LiveLink - Workflow Training (223)

I was looking forward to this course and it didn’t disappoint me. The whole point of workflow is to automate a process and it does that very well. What is Workflow you ask? It’s an automated system that will push tasks/documents etc through a pre-defined process. It’s capable to sending emails and notifications and can also create a pre-defined folder structure (including files).

The key of course is that the process needs to be designed and planned out well. This was stressed but it was also acknowledged that it is often only ½ done, if at all. Depending on the individuals/departments involved, the design is often skipped so they can just jump right in and start setting up the workflow.

I’m of the school where I understand and believe in the benefits of designing and planning a process before attempting to implement it. But I also know that there are many people, departments and corporations that run with the credo of: “Never time to do it right. Always time to do it over”. I have the fortune to have a boss that understands and supports me so I have the opportunity to plan and then implement.

But to get back on track, while you can just jump in and start setting up your workflow, it’s usually best to at least get a rough outline of what you want the workflow to do. Once you have that done it’s remarkably easy to setup a workflow to go through. You have a section of objects or steps – Initiator, User/Group, Evaluation, Process, Item Handler, Sub Map, Form Task and Milestone. You basically drag the steps you need onto the painter screen and then drag them together to make the correct linking paths.

Initiator: A wild card step that recognizes the user that initiated the workflow – used to assign that particular step to the initiator.

User/Group: A step assigned to particular users or groups to perform a specified action.

Evaluation: A routing step based on a True/False condition – often fed from the previous step that requires an Initiator or User/Group input.

Process: A step to send an email, add comments or update workflow attributes automatically

Item Handler: A step to manage attachments (folders, documents) and attributes automatically.

Sub Map: This step will send the entire work package through to another workflow and then returns with relevant information.

Form Task: This step displays a specific form to task recipients – the entire work package will not necessarily be available at this step.

Milestone: This step acts as a marker for a pre-defined milestone – often used with an evaluation step to catch whether milestones are being met. It is the sole step that is evaluated AFTER the evaluation step.

Once you have the steps all setup, you can start customizing each one – determining its attributes etc.

It’s very important to remember to verify the workflow map – it has a menu option on the MAP menu – Verify Map Definition. This will help ensure that you’ve correctly setup all the links etc.

You can track all instances of a particular workflow by going to the main map and click Status – it will list all workflow instances using this map. Workflow maps can have versions but you are not able to change a version and then push that change to existing workflow instances. You are able to edit an existing instance though – if you suspend it you can then modify its map and then turn it back on. This has the limitations of course and it’s recommended to have the workflow working properly before initializing it.

Once a workflow instance is completed – options to delete or archive become available. Deleting will delete everything related to that instance. Each workflow has its own attachments directory and deleting the workflow will delete that directory but will not reach out and deleted directories/files elsewhere in the system. IE: You have an Item Handler step that creates some directories and it moves any files the users attached to those directories – deleting the Workflow will delete the original attachments directory but will not affect the directories/files that it moved.

You can export/import workflows as well. Exporting will let you save the workflow to a .MAP file. In order to import you have to create a new blank workflow and then select Import from its function menu. You can then select the file you need to import. You have the option to either Reset Performers or Maintain Performers. Reset performers will reset all performers except for initiators. You will then have to go to each relevant step and select the performer users/groups. Selection Maintain performers will keep all the settings as is – but this will only work if you import to the same instance of Live Link. The exact same users/groups must exist and separate instances, even with the same users, will not necessarily match.