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Editing Step Properties

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Editing Step Properties

When you click on any step in the flow, the Properties panel displays properties (settings) for that step. The Properties panel is displayed in the lower-left portion of the Flow Designer. 

Each step property setting is described below.  

On This Page:

 

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

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 Send To Supervisor 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.

You cannot use form template syntax in preconditions.

To Skip a step 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 step'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 step.

 

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 step in your flow that you want to use the Geo Location feature. 

Setup Approval or Rejection

The Setup Approval/Rejection wizard allows the designer to configure the  Quick View 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 steps in a flow display a Reject button. Non-admin users can reset a workflow to a previous step by clicking this button.

Quick Approval/Rejection 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 step properties panel brings up a wizard that will help you set up this feature.

The step in the flow must have at least one Approval control to enable the Quick Approval/Rejection 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 Approval/Rejection will be disabled if the approval control is removed.

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

Approval Controls cannot be nested in a Signed Section. Form/Flow designers should not drop a section that qualifies as an Approval Control into a section that is set up for a digital signature. This can result in an invalid scenario when editing submissions in a workflow. You cannot nest an approval control inside a section that is already signed by a previous step. For Example; Let's say the employee fills in the form and signs the Signed Section in the first task in a flow. The Quick Approval/Rejection Feature is configured in this flow so the manager approves the request by entering comments in the Approval Control. Editing the submissions of this flow will result in the following error "Invalid signature detected. Data may have been tampered with" message as the signature data has changed and it is now considered "tampered with" upon submission initialization.

Use the Quick Approval section of the Approval/Rejection wizard to set up a step in your flow with the Quick Approval/Rejection 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 Approval/Rejection 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 subject and message for the rejection email can be customized. See the details below.

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 Approval/Rejection feature.

  1. Click on the form in your flow where you want to set up Quick Approval/Rejection.
  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 Approval/Rejection 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 step in the flow 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/Rejection wizard screen shown above displays in a manager's Task List as depicted here:

If an step in a flow 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  perform icon so the task can proceed to the next step in the flow. A flow where the next step after a Quick View approval is intended for the same user is not typical of good flow design. 

Refer to the Using the Task List for more information about how to use the Quick Approval/Rejection Feature.

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. 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.

Configure the Reject button

To configure the Reject button on an step 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 step. When selected, sections to customize the rejection email will appear.
  5. The Reject From Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the flow can be reset from this step. 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 step of a workflow or for the steps in a multipage form/screen flow (steps fill out by the same user) serves no purpose. It is possible to reject to an step with a precondition, provided that step 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. To reject a task, the user selects the user/step that they want to send the flow back to from the To:dropdown. and provides a reason for the rejection. Note the list contains prior flow steps and the first and last names of the users who performed them. 

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.

 

Steps performed by the same user separated by Email/Anonymous steps are considered to be a separate workflow tasks. For example, consider a Purchase Order flow with the following navigation: Step 1 is performed by Sales employee > Step 2 is an Email step > Step 3 is performed by an Anonymous user > Step 4 is performed by the same Sales employee that performed Step 1. You can configure a Reject button on the Sales step that will function even though the Step 1 and 4 were performed by the same user.

Customize the Rejection Email

It is possible to customize the subject and email message body that is sent when a workflow task is rejected. The customized rejection email will be sent when the Reject button is clicked on a 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:

  •  {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.step.name} - The step of the workflow that was being performed when the task was rejected.

  •  {flow.step.reject.reason} - The reason for the rejection.

  •  {task.perform.url} - The URL to the rejected task.

Here is the default rejection subject and message. Notice the use of built-in templates to pull the following information into the email:

Subject: You have a new task for {flow.name}
Message: <p>This workflow was rejected back to you for further action.</p><p>The work flow was rejected by {subject.first.name} {subject.last.name} at step: {flow.step.name}. The reason was: {flow.step.reject.reason}.</p><p>You can access this task at: {task.perform.url}</p>

In-house customers can modify the default subject and message values by changing the text in the web.xml file. Click here for the details.

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

Setup Task Notification Email

Email notification is optional. Each user can configure their own email notification preference in their User Profile using the My Account link on their applications page.

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.