How users interact with workflows

You can control aspects of the interaction between users and workflows. Your goal as a workflow designer is to create workflows that not only accurately model the business process but are also easy for users to finish and interact with.

As users work on their daily tasks, such as approving or rejecting tasks that are assigned to them, workflows work behind the scenes to orchestrate what happens next and who is involved. Users do not need a detailed understanding of the underlying workflow definitions or workflow instances. Messages and on-screen information guide them through the process to help them complete their tasks. They likely know only their part of the process and might not have a complete understanding of the full business process.

Starting a workflow

How a workflow can be started is defined in the workflow properties. For more information, see How workflows are started.

After a workflow starts, a workflow instance is created.

Stages become tasks

A stage in a workflow definition represents a task. Every time the stage changes, a new task is created.

Stages determine participants

A stage in a workflow definition determines the participants in the task, meaning the assignees and the subscribers.

Assignees access their tasks on the dashboard and My Tasks tab

Assignees access the dashboard and My Tasks tab to find their tasks. The dashboard can be configured but My Tasks tab requires no configuration.

Subscribers access their tasks on the Subscription Tasks tab

Subscribers access the Subscription Tasks tab to find tasks that they are subscribed to. The Subscription Tasks tab requires no configuration.

Assignees and subscribers access their tasks from emails

Assignees and subscribers can receive two types of emails:

  • Email notifications
  • Email reminders

Email notifications can be sent every time the stage changes and when a workflow ends. The recipient of the email can click a URL in the email to access the task. Emails notifications are defined on end stages and actions between stages. The content of the email notification can be used as-is or modified to meet your requirements. Email notifications are sent as single emails, which means that a user might receive multiple per day.

Email reminders can be sent before, on, and after the due date for a stage. The recipient of the email can click a URL in the email to access the task. Emails reminders are defined on standard stages. You can define who receives email reminders (assignees or subscribers). The content of the email notification cannot be modified. Email reminders are sent as a summary email, which means that a user receives one email per day regardless of the number of tasks that generated a reminder.

Email reminders are sent according to the following conditions:

  • If the job runs every day, email reminders are sent according to the settings in the stage.
  • If the job does not run on a day when the first reminder is to be sent, an attempt is made to send it when the job runs the next time.
  • If the job does not run on the day when the "coming due" reminder is to be sent, an attempt is made to send it when the job runs the next time. When the reminder is sent also depends on when the last one was sent.
  • If the job does not run on a day when a reminder is to be sent for a stage that is due, the reminder is not sent.
  • If the job does not run on the day when the overdue reminder is to be sent, an attempt is made to send the reminder when the job runs the next time. When the reminder is sent also depends on when the last one was sent.

To avoid delayed reminders, schedule the job to run daily.

Oversight users access the Oversight Tasks tab

Oversight users access the Oversight Tasks tab to have a summary of the workload in their area of responsibility. Oversight users are defined in the overall workflow properties, not per stage. The Oversight Tasks tab lists all open tasks that belong to workflows that the oversight user is responsible for. The Oversight Tasks tab requires no configuration.

Users can access bulk workflow actions

If the bulk workflow actions feature in GRC Workflow is used, user can access their tasks by using the Complete task with bulk workflow actions window. If a user has open tasks, the window is displayed in the following locations:

  • The My Tasks tab and dashboard panel.
  • The Subscription Tasks tab and dashboard panel.
  • The Oversight Task tab and dashboard panel.

Assignees interact with a Task View

A stage in a workflow definition determines the Task View that an assignee opens when they access the task. The Task View must contain the appropriate fields for that stage and what the user needs to accomplish. For example, if the assignee needs to set a date field at the stage, the field must be visible and editable. Two elements on a Task View help assignee understand what to do:
  • User guidance

    User guidance is customer-specific help text and field information that is displayed in the right panel. You define user guidance in the Task View. If a task is part of a workflow that has started, users can click Select an action to validate to check whether an action would pass validation before they complete the action. You can override the Task View's user guidance text with text that is specific to that stage. Use this powerful feature to provide instructions and information that are specific to your organization and your business processes.

  • Workflow information card

    Workflow information is displayed in the right panel of any object that is in a workflow process. Called the workflow information card, this panel displays the stage that the object is at, the due date of the stage, and the current assignee. It is displayed regardless of who opens the object. You do not have to modify the task views to make it display.

    Whether the workflow information card is automatically updated when an object is changed depends on the registry setting, Platform > Calculation > Refresh Workflow Information Automatically.
    • If set to true, the content of the workflow information card is automatically updated and email notifications are sent if there is a change to the fields that set the assignees, subscribers, or oversight users.
    • If set to false, the user must manually refresh the workflow information card.
    Note: If the assignees, subscribers, or oversight users are set to specific users or groups rather than to fields, the Refresh Workflow Information Automatically setting does not apply. When you edit the assignees, subscribers, or oversight users in the workflow definition, existing workflow instances aren't updated automatically.

    If the workflow fields are not automatically updated with the latest changes, click the refresh button in the workflow information card. Fields that are displayed in the workflow information card are refreshed. If the dashboard or task tabs are open, information there is refreshed as well.

    After a workflow is finished, the workflow information panel is no longer displayed.

Options on the Actions button drive the workflow

Assignees use the options on the Actions button to start workflows and complete their work and drive the workflow forward. You define the values that are displayed to users when you define actions between stages. Ensure that the names are short, active, and meaningful to the assignees.

The order of the options on the Actions button is initially determined by creation order. If you rearrange the actions in Workflow Designer, the options on the Actions button are reordered based on the new arrangement. When the options are reordered, the first option on the list is typically the transition to the stage closest to the top of the canvas. When you add or delete stages in Workflow Designer, then the workflow that the users are currently on can see the updated options on the Actions button. Users are not required to restart their instances to see the updated actions that they can take.

If a user does not have permission to start the workflow or take the current action, no options are displayed on the Actions button. You can add an explanation to the user guidance to cover this situation.

Confirm the selected action

When a user chooses an action, a confirmation window is displayed. The access point determines the content of the confirmation window.

From a Task View, the confirmation window contains default content, as shown in this example:

Confirmation window showing simple statement

The text on this confirmation can be customized by providing text on a workflow action in Override workflow action text. The text in Override workflow action text overrides the default text.

From a bulk workflow actions Grid View, the confirmation window contains more information, as shown in the following example:

Confirmation window showing

Two texts of this confirmation window can be customized:

  • You can add text at the position that is encircled in red by defining text on a workflow action in Override workflow action text.
  • You can define text in the app.taskView.confirmation.action.message application text to control the text at the top.

Users can enter comments

Users can enter a comment (reason) that can be up to 4000 characters. Whether the comment window is displayed and whether it is required or optional is defined by the workflow action. For example, for an approval stage, you can define the workflow actions so that a user must provide a comment (reason) if the REJECT action is selected but a comment is optional if the APPROVE action is selected.

Focus on due dates

The due date for a task and the overall due date for a workflow are important to the participants in a workflow. For more information, see Interpreting and viewing due dates.