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Workflow is a tool that allows configuring complex processes across the solutionyou to configure complex processes in the system. The Workflow Editor visually displays processes visually as a set of boxes and arrows representing transitions, conditions, and stages.  Set Set the sequence of steps and stages your business needs by stages and steps to create the necessary logic by using various types of activities: utilities, conditions, approvals, subflow, and timer.

Info

Workflow

 –

is a logical sequence of activities describing a process.

Activity – an action presented in the workflow.

Exit – an action outcome determining which transition needs to be activated.

Transitions – paths between the activities.

Workflow is a complex tool consisting It consists of the following parts:

  • Properties: general information and setting settings of the workflow, such as its name, the table on the basis of for which the workflow runsis created, the conditions to start executing for starting the process, and the description of the workflow.
  • Versions:  workflow versions stored in the Workflow Versions the records of created workflows. All versions are stored in the Workflow Version (wf_workflow_version) table.
  • Activities: a set of operations arranged in a particular specific order and performed by the workflow (for example, changing the value of a certain field).
  • Activity Exits:  conditions to be met conditions that should be met to proceed to a particular transition.
  • Transitions: the connection between the activity exit and the next activity.
  • Contexts:  information information about every time a workflow was executed stored in the Workflow Context each workflow execution that is stored in the Workflow Context (wf_context) table.

Workflow life cycle

The workflow starts running when the conditions specified in the parameters are met. Usually, the starting conditions are the insertion of a record insertion, update of a field update, or a field with a particular certain value. For example, the Incident table has a workflow that is executed every each time when a new record is created.

After the starting start event, the workflow executes activities one after another the other according to the defined transitions. As a ruleTypically, activities have more than one transition – the path taken depends they take depends on the activity outcome.

Within an activity, the workflow performs the following steps:

  1. Operation The operation defined by the activity is executedperformed.
  2. Activity The activity conditions are checked.
  3. Depending on the previous step's outcomeconditions checking results, the workflow transitions proceeds to the defined activity.

Workflow states

Generally, the workflow can be in one of two There are two workflow states:

  • Checked Out – for editing new or existing workflows.
  • Published – for – for the finalized workflows that are ready to be runexecuted; finalized but unpublished workflows are inactive and non-functional.

Checked

Out

out


When you start working on your workflow (whether a new or existing one), it is in the Checked Out state. Other users cannot edit this workflow along with you since the workflow because it is already checked out. Also, the workflow is inactive when it is checked out; it needs the workflow needs to be published to enable it.

To enable editing a published workflow, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the workflow you need in the Workflow Editor.
  2. Navigate to the hamburger the burger menu .
  3. Click Check Outout.

Published


When the workflow configuration is completed, and the process is ready to run, you need to change the workflow state to Published. After that, users Users are not able to edit the workflow (, until it is back returns to the Checked Outout state).

To publish a workflow, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the workflow you need in the Workflow Editor.
  2. Navigate to the hamburger menu .
  3. Click Publish.

How it works

Note

A workflow starts when a user who created it meets the specified conditions. It starts even if the workflow is not published yet and is not available to other users. The workflow is executed for the process owner with the unpublished changes. For other users, the latest published workflow version is executed.

Workflow versions

When you create or update a workflow, a new record is created in the Workflow Version (wf_workflow_version) table. The process is as follows:

  1. You create

    You are creating

    a new workflow (version 1

    , for example)

    ). A new record is created in the Workflow Version (wf_workflow_version) table. It has the Checked Out

     state equal to 'true' and the Published state equal to 'false'.
  2. You have finished configuring this workflow and decided to publish it. You click Publish, and your workflow now has the Checked Out state equal to 'false' and the Published state equal to 'true'.
  3. In a while, you need to modify it, and you make a checkout, this has happened:
    1. A copy of the existing workflow has been created.
    2. The existing workflow was not affected.
    3. The copy created has the Checked Out state equal to 'true' and the Published state equal to 'false'.
  4. You have finished editing this copy and published it (it is now version 2), this has happened:
    1. The previous workflow (version 1) moves to workflow archive (now it has the Checked Out and Published states – both equal to 'false').
    2. The workflow you were working on (version 2) is now the active one.
Create a workflow  Anchorcreate a workflowcreate a workflow
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Role required: admin, wf_admin.

To create a workflow, complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Workflow Workflow Editor.
  2. Click New.
  3. Fill in the form fields and click Create.

A workflow is created and ready to configure. You can add activities, transitions, exits, define exit conditions, and so on.

To define additional workflow properties, complete the steps below.

  1. In the burger menu, select Properties.
  2. Fill in the fields.
  3. Click Save to apply changes.
  4. Add activities to configure the workflow process.

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FieldMandatoryDescriptionNameYWorkflow name.ActiveN

Select this checkbox to make the workflow active or inactive. When a workflow is created, this checkbox is selected by default.

DescriptionNA brief process description.TableYChoose the table to apply the workflow.Condition TypeN

Specify the type of event that triggers the workflow. Available options:

  • Auto – by record creating or updating (manual or scripted).
  • Manual – by calling the SimpleWorkflow.start(current) method, as shown in the example below:
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titleSimpleWorkflow.start
new SimpleWorkflow('159491114038814558').start(current); // workflowID
  1.  checkbox selected and the Published checkbox cleared.

  2. After you publish the workflow, its version record has the Checked Out checkbox cleared and the Published checkbox selected.
  3. If you later check out the workflow to modify it, the following happens:
    1. A copy (version 2) of the existing workflow is created as a new record in the Workflow Version (wf_workflow_version) table. It has the Checked Out checkbox selected and the Published checkbox cleared.
    2. The existing workflow is not affected.
  4. After you publish version 2 of the workflow, the following happens:
    1. The version 1 is moved to the workflow archive (its version record has both Checked Out and Published checkboxes cleared).
    2. The version 2 is now active.

Workflow contexts

The execution of workflows is reflected in the table of Workflow Context (wf_context) table. To view the list of active contexts, navigate to Workflow Active Contexts. To view the list of all contexts, navigate to WorkflowAll Contexts.
By viewing the contexts in the Workflow Context (wf_context) table, you can get more information about the execution of workflow blocks. The context form displays the following fields
:

FieldDescription
NameThe name of the workflow.
Workflow VersionThe related record of the workflow version.
TableThe table the workflow is used on.
Related RecordThe reference to the target record.
ScratchpadThe contents of the scratchpad object used in the workflow scripting.
StateThe current state of the context.
DueThe context deadline.
Started atStart date and time.
Ended atEnd date and time.

Started by

The initiator of the context.

The context form also contains the Workflow Executing Activity related list. The order in which the context activities are executed is specified in the Execution order column.
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You can view a graphical representation of the workflow execution context. To do this, open the record form for which the context is created and click Show workflow:
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The following window appears:

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Info
  • The state of the workflow, as well as the date and time of its start and end, are displayed in the lower right corner.
  • Use the mouse wheel or zoom controls in the bottom left corner to move around the canvas.
  • Double-click a block or an exit to open a sidebar with its properties and information about it
ConditionNSpecify a trigger condition for this workflow. Use the Condition Builder to build complex AND/OR filters
  • .



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