This article provides a step-by-step guide to creating Workflow Rules (automated rules in Assure that execute an outcome when a record or action meets defined criteria) in Assure (Evotix's health, safety, and risk management platform). It covers two rule types: Action Rules (which automatically close an Action once an Actionee marks it as complete) and Record Rules (which automatically assign personnel or set a record's status within the Approval Workflow). It also covers rule ordering and how Org Unit masking affects rule configuration. This article applies to Assure Administrators with the Workflow Rules Supervisor Privilege and is relevant across all Assure modules.
Click here to check out other articles related to the Workflow Rules manager.
Prerequisites
Workflow Rules are accessed through System Settings by system administrators. To access Workflow Rules Management, the Supervisor Privilege must be updated to allow the relevant permission. Once enabled, users with that Supervisor Privilege will be able to access the Workflow Rules Management page.
The workflow rule creation for Record is only avaliable for Incident Record.
Overview
Workflow Rules are a tool for system administrators to define advanced rules that allow you to automate aspects of your processes that are not covered by the default Org Unit-based assignment and approval processes.
There are two rule types:
- Action Rules - automate the closure of an Action once the Actionee marks it as complete.
- Record Rules - currently available for the Incident Record module only, these automate the assignment of personnel or set a record's status within the Approval Workflow. Support for additional modules will be added in future.
| Rule Type | Applies To | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Action Rule | All modules where Actions are raised | Automatically closes an Action when the Actionee marks it as complete |
| Record Rule | Incident Record only (additional modules to be added in future) | Automatically assigns personnel or sets a record's approval status |
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
Creating the Workflow Rule in Assure
Step 1 - Navigate to Workflow Rules Management
Navigate to Settings > System Configuration > Workflow Rules Management.
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:
Step 2 - Create a New Rule
Click on new record:
Select whether you are creating an action rule, or a record rule:
Creating an Action Workflow Rule
Action rules apply when an Actionee marks an Action as complete and can automatically close that Action.
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
Record rules automate the assignment of personnel or the setting of a record's status in the Approval Workflow based on defined criteria.
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.
Step 3 - Save the Rule
Click Save. The rule will appear in the Workflow Rules Management list with a status of Enabled and will begin executing immediately when matching criteria are met.
Managing Rule Order
When multiple rules could apply to the same record, the order in which they run matters.
By default, rules run in date order, oldest to newest, meaning the most recently created rules 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 new rules to existing processes.
To reorder rules:
- Click the Reorder button. A section for module rules and action rules will appear, showing all rules in a list.
- Change the number allocated to each rule or drag and drop rules into the required position. Rules run in listed order, from top to bottom. The first rule listed runs first and the rule at the bottom of the list runs last.
Note: If you choose not to reorder your rules, they will run in date order, oldest to newest.
How Masking Affects Workflow Rules
Masking allows you to limit the number of Organisational Units a user can see and limits their access to the system. This is particularly useful for large Org Unit structures. If an unmasked user is creating rules, they will be able to see masked users if the user's permissions are correct. If a masked user is creating rules, they will only see users who reside within the masked area.
Check out the article: Masking Org Unit Structure for User for more details on applying masking
Monitoring Rule Execution
The Workflow Rules Log is accessible via System Settings and allows you to monitor the outcome of a rule after it has been executed. Use the Workflow Rules Log to verify that rules are running as expected and to diagnose any issues.
AI Metadata
- Product Area: Workflow Rules Management, System Configuration, Approval Workflow, Action Management
- User Role: Assure System Administrator (requires Workflow Rules Supervisor Privilege)
- Tags: Workflow Rules, Create Workflow Rule, Action Rule, Record Rule, Assign Personnel, Set Status, Workflow Rules Management, Trigger, Criteria, Outcome, Rule Ordering, Masking, Org Unit, Automation, Approval Workflow
- Version/Region: All Assure versions; all regions
- Important Synonyms: Workflow Rules Management = Workflow Rules Manager; Action Rule = Action Workflow Rule; Record Rule = Record Workflow Rule; Assign Personnel = Assign Assignee and Approver; Set Status = Set Approval Stage; Actionee = user assigned to complete an Action; Raised by User = user who created the Action; Workflow Rules Log = Rules Execution Log
- Suggested Embedding Keywords: create workflow rule Assure, how to set up workflow rules Assure, action rule Assure, record rule Assure, assign personnel workflow rule, set status workflow rule, auto close action Assure, auto approve record Assure, workflow rules management Assure, workflow rule trigger Assure, workflow rule criteria Assure, reorder workflow rules, masking workflow rules Assure
- Relevant Modules and Cross-Module Implications: Workflow Rules is only active in the Incident Module in Assure. Record rules applies only to Incident Record. Action rules apply across all modules where Actions are raised, as well as to free-standing Actions (note that free-standing Actions may not carry an Org Unit and could be excluded from rules where an Org Unit filter is applied). The Workflow Rules Log and Workflow Rules Management are both accessed via Settings > System Configuration and are available to users with the appropriate Supervisor Privilege. Rule execution interacts with the Approval Manager, which aggregates records from all modules.