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When you click on any step in the workflow, a series of action icons displays depending on the step type.
- Properties displays tabs to set up Settings, Assignment, Messages, Rejection, Precondition, Escalations, Emails, Web Hook, Quick Approval and Geo Location.
- Edit form takes you to Forms editing mode for the form or parent form of a linked step.
- Download Step allows you to download the step of the workflow as a standalone form. You may want to do this if you update the step in the workflow designer and you want to keep your Forms and Workflow libraries in sync.
- Delete removes a step in a workflow. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.
Summary and HTTP steps only display the Properties and Delete options.
Step Properties Wizard
The Step Properties wizard opens when you click on a workflow step or select Properties from the step's action menu. The workflow outline will slide left but stay visible, and the Step Properties tabs will appear. You can close the Properties wizard by click the X just above it.
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- You can navigate between tabs and between Guided Designer editing modes as you make edits, and your changes will be temporarily saved. Click the
Save to permanently save your changes and continue working.
- You can switch between steps while remaining on the same properties tab. This may be helpful when making lots of similar changes to workflow steps, such as changing the Task Info message for every step of a workflow.
- will frevvo will validate the Property Settings when you save. If a property value is invalid, the tab(s) will not close and a message will display with two options.
- CLOSE: Close this dialog and fix your errors. Your changes will be saved, but you must correct validation errors shown in order to proceed.
- DISCARD & CLOSE: Discard your changes. You can then navigate elsewhere. Note that this discards all changes made in the properties settings, not just the validation errors.
- The screen will stay on the current tab if there is a validation error. Otherwise, another invalid tab will be auto selected (starting from left to right) if another tab needs attention. Tab labels with invalid entries display in red.
- Hover over any field on the Properties tabs to see a helpful hint providing information about the property. Some fields contain instructions to guide you.
- Clicking on the
- In some cases, you can type ahead to narrow down the list. Use the up/down arrows, the Enter key or click an option with your mouse to select an option. Use the Backspace, Delete or click the x on a selected property to delete it.
- Typing a opening curly brace into some fields, followed by the name of a control, show a list of the fields in your workflow that match the entered text and will be added to the field as a control template.
- On some tabs, you may have to slide the
Each step property setting is described below.
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Specify General Settings for a step in your workflow on the Settings screen.
Name
This is the name of the step that you set in the Workflow Design Wizard or Add Step Wizard. If you do not provide a step name, will frevvo will give it a default name i.e. "Step 1" or the name of the existing form, if used. Form names longer than 60 characters will be truncated.
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The Save button label can be customized for each step in your workflow. For example, you can change the button text to Save for Later. This will help users understand what to do if they want to save a partially completed workflow. To show the Save button on a workflow step, the Save/Load property must be checked on the entire workflow and on the workflow step.
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The designer can select a decorator for the steps in a workflow by choosing an icon from the Decorator dropdown. The selected decorator will replace the default number for the step of the workflow on the Navigation toolbar and will display in the Workflow Diagram.
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This feature displays a Save button on the step, and is useful for workflows containing lengthy forms where your users may not have all the information required to complete the form in a single session. When users click the Save button at runtime, saves frevvo saves a copy of the workflow with all the current values to the user's task list. Users access the saved workflow from the task list to continue working on it at a later time.
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The Save to Role property allows the user to save the workflow to the task list of users in the assigned Role for the current step. For example, you may have an Issue Tracking workflow where an employee submits an Issue and the Issue can be acted upon by multiple users in the "Admin" role before it is resolved. The first step is filled in by any employee. When the employee clicks Continue, a task is generated for the "Admin" role. Any user with the "Admin" role can perform the task. The user can enter some data and click Save. The workflow goes back into a pending state and is placed on the task list for any "Admin" user. A different "Admin" user can pick it up and continue working on the issue. In this manner, you can create a step in a workflow that loops several times before continuing. Refer to the Looping between multiple users in a role topic for an example of a workflow design pattern that uses Save to Role.
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The Save to User property allows the workflow to be saved to the user specified in the Assign to User field, rather than the current user. Usually in this scenario the Assign to User field contains a template, such as {NextApprover} to dynamically assign the step based on data entered at runtime. For example, you may have form that needs to be reviewed and approved in an ad-hoc manner. You can create a step in a workflow that loops several times and that dynamically routes to different people before continuing. Each approver selects another user from the NextApprover control, and then clicks Save to save the task to the next user's task list. See the workflow example Ad-hoc workflow: pass steps between arbitrary users for a deeper understanding of this feature.
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Assign a workflow step to a to a user, role(s) or an email address.
- CC a notification to any additional user(s) who should also know the workflow is on this step.
- Customize the Task Notification email message that is sent when the generated task for that step is put on the user's Task List. This email informs the recipients that there is a task that requires their attention.
- Disable task notification emails for the step.
Assign a Workflow Step to a User, Role(s) or Email Address
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This field allows the designer to assign a workflow step to a specific user. Clicking the shows the first 10 users in your tenant in alphabetical order, followed by the first 10 fields in your workflow in curly braces, making it a Control Template.
- You can enter a user frevvo user id. Begin typing in the user id and a list of user names matching the text displays. Use the Enter key, the Up/Down arrows or click an option with your mouse to select a user.
- You can only enter a single username in this field. Ex: nancy. Setting the user property to a comma separated list of usernames, Ex: nancy, prajakta, will not work. This will be treated as a single username.
- This field can use templatized strings for dynamic content. For example, in a Vacation Request workflow, the first step is to be completed by an employee but the second (approval) step must be performed by the employee's manager. i.e. it can contain "{ManagerId}" where ManagerId is the name of a field in a form from a prior step. will frevvo will resolve the ManagerId string using the actual value of the ManagerId control and generate a task targeted at that specific user.
- To enter a Control Template, type the opening curly brace '{' followed by the control name into the Assign to User field. A list of fields from your workflow displays. Select an option to enter the control name into the field with the closing curly brace.
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You may want to route a step in a workflow to the user's manager. provides frevvo provides a built-in template that is available for every transaction. Simply type the template {subject.reports.to} in the User property for that step in your workflow. The workflow will then be routed to the user who is specified in the Reports To field on the User's configuration screen.
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Roles are created by your tenant administrator or automatically imported from your LDAP or Active Directory server. When a role is selected, only users belonging to that role may perform the step. For example, if you have a Purchase Request workflow where the first step is to be completed by any employee but the second (approval) step must be performed by someone with the "Manager" role, you can select the Manager role for the second step. When an employee uses the workflow, completes the first step and clicks Continue, will frevvo will generate a task and place it on the task list for users with the Manager role and display the Pending Message to the employee.
- You can enter one or more rolesfrevvo roles. Begin typing in the role name and a list of roles in your tenant matching the text displays. Use the Enter key, the Up/Down arrows or click an option with your mouse to select a role.
- Repeat these actions to select additional roles i.e. Manager, HR
This field can use templatized strings to dynamically determine a role at runtime. For example, you may have a workflow where the first step is a Purchase Order or a Loan Request and the second step is an approval; however the approval must be performed by a Manager if the amount is less than $1000 and a Supervisor otherwise. You will need a control in your form that is populated with the role that you want the workflow to navigate to - in this case, Manager or Supervisor. To enter a Control Template, type the opening curly brace '{' followed by the name of the control into the Assign to Role(s) field. A list of fields from your workflow displays. Select an option to enter the control name into the field with the closing curly brace. Repeat these actions for the steps in your workflow that are going to use the role entered for routing e.g. {ApproveRole}. At runtime . will frevvo will resolve the target role using the data in the ApproveRole control and will route the workflow to that specific role. See the workflow example topic determining the role at run-time.
Partial templates with prefixes and suffixes can be used to create a complex role such as floor-manager for workflow routing.
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Use this field to assign a step in your workflow that is going to be performed by an anonymous user. This is a user who will not need to log into your tenant frevvo tenant to perform their step. Let's say you have a Purchase Order workflow, where the Order Details are completed by someone in your company and one of the steps is routed to the customer for approval and signature.
- Edit the Purchase Order workflow in the Workflows Designer.
- Click on the three dot Action Menu for the step anonymous users will perform and select Edit Properties. Select the Assignement tab.
- Enter a valid email address into the Assign to Email Address (No login required) field.
- will frevvo will check if the address is entered in the correct format and notify the user if it is not.
- Only one email address is allowed.
- This field can use templatized strings to dynamically determine an email address at runtime. To enter a Control Template, type the opening curly brace '{' followed by the name of the control that will contain the email address into the field. A list of fields from your workflow displays. Select an option to enter the control name into the field with the closing curly brace. Repeat these actions for additional steps in your workflow that will be performed by anonymous users.
Some important information about the Assign to Email feature is
- The workflow can be rejected to a task performed by anonymous user.
- Tenant/workflow admins can reassign the anonymous step to a different email address.
- The Task Assignment can be CC'd to another user so that in case the link is lost, there is another way to access the task, reassign or resend it. Be aware that first user to click the link will lock the task, so to ensure the intended user performs the task, consider including in the email message a warning such as "A copy of this message has been sent to your manager. Managers should not click the task link."
- Configure a History Message on the step before the Anonymous Task step if you want to see relevant information in the audit trail. The History Message can include templatized strings so you can see the email address of the recipient.
- The Who can start the workflow permission does not need to be set to 'Anyone (login not required)'. The Anonymous step will work with any of the workflow visibility choices.
The Anonymous step uses the {task.perform.url} template in the Task Notification email Message by default. If the anonymous user submits their step of the workflow then goes back into the email and re-clicks on the link, the following message displays:
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The designer defines task boundaries by setting assignments (user, role or email address), so each workflow step with an assignment is considered a new task. Any subsequent workflow steps without assignment are considered part of screenflow of the same task. If the next step is a new task and the current user is eligible to perform it, the user will be provided with a link to continue the workflow in the same screen. When the user clicks the link to continue the workflow execution, the workflow will continue like a screenflow but a new task will be created behind the scenes.
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Designers can also define workflow level Access Control by selecting Custom in the Who can start the workflow property and entering user(s) or role(s).
Assignment on First Step
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However, it is more common to use this pattern with a template in the assignment field. In this case, a hidden control is added to the form, i.e. 'assignedUser'. The Assign to User field is set to the template {assignedUser}. The workflow is launched using a kick-off form (or other web service) that calls the workflow's raw share URL with the parameter _data=(<targetControlName>:<value>). The value in the parameter can also be template, such as when using another form another frevvo form to select a user and launch the workflow to that user's task list. Here's an example:
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When a templatized control is used in the first step assignment, it's important to know that the value for that control can be initialized only by the first three methods of initializing default values in the order of precedence:
- Default values entered when the form was created in the Form Designer
- Values from an XML document(s) sent in the Post request for the form or OnInit. (This is uncommon.)
- URL parameters appended to the form URL via the frevvo _data URL parameter
The third method, URL with the _data parameter, is by far the most common method. The workflow pattern "Start a New Workflow from Another Form/Workflow" describes how to design this scenario using formsusing frevvo forms/workflows. All values set by the _data parameter (including the assignment control value and any other control values) will be set prior to the user performing the task.
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Doc URIs and Business Rules on the target workflow will only run after the assigned user performs the task. This ensures the correct initialization of form data when these methods are used. However, it also means that the target workflow in this pattern (whose first step is assigned to a template that is initialized using _data URL parameter) cannot be started using the traditional methods i.e. via a space or email link without _data parameter setting the value of the assignment control. For example, a business rule that sets assignedUser to the logged in user's id would not run until after the task assignment. If a user tried to start the form via a space, they would see the pending message for Step 1, but the {assignedUser} template would resolve to null, resulting in an invalid task assignment. Best practice is to only launch a target workflow using the external process, such as a launch form or web service. However, if the first step has Save to User or Save to Role checked, will frevvo will bypass the user assignment when the workflow is first initiated via the share link or space. This can be a workaround if a target workflow needs to be started both via the launch form and via the share link.
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When you have Save to User or Save to Role, combined with a templatized User/Role assignment, enabled on the first step, will frevvo will allow a null value in the template only on workflow initiation. These means that any eligible initiator (based on Who Can Start the Workflow permissions) can start the first step, bypassing the user assignment on initiation.
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Workflows created in v8.x and prior will not inherit the new "invalid-task-assignment" behavior if a templatized user, role or email resolves to null. Instead, they will retain the previous behavior of morphing into a screenflow. |
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If your workflow was created in a version of previous frevvo previous to v8.0, then the step performed by the customer (anonymous user) was designed by dragging an EMail or Anonymous Task step from the Palette and dropping it on the Workflow Designer canvas. Workflows designed in this manner will still work in v10.0 but the Audit Trail will show the task in a WAITING state.
In version 8.0 and later, the same workflow can be designed by simply assigning the step to an Email Address. The Audit Trail, shows the step performed by the customer (anonymous user) in a Pending state and displays the Email address it was sent to.
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Setup Task Notification Email
When generates frevvo generates a task and places it on a user's task list, a notification email is generated. The email informs the user that there is something on their Task List that requires their attention. A clickable link to the task or the Task List depending on the template that you choose, is included in the email.
You can specify your own email subject and message. The message body can contain HTML and CSS, giving you the ability to generate nicely formatted emails. Form data values can be added to the message subject and body using control template names or workflow/special templates provided by frevvo.
The designer can also specify email address(es), user(s), and role(s) to receive a CC: of the task notification message. For tasks assigned to an Email Address (No login required), the task will be locked by the first user who clicks the {task.perform.url} link. Designers can help ensure only the intended recipient picks up the task by configuring a warning into the email message such as "A copy of this notification has been sent to your manager. Managers should not click the link above."
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- You can enter any text you want for in the Subject and Message fields. Clicking on the DEFAULT button, shows "New Task" as the default subject and "You can access your task by clicking <a href="{task.perform.url}">this link</a>" for the default message.
- Clicking on the
- Type the opening curly brace '{' followed by the control name to enter a field from your workflow as a template. Select an option to enter the control name into the field with the closing curly brace.
Built-in workflow templates
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See the Email Integration topic for information on setting up email notifications for form and workflow submissions. This function uses a similar notification wizard.
The tenant admin can configure the from email address for task notification emails on the admin's Edit Tenant page.
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If you are using tomcat, emails sent are tracked in the <frevvo-home>\tomcat\logs\frevvo.log file when the INFO log level is enabled. In-house customers can search for an entry like "Sending email to <email address> with subject <the subject of your email>. If an error occurs when sending, the message "Could not send email to <email address> with subject <the subject of your email> including the actual exception that caused the problem. |
Built-in workflow templates
- {flow.id} - The unique workflow instance id. This id is unique for each workflow submission.
- {flow.type.id} - The unique id associated with a given workflow. See Sharing Forms
- {flow.extid} - Client defined extId passed in the formtype Url parameter.
- {flow.name} - The name of the workflow.
- {flow.description} - Description of the workflow.
- {flow.activity.id} - The Id of the current workflow step.
- {flow.activity.name} - The name of the current workflow step
- {flow.activity.reject.reason} - The reason a workflow step is rejected
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- {subject.id} - logged in user's username.
- {subject.roles} - A list of all the roles for the logged in user
- {subject.email} - logged in users's email address
- {subject.first.name} - logged in users's First Name
{subject.last.name} - logged in users's Last Name
{subject.reports.to} - the user id of the person the logged in user Reports To - configured in the user profile by the Tenant Admin. Typically used to designate a manager/supervisor.
{tn.id} - the Tenant ID where a form/workflow is located
{tn.name} - the Tenant Name where a form/workflow is located
{user.id} - Owner of form/workflow and user folder name in the filesystem
{project.id} - The unique id associated with a given project (See Sharing Forms.)
{project.id} -The name of the project
- {form.project.id} - The unique id associated with the project of the given form
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{task.list.url} - The special template {task.list.url} can be used in the email body to generate a clickable link to the user's server s frevvo server task list. Users will be taken to their Task List in your tenant after logging into frevvo. Users will be directed to the Task List in your space if a default space is set for the tenant. Use the directions for Space Specific URL to direct these links to any space other than the default.
Here is an example of the hyperlink generated in the email:
{task.perform.url} - This is a URL template to the specific task in question (popupform URL). This is the default.
Clicking this link from the email on a desktop, shows the form/workflow rendered in an iframe (similar to clicking Test). Clicking this link on a mobile device shows the mobile rendering (no iframe). Users will be directed to the form/workflow rendered in your space if a default space is set for the tenant. Use the directions for Space Specific URL to direct these links to any space other than the default.
Clicking a link in an email created with this template satisfies the Perform By or Perform Within requirement when setting up 1063249892 Escalations.
Here is an example of the hyperlink generated in the email:
Consider an Employee On Boarding workflow where the manager receives a task notification email to approve or reject the screenflow submitted by the new employee. If this built in template is used, the manager step in the workflow displays when the link is clicked without having to access it from the Task List.
Space Specific URL
If you use a single space single frevvo space for all of the activities in your tenant, an easy way to open task URLs in your preferred space is to set a Default Space for the tenant in the Manage Tenant page. Selecting a default space will cause task notification links to direct the user to the task and/or Task List rendered in the default space.
However, if you have multiple spacesmultiple frevvo spaces, you might want links to render in different spaces for different forms/workflows. To do this - modify the task notification email to use a space specific URL. Change the default Task List special template to a space specific URL which will return you to the user's Task List embedded in your chosen space. Create a space specific URL by supplying a URL to the Task List with the space/spaceID/tasklist appended to it.
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In this example, the url is the space URL with /tasklist appended to it. Users must be logged in for this URL to take them directly to their Task List in your space. On mobile, you will see a Back button rendered to take you back to the space. In both cases, the top browser URL is redirected to the appropriate menu item for your task list so the user will not have to click on the Task List menu tab to display it. If you do not have a task list menu item in your space, you'll end up at the space home page.
See the Email Integration topic for information on setting up email notifications for form and workflow submissions. This function uses a similar notification wizard.
The tenant admin can configure the from email address for task notification emails on the admin's Edit Tenant page.
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a task list menu item in your space, you'll end up at the space home page.
Disable Task Notification Emails
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Setup Task Information, Pending Messages and History Messages on the Messages tab. If you created your workflow using the Workflow Design Wizard, the Messages are preset for you. You can further customize them by entering the static text and/or templatized fields from your form. Click the 
down arrow or type an opening curly brace /{ and the first few letters of your control name to show a list of templatized fields from your workflow, workflow/special templates provided by and by frevvo and Task Templates that you can use in the messages.
Task Information
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This field can use templatized strings for dynamic content, e.g. the Task Info can contain "Vacation Request for {FirstName} {LastName}" where FirstName and LastName are the names of fields in a form from a prior step in the workflow. Before putting the task on a user's task list, will frevvo will resolve the Task Info string using the actual values of the FirstName and LastName fields e.g. "Vacation Request for Tom Smith". will frevvo will truncate the Task Info data to 250 characters.
You access your Task List from your projects home page or from a frevvo Space. You use the Task list to perform tasks assigned to you, to view a task's history, or search for tasks you've participated in — a tenant admin can also search for other users' tasks.
If the Task Information is the same for all the steps of your workflow, you can set it up on the workflow level. If you want the Task Info to show something different on a workflow step, select the step, select the Messages tab and customize the Task Information message. The Task Information on individual workflow steps overrides the default Task Info for the workflow for this step only.
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Let's say you have a 3 step Expense Report workflow.
To understand where you type in the text for your messages to get them to display when you want them to, think of the Pending Message property as the message that is displayed when users try to access workflow steps. In our example, when the employee submits Step 1, the workflow moves to Step 2, the manager approval step. The Pending Message configured on Step 2, "Your request has been sent to {Manager name}", is shown to the employee instead of the Step 2 form. When the manager approves the Expense Report and submits Step 2, the Pending Message configured on Step 3, "The Expense Report has been sent to Payroll for processing", is displayed to the manager when the workflow moves to the Payroll department employees instead of the Step 3 form. To set up the Pending messages discussed in our example, follow these steps:
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You can use the History Message property to configure the information that appears in the audit trail for each step. Type a message e.g. {EFullName} requested leave starting {StartDate} for {NumberOfDays} days in the History Message field. At runtime, will frevvo will resolve this message using the data from the form and save it in the audit trail. The names in the {} must exactly match the names of the respective controls.
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Let's say you had a workflow for Technical Support Problem reporting that has 3 steps: Issue, Action and Resolution. Step 1 is filled in by the user reporting the problem. Step 2 can be handled by any one of a number of employees with the role SupportStaff. Once the issue is resolved the workflow navigates to the Documentation department to write an FAQ about the problem resolution. Adding history messages to all the workflow steps puts an entry in the Audit Trail that will indicate the actions taken by the reporting user, individual support team and documentaiton documentation team members. This workflow uses the feature frevvo feature Save to Role and records information in the Audit Trail for each step using the History Message property.
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Use the Save on Navigation feature and the history message to log a new submission entry in the Audit Trail every time the workflow navigates to a new step, even if the current user has permissions required to immediately execute that step.
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- Specify if a user can reject a step in a workflow or if the step can be rejected to by other users or both.
- Customize the Reject button label on workflow steps that are configured to show one.
- Customize the Subject and Message for the email users receive when a task is rejected.
- Click on any step to display the Step Properties Wizard and then select the Rejection tab.
- Check Reject to Here if the workflow may be rejected/reset TO this step.
- Check Reject from Here if the workflow may be rejected/reset FROM this step.
- If Reject from Here is checked, fields to customize the rejection email will be enabled.
Click Save to save your changes and continue working.
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There are three types of rejection scenarios for workflowsfrevvo workflows:
- Reject to Revise - The form is sent back to a prior workflow step for correction/more information. The Reject to Revise (Easy Reject) feature is described below and is built into frevvo.
- Submit as Disapproved - When a user disapproves the request from an Approval control, the workflow skips all subsequent steps and completes. A submission is saved into the Submission Repository. You may want to implement some custom business rules that run when the "disapprove" option is selected, such as display a message to communicate the status to the user.
- Abort a Task - Crumple the form up and toss it into the trash can. Only the Tenant Admin, users who have been granted the Workflow Admin privilege for the workflow and the designer who created the workflow have the capability to abort a workflow task. When a task is aborted, all subsequent workflow steps are skipped and the form is not saved in the Submission Repository. The Abort feature is built into frevvo.
Reject to Revise (Easy Reject)
Steps in a workflow that are routed to different non-admin users other than the person originally performing the step can be rejected (sent back) to a previous step by clicking on the Reject button. The designer can specify which steps display a Reject button and the steps the reject button can reset to. To take full advantage of this feature, make sure email is selected as the notification method for participating users. On Premise customers should also make sure email is correctly configured. When a task is rejected, the user to whom it is sent back receives an email informing them of the reason for the rejection. The subject and message of the email contain default content which can be customized. The History Message is set to the specified reason provided by the person rejecting the task.
Users designated as workflow admins can reject a task using the Reject button (if configured) or the Modify Task icon to reject workflow steps.
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- Click on the step in your workflow where you want to configure the Rejection feature and select the Rejection tab.
- The Reject to Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the workflow can be rejected/reset to this step. Check Reject to Here if the workflow may be rejected/reset TO this step. This
- The Reject From Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the workflow can be rejected/reset from this step.
If Reject from Here is checked, you can customize the Reject button label and the Rejection email. You can use a template to set dynamic text using controls in your workflow.
Tip Clicking on the
down arrow shows a list of templatized fields from your workflow, workflow/special templates provided by and by frevvo and Task Templates that you can use in the rejection email Subject and Message. Type the opening curly brace - {- followed by the control name to enter a field from your workflow as a template. Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace- Repeat these steps for each step of your workflow. Click
Save to save your changes and continue working.
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Imagine a Time Sheet workflow with three steps:
Configure the Rejection feature as shown in the image: Employee (Step 1) - Only Reject to Here is checked. This is the first step and it will not have a Reject button since there are no previous steps to reject to. Manager Review (Step 2) - Reject to Here and Reject from Here are checked. The Manager can reject the workflow back to the Employee, and the Payment step user can reject the workflow back to the Manager or the Employee. The Reject button label is customized to "Return for Corrections."
Payment (Step 3) - Only Reject from Here is checked. The user who performs this step can reject the workflow back to the Manager or the Employee. The Reject button label is customized to "Return for Corrections." This is the last step of the workflow, so there are no steps that can reject back to Payment.
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Configuring Reject for Steps performed by Anonymous Users
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Steps performed by the same user in a workflow are referred to as a screenflow. The steps of the screenflow are considered one task. The reject functionality will allow users to reject only to the beginning of that screenflow. You cannot reject back to steps after step 1 in the screenflow.
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Steps performed by the same user that are separated by Anonymous Task steps are considered to be a separate workflow tasks. For example, consider a Purchase Order workflow with the following navigation: Step 1 is performed by Sales employee > Step 2 is sent to the customer's Email Address (Anonymous user) > Step 3 is performed by the same Sales employee that performed Step 1. You can configure a Reject button on the Sales step that will show both steps as rejection targets even though Step 1 and 4 were performed by the same user. Refer to the Workflow Tutorial for an example. |
Customize the Rejection Email
It is possible to customize the subject and email message body that is sent when a workflow task is rejected. You will configure this email on the step you are rejecting from. The customized rejection email will be sent when the Reject button is clicked on that workflow step or Quick Approval screen.
You can choose controls from your form which will be added to the Message as templates or you can use built-in templates as described below. Click on thedown arrow shows the list.
- {flow.name} - Name of the workflow
{subject.first.name} - First name of the user who rejected the task.
{subject.last.name} - First name of the user who rejected the task.
{flow.activity.name} - The step of the workflow that was being performed when the task was rejected.
{flow.activity.reject.reason} - The reason for the rejection.
{task.perform.url} - The URL to the rejected task.
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In-house customers can modify the default subject and message values by changing the text in the frevvofrevvo frevvo-config.properties file. Click here for the details.
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Follow these steps to implement Submit as Disapproved:
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Troubleshooting the Reject Button
Here are some reasons why you might not see the Reject option on a step where "Reject From Here" is selected:
- If the Reject To Here option is not selected in the previous steps, then user won't be able to see the Reject button on current step.
- When consecutive steps are executed by the same user, treats frevvo treats it as a screenflow. Think of those steps in the screenflow as one task. The reject functionality allows users to reject only to the beginning of that screenflow/task i.e. where the previous user started his work. It won’t allow a reject to the in-between steps.
- If the immediate steps prior to the current step were performed by the same user, then he/she cannot reject to those steps (the user is rejecting the workflow to himself). Users can reject only to those steps performed by other users, or to steps performed by himself that do not come immediately before the current step.
- If a previous step was skipped because its precondition failed, then the user won't be able to reject to such a step.
- If a precondition on previous step passed when that step was being performed, but the control values change causing the precondition to now fail, the user might not be able to reject to that step.
- The Reject button will not be displayed at all if the conditions are such that users cannot reject to any prior steps.
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- The workflow condition that needs to be met for escalations to take effect
- The time interval/due date for a task to be performed or completed
- Specify an action when the deadline is missed - Reassign to a different user or role, Notification that the task has been escalated or the ability to skip the step and navigate the workflow to the next step.
- The number of email reminders and the interval to send them before the task deadline.
- Click on the step in your workflow where you want to configure the Escalation feature and select the Escalations tab.
- A short explanation of existing Escalations displays. Click the
- Click the ADD ESCALATION button to add one.
- Click the
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- You can skip a task when the deadline expires and the workflow automatically navigates to the next step. This is set up on the Action tab.
- You can reassign the task to another user/role. This is set up on the Action tab.
- You can send notifications to the user(s) that currently have the task that the deadline has been reached and the task has been reassigned. This is set up on the Notifications tab.
- You can use templatized values of controls in any of the Assignee(s) fields in the Escalation setup screen. The username that is filled in as that control's value will be picked up during escalation.
- You can send reminder emails to the user(s) who have the task on their task list at specified intervals reminding them that the deadline for the task is approaching. This is set up on the Reminders tab.
For example. if you wanted to send reminder emails to the user(s) who currently have the task on their Task List that the deadline is approaching and then send an email notification to them when the deadline is reached, you would configure the Notifications and Reminders tabs and check None (Notify Only) on the Action tab. Continue reading for more details.
Escalation Tips
- Multiple escalation triggers can be setup for the same step in a workflow.
- Escalations will use the business calendar and timezone configured by the tenant admin.
- To take full advantage of this feature, make sure email is selected as the notification method for participating users. In-house customers should also make sure email is correctly configured.
- provides frevvo provides built-in templates that can be used in escalation emails.
- {flow.activity.escalation.duedate} - provides the deadline due date in GMT timezone. The tenant admin can change the timezone by selecting the correct timezone for your tenant when configuring the the frevvo Business Calendar.
- {flow.activity.escalation.condition} - resolves to either 'start' or 'complete' depending on the condition value.
- {flow.activity.assignee} - current user/role
- {flow.activity.escalation.reassignee} - resolves to the new user/role that the task is assigned to.
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Select a condition from the dropdown. There are 4 choices:
Perform By - This condition is met when the user clicks the
- Perform Within - This condition is met when the user clicks the
(if the task is assigned to a particular user) or 
( if the task is assigned to a role) Perform icon on the task in the users Task List or Saves/Locks the task before the configured the configured duration). If the Task Notification email includes the {task.perform.url} then the deadline is met when the user clicks the link in the email to display the task. - Complete By - This condition is met when the user clicks the Continue/Finish button on a step in a workflow before the configured due date.
Complete Within - This condition is met when the user clicks the Continue/Finish button on a step in a workflow before the configured duration.
Selecting Perform By or Complete By displays two options.
Using Date/Time Control: The Due Date control dropdown displays all date controls in your form.
- The control used in the template must have a value before the task is created. For example, a date entered by the user on Step 1 can be used in an escalation condition on any later step. However, that date control template will not work in an escalation on Step 1, because the escalation is created at the moment the Step 1 task is created (when the form loads), and at that moment the control does not yet have a value. The date or date/time control used as a template in an escalation can get it's value a) in use mode or by business rule in a prior step, b) by setting a default value in the designer, or c) using _data when the workflow is initialized.
- An invalid due date template value will resolve to the current time to prevent any use-mode errors. The following message will appear in the frevvo logfile: "Escalation Due Date {DueDate} resolves to an invalid value".
- Date controls will automatically use the end of the day set in your business calendar in UTC, or 11:59 PM if no end of day is set, as the time component.
- Using Fixed Date: Enter a date/time as the deadline.
Selecting Perform Within or Complete Within displays Days, Hours and Minutes and a Business Calendar checkbox.
- Specify the amount of time the user has to perform or complete the task in Days, Hours or Minutes.
- Check the Business Calendar checkbox if you want to frevvo to use the business days, times and timezone specified for your tenant to calculate a task deadline. The business calendar is set up at the tenant level by the tenant admin.
Escalation Actions
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- None (Notify only) - Check this option if you want to send reminder emails to the user(s) who currently have the task on their Task List that the deadline is approaching and then send an email notification to them when the deadline is reached. The Notification tab becomes required. The task will not be reassigned or skipped.
- Reassign Task - Reassignment sends the task to the user/role selected if the deadline is passed. Select whether the task will be reassigned to a Role, User or Unlock to Role:
- If you select Role or User, then you must select the user or role in Select Role or User Assignee(s) field. Type ahead to display the Roles/Users in your tenant that begin with the letter you are typing and select from the list or enter comma separated templates. Remember that userids that frevvo userids and roles are case sensitive. If reassigning to a specific user, only one user id can be selected but you can reassign to more than one role.
- Unlock to Role - This option unlocks the task. Use this option for a step in your workflow that has a role assigned to it and you want to handle the situation where one user with that role has the task locked and the deadline for the task has passed. Selecting Unlock to Role unlocks the task and keeps it on the Task list of all users with the role after the deadline expires. Now it can be performed by any user with the specified role again.
For example, let's say you have a step in your workflow that is assigned the manager role. Users Jerry and Jim are managers so the task shows up on both their task lists. Jerry clicks the - Reassigned users receive the Task Information email specified by the designer. So be sure to Setup Task Notification Email for the step in your workflow where you assigned escalations and you want to reassign the task after the deadline.
Skip Task - check this option if you want the workflow to escalate automatically to the next step when the timer expires. When checked, no further configuration is required.
Info Skipping a task is only supported if the next step in the workflow is a form/summary step. Configuring the Skip a task feature on the last step of your workflow will not work.
Escalation Notifications
You can set up notifications for any of the three actions.
- Click on the Notifications tab.
- Slide the
- Select Role, User or the Current Owners from the Send To dropdown to specify who will receive email notification reminders when the deadline is reached.
- If you select Role or User, then you must list them in the Select User(s) or Role Recipient(s) field. Type ahead to display the Roles/Users in your tenant that begin with the letter you are typing and select from the list or enter comma separated templates. Remember that userids that frevvo userids and roles are case sensitive. You can specify more than one user or role.
Current Owners refers to user(s) who currently have the task on their task list. Partial templates with prefixes and suffixes can be used to create a complex role such as floor-manager when setting up Escalations.
Expand title Click here for an example Insert excerpt Templatized Strings Templatized Strings nopanel true
- Specify an email(s), user(s), or role(s) to receive a CC: of the notification (optional).
- The subject and body of the notification email are shown once the Recipient(s) are selected. You can customize the email message by adding controls from your form as templates, workflow templates, common templates, escalation or task templates. Simply click the
- If you select Role or User, then you must list them in the Select User(s) or Role Recipient(s) field. Type ahead to display the Roles/Users in your tenant that begin with the letter you are typing and select from the list or enter comma separated templates. Remember that userids that frevvo userids and roles are case sensitive. You can specify more than one user or role.
Escalation Reminders
Configure email reminders on the Reminders tab. Reminder emails notify the roles/user(s) originally assigned to this step.
- Specify the interval between reminders by entering the number of reminders in the Every field and select Days, Hours or Minutes from the Unit dropdown.
- You can limit the number of reminders by sliding the
- Specify an email(s), user(s), or role(s) to receive a CC: of the notification (optional.)
- You can customize the email message by adding controls from your form as templates, workflow templates, common templates, escalation or task templates. Simply click the
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Escalation Example 1Let's consider a Time Sheet workflow consisting of 3 steps:
In this example, the designer has configured a 10 minute interval for the Manager to approve/reject the task. The Escalation tabs are shown:  Employee William submits his Time Sheet at 12:55 PM. The deadline to complete this task is 1:05 PM. William's Manager Jerry receives a Task Notification email notifying him there is a task that requires his attention. The email includes a link he can use to access it. In this example, the deadline to complete the task is 1:05 PM. Based on the setup of the Reminder(s) section shown above, Jerry will receive 3 reminders every 3 minutes as the deadline approaches. The emails contain a link that Jerry can click to get to the task. The first one arrives as 12:56 PM, the second at 12:59 PM and the final reminder before the deadline arrives at 1:02 PM. At 1: 05 PM, the task is removed from Jerry's task list since it was not completed in the allotted time and is routed to the task list of any users with the role of Supervisor. Jerry receives an email informing him that the deadline for the task has expired and the task is now assigned to any user with the role of Supervisor. Reassigned users receive the Task Information email specified by the designer. So be sure to Setup the Task Notification Emails. When Jack, a user with the role of Supervisor, access his task list he will see a task sent to him by the system and the Audit Trail shown in the image: Escalation Example 2Let's consider a situation where you might want to skip the task after the deadline has been reached. Imagine a workflow with a requirement that it must be approved by specific users in sequence. To prevent the chain of approvals from being delayed if one user does not perform their approval before the deadline, the designer can check the Skip the Task checkbox on the workflow steps and will and frevvo will automatically complete the current step and create a pending task on the Task List of the next user. The Project Approval workflow shown in the image must be approved by Approver 1 and Approver 2 in that order. The escalation set up on the Approver 2 step automatically skips this step and advances the workflow to the next next step . Notice that notification and reminder emails are also configured. In this example,
Here's what happens:  
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Use the Quick Approval tab to configure the Quick Approval feature on workflow steps. Quick Approval provides the ability for a user to see a simple view of a task in order to Approve or Reject it. A comment and/or signature can be added to the task without viewing the entire form. Quick View makes the process of task review/approval/rejection easy especially on mobile devices. Click any step to open the Step Properties Wizard, then select the Quick Approval tab.
Approval Control
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- Drag/drop a Section control into the step of the workflow where you want to configure the Quick Approval feature. Name the section whatever you want.
- Drop a Textarea control inside the section. Do NOT add any other controls to the section.
- The Approval control can be optionally set up to be digitally signed. Regular text digital signatures and Wet Signatures are supported. See Electronic Signatures for more information. The image below shows a section named Manager Review with a textarea control for comments. Text/Signature image is selected on the Signature dropdown on the section security tab. This section meets the requirements for an Approval control that can also be digitally signed.
Quick Approval will be disabled if the approval control is removed from the workflow step or additional controls are added to the Approval Control section.
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Let’s use an Employee On Boarding workflow as an example. The Employee On Boarding workflow consists of 6 forms: Employee Information, Allowances, Additional Information, Confirmation, Approval and Office Use Only. The requirements are as follows:
The Approval step consists of one section named Manager Review. This section has one control in it – a text area where the manager can comment. The section is set up for a digital signature - the Text/Signature image choice is selected in the Signature dropdown on the Security Tab. This section meets the criteria for an Approval Control and can be used to setup the Quick Approval feature.
A Lightning icon appears on the step in the workflow once the Quick Approval has been enabled. This icon will appear and disappear as required when you enable/disable Quick Approval using the wizard.
The Quick Approval screen shown above displays in a manager's Task List when it is accessed from a mobile device. The manager clicks the Quick View icon Refer to the Using the Task List for more information about how to use the Quick Approval feature. |
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If a step in a workflow is setup for the Quick Approval/Rejection feature and it is followed by a Summary step or another step accessible by the same role, the task will go right back onto the user's Task List. It will be locked by that user who must click on the You cannot configure Quick Approval on a workflow step that has the Save to User or Save to Role property selected. A warning message will display: |
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Quick Approval Behavior when Activity Document Action post failsIf the HTTP POST returns a status code 422 and an error message, interprets frevvo interprets this code to mean that the workflow step in question should be re-run. For workflow steps, this means that the form for the workflow step is re-rendered. If there are any message controls in the form with CSS class f-action-error, they will now become visible. These message controls are not visible by default when the form is first rendered. For example, Let's say you have a two step workflow where step 2 has fields to collect a credit card number and the expiration date and has to be approved by a manager. .An Activity Document Action Post to a web app for data verification and Quick Approval have also been configured on this step. The user fills in the fields in step 1, then clicks Continue to send the workflow to a manager for approval. The manager accesses his Task List, clicks the Quick Approval icon then the Approve button. The information is posted to a web application for verification. If the web app returns a status code of 422,(fail status) and some error text, the manager sees this message: When the manager clicks on the
The workflow step will continue to be re-displayed until the post returns an Ok status (HTTP 200).
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You can capture the location where your form/workflow was filled in by turning on on frevvo' Geo location feature. A form/workflow knows it's current location and will submit that information when the form is completed. uses the frevvo uses the HTML5 GeoLocation api. The geo api is well supported on tablet, phone and recent laptop/desktop browser versions. This feature works on a desktop or any GPS capable mobile device.
When the form/workflow loads in the browser, it will ask for the location. All browsers will show a pop up asking the user's permission to use their location, unless permission was Always granted or refused in a previous session. The user must give permission for Geo Location to proceed. Here is an example of the request in the Firefox browser:
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You can also collect additional information associated with your location. For example, a section of a Police Incident Report, shown in the image, captures the location where the form/workflow was filled in plus the address information associated with it. The last position update will be in the submission metadata of your form or workflow but it is NOT automatically added to the XML document . You must create controls (perhaps hidden) and rules to add the location information to the form XML document. The Position Address section of the Police Incident Report has controls and rules to show longitude, latitude, accuracy and/or errors plus the address information.
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Select one of three options from the Geo Location dropdown to turn this feature on:
- None - (no location) - this is the default
- On Load - turn the feature on when the workflow step loads (at start time)
- Custom - allows the designer to specify a periodic refresh. The default value is 30 seconds. Choosing this method will fire a rule in the specified time. For example, if the field to the right of the Geo Location Dropdown was set to 10, the rule would fire every 10 seconds.
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