Manage Workflows

Users that have the Customize Objects permission can manage workflows

Create a Workflow

To create or edit a workflow:

1. Click Designer > Objects > {object}
2. Click the Workflows tab
3. Click the [New Workflow] button
4. Drag the Add State, Add Action, and Add Decision Box tools into the work area to build your processes.
5. In the Properties section, complete the following information:

   Title

   Title of the workflow

   Name

   Name of the workflow

   Learn more: About Workflow Titles and Names

   Enabled

   Enable or Disable the workflow

Clone a Workflow

To create a copy of a workflow:

1. Click Designer > Objects > {object}
2. Click the Workflows tab
3. Click the Clone link for the workflow you want to copy,
   Or visit a workflow and click the [Clone] button.

Note: If an active workflow is cloned, both the new clone and the original workflow are in force. For any given record, then, there will be two sets of action buttons with the same names, that do the same thing (at least until one of the workflows is modified). To prevent the duplicate buttons, use the Workflow Start and End Dates described below.

Workflow Start and End Dates

When you create or edit a workflow, you can specify start and end dates in the workflow properties. Those dates determine when a workflow is in force, or active.

To define a cutover point for two workflows, make the start date for one the same as the end date for the other. (Both changes take place at midnight, or at time 00:00:01 of the date specified.)

Create New States, Actions, and Decision Boxes

The workflow designer area provides an interactive click-and-drag/drag-and-drop interface to add new States, Actions, and Decision Boxes.

To add a State:

1. Hover the cursor over the Add State tool to display a tooltip with instructions on how to use the tool
2. Click and drag the State tool to the work area and drop it into place
3. In the Workflow Dialog Box, enter the requested information

To add an Action:

The Action arrow connects two states or connects a state and a decision box.

To connect two states:

1. Hover the cursor over the Add Action Tool to display a tooltip with instructions on how to use the tool
2. Click and drag the Action Tool to the work area
3. Hover over the first state and drop the tool (release the mouse button)
4. Move the mouse and Hover over the second state
5. Click the mouse button to connect the action arrow to the second state
6. In the Workflow Dialog Box, enter the requested information

To connect a state to a decision box:

1. Hover the cursor over the Add Action Tool to display a tooltip with instructions on how to use the tool
2. Click and drag the Action Tool to the work area
3. Hover over the state and drop the tool (release the mouse button)
4. Move the mouse and Hover over the decision box
5. Click the mouse button to connect the action arrow to the decision box
6. In the Workflow Dialog Box, enter the requested information

To connect a decision box to a state:

1. Hover the cursor over the Add Action Tool to display a tooltip with instructions on how to use the tool
2. Click and drag the Action Tool to the work area
3. Hover over the decision box and drop the tool (release the mouse button)
4. Move the mouse and Hover over the state
5. Click the mouse button to connect the action arrow to the state
6. In the Workflow Dialog Box, enter the requested information

To add a Decision Box:

1. Hover the cursor over the Add Decision Box tool to display a tooltip with instructions on how to use the tool
2. Click and drag the Decision Box tool to the work area and drop it into place
3. In the Workflow Dialog Box, enter the requested information

Workflow Dialog Boxes

A Workflow Dialog Box opens when any Action, Decision Box, or State (including Start State/End State) is created or selected for editing.

Edit an Intermediate State

An intermediate state is any state other than the Start or End state.

1. Click the State icon in the work area
2. Fill in the information below.
3. Click [Save]

Basic Information

Title - Title of the state (displays in the Workflow Designer GUI)

Name - Name of the state (like a field name. Used in APIs.)

Allow the Record Owner to edit the record in this state

Lets the record owner edit the record, even if not allowed to do so, ordinarily.

Learn more: About Workflow Titles and Names

Task Owners

These are the workflow "decision makers"--the Users who have permission to advance the workflow.
(In that sense, the original submitter is also a "decision maker".)

Choose one or more of the following:

• Specific User - Choose a User.
• Record Owner - Designate the Record Owner as a task owner.
• Manager of Record Owner - Designate the record owner's manager.
• Manager of Task Owner(s) - Allow the manager of any workflow owner to make decisions.
• Users with a Specific Role - Choose a Team and an application Role.
• Choose User at Runtime - The User taking the action chooses the Task Owner for the next state.

• To make it easier for the user, specify the team the user can pick from.
• By default, every user is listed.

• Use a Class - A Workflow Task Ownership Class can be specified.
• Lookup Target - For each field that is a Lookup to the User object, the name of that field shows up as a choice.

For example: If there is a User-lookup field labeled "Reviewer", then Reviewer shows up as a potential Task Owner.

• Manager of Lookup Target - The manager of each user-lookup target is also listed as a potential Task Owner.

Checkbox options

• Send Email - Task Owner(s) receive an email when a record transitions to this state.
• Create Tasks - A task is created for the Task Owner(s) when a record transitions to this state.
• Allow Edits - Allow the Task Owner to edit the record.
• Post a Feed - Post a message to the Task Owner's feed.

Tip: It's a good idea to allow either the record owner or the task owner to edit a record in any given state, because no one else is allowed to edit a record in that state, even if their role and team permissions would otherwise allow them to do so. So if neither the record owner or the task owner is given edit permission, the record is uneditable until it is moved to a new state.

Edit an Action

1. Click the title in an Action arrow in the work area
2. Fill in the information below.
3. Click [Save]

Basic Information

Title - Title of the action

Name - Name of the action

Learn more: About Workflow Titles and Names

Target State Task Owner

Use this option to automatically assign a previous task owner as the new Task Owner for the record.

• 'As defined in Target State -' The list of task owners defined in the Workflow state remains in force.
• 'Previous Decision Maker -' The User who took the last action on the record is the new (and only) Task Owner.
• 'Manager of Previous Decision Maker -' The manager of the User who took the last action on the record is the new (and only) Task Owner.

For example:

• A "More Information Needed" action can automatically assign the developer who sent a request to Q/A as the new Task Owner.
• A "Could Not Reproduce" action can automatically assign the user who submitted a bug report as the new Task Owner.

Notifications

Optionally choose additional Users to Notify when this action is taken.

Criteria

Optionally create complex criteria to determine whether the action is available for a given record.

• This section is shown for actions that transition directly to a state. It is not shown for actions that take the record to a decision box.
• The action is only available when the criteria are satisfied. (They evaluate to TRUE.)
• If the action is not available, the action button is not displayed

Criteria Builder

Use the Criteria Builder to define:

• Basic Criteria, learn more: Filter Expressions
• Advanced Criteria, learn more: Formula Expressions

Edit a Decision Box

1. Click the Decision Box icon in the work area
2. Fill in the information below.
3. Click [Save]

Basic Information

Title - Title of the decision box

Name - Name of the decision box

Learn more: About Workflow Titles and Names

Edit the Start State

1. Click the Start State icon in the work area
2. In the Basic Information section, complete the following information:

   Title

   Title of the state

   Name

   Name of the state

   Learn more: About Workflow Titles and Names

3. In the Workflow Initiator section, complete the following information:

   Workflow Initiator(s)

   Specify users who have permission to initiate the workflow

   Choose from: Specific User, All Users, Users with a Specific Role

4. Click [Save]

Edit the End State

1. Click the End State icon in the work area
2. Fill in the information in the Basic Information section.
3. Click [Save]

About Workflow Titles and Names

In some workflow dialog boxes, the following options are available:

Title

Title of the workflow element

• This title is displayed in the workflow

Name

Name of the element

• This name is an internal name, used by developers in APIs
• Name must contain only alphanumeric (a-z A-Z 0-9) and underscore (_) characters are allowed, no spaces

Best Practices

• Finalize and test workflows with test records to verify the workflow process, then delete test records before adding real data.
• Updating or changing a workflow process can have unexpected results if data records have been added to the object and their state is changing. For best results, disable all actions on the Object to ensure that all records are in states that exist in the modified process.

Workflow Processing by Email

This feature allows users to take action (such as approval or rejection of a request) by email, without requiring them to login to the platform user interface.

Prerequisite

• The Workflow Processing by Email option is enabled in the Company Information settings.

Setting Up Workflow Processing by Email

To do workflow processing by email:

1. Add a Workflow.

2. Specify a decision-maker for each State.

3. Mark the "Send Email" checkbox for each decision maker.

When the workflow is activated, the decision maker in each State receives an email from "Company Name Workflow". The message contains important details related to the workflow.

To process the workflow:

4. Reply to the email message:

• Include the desired Action in the first line of the email body.
• The second line can include any comments related to this action.
• The third line can contain the user ID or the user's full name.
  (This line is only processed if User Choice is specified as the the decision-maker for the next state. (The decision maker in the current state specifies who the decision-maker will be in the next state.)
• Additional comments are ignored.

When the email reply is received, the record takes the action specified in the message.

Error Conditions

Invalid Action

If an invalid action is entered (or mistyped), the decision-maker will receive an email with the subject Invalid Action. Please enter valid action to process Workflow. The content of the email message will list the valid actions. To correct this action, Reply to the email message and select a valid action to update the workflow and move the record to the next state.

Lack of Workflow Owner in Next State

While processing the workflow, the platform also checks for the owner(s) of the next state of the workflow.

If the next state owner(s) are missing then user will get an email with subject Next State Workflow Owner(s) not Available. Please update the Workflow.

In this scenario, the workflow designer should edit the workflow to add owner(s) to the workflow before proceeding. After doing this they can reply to this email with proper action to move the workflow to the next state.

Templates in Workflows

When you automate a business process in a Workflow, you have the option to send email notifications based on state changes in the workflow.

The Templates option allows you to create personalized email messages that are sent automatically from the workflow. For example, a request is submitted for review, so an email notification is automatically sent to the requester.

If no templates are added to the workflow, the system default templates are used.

Each workflow can only have one Notification Template and one Global Workflow Template. A State-Specific Workflow Template can be used to override the Global Workflow Template for a specific state. Replies to the emails can also be used to trigger actions.

Create or Edit a Workflow Template

1. Click Designer > Objects > {object}
2. Click the Workflows tab
3. Choose a workflow.
4. Click the Notification Templates link.
5. Choose an existing Template, or click the [New Template] button to add a new template
6. Choose one of the following Template Types, then click [Next]:

   Notification Template

   Used to inform all record owners and additional users (specified in an action) of the state change

   Global Workflow Template

   Used to inform the workflow owners that an action from them is required

   State-Specific Workflow Template

   Used to inform the workflow owners that an action from them is required for a specific state (overrides Global Workflow Template)

7. Compose the message template, completing the fields below.

   Template Information

   Template Type - Entered by default, based on your choice

   Template Title - Title of the template

   Description - Enter a description of the template

   Email Information

   Information in this section is used when Send Email is selected for a state:

   Subject - Enter a subject for the message

   Editor Type - Choose from HTML, Plain Text or WYSIWYG Editor

   Details - Provide the body of the message.

   Relay Feed Information

   Information in this section is used when Post a Feed is selected for a state:

   Feed Message - Enter the message to post

   Relay Feed Template - Enter the message to post

8. Use the Template Variables to customize the message.
9. Click [Save]

Template Variables in Workflows

Template variables can be used in both subject and body of a template. All the template variables related to the record are shown.

The Template Variables section provides a lookup to variables that will personalize the message.

In addition to the typical field-based template variables, these workflow-based variables are also available:

• $workflow.id
• $workflow.name
• $workflow.title

• $workflow.current_state - Name of current state
• $workflow.previous_state - Name of previous state
• $workflow.action_taken - Name of Action Taken
• $workflow.available_actions_for_current_state - Names of available actions in current state

• $workflow.current_state_title - Title (label) of current state
• $workflow.previous_state_title - Title (label) of previous state
• $workflow.action_title_taken - Title (label) of action taken
• $workflow.available_action_titles_for_current_state - Titles (labels) of available actions in current state

• $workflow.user_comments
• $workflow.owner - Current record owner(s)
• $workflow.history - History of workflow (a table)
• $workflow.view_details_link - Link to view record details

Default Sample Templates

When you add a template, these sample templates are available for your use. Start with these samples, and customize your message to meet your needs.

Sample Notification Template

Subject: $record.name Workflow Has Been Updated
Hello,

The record $record.name has changed from 
    '$workflow.previous_state' state to the
    '$workflow.current_state' state.

Comments provided by previous workflow owner:
$workflow.user_comments

Current workflow owner(s): $workflow.owner.

Current workflow history:
$workflow.history

To view record details, click here:
$workflow.view_details_link


This is an automatically generated message. Please do not reply.

Sample Global State Template

Subject: Action required for $record.name
Dear $workflow.owner,

You are required to take action on the record $record.name

Comments provided by previous workflow owner:
$workflow.user_comments

To take action on this record, you can reply to this email 
directly with one of the following commands:
$workflow.available_actions_for_current_state

(Please keep the action as the first line and any 
comments within the second line)

Current workflow history:
$workflow.history

To view record details, click here:
$workflow.view_details_link

This is an automatically generated message. Any replies 
that do not have the proper actions will result in an error.

For Developers

Use Record Handling in the Java API to manage and support workflow processes.