Defining Workflows

Revision as of 04:56, 19 November 2010

What is a Workflow

A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps, that are run when conditions are met.
The Dictionary definition is: It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms.

Workflows are triggered by meeting a condition, or reaching a step defined in the workflow process.
By looking at the Tabs in the Workflow Tasks it can be said to be broken down into:
General - What type of Workflow am I
Condition - When do I start
Reminder - What do I do when I start
Updates - Do I need to update any fields in the system after I have started.

Defining Workflows for Objects

We first of all need to select the Object we wish to create the workflow for. Our choice of the object will be based on the information we are collecting.

Workflow Types

Workflow types define when an action should be triggered. The Workflow types are:

• Create New Records - Workflow is triggered when a new record is created
• Update Existing Records - Workflow is triggered when an existing record has been updated
• Create New or Update Existing Records - Workflow is triggered when a new record or an existing record has been updated
• Time Based - Workflow is triggered when a time condition has been met.

Examples

An Example of a Time Based Workfow Type: Employee Birthdate
We could setup an Employee Birthdate workflow with the conditions of where the Employee birthday is less than 3 days. When the condition of 3 days before the Employee Birthday is met an action is triggered.

An Example of a Create New or Update Existing Records Workflow Type: Employee Address Update Notification.
When an employees address details are updated or a new record inserted, a notification can be automated.

Task Type

Task Types define what the workflow type is when it is triggered. The Task types are:

• Reminder - Send the recipient a reminder that a certain task or action is required within the system.
• Request - Send the recipient a request to be completed before the workflow can continue. Workflow Forms can be attached to requests.
• Checklist - Send the recipient a checklist of action and tasks that they are required to complete.

External Approvals

Enables the recipient of the workflow to make an action on the workflow without having to log into the Subscribe-HR portal.

Workflow Conditions Explained

A Workflow needs to know when to start (when to be triggered) and thats what the conditions are for. Every condition that is added uses an AND statement meaning each condition must be met or the workflow is not triggered.

A considerable amount of flexibility exists in the Subscribe-HR system. You may notice the available fields in the conditions are not all from the same object. In fact the Subscribe-HR system allows you to select fields from the parent object as well as the child object.

Example: Say you were creating a Workflow for Employee Property. The parent object is 'Employee' and the child is 'Employee Property' this means you have access to all fields in the Employee Object and the Employee Property Object. A further example could be Jobs and Job Benefits.

To add a condition select a field from the drop down. You may notice that the drop down contains the field name and in brackets (the object name).
Example: Date Allocated(Property) simply means that we are reading the Date Allocated field from the Employee Property Object.

Workflow Updates Explained

Updates simply refer to a nominated field being updated as a result of a defined value.
After a workflow is triggered the update can be performed additional to the reminder.

A considerable amount of flexibility exists in the Subscribe-HR system. You may notice the available fields in the Updates are not all from the same object. In fact the Subscribe-HR system allows you to select fields from the parent object as well as the child object.

Creating a Workflow for an Object

1. After logging into the Subscribe-HR portal, select the Development TAB
2. Select the Objects folder.
3. Select the Object that you wish to define a workflow for.
4. Select the Workflow Tasks sub-folder.
5. Select the create button.
6. Decide whether the Workflow is Active or not
   If this is set to Yes then the Workflow is active in the system, and when triggered the workflow will carry out its task.
7. Enter the name of the workflow you are creating.
8. Select the Workflow type as defined above.
9. Select the Workflow mode
   Standard Workflow Mode should be used for most Workflows created where the conditions inside the workflow are adequate.
   The Custom Condition Workflow Mode option is available as some areas of the system have pre-programmed custom conditions that cannot be otherwise defined by the Standard Workflow Mode, if selecting the custom condition you loose the ability to define your own conditions.
10. Select the Save button.

Conditions Tab

1. Select the Conditions Tab
2. From the first drop down select the field that you want to trigger the workflow on.
3. Select the condition that applies to the selected field.
   If the selected field is a date field than the operator would be Is Less Than or Was More Than, If the selected field is a Yes / No field then the operator would be Equals To.
4. Select the value from the drop down, The value changes depending on the field chosen, If the field choosen is a date field the value would contain date / time periods such as 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week. If the field chosen is a Yes / No field then the value is more likely to be Yes or No.
5. Additional conditions can be added by selecting the Add condition link.
6. Select the Save button.

Reminder Tab

1. Select the Reminder Tab.
2. In the Due Date Field drop down select the date field that the reminder should be sent.
   Example: If we select Start date (Employee) then a reminder is sent on the Employee's Start Date.

Main Receipients (Managers and Approvers)

1. Send to Employee Manager - select Yes or No in the drop down
   If this is Yes then the Employee's manager will receive the Main Template.
2. Send to Location Manager - select Yes or No in the drop down
   If this is Yes then the Location manager will receive the Main Template. (Location managers are defined under the Maintenance Tab, Locations Folder)
3. Field On The Form - This allows you to delegate an email address that is entered into a field on the Object form.
   Example: If the Object we are working with is the Employee Object then all email address fields found in the Employee object will be listed in the Field On The Form drop down. The email address that is saved on the delegated field is the email address that the Field On The Form Template will be sent to.
4. Send to Users - select the users you wish to receive the reminder. The list of users are users of the Subscribe-HR System, any selected user will receive the Main Template.
5. Main Template - select the template that you wish for Employee Manager, Location Manager, Users and Other Email Addresses to receive.

Other Receipients (Requesting Entities)

1. Send to Employee - select Yes or No in the drop down
   If this is Yes then the Employee Template will be sent to the employee. If No then nothing is sent to the employee.
2. Employee Template - select the template that the employee should receive
   This template will only be received by the employee if Send To Employee is set to Yes.
3. Field On The Form - This allows you to delegate an email address that is entered into a field on the Object form. The email address on the form will be sent the selected Template from the

Other Receipients (Requesting Entities) Template drop down.

1. Send to Record Creator - This will allow the person who created a record from this form to be sent the selected Template from the Other Receipients (Requesting Entities) section.
2. Template - The selected template will be sent to anyone who is delegated in the Other Receipients (Requesting Entities) section
   

Note: It is important to know that when creating a Request Task Type Workflow that
the Other Receipients (Requesting Entities) section is used for the employee making the request and the Main Receipients (Managers and Approvers) section is used for the managers dealing with the request.

Example: If we are setting up a Leave Request workflow, we use the Main Receipients Managers and Approvers) section to delegate which managers receive the request to approve or deny, and what template they would receive.

We would then use the Other Receipients (Requesting Entities) section to delegate if we wish to send a template to the Employee, and which template to send them.

Updates Tab

1. Select the Updates Tab.
2. From the first drop down select the field you wish to update as a result of this workflow being triggered.
3. Select the Operator
   The operator changes depending on the field chosen, If the field chosen Is a Yes / No field then the operator would be Equals To, If the field chosen is date field the Operator is more likely to contain Plus or Minus
4. Select the Value
   The value changes depending on the field chosen, If the field choosen is a date field the value would contain date / time periods such as 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week. If the field chosen is a Yes / No field then the value is more likely to be Yes or No.
5. To update additional fields select the Add update link and select the field from the next drop down.
6. Select the Save button.
   

This is not mandatory or is it necessary to have fields automatically updated as a result of a workflow being executed.