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Flow Tutorial

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Flow Tutorial

Approval workflows are everyday actions that businesses perform on a routine basis. This tutorial will show how easy it is to create an Approval Workflow using . We will start with a simple workflow and add to it for each example discussed to demonstrate some design patterns and different features. The final workflow will be an example of a services Purchase Order workflow. We will create:

  • A screenflow - allows you to collect a lot of information in a series of small steps
  • A workflow where one of the steps is performed by someone outside the company (anonymous)
  • An Approval workflow where one of the steps is only routed for additional approvals if certain conditions are met.

If you need basic help using the Flow designer, please refer to the Getting Started with Workflows guide, and then return here.

 

What are we going to build?

Many companies offer software services to their new and existing clients. The final workflow in this tutorial will be a Purchase Order workflow for services that follows this business scenario:

  • A sales person accesses the company's Purchase Order form, fills in the customer's email address and other required information, signs it and clicks Continue.
  •  sends a customized email to the customer that contains a link to the PO.  
  • The customer clicks on the link, reviews the Purchase Order, approves and signs it or sends it back to the company for corrections
  • The workflow is routed back to the sales person.
  • The sales person reviews the PO, and sends it to his manager for approval. The manager receives an email.
  • The manager clicks on the link in the notification email, logs onto to review the PO via the Task List. He approves or sends it back to the sales person for corrections.
  • If approved by the manager and the total amount of the PO is greater than $10,000.00, the workflow is routed to the VP for final approval.

 

On This Page:

What You will need:

You need either a Live Forms Online account -- signup for a 30 day trial if you don't already have an account. Or use a working Live Forms In-house software installation. If you are using In-house software you will also need to create a tenant, add a designer user to that tenant and configure email

Example Applications

There are 2  applications that can be downloaded to help with this tutorial:

In either case, you must upload the application(s) to your  user account. Follow these steps:

  1. Log into your tenant as the designer user.
  2. Click the  Upload icon at the top of the Application Home Page. 
  3. Browse for the downloaded application zipfile (PurchaseOrderCompleted_app.zip or PurchaseOrder_app.zip).
  4. Do not check the Replace or Copy checkboxes.
  5. Click the Upload button.

The application is uploaded and immediately appears in your list of applications. 

Example 1 - Purchase Order workflow

Let's begin by creating a simple screenflow consisting of the Client and Services forms that the sales person will use to create the Purchase Order. A screenflow is a type of workflow where all the steps are filled in by the same  user. The Client form contains a read-only information section (first name, last name, and email) that will be automatically populated with the sales person's information using a business rule and a second section to collect information about the customer requesting the services. The Services form contains fields to describe the requested services and business rules to calculate the cost. 

We will add a form action to customize the message displayed to the sales person when the workflow is completed. 

Create the Purchase Order workflow

To create this workflow, follow these instructions:

  1. Click the Edit icon for the Purchase Order application.
  2. Click the Flows tab to open the Flows home page.
  3. Click the New  icon to create a new flow. Click on the toolbar to display the flow properties panel.  Type "Example 1 - PO Screenflow" in the Flow Name field.
  4. If the Palette is contracted, click in the header to expand it. Drag the Client form from the palette and drop it on the flow designer canvas. This form will be the first step in the flow.

  5. Drag the Services form from the palette and drop it below the Client form. The Services form will be the second step in the flow.

  6. Click on the  what does the user see icon in the tool bar to customize the message the sales person will see when the flow is completed: 

    1. Click on the Display Message wizard. Copy the message below into the Message box then click Finish. {ClientName} and {ClientCompany} are examples of templates. Templates are specified by surrounding the name of a control in your form with curly braces.  will use the values entered into the Client Name and Client Company fields at runtime.  

      The Purchase Order for {ClientName} at {ClientCompany} is complete.

       

  7. At this point, your workflow should look like this:

  8. Click the  save and exit icon to save your work. 

If you want to see the details of the forms, click on a step in the flow designer then click the  Edit icon on that step. The form will display in the forms designer. You can view the business rules by clicking on the  Rules icon.

Test Example 1:

  • Click the Test icon for your workflow. Note the Creation Date, sales person's first name, last name and email address are automatically populated. 
  • Fill in the customer contact name, email address, company name and phone number. Empty controls displaying a yellowish background are required. Required controls must contain valid data in order to continue to the next step and submit the form. 
  • Click the Continue button to proceed to the next step.
  • Fill in the Client Services Order.  Notice the Amount and Total Amount columns calculate the cost. These calculations are handled by business rules already setup in the PO form.
  • Fill in at least two rows of the Client Services table. Delete a row - notice the amount previously calculated for this row is automatically subtracted from the Subtotal and the Total.
  • Sign the form as the sales person (designer user) - you can use your mouse or type the name into the Type Name field.
  • Verify that the Date Signed field is populated with the current date.
  • Click the Finish button. You will see your customized display message.
  • If you want to see how the workflow will look on an iPad or an iPhone, close the window, click the  Test icon again then click the Tablet or Smart phone buttons at the top of the test screen.


Example 2  - Send the PO for Signature

This workflow sends the Purchase Order electronically to the customer for their review and signature.

  • The customer's email address is entered by the sales person on the first step.
  • An email is sent to the customer with a link to the PO.
  • The customer clicks the link to review the PO, approves and signs it or sends it back to the sales person for corrections.
  • sends a copy of the signed PDF to the sales person by email. 

Note, the customer does not have to be logged into a  tenant (anonymous) to perform the Approval step. 

We will create a new workflow that can be modified for subsequent examples in this tutorial. The workflow will have:

  • An anonymous Email for the step that the customer signs.

  • Customized messages for Task notification emails to the customer and sales person.

  • A document action to send an email to the sales person and the client. A signed PO is attached to the email when the workflow is completed.

You will need at least one valid email address to test this workflow.  

Create the Purchase Order workflow:

We will replace the Client and Services steps with a single step using a form named PO. The PO form contains these additions:

  • an Agreement section that the customer can sign
  • a business rule to show and hide the Agreement section based on the step of the workflow being executed
  • a business rule to prefill the DateSigned field when the customer signs
  • a business rule to make the signature field required if the customer checks "yes" on the approval control

Follow these instructions:

  1. Click the Edit icon for the Purchase Order application.
  2. Click the Flows tab to open the Flows Home Page.
  3. Click the New  icon to create a new workflow. Click on the toolbar to display the workflow properties panel.  Type "Example 2 - Send the PO for Signature" in the Flow Name property on the left.
  4. Drag the PO form from the Palette and drop it on the flow designer canvas. The PO form will be the first step in the workflow. 

    1. Click on the PO step. Make sure the printable property is checked on this step. We are creating our flow using the linked steps design pattern. Checking the printable property on the original form guarantees that the original form and any linked steps in the flow are included in the pdf.
    2. Type "Send to client" in the Continue Label property.
    3.  Click the Link icon to create a copy of this step. A linked copy of the PO form (dashed border), is added to the flow.
  5. Click on the linked PO step:
    1. Change the name to "Client Approval" by typing it in the Name field in the Properties panel.
    2. Type "Send to frevvo, Inc" into the Continue label property to change the text to something more meaningful.

    3. Click the Setup Approval/Rejection link, uncheck the Reject to here and Reject from here checkboxes. The Reject button feature will be discussed in a later example.
  6. Drag the Email from the Palette and drop it in between the PO and Client Approval steps. 
  7. Click on the Email step. 
    1. Enter the template {ClientEmail} into the Email address property. ClientEmail is the field in the Client form where the sales person enters the email address of the customer. sends  the PO to the email address entered in that field. This is an example of a template. Note the control name is encased in curly braces.

    2. Enter  "Purchase Order Sent to {ClientEmail} for Signature" in the Pending Message property. This will be the message that the sales person sees after they click the Continue button. 

    3. Click on the Setup Task Notification Link. Type the subject for the email - "Purchase Order from frevvo". Copy the text below into the message field to replace the existing message. This is the email the customer receives.

    {ClientName},
    <br/><br/>
    Please review and sign this Purchase Order from frevvo Inc. by clicking on <a href="{task.notify.url}">this link</a>.
    <br/><br/>
    Thank You.
  8. Click Finish.
  9. Configure the email the sales person receives:

    1. Click the  what happens to my data icon on the toolbar.
    2. Click on the Email data to a specified address wizard. 
    3. Enter {SalesEmail} and {ClientEmail} in the To: field. Separate them with a comma. Ex: {SalesEmail},{ClientEmail}

    4. Select PDF from the Send Snapshot dropdown. This adds a pdf to the email after the customer approves it or requests corrections.
    5. Uncheck the Send Data checkbox.
    6. Click Next
    7. Enter "Purchase Order for {ClientName} at {ClientCompany}" in the subject field.
    8. Copy the text below into the message field to replace the existing message.

      The Purchase Order from {ClientName} at {ClientCompany} is attached. Please review. 
      <br/>
      Thank You.
    9. Click the Finish button.
  10. Customize the message the client will see when they click the Send to frevvo, Inc button.
    1. Click on the   what happens to my data icon in the tool bar. 

    2. Click on the Display Message wizard. Enter "The Purchase Order for {ClientName} at {ClientCompany} was saved.".

    3. Click Finish.
  11. Change the visibility of the workflow to public so the customer (anonymous user) can access it. To do this: 
    1. Click the  lock icon on the toolbar. This will pop up a window where the designer can specify permissions.

    2. Change the Visibility from “Public in Tenant” to “Public” for the Permission “Who can use the flow”.

    3. Click Finish.
  12. At this point, your workflow should look like this:  
                   
  13. Click the  save and exit icon to save your work. 

If you want to see the details of the forms, click on a step in the flow then click the  Edit icon on that step. The form will display in the forms designer. You can view the business rules by clicking on the