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Many work flows often involve a number of people filling out different sections of a single form. So when you're designing this type of flow, you're most likely dragging the same form into the flow designer repeatedly to create the different steps in the flow.

Another way to create this type of flow is to use the Linked Steps feature of the flow designer. In this method, you create a linked version of a form for each step you want in your flow. One great advantage of this method is that if you need to make changes to the form step(s) after you've created your flow, you only have to edit the "parent" form — the editing changes are automatically propagated to its linked forms in the flow. Conversely, if you drag multiple copies of the same form into a flow to create steps, you'd have to make any changes to each copy of the form in each step.

If you want to show or hide different parts of a form depending on which user is filling it out, you can easily do this in a flow designed with linked steps using the Security tab or Business Rules.

One circumstance in which you might not want to use linked forms is a flow in which each user is filling out a different form.

  1. To create linked forms in a flow, add a step to the flow by dragging a form into the flow designer.
  2. Click on the step and then click   LINK Link icon to create a linked form.
  3. Continue clicking  Link icon to create as many of the linked forms as you want.
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The example below shows the parent Lodging-Meal Selections form and its two linked forms. Notice that the parent form and its linked forms initially all have the same name, but the linked forms are represented by a double box. Remember, a linked step is a copy of the parent form.  Note also that the parent step shows five icons while the linked steps display only the remove the !80bluedeleteRemove icon.

  • Click the Link Icon to create a linked step.
  • Click the pencil icon to open a step in the Form Designer to edit it.
  • Click the delete icon to remove a linked step.
  • Click the download icon on the parent step as a standalone form.
  • Click the Image Modified Edit Step Properties to access the Property tabs for the flow step.

Finding the Name of the Parent Step

Hovering over the flow step name on a linked step shows the name of the Parent form it was copied from. This is useful when you have a flow with more than one step that has additional linked steps.

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Linked Steps Workflow Examples

Approval workflows lend themselves to a Flow Design pattern that uses Linked Steps. You can route your steps via the Security tab or Business Rules. Either way, if flow steps require modification, changes made to the parent form propagate to the linked steps. In general, the steps to create an Approval Workflow with Linked steps are:

  1. Create the workflow in the Flow Designer.
  2. Drag a New Form or a form from your Forms library into the flow as the first step.
  3. Edit Step 1 by accessing the Forms Designer inside of the Flow Designer.
  4. Add Sections in Step 1 for the subsequent steps. Save the flow step.
  5. Click the Image Added Link icon on Step 1 to create linked steps for the additional steps in the flow. Save the flow.
  6. Edit Step 1 in the flow and use the Visual Rule Builder to write Business Rules to show the sections in Step 1 when the flow is routed to the associated step i.e. show the Manager section on the Manager step, show the Finance section on the Finance step.
  7. Save and test the workflow.

Continue reading for more details.

Example 1 - Linked Steps using Business Rules

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Click on Step 1. Open the Settings tab in one of 3 ways:

  • Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click the Settings tab.
  • Click the icon in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the screen. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
  • Click anywhere in the General Settings section of the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
  • Type the name of the flow step in the Name field on the Settings tab. For this example, the name of the first step is Employee. Click Submit.

Click the Link icon twice to create linked steps for the Manager and Finance steps. The linked steps are copies of Step 1. Note they are represented by a double box in the Flow Designer.

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  • Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click the Settings tab.
  • Click the icon in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the screen. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
  • Click anywhere in the General Settings section of the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
  • Type the name of the flow step in the Name field on the Settings tab. For this example, the name of the second step is Manager.
  • Click on the Assignment tab. Add the Manager role to the Assign to Role field. You can begin typing the role name in the field to filter the dropdown choices. Click Submit.

Click on the third step.

Open the Settings tab in one of 3 ways:

  • Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click the Settings tab.
  • Click the icon in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the screen. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
  • Click anywhere in the General Settings section of the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Settings tab.
  • Type the name of the flow step in the Name field on the Settings tab. For this example, the name of the third step is Finance.
  • Click on the Assignment tab. Add the Finance role to the Assign to Role field. You can begin typing the role name in the field to filter the dropdown choices. Click Submit.

Save the workflow.

 

 

 

 Edit Step 1 of the workflow. Click the Image Added Rules icon on the Form toolbar. Write the Show/Hide rules and any other Business Rules you might need.

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Save and test the flow.

Example 2 - Linked Steps using the Security Tab

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  • Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click the Assignment tab.
  • Click the icon in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the screen. This takes you directly to the Assignment tab.
  • Click anywhere in the Task Assignment section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Assignment tab.
  • Add the role name to the Assign to Role field. You can begin typing the role name in the field to filter the dropdown choices. Click Submit. For this example, add the Reservation role to the CheckIn step, the MaitreDHotel role to the DiningRoom step and the Billing role to the Checkout step.

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