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This guide takes you through step by step instructions to create a Leave Approval Workflow. This tutorial uses the form you created in the Getting Started with Forms tutorial.

Tip

We strongly recommend that you jump directly to the Workflow Tutorial if you are already comfortable using the Workflow Designer. The Workflow Tutorial teaches you important workflow design patterns and increases your skills using the many workflow designer features.

A common example of a workflow is a Leave Approval workflow, where an employee requests vacation and the manager must either approve it, reject it or send it back to the employee for corrections. Typically, the process is paper or email-based. The employee fills out a paper form and hands it to the manager for a signature. The form is then faxed or delivered to HR where it is saved in a folder or scanned into the HR or document management system.

Using Live Forms, you can automate this workflow so that it is completely electronic and paperless. Further, you can integrate the workflow with Google Apps, a document management system such as Digitech ImageSilo/PVE, your database or custom business system so that the leave approvals are stored online.

The steps for the Leave Approval workflow are as shown in the figure:

  1. The employee goes to a web page that embeds the workflow. Live Forms makes this very easy to do.
  2. The form is configured so that the employee only sees the relevant portion of the form, i.e. the employee does not see the Manager Approval section or the HR Review section. The employee information and manager ID are automatically populated by .
  3. The employee fills in the form, digitally signs it and clicks a Submit Request button.
  4.  puts the leave approval request on the specific manager's task list, [optionally] notifies the Manager by email and displays a confirmation message to the employee.
  5. The manager logs in, and visits a web page that displays an electronic task list. All pending leave approval requests will be displayed in the task list.
  6. The manager clicks to perform an approval. The Manager-specific portions of the form are now visible. The data entered by the employee is automatically populated for the manager to review.
  7. If the manager requires corrections, the form can be sent back to the employee to make changes.
  8. Once approved, the manager digitally signs the form and clicks Submit Request.
  9. In the final step, the workflow is sent to the HR department to update records and/or make comments.
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  1. Click the rules icon in the Workflow Designer toolbar.
  2. Click the theplus icon to add a rule.
  3. Show the Manager Approval section on the Manager and HR step
  4. Click the Run Builder button then click Add Condition - this is the Condition wizard
  5. Select the current step from the first dropdown.
  6. Select is is on or after from the second dropdown.
  7. Select Manager from the third dropdown.
  8. Click Next  - this is the Action wizard where you set up actions that will happen if the condition is true
  9. Select the Manager Approval section from the first dropdown
  10. Set the property to as visible by selecting it from the second dropdown.
  11. Click Next then click Add Action - this is the else action wizard where you set up actions that will happen if the condition is false
  12. Select the Manager Approval section from the first dropdown
  13. Set the property to as hidden by selecting it from the second dropdown.
  14. Click Finish.
    The rule should look like this:

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Populate Employee Info When Form Loads

  1. Click the theplus icon to add a rule.
  2. Name the rule Populate the Employee Name, Email, Employee Id and Manager Id when the Employee step loads.

  3. Click the Run Builder button then click Add Condition - this is the Condition wizard
  4. Select the current step from the first dropdown.
  5. Select is from the second dropdown
  6. Select Employee from the third dropdown.
  7. Click Next - this is the Action wizard where you set up actions that will happen if the condition is true
  8. Select EmployeeName from the first dropdown.
  9. Select to from the second dropdown
  10. Begin typing userFullName in the third field then select the userFullName function when it displays in the dropdown. Type in the closing parenthesis. Tab out of the field. This sets up the EmployeeName field to be populated with the Employee Name using the built-in userFullName function.
  11. Click the Add Action button.
  12. Select EmployeeId from the first dropdown.
  13. Select to from the second dropdown
  14. Begin typing userID in the third field then select the userID function when it displays in the dropdown. Type in the closing parenthesis. Tab out of the field. This sets up the EmployeeId field to be populated with the employee's  user id using the built-in userID function.
  15. Click the Add Action button.
  16. Select ManagerId from the first dropdown.
  17. Select to from the second dropdown
  18. Begin typing userManagerID in the third field then select the userManagerID function when it displays in the dropdown. Type in the closing parenthesis. Tab out of the field. This sets up the ManagerId field to be populated with the user id of the employee's manager using the built-in userManagerID function.
  19. Click the Add Action button.
  20. Select Email from the first dropdown.
  21. Select to from the second dropdown
  22. Begin typing userEmail in the third field then select the userEmail function when it displays in the dropdown. Type in the closing parenthesis. Tab out of the field. This sets up the Email field to be populated with the employee's email address using the built-in userEmail function.
  23. Click Finish
    The rule should look like this:

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Populate HR Info on HR Step

  1. Click the theplus icon to add a rule.
  2. Name the rule Populate the HR Employee Name and Email on the HR step

  3. Click the Run Builder button then click Add Condition - this is the Condition wizard
  4. Select the current step from the first dropdown.
  5. Select is from the second dropdown
  6. Select HR from the third dropdown.
  7. Click Next - this is the Action wizard where you set up actions that will happen if the condition is true
  8. Select HRId from the first dropdown.
  9. Select to from the second dropdown
  10. Begin typing userID in the third field then select the userID function when it displays in the dropdown. Type in the closing parenthesis. Tab out of the field. This sets up the HRId field to be populated with the user id of the HR employee using the built-in userID function.
  11. Click the Add Action button.
  12. Select HREmail from the first dropdown.
  13. Select to from the second dropdown
  14. Begin typing userEmail in the third field then select the userEmail function when it displays in the dropdown. Type HRId after the opening parenthesis then add the closing parenthesis. Tab out of the field. This sets up the HREmail field to be populated with the email address of the HR employee using the built-in userEmail function.
    The rule should look like this:
  15. Click Finish
  16. Click the save and exit icon to save the rules.

  17. Click the save and exit icon to save the workflow. 

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 A  great way to test your workflow is to use a  space. A space is a frevvo website that is very easy to create. Your deployed forms/workflows are automatically added. Follow these steps to create the space:

  1. Ensure the visibility of your Expense Report workflow is set to public in tenant and that it is deployed to production: 
    1. In Workflow Properties, select the Access Control Tab. Set "Who can start the workflow" to "Anyone (login not required.)
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    2. On the Forms & Workflows Homepage, click the Image Modified Action menu for the Leave Approval Workflow. Select Image Modified Deploy.
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  2. Click on the Spaces Tab. Click the Image Modified Add icon. Enter an id and name for your space. Click Create. You will taken to the Space designer. Simply click the Save & Exit icon to return to your Space list.

     
  3. Click the Image Modified Action Menu and select Image ModifiedShare
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  4. Copy the share url for your space then logoff . 
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  5. Paste the space url into another browser or a new tab of the browser you are using. Login  as tom@<your tenant name>.  automatically makes your project a tab on the space menu and your Leave Approval Workflow an option on the menu under the tab. Your space should look something like this:
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  6. Click on the tab for your project and then click on the Leave Approval workflow. This brings you to the first step in your workflow. The workflow automatically has a navigation bar to indicate which step you are currently in as well as the next steps that are coming. 

  7. Fill in the fields in the 1st step, remember to sign and click the Send to Manager button to route the workflow to the Manager for approval.

  8. Tom should see the customized pending message that you set up on the manager activity in the workflow. 

  9. Logout of your space then login to the space as the manager jerry - jerry@<your tenant>.
  10. Click on the Important Items tab, then click the Task List. Jerry will see the pending Leave Approval request from Tom. Note the Task information that we set up on step 2 of the workflow using the template - Leave Approval for {EmployeeName} 
  11. Click the Perform icon to display the task. Notice Manager Jerry sees the Employee Information section filled in by Tom and the Manager Approval section so he can approve or reject the request.
  12. The manager name and email fields are populated by our business rule. 
  13. Add a comment and sign the section. 
  14. Click the customized Send to HR button. The pending message that you set up on the HR step of the workflow displays.
  15. Logout of your space and login as sue@<your tenant>.
  16. Click on the Important Items tab and then on the Task List. The pending task for the HR department displays. Note Sue, the HR employee, sees the Employee Information section, the Manager Approval section and the HR section. 
  17. Click the Finish button to complete the workflow. The workflow's configured form action message displays. 

  18. Logout of your space. 

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