Name

This is the name of the form that you drag from the flow designer palette and drop into your flow. If you drag and drop a New Form from the palette, you can change this name to something more meaningful. Form names longer than 60 characters will be truncated.

Role List

This area displays a list of available roles. Roles are created by your tenant administrator or automatically imported from your LDAP or Active Directory server. You may select one or more roles here. To select multiple roles for a step, hold the Shift key down and click the roles that you want. 

 When a role is selected, the step in question can only be performed by users belonging to that role. 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 first check if the logged in user (the employee) belongs to the Manager role. If yes, then the second step is displayed. If not,  will suspend the workflow, generate a task and place it on the task list for users with the Manager role and display the Pending Msg to the employee.

Use the Role property instead if you want to dynamically select a role at runtime.

If the 1st activity has an assigned role and the flow is used by a person who does not have that role, the flow will be auto-started and automatically put on the task list of the users who have that role. The person who auto-started the flow will see the pending message configured for the 1st activity. By default they will see the message "Your request is being processed". This is a useful way to start a workflow by an automated service.

Role

You can enter a comma separated list of roles in the role field, Ex: Manager, HR or use this field to dynamically determine a role at run-time. 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 flow to navigate to - in this case, Manager or Supervisor. To determine the role dynamically, enter the name of that control surrounded by curly braces in the Role text field for the steps in your flow that are going to use the role entered for routing e.g. {ApproveRole}. This is an example of using templatized strings for dynamic content. At runtime.  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. 

A role entered in the 'Role' input box overrides the one selected in 'Role list'. This is as designed. 

User

This field causes workflows to behave similar to roles except that the target of the workflow is a specific user rather than all users with a specific role. 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 a specific manager (person) rather than anyone with the "Manager" role. You can enter a value in this field. This field can use templatized strings for dynamic content, e.g. it can contain "{ManagerId}" where ManagerId is the name of a field in a form from a prior step.  will resolve the ManagerId string using the actual value of the ManagerId control and generate a task targeted at that specific user.

See the workflow example topic sending a workflow step to a specific user. A user id entered in 'User' input box overrides the one selected in 'Role list'. This is as designed.

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.

CSS Class

This CSS class name will be added to the XHTML markup generated for this step in the flow. 

Task Info

This setting overrides the default Task Info for the flow for this step only. It is similar to Task Info for a flow.

Pending Msg

This setting overrides the default Pending Msg for the flow for this step only. It is similar to Pending Msg for a flow.  

History Msg

You can use the History Msg property to type a message e.g. {EFullName} requested leave starting {StartDate} for {NumberOfDays} days.  At runtime, 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.

Let's say you had a workflow for Technical Support Problem reporting. Step 1 is filled in by the user reporting the problem. Step 2 can be handled by anyone of a number of employees with the role Support-staff.  Adding a history message to step 2 of the flow in this case will put an entry in the audit trail that will indicate the actions taken by the individual support team members. 

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 activity, even if the current user has permissions (the correct role) required to immediately execute that activity.

Continue Label

This is the label of the button that is displayed at the bottom of every step in the flow. The default label is Finish or Continue depending on whether or not the step is the last step in the flow. You can use also use templates to customize the label on different steps of the workflow. 

Precondition

Preconditions are used to add logic to your flow to skip or perform a step based on the data entered into prior flow steps. For example imagine a mortgage application in which a Supervisor had to perform a step for all mortgages over 500,000.00. To do this imagine the flow has a 1st step where the applicant enters the loan amount into a field named LoanAmount. Step 2 is performed by a bank Employee and Step 3 is performed by the Supervisor only for mortgages over 500k.

To do this add a precondition to Step 3

LoanAmount.value >= 500000

You can also set preconditions based on values in dropdowns and radios. For example imagine also the 2nd Step contained a dropdown control named SendToSupervisor with the values yes/no so the Employee could override the logic in the flow to send for Supervisor approval even for loan amounts under 500,000.00. Add the following precondition to Step 3

LoanAmount.value >= 500000 || SendToSupervisor.value == 'yes'

Either way Step 3 would be skipped for loans less then 500,000.00 or if the Employee set SendToSupervisor to 'no'.

The precondition logic is the same used when writing business rules. See the chapter on Business Rules. Make sure the controls used in preconditions are required controls. Controls without values used in preconditions will cause an error in the flow. Test for this when you are creating flows with preconditions to ensure that when the flow designer shares the flow with others that it will not display an error.

To Skip an Activity if a Control Contains a Value

In this example if the Supervisor was the one to fill the first step of the flow then they were required to enter their SupervisorTitle, and that field is thus guaranteed to have a value. In this case to skip the next step by adding this to the second activity's precondition.

SupervisorTitle.value != ''

Decorator

The designer can select a decorator for the steps in a flow by choosing an icon from the Decorator dropdown.  The selected decorator will replace the default number for the step of the flow on the Navigation bar. The image shows the navigation bar for a flow that does not have a decorator selected on the Employee Information step and then shows how the navigation bar looks when the pencil icon is selected for this activity.

Geo Location

If you want to enable the Geo Location feature for a flow , it is recommended that you create your form in the forms designer, turn on the geo location feature in the form and then drag and drop it into your flow from the Flow designer palette. Do this for each activity in your flow that you want to use the Geo Location feature. 

Setup Approval/Rejection

The Setup Approval/Rejection wizard allows the designer to configure the   Quick View (also referred to as Quick Approval/Rejection) feature in your workflow. Quick View 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.

 The Easy Reject feature is configured using the same wizard. The designer can designate which activities in a flow display a Reject button Non-admin users can reset a workflow to a previous step by clicking this button.

Quick View Setup

The Quick View icon will appear on the task list if the form in your flow has been setup for it. The Setup Approval/Rejection link in the activity properties panel brings up a wizard that will help you set up this feature.

The activity in the flow must have at least one Approval control to enable the Quick View feature. Approval controls are sections in your form that contain a textarea control. The Approval control section can NOT contain any other controls in addition to the text area. The section can be named anything.  It cannot be nested in a repeat or a signed 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 View will be disabled if the approval control is removed.

There is also a visual cue, a lightning icon, that indicates whether quick view is enabled or not. 

Use the Quick Approval section of the Approval/Rejection wizard to set up a form in your flow with the Quick View feature. Let’s use an Employee On Boarding flow as an example.

The Employee On Boarding flow consists of 6 forms: Employee Information, Allowances, Additional Information, Confirmation, Approval and Office Use Only. The requirements are as follows:

1. The new employee fills out 4 forms: Employee Information, Allowances, Education History and Confirmation.
2. The Confirmation form allows the new employee the opportunity to confirm the information and view the generated W-4 form.  
3. Upon submission, the flow is routed to the new employee’s manager for approval.
4. Managers can approve/reject the forms from an iPad or iPhone, using the Quick View feature. This is accomplished via a form in the flow named Approval.
5. If approved, the task is sent to the Human Resources department so that the Office Use Only form can be completed.
6. If rejected, the task is sent back to the new employee for correction.

The Approval form 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 View feature.

1. Click on the form in your flow where you want to set up Quick View.
2. Click on Setup Approval/Rejection link in the Properties pane. The wizard will display.
3. If the form does not include an Approval Control, the wizard will indicate that the Quick View feature cannot be configured. 
   
   
   
   
4. If an Approval control exists, the wizard displays the Quick Approve section. 
   
   
    
5. Click the Enable checkbox to turn the feature on.
6. Type a Summary statement that will appear on the Task List, if desired. This is essentially the same as the Task Information. You can type the Summary statement or use Templatized Strings – clicking on the Control dropdown will list all the controls in all the forms in your flow in alphabetical order. Select a control name from the dropdown then click the Insert into Summary button to add the field to the Summary statement as a template.
7. Choose an Approval Control from the Approval Control dropdown. All section controls in that form that meet the criteria for an approval control will be listed.
8. Click the Finish button to close the wizard.

 A Lightning icon appears on the activity in the flow once the Quick View has been enabled. This icon will appear and disappear as required when you enable/disable Quick View using the wizard.

The Quick View wizard screen shown above displays in a manager's Task List as depicted here:

Refer to the Using the Task List for more information about how to use the Quick View Feature.

Easy Reject

Steps in a workflow that are routed to different non-admin users other than the person originally performing the activity can be rejected (sent back) to a previous step by clicking on the Reject button. The designer can specify which activities 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. In-house customers should also make sure email is correctly configured. When a task is rejected, the user who it is being sent back to receives an email informing them of the reason for the rejection. The notification subject of this email is defaulted. The notification message and task history message are set to the specified reason provided by the person rejecting the task. The email shows task information specified by the designer.

Users designated as flow admins can reject a task using the Reject button if configured or the Modify Task icon.

To configure the Reject button on an activity of a workflow, follow these steps:

1. Click on the step in your flow where you want to configure a Reject button.
2. Click on Setup Approval/Rejection link in the Properties pane. The wizard will display.
   
    
   
   
3. Use the bottom portion of the Approval/rejection wizard to configure the Reject button. Quick Approval configuration is optional.
4. The Reject to Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the flow can be reset to this activity.

5. The Reject From Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the flow can be reset from this activity. If Quick Approval is enabled Reject From Here is required and cannot be unchecked. 

6. The Reject Button Label field displays when Reject From Here is checked. This is the label used for the reject button displayed in the form at this step. You can use a template to dynamically set the label.  Note: The Quick View reject button label cannot be changed.
7. Click the Submit button when finished.
8. You can cancel the changes by clicking the Cancel button. Click the OK button to confirm the cancellation on the "Are you sure" message.C

Configuring a Reject button on the first activity of a workflow or for the steps in a multipage form/screen flow (activities fill out by the same user) serves no purpose. It is possible to reject to an activity with a precondition, provided that activity was executed and the precondition still holds.

When a user clicks the reject button, an embedded rejection page replaces the task form on the right side of the task list. This will happen on a desktop or mobile devices.

If a task is accessed from an email that uses the task.perform.url, the user will be taken directly to the task. If the task is then rejected on the desktop, the display rejection popup  displays instead of the embedded rejection page.

Email/anonymous steps in a flow can be rejected from but not rejected to. Let's say you have a Purchase Order workflow where the PO is sent to the customer for signature. The designer can configure a Reject button on this step (anonymous) so that the customer can send the PO back to the sender for corrections before signing.

Steps performed by the same user in a flow is referred to as a screenflow. 

Steps performed by the same user in a flow are referred to as a screenflow. The steps of the screenflow are considered as 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.

Currently it is not possible to customize the reject email notification. The reason for the reject constitutes the body of the email. The ability to specify a custom reject message will be available in a future release.

Click here for an example showing how the Easy Reject feature works.

Setup Task Notification Email

When  generates a task and places it on a user's task list, a notification email is generated. Click on a task in your flow, and then click the Setup Task Notification Email link in the Properties panel to configure the email notification message for that task. A wizard is displayed.

The email wizard lets you set 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. Two dropdowns in the wizard make it easy to add control templates. 

Task Notification Email Links

There are three built-in templates that can be used to generate a link in the task notification email: {task.list.url}, {task.perform.url} and {task.notify.url}. To make any of these clickable links in your task notification emails, wrap them in an HTML <a> tag like this:

You can access your task list by clicking <a href="{task.list.url}">this link</a>

{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 task list. This is the default. Here is an example: 

{task.perform.url}

This is a URL template to the specific task in question (popupform URL). Clicking this link from the email on a desktop, shows the form/flow rendered in an iframe (similar to clicking Test). Clicking this link on a mobile device shows the mobile rendering (no iframe). Here is an example of the link generated in the email
 

Consider an Employee On Boarding flow where the manager receives a task notification email to approve or reject the screen flow submitted by the new employee. If this built in template is used, the manager step in the flow displays when the link is clicked without having to access it from the Task List.

{task.notify.url}

 The {task.notify.url} template provides a direct URL to the specific task for anonymous users. If your flow has an anonymous Email step, the setup task notification wizard uses this link as the default. When the anonymous user clicks on this link, the step in the flow to be performed by the anonymous user displays. Behavior on desktop and mobile is similar to {task.perform.url}.  

Consider a  workflow where one of the steps is an email to a vendor to obtain a quote. The email to the vendor contains a link to a step in the flow where the vendor provides the quote. The Setup task Notification wizard for this step in the flow uses the {task.notify.url} template. 

The resulting email, including the link from the {task.notify.url} template and the screen that is displayed are shown in the image:

Space Specific URL

If you are using the  space feature it is more likely you might want to return to the user's task list in the space. 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: 

You have a new task for New Hire. To access your task list,
please click on:
http://10.0.0.14:8082/frevvo/web/tn/mycompany.com/user/designer/space/mycompany/tasklist                                                                                                                       

In this example, the url is the space URL with /tasklist appended to it. If you're logged in, you'll see your task list in the appropriate rendering. 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 flow submissions. This function uses a similar notification wizard.

Setup Escalations

If workflow tasks are not completed within a certain specified time,  the escalation feature allows the designer to specify actions to be taken. 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. The designer can specify the following:

• 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
• reassignment to a different user or role
• the number of email reminders and the interval to send them before the task deadline

The designer is encouraged to refer to the Help given for many of the fields on the escalation setup screen by clicking the  Help icon.

• The employee accesses the Time Sheet workflow, fills in the form, signs it and clicks Continue. Live Forms sends that employee's manager a notification via email
• The manager clicks on the notification [on any device], views the Time Sheet approval request and approves it or sends it back for corrections.
• If approved by the manager, the workflow is routed to employees in the payroll department for final processing. 
  
  

In this example, the designer has configured a 10 minute interval for the Manager to approve/reject the task. The Setup Escalation screen is shown below:

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  for the step in . SetupTaskNotificationEmail

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:

Activity Document Actions

Document Actions are supported only at the flow level in previous releases of . This means that document actions are processed only as the flow is completed. The Activity Document Actions feature allows the designer to specify an email to a specified address or posting to a web application or both for any step in the flow. For example. Each step of your flow could post to a web application that will audit flow steps or you might want to send a customized email to a specified address after one of the steps instead of waiting for the entire flow to be completed. The designer can configure document actions for the steps in your flow, as well as, at the flow level. 

Activity document actions execute when the user clicks the continue button for each activity. It does not matter if the next activity is continued by the same user or put on the task list of a new role/user. if you click . If you are saving back to your own task list, by clickng Save on the flow activity instead of Continue , saving to role or saving to a different user,in a flow, activity document actions do not execute.

Configuring Activity Document Actions

You can configure the Activity Document Actions on each step of your flow via a wizard. Click on the step in your flow that you want to configure the document actions for then click the Activity Document Actions link to launch the wizard. 

Click Configure for the the Email to a specified address or Post data to a web application or both, enter a valid configuration for either one or both.  When you click the Finish button and return to this screen the checkbox for the configured features will be checked.

Selecting configure Email data to a specified address shows two screens where you can specify the To: email address and the optional Cc: and Bcc addresses. You can enter multiple addresses separated by commas or semicolons in the To, Cc, Bcc fields and a single Reply To address.Templates can be used to provide the email addresses if desired. The "To:" email address is required. All other properties are optional. The tenant admin can configure the from email address on the tenant admin's Edit Tenant page. If you want an email to show a different From:address than what is configured on the Edit Tenant page, enter that address in the From: field. You can enter a static address or use templates to make the the address dynamic. The From address replaces the default no-reply@…, an address configured on the Edit Tenant screen or any settings in web.xml or frevvo.xml config files for In-house customers.

You can attach a snapshot to the email by choosing the format from the Send Snapshot dropdown. The Send Data checkbox is checked by default so if you do not want to send an XML document you will need to uncheck it. You can specify the subject and message of the email to be sent by clicking the Next button. Click Finish to save your configuration.

Selecting Post data to your web application shows the following screen: 

Type the URL to your web application in the URL field. Templates can be used. When the form is submitted,  POSTs the document set to the specified URI. This option may be used for additional processing of data. You have the option of also sending a filled form image using the Send Snapshot dropdown. The Send Data checkbox is checked by default so if you do not want to send an XML document you will need to uncheck it.

Consider the following Country Club Membership application flow. To join the Country Club, an applicant has to be sponsored by 2 members of the club. Mary Jones calls the Club office and requests a membership application. The office worker creates a  user id and password for the applicant, logs into the club's  space, submits the form for first step of the flow providing the user id and password for the applicant. Mary Jones gets a task notification email with link back to the club space and the information she needs to login. She logs into the Country Club  space, fills out the application, attaches letters of recommendation and a photo and submits the form. Office workers get a task notification email informing them that a membership application task is pending for final processing. When the office completes the final processing, an email goes to the Chairman of the Board with all documents attached – (Application, Letters of Recommendation, photo) so he can prepare for the final meeting with the applicant. 

In this scenario, the Chairman of the Board is not informed about the applicant until all of the office tasks have been completed. This could delay the process for some time. The Country Club wanted to improve the process by sending the Chairman of the board an email with the relevant documents (application, letters of recommendation, photo) attached after the step in the flow where the applicant completes the application. 

The Activity Document Action email feature can be configured to send an email  to the Chairman of the Board for the step in the flow where the applicant submits the application. The application, required letters of recommendation and photo are attached to the email. Now the Chairman of the Board can review the application and relevant documents ( letters of recommendation, photo) without having to wait for the office to complete the final processing step.

Activity Document Action Failure Notification

Printable

If this is unchecked, then this activity will not appear in the Print View for the flow.

This is commonly used when you add the same form to the flow multiple times or use the linked activity feature to duplicate the same form for multiple activity steps such as is common when the same form is passed among multiple people for approval. You will only be able to set printable on non-linked activities. The linked activities will not have the Printable property available in the designer. The setting for the non-linked activity covers that activity and all activities linked to it. The form for these activity(s) will only be printed once in the pdf. It is no longer necessary to uncheck the printable property for all but one of the activities in this type of workflow as was required in previous versions of .

You can also have fine grained control over which controls appear in the print view by editing the activity step and setting the control's printable property.

Save/Load

This setting overrides default Save/Load for the flow for this step only. If Save/Load is enabled for the flow as a whole, you can uncheck this property to disable it for specific steps.

Save to Role

Normally, when you click Save to save a partially completed flow, the saved flow will only appear on your own task list. If you check this box, then the saved flow is assigned to all users in the Role that is specified 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 an "Admin" user. Any user with the "Admin" role can perform the task. The user can enter some data and click Save. The flow 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 flow that loops several times before continuing.

Save to User

Normally, when you click Save to save a partially completed flow, the saved flow will only appear on your own task list. If you check this box, then the saved flow is assigned to the user that is specified in the Users property. When you use this feature the User property should contain a template. For example, you may have form that needs to be reviewed and approved in an ad-hoc manner. See the flow example Ad-hoc workflow: pass activities between arbitrary users for a deeper understanding of this feature. In this manner, you can create a step in a flow that loops several times and that dynamically routes to different people before continuing.

Fast Finish

The Fast Finish feature is useful for workflows with many steps. If a user navigates to a previous activity to change data, Fast Finish eliminates the need for the user to click the Continue button on the remaining steps of the flow to resubmit it with the changed data. Fast Finish can be selected at the flow level or at the activity level. Refer to this feature announcement for more information.

Email Address

This property only applies to the Email activity. Enter a valid email address to send an email to a non-authenticated user as a step in a flow.  Clicking on the Email activity and the task performed by the anonymous user in the Flow Designer, display Property panels. Not all of the properties are functional for these activities. .

URL

When you click on an HTTP activity in a flow, a Properties panel will display. The URL property only applies to a step that is an HTTP activity.