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Workflow Rule - Assign Personnel Outcome

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This article explains the Assign Personnel outcome within the Workflow Rules (automated rules in Assure that execute an outcome when a record meets defined criteria) feature in Assure (the Evotix health, safety, and risk management platform). The Assign Personnel outcome automatically allocates the Assignee (the user who reviews and submits a record) and the Approver (the user who formally approves a record) of an Incident Record based on defined filter criteria.  This outcome is used alongside the default Approval Workflow to handle exceptions, for example routing high-severity incidents to a specific manager. It is part of a series of Workflow Rules articles. This article covers prerequisites, best practice, trigger compatibility, outcome configuration, override options, and the permissions that control which users can appear in the Assignee and Approver selection lists.

Cross-module note: Workflow Rules currently apply to the Incident Record module only. The Assign Personnel outcome interacts directly with the Approval Workflow and the Organisational Unit structure in Assure.

Prerequisites

Before creating a Workflow Rule with the Assign Personnel outcome:
  • Define your assignment and approval process. Review what the process should look like and identify who in your organisation should assign and approve records.
  • Set your default Assignee and Approver in Assure (if required). Use the Org Unit Defaults configuration to establish the standard workflow. Workflow Rules are then used to handle exceptions.
  • Create Workflow Rules only for exceptions not covered by the default setup.
  • Communicate any changes to your team so users understand why they are being assigned to a record.
  • Monitor rule execution via the Workflow Rules Log (navigate to Settings > System Configuration > Workflow Rules Log).
The Manage Workflow Rules Supervisor Privilege must be set to Allow on the administrator's account to access Workflow Rules Management.

 

Why This Is Useful

Assure's default Approval Workflow assigns records based on Org Unit defaults, which works well for most standard scenarios. However, organisations often have exceptions where a different Assignee or Approver is required depending on the nature of the record.
 
The Assign Personnel outcome allows administrators to automate those exceptions without manual intervention. Common situations where this is valuable include:
  • Severity-based routing -- High-severity incidents need to be assigned to a senior manager or Health and Safety lead rather than the default Assignee.
  • Incident type routing -- Environmental incidents, vehicle incidents, or contractor incidents may need to follow a different review path to a specialist team.
  • Departmental exceptions -- Certain Org Units may have a different default Approver from the system-wide setting, and a rule can override that automatically.
  • Reducing manual reassignment -- Without rules, a record may be assigned to the wrong person and then manually reassigned, causing delays. Automation removes that step.
  • Consistency and audit trail -- Rules ensure the correct people are always assigned based on objective criteria, supporting compliance and governance requirements.
The Assign Personnel outcome should complement your existing default workflow setup, not replace it. Configure defaults first, then use Workflow Rules to handle the exceptions.

 

Best Practice for Setting Up Workflow Rules

  • Plan before you build. Think through all scenarios before creating rules.
  • Review your current setup first. Review existing Org Unit approval assignments and update as required.
  • Align rules to your Org Unit approval settings. Review how permissions work (see the Permissions section below) before configuring rules.
  • Define rules lean. If only the Assignee needs to change but not the Approver, create the rule for the Assignee only. It is acceptable to leave the Approver field blank.
  • Use a standard naming convention. Include the Org Unit, criteria used, and outcome in the rule name. The Name and Description fields are searchable.
  • Set up rules for both create and edit triggers if you want rules to apply when criteria are updated during review.

Click here to check out other articles related to the Workflow Rules manager.

 

Steps

Check out this article about how to create a workflow rule for a step by step guide to set up rules.

Step 1: Choose Your Trigger

When configuring the Assign Personnel outcome, select one or both of the following triggers in the When this happens section of the rule:
  • When a record is created -- Workflow Rules are checked as soon as the record is created (by any source except data import). If criteria are met, the outcome executes immediately. This trigger can be combined with the edit trigger.
  • When a record is edited -- Workflow Rules are checked when a record is saved. If criteria are met, the outcome executes accordingly. This trigger can be combined with the create trigger.
The following triggers are not compatible with the Assign Personnel outcome and must not be selected:
  • When a record is submitted -- This trigger can only be used with the Set Status to Approved outcome.
  • When a record is approved -- This trigger can only be used with the Set Status to Archived outcome.

 

Step 2: Set Your Filter Criteria

Define the conditions a record must meet before the rule executes. In the Criteria section of the rule:

1. Select the Org Unit the rule will apply to. Only records created or edited in this unit will be affected by the rule.

2. Tick Include Child Organisational Units if the rule should cascade down to child Org Units within the selected structure.

3. Configure the Filter to define the specific record conditions (for example, Incident Severity equals Major). Filters created within a rule are only visible within that rule and cannot be accessed via the module filters.

Note: Date and time criteria within rule filters are restricted to empty and not empty. Picklist criteria are restricted to equal to, not equal to, empty, and not empty.

 

Step 3: Configure the Assign Personnel Outcome

Once your trigger and filter criteria are set:
 
1. In the Outcome section, select Assign Personnel.
 
2. In the Assignee field, select the user the record should be assigned to when the criteria are met. The Assignee reviews the record and submits it to the Approver.
 
Note: Only users with the Assign role permission for the module and the relevant Org Unit appear in this list. If Include Child Organisational Units is ticked, the user must have access to all units in scope. See the Permissions section below for detailed examples.
 
3. Optionally, tick Set days until Record Submission to give the Assignee a submission deadline.
 
4. If the above is enabled, enter the number of Days after Assignment the Assignee has to submit the record.
 
5. In the Approver field, select the user who should be set as Approver for the record when the criteria are met.
 
Note: Only users with the Approve role permission for the module and the relevant Org Unit appear in this list. If Include Child Organisational Units is ticked, the user must have access to all units in scope.
 
6. Click Save. The rule appears in the Workflow Rules Management list with a status of Enabled and begins executing immediately when matching criteria are met.

 

Step 4: Configure Override Options (Optional)

By default, Workflow Rules take precedence over manual assignment and re-assignment. To allow users to bypass a rule in specific circumstances:

1. Navigate to Settings > Module Setup > Incident Record.

2. In the Approvals section, locate the override settings.

3. Tick Allow override of rule outcome assignee to give users the option to override the Workflow Rule when manually assigning a record.

4. Tick Allow override of rule outcome approver to allow users to select a different Approver at the point of submission, rather than having the Approver fixed by the rule.

5. Click Save and Close.

How Override Works: Assignee

When a user re-assigns a record and the assignee override option is enabled, the prompt Override workflow rule for assignee field appears during assignment:
  • If the user ticks the box, no Workflow Rules are applied and the record remains with the manually selected user.
  • If the user does not tick the box, the system checks for any applicable Workflow Rule and re-assigns the record to the user defined in that rule.

How Override Works: Approver

When the approver override option is enabled, the Approver user selector becomes available at the point of submission. The user can select a different Approver from the list, rather than the Approver being pre-selected and fixed by the rule.

 

Permissions: Which Users Can Appear in the Assignee and Approver Lists

Assignee

For a user to appear in the Assignee selection list within a Workflow Rule, both of the following must be true:
  • The user holds the Assign role permission for the module the rule applies to.
  • The user has access to the Org Unit specified in the rule. If Include Child Organisational Units is ticked, the user must have access to every unit included in the rule scope.

Approver

For a user to appear in the Approver selection list within a Workflow Rule, both of the following must be true:
  • The user holds the Approve role permission for the module the rule applies to.
  • The user has access to the Org Unit specified in the rule. If Include Child Organisational Units is ticked, the user must have access to every unit included in the rule scope.

 

Examples

The following examples use a rule set to assign the Assignee and Approver when Incident Severity = Major in Org Unit: Directorate 1.
 
The example Organisational Structure is:
  • Evotix (root)
    • Directorate 1
      • Department A
      • Department B

Example 1: User has permission for Directorate 1 Including Children

The user's role grants the Assign permission at Directorate 1 with Include Children enabled.
 
If the rule is set at Org Unit: Evotix (include child organisational units)
The user does not appear in the Assignee list because the user's permission does not cover all Org Units included in the rule. Only users with access to the entire structure appear.

 
If the rule is set at Org Unit: Directorate 1 (include child organisational units)
The user appears in the Assignee list, as the user's permission covers Directorate 1 and all its children. Users with access to the full structure also appear.
 

 

Example 2: User has permission for Directorate 1 NOT Including Children

The user's role grants the Assign permission at Directorate 1 only (without children).
 
If the rule is set at Org Unit: Directorate 1 (include child organisational units)
The user does not appear in the Assignee list because the user's permission does not cover the child units of Directorate 1. Only users with permission covering every unit within the rule scope appear.
 

 
If the rule is set at Org Unit: Directorate 1 (does NOT include child organisational units)
The user appears in the Assignee list because the user's permission covers Directorate 1 only, and the rule does not cascade to child units.

AI Metadata

  • Product Area: Workflow Rules Management, Incident Record, Approval Workflow, Organisational Configuration
  • User Role: Assure System Administrator (requires the Manage Workflow Rules Supervisor Privilege)
  • Tags: Workflow Rules, Assign Personnel, Assignee, Approver, Record Rule, Incident Record, Permissions, Org Unit, Include Child Organisational Units, Override Workflow Rule, Module Setup, Approval Workflow
  • Version / Region: All Assure versions; all regions. Workflow Rules currently apply to the Incident Record module only.
  • Important Synonyms: Assign Personnel = Assign Assignee and Approver; Assignee = Submitter; Record Rule = Workflow Rule for Records; Override = Manual Override; Include Child Organisational Units = Cascade to children; Workflow Rules Management = Workflow Rules Manager
  • Suggested Embedding Keywords: assign personnel workflow rule, workflow rule assignee approver, Assure assign personnel outcome, who can be assignee in workflow rule, override workflow rule assignee, workflow rule permissions Assure, Assign permission workflow rule, Approve permission workflow rule, include child org units workflow rule, high severity incident workflow rule, why use assign personnel workflow rule
  • Relevant Modules and Cross-Module Implications: This article is scoped to the Workflow Rules Management area in Assure and applies exclusively to the Incident Record module (the only module currently supported for Record Rules). The Assign Personnel outcome directly interacts with the Approval Workflow, Role Permissions (the Assign and Approve permissions control user eligibility), and Org Unit configuration (which determines which Org Units are in scope for a rule). The Override settings are configured in Settings > Module Setup > Incident Record.
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