Creating a full workflow

In this tutorial we will create a full workflow and tie two together using the associated workflow support.

Action Workflow #

We are going to create two workflows in this tutorial. The first one will be an action workflow that will handle actions that result from registered messages.

1. Lets start by clicking on the Admin menu on the left side. This will unfold the Admin menu.
2. Next click on the Workflows link to go to the overview of the workflows.
3. Next click the New Workflow button to initiate a new workflow creation.

Lets fill in the workflow title and entity type.

1. In the Workflow title enter Action
2. For the Entity type dropdown pick the Action entity type.

Next lets build the workflow itself. Click on the Table tab.

There are three main sections when creating a new workflow. These are.

Statuses #

Statuses represent states in a process. An example of a state might be New for a new case and `Close for a closed state.

Click on the Create status button to open the New status dialog.

We are going to create three new statuses for our Action workflow.

1. Write Open in the Status name field.
2. Next select the Open group.
3. Click on the Save Changes button to save the new status.

Next repeat it but this time.

1. Write Being worked on in the Status name field.
2. Next select the In progress group.
3. Click on the Save Changes button to save the new status.

Finally lets create the close status.

1. Write Closed in the Status name field.
2. Next select the Closed group.
3. Click on the Save Changes button to save the new status.

So what do the list of groups mean?

Status Group	Description
Open	A case is in a newly opened (first time it was opened state). This is basically used to signal a new case starting.
Unprocessed	A case has been created but not yet opened by any case handler.
In progress	A case is being worked on.
In action process	A case triggered an action process and is waiting for it to be resolved.
Closed	A case has been closed.
Deleted	A case has been deleted.

You should now have a view that looks something like.

Finally click the Save button in the top right corner to save the whole workflow.

Dialogs #

A dialog represents a set of fields configurable by the end user to collect information or trigger actions on a change of status for a case (a transition). Dialog are attached to transitions.

Lets create a dialog to allow us assign tasks and also comment on a case transition.

1. Click Create Dialog button to open the new dialog window.

2. Set the Dialog name to Task assignment.

Next lets look at what kind of fields we can add to the dialog and what they mean.

3. Click on the Add field button.

As you can see there is a sizable selection of field types. Lets have a look at each and what they mean before constructing our custom dialog.

Field Type	Triggers	Description
Textfield	No	A single row free text entry field.
Textarea	No	A text area with more columns for free text entry.
Text Editor		A text area with basic formatting for free text entry.
Number	No	Entering any numeric value.
Date	No	Specifiying a date.
Perform Task	Yes	A field allowing you to specify who performed the task.
Action Name	Yes	The title field that will be used when creating a new Action entry for a transition going into an In action process group state
Comment	Yes	Allows the user to comment on the transition between states and set who is getting notified about the comment.
Acknowledgement	Yes	Lets the user acknowledge that specific users performed their tasks.
Task Assignment Setup	Yes	Allows the user to create tasks of a specific type when transitioning between statues. One can also control if one wants to collect a Due date, Planned hours and Planned start date.

4. Add a field of type Task Assignment to the Dialog. Due date, Planned start date and Planned hours. Set the Case participant type dropdown to the value Case Participator. Leave the box Required unchecked.

5. Add a field of type Comment to the Dialog. Leave Required unchecked.

6. Click Save Changes to add the dialog to the workflow.

Next lets create an approval dialog.

1. Click Create Dialog button to open the new dialog window.
2. Set the Dialog name to Approval.
3. Add a field of type Acknowledgement to the Dialog. Leave the box Required unchecked.
4. Add a field of type Comment to the Dialog. Leave Required unchecked.
5. Click Save Changes to add the dialog to the workflow.

Your workflow screen should look something like this now.

Finally click the Save button in the top right corner to save the whole workflow.

Transitions #

A transition represents a change between two statuses (As an example you might move a case from Open status to Being worked on status).

A transition can have an optional dialog attached to it to collect information as part of the transition.

When we talk about transitions we will use source as the start status of the transition and target as the end status.

The target status has a Status group that will trigger actions during the transition.

Status Group	Actions
Open	When a case is transitioned into the Open group it will possibly trigger notifications to the picked case handler for the case.
Unprocessed	Might trigger notifications to the target case handler.
In progress	Usually does not trigger actions.
In action process	Will trigger the creation of an Action entry with its new workflow and potentially notifications.
Closed	Might trigger notifications to the target case handler.
Deleted	Might trigger notifications to the target case handler.

Lets create a table that shows the transitions we will build.

Lets click on the Create Transition button to bring up create transition dialog.

Build Open to Being worked on #

1. Fill in the Transition name field with Start work.
2. Select the Open status as the From status and Being worked on as the To status.
3. Select the Task assignment dialog.
4. Click the Save changes button.

Being worked on to Being worked on #

1. Fill in the Transition name field with Being worked on.
2. Select the Being worked on status as the From status and Being worked on as the To status.
3. Select the Task assignment dialog.
4. Click the Save changes button.

Being worked on to Closed #

1. Fill in the Transition name field with Close.
2. Select the Being worked on status as the From status and Close as the To status.
3. Select the Approval dialog.
4. Click the Save changes button.

Finally click the Save button in the top right corner to save the whole workflow.

You should now have a workflow that looks like the following.

Finish Action workflow #

Finally click on the General tab and set the Start case status pulldown to Open and Close case status to Close. These options signal the start and end points of the workflow.

Finally click the Save button to save the whole workflow.

Graph #

Finally we can see a graphical representation of the workflow by clickin on the Graph tab. Clicking on the tab will show you someting looking like.

Message Workflow #

Next we are going to build a message workflow. Lets outline what we plan to build and follow the steps mentioned above to build the actual statuses, dialogs and transitions.

1. Click New workflow.
2. In the Workflow title enter Message
3. For the Entity type dropdown pick the Message entity type.

Statuses #

We are going to create the following statuses.

Dialogs #

We are going to build the following dialogs.

Assign case #

Next lets create an approval dialog.

1. Click Create Dialog button to open the new dialog window.
2. Set the Dialog name to Assign case.
3. Add a field of type Task Assignment to the Dialog. Leave the box Required unchecked.
4. Add a field of type Comment to the Dialog. Leave Required unchecked.
5. Click Save Changes to add the dialog to the workflow.

Create action #

Next lets create an create action dialog.

1. Click Create Dialog button to open the new dialog window.
2. Set the Dialog name to Create action.
3. Add a field of type Action Name to the Dialog. Leave the box Required checked.
4. Add a field of type Task assignment to the Dialog. Leave Required unchecked.
5. Add a field of type Comment to the Dialog. Leave Required unchecked.
6. Click Save Changes to add the dialog to the workflow.

Close #

Next lets create an create action dialog.

1. Click Create Dialog button to open the new dialog window.
2. Set the Dialog name to Close.
3. Add a field of type Acknowlegement to the Dialog. Leave Required checked.
4. Add a field of type Comment to the Dialog. Leave Required unchecked.
5. Click Save Changes to add the dialog to the workflow.

At the end your workflow should looking something like.

Transitions #

We will add the following transitions to our workflow.