Workflows A workflow is a process that manages user interactions with the application. It makes it possible to standardize the way that certain problems have to be solved. The sections below describe all actions that can be performed concerning workflows.

• Start a Workflow • Global Workflow • Resource or asset workflow • View Tasks • Working with Tasks

Start a Workflow There are two types of workflows:

• Global workflow • Resource or asset workflow

Global Workflow The first type, the global workflow, does not need any asset or resource for starting. It can run independently. The global workflows for which you have permission to start, are displayed on the Dashboard.

In the screenshot above, Propose Business Term, Log Issue, and so on, are all global workflows that you can start.

If you are not logged in and the guest user access is enabled for the workflow, you are asked to provide your credentials. The following form is displayed:

Fill in your first name, last name and email address and click Continue.

After clicking the workflow button and possibly providing your credentials, a start form may appear before the workflow is actually started. This form contains the information that is required for the workflow to be started.

The following start form is displayed when you click Propose Business Term:

After entering the information and clicking Submit, the workflow is started. A message is displayed, confirming whether the workflow was started successfully or not.

Resource or asset workflow The second type of workflow is one that needs an asset or resource to be started. You can only start these types of workflow in the context of an asset or resource. Just like for the global workflows, you need the right permission to start them, otherwise the button to start the workflow is not displayed. Workflows for assets can be started in several locations:

• On the asset page. The screenshot below shows an Approval button, which will start the approval process for Car.

• On the domain page. If you want to start the same approval process for Car, you can also go to the domain of Car which is Business Terms in this case. When consulting all the assets of the domain, select the asset for which you want to start a workflow and the workflows that are possible to start are shown above the table. Starting on the domain page has the advantage that it is possible to start multiple workflows for multiple assets at once. If you select multiple assets, the union of all workflows that are possible to start will be shown above the table. However, note that starting the approval workflow for multiple assets will fail if you do not have start permissions for all selected assets.

The example above shows that the Approval and Simple Approval workflow can be started. However, the current user does not have permission to start the approval for Bike. If you only select one asset, it will only show the workflows that are possible to start for that selected asset.

View Tasks Workflows will create tasks asking users to provide input or to perform certain actions. You can view the current tasks assigned to you on different locations in different contexts.

If a task is created for a workflow started for a given asset, you will be able to consult the task on the asset's page.

It is also possible to view all tasks assigned to you which are related to a community or domain. On the relevant community or domain page, click on the Tasks menu and select My Tasks. An overview of all tasks in the current community or domain appears.

With the correct permission, you will also be able to consult the All Tasks view. This view shows all the tasks currently assigned to you and the tasks assigned to other users for which you have permission to view. If you have the correct permissions, you are able to cancel or reassign these tasks. When you Cancel a task, an input box appears for you to enter the reason for cancelling the task. The cancel reason will be shown as a comment on the related asset page. It is not allowed in any way to complete tasks of other users. For more information on permission settings, please refer to the section on Managing Workflows in the Administrator's Guide.

An error column displays an error message if the workflow task encountered an unexpected error.

Working with Tasks Each task will ask the user to perform some kind of action. This can be something external to the application or provide input or change something in the application directly. When a task requires input, the user will see a form in which the required information can be entered. Completing tasks can be done on the asset page or on the community/domain pages.

If a user is assigned more than one consecutive task, each subsequent task will be shown immediately upon completion of its predecessor. This is especially useful in situations where a workflow is designed with multiple forms in a row or a user has more than one role on a resource. An example of this behavior is shown in the "Asset Page" screenshots below, where the user is assigned to Subject Matter Expert, Stakeholder, and Steward.

Asset Page

On the asset page, all task-related data is shown in a yellow bar which has buttons to complete the tasks. If a task needs extra information before continuing a form will pop up when clicking on the button:

In the example above the user is asked to Review the asset and provide a reason for Approving\Rejecting.

As mentioned above, since the user plays multiple roles on this resource, after clicking Approve, they are presented with the next form immediately to "Provide Comment":

Users with the correct permissions can also cancel the task or reassign it to other users.

When selecting Reassign, a form appears in which the user can specify to which user, group or role the task should be reassigned. The workflow simply continues with the new set of users as candidates for the task. Keep in mind that if the task expects, for example,,an attribute to be changed by one of the newly assigned users, that user will need to have the permission to do so.

When selecting Cancel, an input box appears in which the user can enter the reason why he wants to cancel the task. Be aware that cancelling a task means that the entire workflow will be cancelled. Cancelling will also send out an event. Other workflows can register to this event and start in case this event occurs.

When selecting View in Workflow Diagram, a rendering of the task's current position in the workflow is displayed to the user.

If a user has multiple tasks for the same asset, the arrows on the right and left of the yellow bar allow the user

to browse through all the assigned tasks for the current asset.

Community/domain pages

If you go the My Tasks menu of the page, all your tasks will be presented to you in a table relevant for the current community/domain.

To complete tasks from here you can use one of the following options. In the preview pane on the right of the currently selected task, information on the task is given together with buttons of the possible actions at the bottom of the pane. And, when you select a task, the actions that are possible for that task also appear above the table. Click on one of the buttons to complete the task in the same way as from an asset page.

The table view has the advantage that you can complete multiple tasks at once. In the example above, if you select the two Approval tasks that are open for Car and Bike, one button is given above the table. Click on the button to complete the tasks form for both assets at once:

The form contains an additional input box displaying the tasks you have selected. It allows you to complete the tasks for both assets with the same information at once, or to delete the asset for which you do not want to

complete the task from the input box.

However, if you select multiple tasks that are not compatible with each other, the buttons above the table will show several actions. Only the tasks for which the action is possible will be completed after clicking on the related button.

In the example above, the Review action is related to the Review task and the Approve/Reject action is related to the two Approval tasks. It is not possible in this case to complete the three tasks in one single operation.