Note: The content in this article refers to single-document workflows, now known as legacy workflows. While existing workflows remain supported and such workflows can continue to be updated and used, legacy workflows will not receive new functionality in future releases. As of the 21R1.2 release, multi-document workflows and object workflows are unified under Admin > Configuration > Workflows.
If your document lifecycle does not have any legacy workflows, the Legacy Workflow tab will not appear on your document lifecycle configuration page. If you require legacy workflow functionality for such a document lifecycle in your Vault during this release period, contact Support.
After the 21R3 release, you cannot create or copy legacy workflows in any Vault. You can continue to refresh or clone Vaults with existing legacy workflows.
Workflow steps define all the actions within a workflow, whether they are user actions like providing electronic signatures or system actions like sending notifications. This article covers types of steps that relate to document updates:
- State Change steps move a document from one lifecycle state to another. See details.
- Update Document Field steps automatically update one or more fields on the document based on the configured rule or value. See details.
You can read details about other types of steps in Legacy Workflow Tasks & Decision Steps and Legacy Workflow Process Steps. To learn about creating new steps and linking them together, see Configuring Legacy Workflow Steps.
State Change Steps
State Change steps move a document from one lifecycle state to another, for example, from Draft to In Review. This step could move the document into a state with more restrictive user permissions during a workflow, or could advance the document to the next stage of a lifecycle at the end of the workflow. For example, in a review workflow, a State Change step just after the Start step could move the document into In Review state, in which users are not able to perform certain tasks. After a Decision step that evaluates verdicts from users’ review tasks, the workflow could move the document backward to Draft state or forward into Ready for Approval state.
When a document changes states through a workflow step, Vault automatically applies entry criteria and executes entry actions as part of the State Change step. Two State Change steps must have at least one Task step between them. Otherwise, entry actions which send notifications on the second State Change step will not execute properly.
Step Configuration Fields
| Field | Description |
| Next State | Select the next lifecycle state to apply to the document. |
Update Document Field Step
Update Document Field steps allow you to automatically update document fields. For example, a workflow to withdraw a document could use this step to set the Withdrawal Effective Date field to 10 days past the current date.
Step Configuration
To set up an Update Document Field step, select a document field and a value. The value options depend on field type:
| Field Type | Value Options |
| Text | Allows "Blank" or "Text"; "Text" show a text field in which you can enter a value. |
| Date | Allows "Blank," "Today," and other date fields. When selecting "Today" or other date fields, you can create calculated values, for example, "Today + 10 days" or "Workflow Due Date + 90 days." |
| Numeric | Allows "Blank," "Number," and other numeric fields; with "Number," you must enter a numeric value. With other numeric fields, you can create a calculated value like "MLR Cycle Count + 1." If a numeric field used for a calculated value is blank, Vault treats it as a zero. |
| Yes/No | Allows "Blank," "Yes," and "No." |
| Picklist | Allows "Blank" and "Values." "Values" shows a picklist field where you can select one or more options. |
You can add as many fields as needed by clicking the plus (+) icon.
Behavior Details
There are some differences between updating document fields using this step and updating fields manually:
- The Workflow Owner does not need the Edit Fields permission for the document in order to complete a workflow that contains this type of step.
- Audit Trail shows “System” as the User Name when reporting on the document field updates, not the Workflow Owner’s name.
- Vault ignores dependent field rules when updating fields. This means that Vault can update a document field even if it’s hidden or read-only, or populate it with a picklist value that would otherwise not be available.