How to create workflow rules
Click here to check out other articles related to the Workflow Rules manager.
This article covers:
- Creating Workflow Rules in Assure
- Creating an Action Workflow Rule
- Creating a Record Workflow Rule
- Workflow Rules ordering
- How does masking work with Workflow Rules
CREATE WORKFLOW RULES IN ASSURE
Follow these instructions when you are ready to create workflow rules.
Navigate to: Settings > System Configuration > Workflow Rules
This will show you a list of rules already created with the ability to manage these, and give you the option of creating a new rule:
Creating a new workflow rule:
Click on new record:
Select whether you are creating an action rule, or a record rule:
CREATING AN ACTION WORKFLOW RULE
The sections of the workflow rule:
Details:
- Enabled: If ‘Enabled’ is ticked, your rule is active and will run. Untick this to disable and turn off your rule.
- Name: This is the name of your rule. This must be unique. The name of the rule appears on the Workflow Rules Management page, and in the Workflow Rules Log.
- Description: This is a 1000-character field for you to add some more description around the rule. It appears in the table on the Workflow Rules Management page so you can include details here about the outcome to help you when managing rules.
When this happens:
- An action is marked as complete: this is the only option available and is pre selected for you. As soon as the actionee marks an action as complete, workflow rules will be checked to see if criteria are met, and execute the outcome accordingly.
Criteria:
None of the criteria are mandatory. If nothing is entered in this section, the rule will execute on every action completed in the system.
- Module: Select the module you would like the rule to apply to, you can create rules to apply only to actions within certain modules of Assure, for example you might want all actions raised in the Incident module to follow one process, and all actions raised in the Audit module to follow a different process.
- Template: Select the iQ template if relevant. This will allow you to further tailor you action process in those modules with multiple iQ templates available.
- Org Unit: Select the organisational unit the rule will apply to. Remember, free standing actions may not have an org unit so could be excluded from rules if you select an org unit here.
- Include Child organisational Units: Should the rule cascade to the child units? This allows you to set up rules which will apply to entire sections of your organisational structure.
- Filter: this allows you to create the criteria which a record must meet. Filters created for a rule will only be visible in that rule, you cannot access them via the action filters. This filter works in the same ways as all Assure filters with two exceptions: Date / time criteria have been restricted to empty and not empty. Picklist criteria have been restricted to equal to, not equal to, empty and not empty.
- Check out this articles to find out more about filter conditions
Outcome:
Close Action: Create a rule to change the status of an action to close, once the actionee has completed it. This is the only outcome available, and is pre selected for you.
- Set Action Approver to Raised by User: This is the user who will be displayed as the user who Closed the action. With this option selected, the user who created the action will show as the user who closed the action. This mirrors the current manual closure process.
- Set Action Approver to Actionee: This is the user who will be displayed as the user who Closed the action. With this option selected, the actionee will show as the user who closed the action.
- Set Action Approver to Select User: This is the user who will be displayed as the user who Closed the action. With this option selected, you can choose which user will show as the user who closed the action. You might choose your H&S Manager, or Administrator
CREATING A RECORD WORKFLOW RULE
The sections of the workflow rule:
Details:
- Enabled: If ‘Enabled’ is ticked, your rule is active and will run. Untick this to disable and turn off your rule.
- Name: This is the name of your rule. This must be unique. The name of the rule appears on the Workflow Rules Management page, and in the Workflow Rules Log.
- Description: This is a 1000-character field for you to add some more description around the rule. It appears in the table on the Workflow Rules Management page so you can include details here about the outcome to help you when managing rules.
When this happens:
- A record is created: as soon as the record is created (by any source except data import) workflow rules will be checked to see if criteria are met, and execute the outcome accordingly. This can be used with the edit trigger.
- A record is edited: if a record is saved, the workflow rules will be checked to see if criteria are met, execute the outcome accordingly. This can be used with the create trigger.
- A record is submitted: as soon as the record is submitted in the workflow, workflow rules will be checked to see if criteria are met, and execute the outcome accordingly.
- A record is approved: as soon as the record is approved in the workflow, workflow rules will be checked to see if criteria are met, and execute the outcome accordingly.
Criteria:
- Module: Only Incident Record is available in the current version, in the future more modules will be added so you can select which module the rule will apply to.
- Template: Select the iQ template if relevant (not mandatory). This will be valuable when the rules engine is available in modules which can have multiple iQ templates associated to them.
- Org Unit: Select the organisational unit the rule will apply to. Only records created or edited in this unit will be affected by the rule.
- Include Child organisational Units: Should the rule cascade to the child units? This allows you to set up rules which will apply to entire sections of your organisational structure. Please check further down on how this is may be impacted by permissions.
- Filter: this allows you to create the criteria which a record must meet. Filters created for a rule will only be visible in that rule, you cannot access them via the module filters. This filter works in the same ways as all Assure filters with two exceptions: Date / time criteria have been restricted to empty and not empty. Picklist criteria have been restricted to equal to, not equal to, empty and not empty.
- Check out this articles to find out more about filter conditions
Outcome:
Assign personnel: Create a rule using the when create and edit triggers, to set the assignee and approver of a record.
- Assignee: This is the user that a record should be assigned to if it meets the above criteria. The assign will review the record and submit it to the approver.
NOTE: To appear on this Assignee list, users must have the ‘Assign’ permission for the module and organisational unit. If you have ticked ‘Include child organisational units’ that user permission must be for all units included. This stops a user being assigned a record they do not have permission to access. Please check further down for a couple of examples. - Set days until Record Submission: when the record is assigned, did you want to give the assignee a due date by which they must submit the record?
- Days after Assignment: how many days do they have to submit the record once it has been assigned to them?
- Approver: This is the users that should be set as approver for the record if it meets the above criteria
Click here to find out more how permissions work with this outcome
Set status: Create a rule to change the status of a record to approved or archived.
- Select Status Approved: Create a rule to change the status of the record to Approved
- Set Approver to Default Approver: This is the user who will show as the approver of the record. The Default Approver is set in the Organisational Unit defaults.
- Set Approver to Record Editor / Creator: This is the user who will show as the approver of the record. Depending on the event which triggers the rules (a record is created, or a record is edited) the user creating or editing that record will show as the approver of the record.
- Set Approver to Select User: This is the user who will show as the approver of the record.
Click here to find out more how permissions work with this outcome
- Select Status Archived: Create a rule to change the status of the record to Archived
- Set Archiver to Record Editor / Creator: This is the user who will show as the archiver of the record. Depending on the event which triggers the rules (a record is created, or a record is edited) the user creating or editing that record will show as the archiver of the record.
- Set Archiver to Select User: This is the user who should be set as archiver of the record.
WORKFLOW RULES ORDER
By default the rules will run in date order, oldest to newest, so the most recent rules will take priority.
Where there are several rules which may apply to the same record the ability to manually order the rules can save time when creating, or adding in new rules to your existing processes.
Once your rules have been created, click on the Reorder button
You will see a section for module rules and action rules, and your rules in a list. You can either change the number allocated them, or drag and drop them into position.
Note: arrange your rules from top to bottom, as they will run in the order listed. This means the first rule listed will run first, followed by the second rule, and so on. The rule at the bottom of the list will be the last rule to run.
If you choose not to reorder your rules, they will run in date order, oldest to newest.
HOW DOES MASKING WORK WITH WORKFLOW RULES
Check out the article: Masking Org Unit Structure for User for more details on applying masking
Masking allows you to limit the number of organisational unites that a user will see and will limit their access to the system. This is particularly useful for large org unit structure.
If an unmasked user is creating rules, they will be able to see masked users if the user’s permission is correct.
If a masked user is creating rules, they will only see users who reside within the masked area.
EXAMPLE:
There are two users who are masked at Directorate 1 level.
If the rule is set up:
If you are an unmasked user, you will see the two masked users, as well as all other users who have access to the Department 1 org units:
If a masked user is creating a rule:
In rules management they can only see rules sitting within their mask:
For the same rule set up, they only see users within their mask. They will not see the users sitting at the Evotix level, even though they have access to Department 1, as the Evotix level sits outside of their mask: