Workflow definitions and workflow instances

Workflow definitions

A workflow definition represents a business process and describes the tasks involved in the process. A workflow is defined for one object type. An object type can have multiple workflow definitions, for example, for Controls, you might have two workflows: Control Assessment and Control Change Request. The two workflows reflect two different business processes for Controls. Although an object type can have multiple workflow definitions, an object can be involved in only one workflow at a time. For example, if Control ABC is going through the Control Assessment workflow, you cannot start the Control Change Request workflow for it.

A workflow definition has the following characteristics:

• A workflow definition is static.

  The actual execution of the workflow is described by the workflow instance, which holds the run-time information.

• A workflow definition is versioned.

  Each time a workflow definition is published, a new version of that workflow definition is made available to users. The new version is used for workflow instances that are started after it is published. It does not affect workflow instances that are already running.

• A workflow definition can be disabled.

  When a workflow definition is disabled, no new workflow instances based on that workflow definition can be started. Workflow instances that were already running when the workflow definition was disabled continue to run. Disabled workflow definitions can be re-enabled.

A workflow definition is made up of the following elements:

• Workflow properties define basic information about the workflow.

  You can define how the workflow can be started (manually or automatically), a start schedule, the oversight user, the overall due date, applicability, and criticality normalization. For more information, see Defining workflow properties.

• Stages represent tasks that are assigned to users.

  There are three types of stages: start, end, and standard. For information, see Workflow stages.

• Actions control the transitions between stages and the values on the Actions button.

  An action contains comment settings, conditions, validations and operations, email notification settings, and a setting that controls whether the action runs in the background. For information, see Defining a workflow action.

Workflow instances

As users work in OpenPages, they launch instances of workflow definitions. A workflow definition can have an unlimited number of workflow instances in progress at any given time.

Administrators can view and terminate active workflow instances. For more information, see Managing workflow instances.