8. Using your Workflow

Walk through using a workflow

First, an overview …

  • The button for initiating a workflow, displays on the left menu panel Submit New … > Initiate button name (as set in the workflow type, for members of workgroups that have been assigned to the workflow type. Clicking the initiate button displays the workflow details (Class) page where the user enters the required information. Clicking the submit workflow button advances the workflow to the First Step (of the process). Users can see the status of any workflow they have submitted at Menu > My Tasks > Workflows in the My Submission tab.
  • As the workflow proceeds through its steps, the workflow is displayed on the homepage alerts of users that are participants in the current step of the workflow. It can also be accessed from Menu > My Tasks > Workflows.
  • Participants are emailed when a workflow transitions to a step where they are a participant, (subject to Step settings).
  • Supervisors of Workgroups (Workgroup Editors) and Administrators can view the workflows for their team members via Menu > My Team > Workflows and from the workflow listing button on the left menu panel.

The following image shows the location of the Submit New … where workflows are initiated, and the buttons to view the submitted workflows for Editors and Administrators.

We will start by initiating a new instance of the Weekly Report workflow.

Select the Send Weekly Report button in the Left menu panel to initiate a weekly report and display the Report details page.

Fill out the page, then click the Submit button. A message will pop up to advise that you have successfully transitioned the workflow.

Feel free to explore this page including:

  • Step through the tabs and experiment with adding Comments, Actions and Documents.
  • The Printed Report, Transition History and Progress buttons on the top right.

Actions and Document guides cover those areas:

Actions Guide Documents Guide

As a Supervisor you have some choices via the Transition Buttons near the top of the page. You can:

  • Add some comments on the Comments tab, then return the report to the Initiator.
  • Save and Close the report.
  • Discard the Report.

Because you are signed in as System Administrator you have access to all steps of all workflows, so if you return the report to the Initiator you will still be able to see it.

Note: If you are a Supervisor (Editor) of a workgroup, you have access to all workflows for your workgroup.

Click the green << Return to Initiator button. A popup will advise that you have transitioned the workflow, then you will see the following page.

Note that the workflow can be transitioned back to the Supervisor using the green Forward to My Supervisor button. However, leave it on the Initiator to Add Information Step for now.

Then click the Home button on the menu bar to return to your home page.

Note that the Workflow alerts button panel at the top of your Home page (highlighted in the above image)have been updated to include the workflow changes. You can click the numbers to view the items.

Select the Weekly Reports button on the left menu panel.

Note that you can output the contents of the grid to MS Excel using the button above and right of the grid.

Click the Reference Number at the left end of the report row to open the report.

You are able to output the workflow to a printed report in PDF or MS Word format. Select the Report button on the top right (highlighted in the above image). The report will be downloaded to your PC. Check the downloads bar at the bottom of the screen.

View PDF report example

That concludes the guides for workflows. Remember to plan out workflows carefully before beginning the setup.

Also, simple workflows work best. It is often better to simplify a real world process than to make complex IT systems to support them.

As Einstein said, “Everything should be as simple as it can be, but not simpler.”