The concepts of workflow require that users understand the principals of the application and have the knowledge and capabilities to write UserCalcs. It is also important to recognize the needs of your business in order to determine if workflow is applicable. It may be useful to have SQL knowledge to write Completion Clauses
The set up required to integrate workflow is not complex. Basically, there are two screens required for set up, they are: Define Workflow Actions IMWA and Define User Calculations IMUC. The difficulty arises mainly from the complexity of the UserCalc and the completion clause. However, not all workflow actions are complicated and it depends on a client's business requirements.
Workflow triggers are initiated when a record is inserted, updated or deleted from the database. Each table that is enabled for workflow will have a data base trigger configured.
The page Workflow Tables will list each table that has workflow enabled.
Workflow Action#
A workflow action is the result of a key event. Some key events can include a salary/wage increase or hiring/ terminating an employee. These events require specific actions to occur, thereby driving the workflow process.
- Define Workflow Action (IMWA)
- Nagging Workflow Log Emails
- Workflow Actions Report (RMWF)
UserCalcs and Workflow#
This section should only act as a supplemental aid to the already existing User Calculations section. Its intent is to explain some new features that have been developed as a result of the integration of workflow into system. Please reference the User Calculations section for more detail on the other UserCalc items.
With the integration of workflow into the system, UserCalcs have the ability, in addition to their previous functionality, to allow for workflow action events to occur under specific conditions. Examples of such events include: issuing an email, alerting users of specific tasks and taking the user to that particular screen to complete the task. Workflow action events are only processed through UserCalcs.
A UserCalc is a set of instructions, defined by the user, which trigger specific actions or operations to take place. They are a powerful feature that allows for configuration of the application to a high degree.
UserCalcs can perform various operations, such as arithmetic calculations, comparisons of different items, date checks and calculations, issue warning messages and workflow action events. UserCalcs can be simple or quite complex.
The activation of a workflow trigger results in the initiation of a UserCalc. Once the UserCalc is initiated, the workflow action events are called from within the UserCalc.
- Planning a Workflow UserCalc
- UserCalc Conventions
- UserCalc Types
- Defining a WF UserCalc
- Publishing a WF UserCalc
Pro Active Workflow#
In the past, Workflow required a table to be changed for it to be triggered. This new process, Pro Active Workflow, enables Workflow to be scheduled. Pro Active Workflow uses Where Clauses to filter the data to help reduce the number of records that will qualify for the Workflow to fire against.One easy example of Pro Active Workflow usage is to send out a Happy Birthday message to employees on their birthday. A where clause can be defined to filter all employee birth dates which are equal to the ‘As of’ date’s day and month. The user calc would call this workflow action and when the report UMPWF is run, an email would be generated to all of those employees with a birthday that day. The other method would have had the user calc filter the data, which is more tedious on the system.
- Define Workflow Action (IMWA)
- Plan and Define a User Calc (IMUC)
- The user calcs used in Pro Active Workflow must be defined with a usage of Pro-Active WF for them to be picked up by the UMPWF.
- Create a Where Clause (IMWC)
- Run UMPWF
- Examples of Pro-Active Workflow
View Execution Logs & Details #
- View Execution Run Logs (VMEX)
