or All entries per page).

The grid remembers its Search: text, column filters, sort order and page size between visits. If the grid shows fewer rows than you expect, clear the Search: box and the filter row.

Add a question

  1. Go to Discover → Application Interviews → Interview Questions.
  2. Select the add icon in the grid toolbar. The Create new entry form opens.
  3. Enter the Question Text, and choose the Question Kind, Scope Type, Entity Type and Answer Type.
  4. For a simple-field question, enter the Field Name the answer updates. For the other kinds, see the Field Name and Config Json help in the form.
  5. Set Display Order, and select Is Active to use the question in interviews.
  6. Select Save, or Cancel to close the form without saving.

New Interview

The screen header is App Owner Interview. Its subtitle reads: "Conduct structured interviews with application owners. Start a session for the selected application, send a secure invite when needed, then review and commit the confirmed answers back into Clarity.Web."

How the interview handoff works

A card on the screen sets out the handoff in four steps. In the card's own words:

  1. Start the session: "Pick the move group and application, then click Start Interview. That creates the working session and resolves the root app plus any related devices, applications, or databases in scope."
  2. Send the interview: "Use Send Invite from the session banner to email a secure public link. Clarity suggests the root owner email automatically, but you can override it before sending."
  3. Capture responses: "The recipient can save drafts and submit through the public link. Their answers update the interview session, but they do not write directly to CMDB fields."
  4. Commit from Clarity: "Back in the internal session, review the recorded responses and use Commit Changes to apply the approved updates to applications, devices, and databases."

Fields and actions

  • Move Group: a select list. The default is All Move Groups.
  • Application: a select list (placeholder Select an application...). Each option shows the application and its owner.
  • Start Interview

You choose one application. Devices are not selected directly: the related devices, applications and databases are resolved when the session starts, as the card above describes.

Dialogs

  • Interview Notes: a text box (placeholder "Add any notes from this interview...") and a Close button.
  • Send Interview Invite, with the field Recipient email and the buttons Cancel and Send Invite.
  • Commit interview changes to CMDB, with the buttons Cancel and Commit to CMDB.
  • Application Relationship Graph, with the buttons Tree Graph, Force Graph, Reload and Close.
  • Import from CSV, the standard import dialog, with Select CSV File and the buttons Cancel and Import.

These dialogs need a session, so they are read from the page; they are not opened before you start an interview.

The screen also has a device override table with the columns Device, Owner, OS and Environment.

Start an interview

  1. Go to Discover → Application Interviews → New Interview.
  2. Optionally, select a Move Group to narrow the Application list. It is not required.
  3. Select an Application.
  4. Select Start Interview. Clarity creates the interview session.

Send the invite

  1. In the session banner, select Send Invite. The Send Interview Invite dialog opens.
  2. Check the Recipient email. Clarity suggests the root owner email; you can change it.
  3. Select Send Invite.

Before an invite is sent, the session banner reads "No invite has been sent yet. Use Send Invite to email a secure link to" followed by the suggested address. After an invite is sent, the banner summarises it: Recipient, Status, whether the link has been opened (Opened with the date and time, or Not opened) and when the link Expires.

Resend, copy or expire the invite

With an invite sent, the session banner also has Resend, Copy Link and Expire Link.

  • Resend: sends the invite again.
  • Copy Link: copies the interview link to your clipboard ("Interview link copied"), so you can send it another way.
  • Expire Link: stops the current link working. Confirm "Expire the current interview link?" to go ahead.

Once the interview is completed or committed, Send Invite, Resend and Expire Link are no longer shown. The copy button becomes Copy Read-Only Link, which copies a link to the recorded answers that cannot be used to change them ("Read-only interview link copied").

Handle a follow-up request

From the interview link, the recipient can ask for a follow-up meeting. The session's status then shows Follow-up Requested.

  1. Open the session: on All Interviews, select it and select Open Interview.
  2. Read the follow-up card: its Status, when it was requested, the recipient's preferred time and the scheduled time where given, and any Recipient notes.
  3. Arrange the meeting with the recipient.
  4. When the follow-up is dealt with, select Mark Follow-up Handled. The follow-up card is then no longer shown. The button is not offered once the follow-up meeting is booked (status Follow-up Booked).

Commit the answers to the CMDB

The recipient's answers update the interview session only. The CMDB is updated when you commit them.

  1. In the session, review the recorded responses. Each question has a Requires technical review checkbox, and a response flagged this way shows a Tech Review label.
  2. Clear every Requires technical review tick once the review is done. While any is ticked, the commit is refused with "Clear all "Requires technical review" flags before committing to CMDB."
  3. Select Commit to CMDB. The Commit interview changes to CMDB dialog opens and warns that this updates CMDB data. Select Commit to CMDB again to confirm, or Cancel to go back. Only answers that differ from the record are written ("N field(s) committed to CMDB"), and the session's status becomes Committed. The commit also sends an outcome email to the application owners, and the message says how many owners it is sending to. If the email could not be sent, or some owner entries are not valid email addresses, the message says so and is shown as a warning. Each written field is recorded in the Activity Log as InterviewFieldCommitted, with the old and new values; commits do not appear in the Change Log.

The session also has Save Draft and Complete Interview Only. In the session's own words: "Complete Interview Only saves the interview and marks it ready for review. It does not update CMDB fields." Use it when you want to save the interview and come back later without writing to the CMDB.

All Interviews

The screen header is All Interviews. Its subtitle reads: "View all interview sessions. Select a session and click Open Interview to resume an in-progress interview or review a completed one."

Columns

  • Root Entity Name
  • Root Entity Type: values seen are Application and Owner.
  • Move Group
  • Interviewed By
  • Started At
  • Completed At
  • Status
  • Notes

Values

  • Status: values seen are In Progress, Invite Sent, Invite Failed, Follow-up Requested, Committed, Completed - Awaiting Review and Expired / No Response (one value). Follow-up is recorded as the Follow-up Requested status, not as a separate field.

Actions

  • Open Interview: opens the selected session.
  • The grid toolbar has the edit icon, Remove selected, Clear selection, Reload table data, Enable spreadsheet editing, Export CSV and Import CSV. It has no create icon: sessions are created from New Interview.

Each row has a View Details action (the eye icon).

Form

There is no create form. With a session selected, the edit icon opens the Edit entry form. Its fields, in order:

  • Root Entity Name
  • Root Entity Type
  • Move Group
  • Interviewed By
  • Started At: a text box.
  • Completed At: a text box.
  • Status: free text, not a list.
  • Notes: a multi-line text box.

These fields are hidden in the form, and are hidden columns in the grid: Root Entity Id, Id, Last Invite Opened At, Created On, Created By, Last Updated and Last Updated By.

The footer has Cancel and Save.

Filters

Each column has a filter row, and the grid has a Search: box and a page-size selector (10, 25, 50 or All entries per page).

The grid remembers its Search: text, column filters, sort order and page size between visits. If the grid shows fewer rows than you expect, clear the Search: box and the filter row.

Resume or review an interview

  1. Go to Discover → Application Interviews → All Interviews.
  2. Select a session in the grid.
  3. Select Open Interview.
  • Application Mapping: the service map of applications and their relationships.
  • Project Directory: contacts with the Include In Interview Invite and Include In Interview Meeting Request flags.
  • Activity Log: records the InterviewInviteSent, InterviewInviteOpened, InterviewInviteFailed and InterviewFieldCommitted events.
  • Move Groups: the move groups listed in Move Group on New Interview.