frevvo v9 is no longer supported. Please visit Live Forms Latest for our current Cloud Release. Earlier documentation is available too.
Editing Step Properties
When you click on any step in the flow, a series of action icons displays depending on the step type. Creating a flow step by dragging/dropping an existing form or a New Form from the Palette shows these icons:
- - Cog icon - Click this icon to edit Step Properties. This icon is displayed when you select the flow step and in the Properties Navigator on the left side of the designer.
- Clicking the Edit Step Properties icon on a flow step displays tabs to set up Settings, Assignment, Messages, Rejection, Precondition, Escalations, Emails, Web Hook, Quick Approval and Geo Location as shown in the image above.
- Clicking the Edit Step Properties from the Properties Navigator or simply clicking on a section of the Properties Navigator brings you directly to the tab for immediate editing.
- - Chain link icon - Click this icon to create Linked Steps. Refer to Linked Steps in a Flow for a discussion of this Flow Design pattern and when you should use it.
- - Download Arrow over bar - Use this icon to download the step of the workflow as a standalone form. You may want to do this if you update the step in the flow designer and you want to keep your Forms and Flow libraries in sync.
- - Pencil icon - Click this icon to make changes to a flow step. The form will open in the Forms Designer inside of the Flow Designer. Remember, the form in the Flow Designer is a copy and any form changes will not automatically sync up with the original form in your Forms library.
- - Minus icon - Use this icon to delete a step in a workflow. You will NOT be asked to confirm the deletion. Once clicked, the deletion is permanent.
If your step is a Summary, HTTP or Linked step, you will only see the Edit Step Properties and Delete icons.
Properties Navigator
When you click on a flow step, a Properties Navigator panel displays in the lower-left portion of the Flow Designer. This panel shows information about important properties setup for this flow step. Not all of the configured properties are shown in this view. Clicking inside a section or clicking on the Edit Step Properties icon in a section of the Properties Navigator immediately displays the property tab for editing.
The Properties Tabs work the same way whether you open them from the Navigator or from the flow step. Here is what you need to know:
- If you are working on several tabs at one time, you can navigate to other tabs and make changes there. Use the left and right arrows at the top of the screen to display additional tabs. You must click the Submit button when you are finished configuring Step Properties to save your changes. Remember to save the workflow.
- will validate the Property Settings when you click Submit. If a property value is invalid, the tab(s) will not close and a message will display telling the designer that there are corrections to be made before saving. 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.
- Clicking on the Cancel button closes the tab(s). You will be asked to confirm if any changes were made.
- 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 down arrow for a property shows an unfiltered list of choices applicable to that property. For some properties, you may see templatized controls from your flow and flow/special templates provided in .
- 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 flow 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 toggle to the right to turn on a feature.
Each step property setting is described below.
Click the Help icon at the top of any tab for a quick tour of the features in that section. Currently tours are only available for Cloud customers.
Settings
Specify General Settings for a step in your flow on the Settings screen.
Name
This is the name of the form that you dragged from the flow designer palette and dropped into your flow. If you drag and drop a New Form from the palette, you can change this name to something meaningful. Form names longer than 60 characters will be truncated. The Flow Step name can also be edited from the Flow designer canvas by clicking the flow step then clicking the pencil icon above the Properties Navigator. Edit the name then click the checkmark to save or the cancel icon to discard your changes.
CSS Class
This CSS class name will be added to the XHTML markup generated for this step in the flow. Refer to the CSS class topic for details.
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 Continue for all flow steps except the last step where it defaults to Finish. You can use templates to customize the label on different steps of the workflow.
Save Label
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 flow. To show the Save button on a flow step, the Editing Step Properties#Save/Load property must be checked on the entire flow and on the flow step.
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 toolbar. 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.
Printable
If this is unchecked, then this step will not appear in the printable PDF for the flow. This is commonly used when you add the same form to the flow multiple times or use the linked step feature to duplicate the same form for multiple steps. This is a common design pattern when the same form is passed among multiple people for approval (Approval Workflows). You will only be able to set printable on non-linked steps. The linked steps will not have the Printable property available in the designer. The setting for the non-linked step covers that step and all steps linked to it. The form for these step(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 steps in this type of workflow . The designer can have fine grained control over which controls appear in the PDF by editing the step and setting the control's printable property.
Save/Load
If you check this checkbox on the flow level and on the step level, a Save button will be displayed for each step in your flow. If you don’t want users to be able to save partially completed flows and continue them later, uncheck the checkbox so users will not see this button.This feature is useful for flows containing lengthy forms where your users may not have all the information required to complete the form in a single session. By clicking on the Save button, a copy of the flow with all the current values is saved by frevvo. frevvo will also generate an entry in the user's task list. Users access the saved flow task from the to continue working on it at a later time.
If you are not authenticated, clicking the Save button will display an authentication dialog that requires you to login. Users can save the flow as many times as they wish.
Saved flows can be monitored in the Submissions Repository. Saved flows can contain invalid data and can also contain required fields with no values yet entered. When such a flow is re-loaded the missing and invalid values are again flagged as such by frevvo. And the flow cannot be continued/finished until corrections are made to those fields.
This setting overrides the 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. Click here for an explanation of how the Save/Load feature works.
Save to Role
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. Refer to the Looping between multiple users in a role topic for an example of a flow design pattern that uses Save to Role.
Save to User
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. In this manner, you can create a step in a flow that loops several times and that dynamically routes to different people before continuing. See the flow example Ad-hoc workflow: pass steps between arbitrary users for a deeper understanding of this feature.
Fast Finish
The Fast Finish feature is useful for workflows with many steps. If a user navigates to a previous step 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 step level. Refer to this feature announcement for more information.
Allow Signature Pad
Check this checkbox if the step in a flow will be using an external signature pad. Leave the property unchecked (default) on the steps that will not be using a signature pad. See Topaz Electronic Signature Pads topic for the models supported and configuration information.
On This Page:
Assignment
Use the Assignment tab to:
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 flow 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.
Assign a Workflow Step to a User, Role(s) or Email Address
Users are given the highest priority at runtime followed by roles and then any email address.
- When you add a user to the Assign to User field, the Assign to Role and Assign to Email(No login required) fields become disabled. You cannot add Role(s) or an Email Address.
- When you add a role to the Assign to Role(s) field, the Assign to Email(No login required) field becomes disabled but the Assign to User field remains enabled.
- If you add a specific User then the Assign to Role(s) field becomes disabled, and will be ignored at runtime.
- If you add a dynamic User (using a template), the step will reroute to the Role(s) only if the template resolves to null at run time.
- If you only add an Email Address, the Assign to User and Roles(s) fields remain enabled. If you add a User or a Role(s), the Email Address field becomes disabled and will be ignored at runtime.
User
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 flow in curly braces, making it a Control Template.
- You can enter a 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 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 flow displays surrounded by curly brackets). Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace.
Do NOT use accented characters in the User property field.
Refer to the workflow topic sending a workflow step to a specific user for an example.
You may want to route a step in a workflow to the user's manager. 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 flow. The workflow will then be routed to the user who is specified in the Reports To field on the User's configuration screen
Role
Roles are created by your tenant administrator or automatically imported from your LDAP or Active Directory server. 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 generate a task and place it on the task list for users with the Manager role and display the Pending Msg to the employee.
- You can enter one or more 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 flow 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 flow displays surrounded by curly braces. Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace. Repeat these actions for the steps in your flow that are going to use the role entered for routing e.g. {ApproveRole}. 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.
Partial templates with prefixes and suffixes can be used to create a complex role such as floor-manager for workflow routing.
Email Address(No login required)
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 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 Flows Designer.
- Click on the step(s) anonymous users will perform. Click the Edit Step Properties icon on the step then click on the Assignment tab or click the Edit Step Properties from the Assignment section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Assignment tab.
- Enter a valid email address into the Assign to Email Address(No login required) field.
- 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 flow displays surrounded by curly braces). Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace. Repeat these actions for additional steps in your flow that are going to be performed by anonymous users.
- The flow can be rejected to a task performed by anonymous user.
- Tenant/flow 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 be templatized so you can see the email address of the recipient.
- The Who can start the flow permission does not need to be set to Public. The Anonymous step will work with any of the Flow 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 flow then goes back into the email and re-clicks on the link, the following message displays:
Refer to the Anonymous Participant topic or the Flow Tutorial for an example.
Please review the Planning for v9.0 for important information about converting workflows with an Email/Anonymous step to take advantage of this feature.
Workflow Task Design Considerations
The designer defines task boundaries by setting assignments (user, role or email address), so each flow step with an assignment is considered a new task. Any subsequent flow steps without assignment are considered part of screen flow 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 flow in the same screen. When the user clicks the link to continue the flow execution, the flow will continue like a screenflow but a new task will be created behind the scenes.
Access Control by selecting Custom in the Who can start the flow property and entering user(s) or role(s).
Designers can also define flow levelInvalid Task Assignment
For workflows created in v9.0.x and later, when a task that is routed to templatized user, role, or email resolves to null or empty string, the task will be assigned to the "invalid-task-assignment" userId and a notification with be sent to flow admin users (or tenant admin user if no flow admin is configured.) This will enable flow admin users to easily search mis-routed tasks assigned to the "invalid-task-assignment" userId and re-assign to valid user.
One exception to this is when you have both a templatized user and a role assigned, the step will reroute to the Role(s) if the template resolves to null at run time. If the templatized user is valid, Role will be ignored.
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.
Anonymous Steps and the Audit Trail
If your workflow was created in a version of 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 Flow Designer canvas. Workflows designed in this manner will still work in v8.0 but the Audit Trail will show the task in a WAITING state.
In version 8.0, the same flow 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.
Setup Task Notification Email
When 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 flow/special templates provided by .
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."
Access the Assignment tab for that step to customize the subject and message of the email the user receives.
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. If the Email option is turned off, they will not receive Task Notification emails.
- 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 down arrow, show a list of templatized fields from your flow, flow/special templates provided by and Task Templates that you can use in the body of your email.
- Type the opening curly brace - {- followed by the control name to enter a field from your flow as a template. Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace
Built-in flow templates
- {flow.id} - The unique flow instance id. This id is unique for each flow submission.
- {flow.type.id} - The unique id associated with a given flow. See Sharing Forms
- {flow.extid} - Client defined extId passed in the formtype Url parameter.
- {flow.name} - The name of the flow.
- {flow.description} - Description of the flow.
- {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
- {flow.id} - The unique flow instance id. This id is unique for each flow submission.
Built-in special templates
- {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/flow is located
{tn.name} - the Tenant Name where a form/flow is located
{user.id} - Owner of form/flow and user folder name in the filesystem
- {app.id} - The unique id associated with a given application. See Sharing Forms
- {app.name} - The unique name associated with a given application.
- Type the opening curly brace - {- followed by the control name to enter a field from your flow as a template. Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace
Built-in data templates for forms (form.id, form.name, etc.) may be used in Workflow Step Properties Settings, Messages, and Quick Approval tabs.
Task Notification Email Links
There are two built-in frevvo templates that can be used to generate a link in the task notification email: {task.list.url} and {task.perform.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 by clicking <a href="{task.perform.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 server task list. Users will be taken to their Task List in your tenant after logging into . Users will be directed to the Task List in your space if a default space is set for the tenant. Use the directions for 1063730798 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 1063730798 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 1063730799.
Here is an example of the hyperlink 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.
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. 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 flow 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.
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.
Messages
Setup Task Information, Pending Messages and History Messages on the Messages tab.
- You can display the Messages tab in three ways:
- Click on the step of the workflow, then click the Edit Step Properties icon then click on the Messages tab.
- Click anywhere in the Messages section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Messages tab.
- Click the inside the Messages section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Messages tab.
- Enter your customized text for each message in the appropriate field.
- Clicking on the down arrow shows a list of templatized fields from your flow, flow/special templates provided by and Task Templates that you can use in the messages.
- Type the opening curly brace - {- followed by the control name to enter a field from your flow as a template. Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace
- Click the Submit button to save the changes or navigate to another tab.
Remember, if you navigate to another tab without clicking the Submit button, changes will NOT be saved.
Task Info
When you save a partially filled flow to continue it later or when puts a task on your task list as part of a workflow, the task is accessed via your task list. This field controls the text that gets displayed in the user's task list. For more details, see the Using the Task List. This information gives the user(s) more details about the task that is waiting on their Task List. It also helps you to quickly find a particular task if you have a lot of tasks on your Task List.
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 flow. Before putting the task on a user's task list, will resolve the Task Info string using the actual values of the FirstName and LastName fields e.g. "Vacation Request for Tom Smith". will truncate the Task Info data to 250 characters.
You access your Task List from your applications home page or from a 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 flow level. If you want the Task Info to show something different on a flow step, select the step, select the Messages tab and set up your customized Task Information there. The Task Information on individual flow steps overrides the default Task Info for the flow for this step only.
Pending Msg
Use this property to display different customized messages for each step of your workflow. Pending messages can be setup at the flow or flow step level. Setting this property at the flow step level, overrides any default Pending Msg that is set up on the flow level for all the flow steps.
Designers may want to display different messages to the users submitting each step of the flow. Templates can be used in the messages to provide dynamic content. The Pending Message is best explained with an example.
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.
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.
Configure a History Message on the step before the task to be performed by the anonymous user, if you want to see relevant information in the audit trail. The History Message can be templatized so you can see the email address of the recipient.
Rejection
Use the Rejection tab to:
- 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.
- You can display the Rejection tab in three ways:
- Click on the step of the workflow, then click the Edit Step Properties icon then click on the Rejection tab.
- Click anywhere in the Rejection section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Rejection tab.
- Click the inside the Rejection section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Rejection tab.
- Check Reject to Here if the flow may be rejected/reset TO this step.
- Check Reject from Here if the flow may be rejected/reset FROM this step.
- If Reject from here is checked, When selected, sections to customize the rejection email will appear.
- Clicking the Submit button to save your changes.
Rejecting a Workflow
There are three types of rejection scenarios for workflows:
- Reject to Revise - The form is sent back to a prior flow step for correction/more information. This is the Reject to Revise (Easy Reject) feature described below and is built into .
- 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 Flow 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 flow steps are skipped and the form is not saved in the Submission Repository. The Abort feature is built into .
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. 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.
Rejecting to a step that has a signed section will clear the signature on that section, requiring the user to re-sign before submitting that step again.
Configure the Reject button
To configure the Reject button on an step of a workflow, follow these steps:
- Click on the step in your flow where you want to configure the Rejection feature.
- The Reject to Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the flow can be rejected/reset to this step. Check Reject to Here if the flow may be rejected/reset TO this step. This
- The Reject From Here checkbox is checked by default. Leave it checked if the flow can be rejected/reset from this step.
- If Reject from Here is checked, you can customize the label of the Reject button and the Rejection email. 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.
- Clicking on the down arrow shows a list of templatized fields from your flow, flow/special templates provided by 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 flow as a template. Selecting an option enters the control name into the field with the closing curly brace
- Click the Submit button to save the changes or navigate to another tab. Remember, if you navigate to another tab without clicking the Submit button, changes will NOT be saved.
- Repeat these steps for each step of your workflow.
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 a 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.
Configuring Reject for Steps performed by Anonymous Users
Tasks assigned to an Email Address can be rejected from and rejected to, just like any step is the flow performed by a logged in user.
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.
Subsequent workflow steps can be configured to Reject the task back to the customer, if necessary.
Configuring Reject for Screenflows
Steps performed by the same user in a flow 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.
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.
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.activity.name}. The reason was: {flow.activity.reject.reason}.</p><p>You can access this task at <a href="{task.perform.url}">this link.</a></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.
The "from" email for a rejection is the tenant "from" email. If no tenant "from" email is set, this will default to the admin user's email address.
Submit as Disapproved (Reject to Discard)
Most often, steps in an Approval workflow can have one of three possible outcomes. They can be:
- Approved
- Sent back to a previous step for corrections/more information (Reject to Revise)
- Disapproved and terminated (Submit as Disapproved)
In the third case, where any approval step that is disapproved should terminate the workflow, we recommend the Submit as Disapproved workflow pattern. This is also know as "Reject to Discard" but it is important to note that this scenario does not use the Rejection feature. Rather, it uses Preconditions to skip the remaining steps in the workflow and submit it. Let's say you have a three-step workflow:
- User fills out a form
- Manager approves or disapproves
- VP approves or disapproves
If the Manager disapproves, you don't want the VP to even see the workflow; you simply want to discard it. To do this, you will set a Precondition on the VP step to only perform that step if the Manager has approved (click the link below for step-by-step instructions). Often you will use a Radio control to indicate Approved/Disapproved. The workflow will now route as follows:
- User fills out form
- Manager can
- Approve and send to VP
- Reject and return to User for more info
- Disapprove and skip VP step, submitting the workflow at this point.
- (if Manager approved) VP approves/disapproves and submits the workflow.
When you use the Submit as Disapproved scenario, you will still have a submission for the workflow, and Workflow Document Actions will run. Activity Doc Actions on skipped steps will not run. Many customers choose to configure Document Actions, such as email, with templatized strings in the To address, subject and message, in conjunction with business rules that set those control values, so that the message sent will be different depending on whether the steps were approved or disapproved. Here is an example of conditionally sending a Workflow Doc Action email. You may also choose to set the control that indicates approval/disapproval as a Searchable Field, so that you can easily view it in the Submission table and filter submissions by that field.
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 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 flow 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.
Precondition
Use the Precondition Builder on the Precondition tab to:
- Write the JavaScript for a precondition on a workflow step.
- Provide a short business-level description of the precondition to help make the flow design easier to read.
- You can display the Precondition tab in three ways:
- Click on the step of the workflow, then click the Edit Step Properties icon then click on the Precondition tab.
- Click anywhere in the Precondition section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Precondition tab.
- Click the inside the Precondition section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Precondition tab.
- When you add a precondition to a flow step, a yellow Precondition decision diamond is displayed on the Flow Designer canvas. Clicking the icon in the Precondition decision diamond takes you directly to the Precondition tab. If the step has a precondition validation error, the error icon shows instead and the diamond displays with a red color.
Preconditions are used to add logic to your flow to skip or perform a step based on the data entered into prior flow steps. They are also used to generate/not generate mapped PDFs. Preconditions are entered into the Precondition property field for a workflow step and are performed if the precondition statement evaluates to true or the field is left empty. The precondition logic is the same used when writing business rules.
There are two entry modes: Precondition Builder mode and code entry mode. Precondition builder mode is turned on by default. The designer can switch back and forth between the two modes.
The Precondition Builder makes it very easy to eliminate incorrect or invalid JavaScript in your precondition statements during the design phase.
- Open the Precondition tab.
- Provide a Precondition Description. This field is optional. If this field is empty, the Precondition logic is described i.e. "LoanAmount is equal to or more than 50000"
- The Precondition Builder is turned on by default. Launch the Builder by clicking in the Precondition logic box or clicking the Edit button. Click the CLEAR PRECONDITION button to remove any existing Precondition logic.
- This editor uses a modified version of the Visual Rule Builder where you can build your precondition statement by selecting controls and conditions from the dropdown lists. Note the field drop downs (left and right sides) will not contain any repeating type fields (tables/repeats).
- Create the Precondition by selecting fields from your flow, an operation and a value. To enter a literal value, slide the toggle to the right. Yo can add more than one condition by clicking on the Add Condition button and modify the logic expression, if necessary.
Click Accept then Submit to save the precondition or click Cancel to discard. You will be prompted to confirm the cancellation.
Save the workflow.
When the user completes entry of a precondition via the rule builder, the precondition expression is displayed in the precondition property panel. Click in the precondition area in the properties panel again or click the icon on the diamond shaped decision box to re-run the Precondition Rule Builder.
To manually enter the Precondition JavaScript or edit a precondition created using the Precondition Rule Builder by editing the JavaScript code :
- Slide the Precondition Builder toggle to the left to turn off the Builder. Be aware that taking this action will remove your ability to edit using the Precondition Builder. A warning message will display:
- Click the CLEAR PRECONDITION button to remove any existing Precondition logic or edit existing code that is displayed.
- Type the JavaScript into the field.
Click Submit to save the precondition. If you click Cancel, you will be asked to confirm.
Changes to the precondition trigger code validation. Appropriate messages are displayed if errors are encountered. Errors with information display if the JavaScript is invalid.
If you have an existing precondition that was manually entered into the Precondition Code field when the Builder was turned off (code mode), slide the to the right to turn the Builder back on.The existing code will be removed but the Precondition Builder will be available again.
You will see this message:
It is important that designers test the preconditions in your workflow. The Precondition Builder displays an error if it encounters invalid JavaScript, however, runtime errors such as leaving off the .value are not flagged by the Precondition Builder because the JavaScript is valid. For example, the precondition in the image is missing the .value for the Loan Amount field. This precondition will pass the Precondition Rule Builder validation but it will not work. will catch this error when the flow navigates to Step 2. To correct the runtime behavior, change the precondition to LoanAmount.value >=500000
- You cannot use form template syntax in preconditions.
- Preconditions are re-validated on saving forms/flows and if there is an error, the user is notified and given an option to re-edit
- The precondition logic is the same used when writing Business Rules. However, the User Info, Numeric, Boolean and Date/Time functions, added to the Visual Rule Builder, are not available in the Precondition Builder. If you hand type one of these functions, it will validate and but you will receive an error message at runtime.
- The following operators are supported in precondition expressions:
- + (add and concat)
- -
- * (multiply)
- /
Precondition Examples
Preconditions and Rejecting Tasks to Discard
Preconditions can be used to implement a Reject to Discard scenario as an option for rejecting workflow tasks. Let's say you want to note that a workflow task is rejected (not approved) but still have the form stored as a completed submission in the repository. Adding pre-conditions that evaluate to true to later flow steps will cause those subsequent steps to be skipped and the flow will complete. The flow will be saved in the submission repository with some customized indication that the flow step was rejected. See the Reject to Discard topic for the details and an example.
Escalations
Use the Escalations tab to set up the following on a workflow step:
- 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 - Reassignment to a different user or role, Notification that the task has been escalated or the ability to skip the step and navigate the flow to the next step.
- The ability to skip a step in a workflow if the task deadline is not met.
- The number of email reminders and the interval to send them before the task deadline.
You can display the Precondition tab in three ways:
- Click on the step of the workflow, then click the Edit Step Properties icon then click on the Escalation tab.
- Click anywhere in the Escalation section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Escalation tab.
- Click the inside the Precondition section in the Properties Navigator. This takes you directly to the Escalation tab.
- When you click on the Escalation tab, a short explanation of existing Escalations displays. Click the arrow to edit or review. Click the ADD ESCALATION button to add one.
- Click the Delete icon to remove an escalation.
- Remember to click Submit to save your changes.
Setup Escalations
In general, a condition is selected that acts as a trigger for the escalations. If the condition is NOT met, then the designer can specify what actions to take. You can elect to reassign, notify, send reminders or skip the task but you do not have to choose all three. However, once a condition is selected one of the actions must be reassign,notify or skip.
- 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.
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.
Configuring Escalations
To start, click on the step in your workflow where you want to configure the Escalation feature and select the Escalations tab. Then click ADD ESCALATION to display the Escalation Condition tab.
Escalation Conditions
Select a condition from the dropdown. There are 4 choices:
Perform By - 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 due date. 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.
- 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 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
Once the condition is selected, click the Action tab to continue. Select from the following choices:
- 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:
- 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: