Understand workflows

To create a workflow, you must use a template and the contents of a project.

Design templates

You use a template to configure the flow of tasks that need to be completed. The template also includes workgroups, or a list of users who can possibly complete the work.

Create workflows

Next you need to start a new workflow based on a generic template design.

You also need to set the due dates, assign the initial task, and add the project files specific to the workflow tasks. Optionally you can also change the Workflow Name, which defaults to the template's name. For example, when creating a topic workflow, you must complete the following screen:

After you start the workflow:

• Inspire manages the transitions you configured in the workflow template until the last task is completed, or the workflow is cancelled.

• Inspire captures a snapshot of all components included in an assignment each time a workflow activity is completed.

  

• This snapshot is labeled with the following information:

  • Action = On Demand

  • (Process) Type = CompleteAssignment

  • Comment = Project Name/Workflow Name/Assignment Name

For example, you want to send a newly written Task component to review, but it needs to be sent to specific users in a specific order. First the review needs to go to a technical developer, then an editor, and then a legal representative. You can use a workflow to automatically send the content to each reviewer in order. This means that when a user marks their review as Complete, that user doesn't have to know who the next reviewer is or manually send it to them. Inspire completes the workflow transitions automatically.

• Inspire provides a Sequential Reviewer template to automate this kind of review. You can customize the template in an editor to fit your business processes.

  

• In the template editor, you specify the Activity that needs to be done, such as completing a technical review, an editorial review, or a legal review.

  

  Each Activity has rules you can define, including:

  • Name. Identifies the Activity and in an active workflow identifies the task or assignment.
  • Status. Identifies the progress of the task (for example, Writing, Reviewing, Publishing).
  • Project Activity. Identifies the larger goal in a project (for example, Write Content, Review Content, Approve Content, Edit Content).

    Project Activity is a required field and cannot be left blank. Although this field is not marked with a red asterisks, and you can create a new Activity without selecting a Project Activity, if you leave it blank, the Save and Submit options are not available until you correct the errors in the workflow template.

    Activities are created and configured in the Administration module on the Project Activity Configuration screen. Admins can follow the steps in: Manage project activity configurations.

    • If there is an error in the configuration of the Activity, you see the Activity name in red.

      

      You must correct any errors before you can Save or Submit the workflow template.

  • Initial / Final. These checkboxes tell Inspire where the workflow starts and stops. When a user starts an active workflow:
    • The Initial assignment will always be the Activity with the Initial option selected.
    • The workflow cannot be marked as completed until the Activity with the Final option selected is completed.
    • You can only select the Initial checkbox for one Activity. The same is true for the Final option.
    • These checkboxes may be unavailable if another Activity is already using them.
  • Duration. Sets a deadline for the activity to be completed (in minutes from 0 to 525600 which is 1 year).
  • Update Metadata on Completion. Tells Inspire to populate or clear an XML element or attribute value across one or more components participating in the workflow. You use an XPath value to update metadata.
  • Claimable. Specifies that this activity can be set to a State of Ready to Claim. In this case, the activity is not assigned to one user but to a list of users who are notified that an activity can be claimed. The first user to claim the assignment completes the work.

    Claimable is not available if you select Create Multiple Assignments.

  • Create Multiple Assignments. When an active workflow advances to this activity, Inspire creates an assignment for each user in the Workgroup instead of a single assignment for the selected user. All users MUST complete the assignment (or all assignments must be cancelled) before the Activity can be marked complete, and the workflow can be advanced.

    Create Multiple Assignments is not available if you select Claimable.

  • Workgroups. A list of users who can do the work.
• The template is also the place where you define the Transitions for moving the workflow to the next step, such as marking the technical review as complete.

  

After you design the basic flow of tasks in a generic template, you need to start a new workflow based on the template and add the specific details for the work to be done.

• Specify the template that outlines the actions and conditions for the workflow.
• Add the specific files, set the appropriate due dates, and assign the initial task.

Components in a workflow must be included in the project. If you create a Topic workflow by selecting the components and then using the Selected Components panel, any components not in the project are added to it automatically.