Workflow - Precisely_EnterWorks - EnterWorks - 11.0

The Workflow capability allows multiple users to manage a particular job through a defined process determined by the requirements of the organization.

A workflow is a business process. It is a set of tasks that must be performed to fulfill a function. A work item is a marker for a specific job that is going through the process. The work item contains information about the job and where the job is in the process.

For example, a business may have the following workflow for bringing a new product to market.

Someone comes up with the idea to start selling a new product. They create a proposal and start distributing it to different departments to get input on the idea. Sales writes up their assessment of the marketability of the product and gathers some data. They attach it to the proposal and send it on. Engineering and Procurement each provide assessments and gather data, attach it to the proposal and send it on. The proposal's owner may decide the Product Safety department needs to be consulted before the proposal is sent to management for approval, or they may decide Product Safety's involvement is not necessary and send the proposal straight to management. Management then makes the decision to accept the proposal, reject it, or to send the proposal back through the process with a request for more information.

The workflow in this example is the process the company follows to make the decision whether or not to sell a new product. The proposal serves as the work item. It identifies the proposed product, acts as a collection point for data gathered about the product, and its signature list indicates where the proposed product is in the workflow.

Work items are implemented in EnterWorks as one or more records (or a Saved Set of records) that are put into a preconfigured workflow.

For a work item to advance in a workflow, tasks need to be performed by one or more users or groups of users (participants). These tasks may involve the use of automated processes, such as retrieving information from an FTP server or other external system, generating and transmitting files, sending emails, or updating data in EnterWorks.

Depending on a workflow's configuration, when a user acts on a work item, they may have only one action to perform, more than one action to perform, or a choice between actions to perform.

There may be only one route a work item can take through a workflow, with the work item being passed sequentially from one participant to the next. Or the route may split with versions of the work item sent as new work items to multiple participants concurrently. Routes that have split may merge back into one route further along the workflow or they may stay separate for the rest of the workflow.

There are four ways work item records can be sent into a workflow.

• One record is sent into a workflow as one work item.

• A Saved Set of records is sent into a workflow as one work item.

• Multiple records are sent into a workflow as one work item.

• Multiple records are sent into a workflow as multiple work items.

The method a workflow uses to process submitted records is determined by the way it was configured by the system administrator.

Depending on system configuration, a record can be in more than one workflow at a time.

Additional records cannot be added to a multi-record work item once it has been created.

A work item cannot move forward to the next activity task of a workflow process until all its associated records have been processed at the current activity task.

Workflows may be configured to lock records against editing while they are in a work item. If they are, the records cannot be edited until the work item is completed except by the users who are currently assigned to the work item. If the record is part of a multi-record work item, all records in the work item must be completed before the records are unlocked.

A work item version is created when a work item is created or it moves to a new activity. Work item churn occurs when a work item is in a loop of automatic activities. Depending on how quickly the work item loops through the automatic activities, the number of work item versions can quickly escalate. Systems with many work items in automatic activity loops can experience an impact to system performance. Comparing the number of work items to the number of work item versions can help you determine if work item churn is an issue.

Predefined workflows are workflows that are part of the EnterWorks product. Custom workflows are workflows that are built for a particular customer. The below table lists the predefined workflows.