Defining Document Lifecycle States

Lifecycles are the sequences of states (Draft, In Review, etc.) that a document goes through during its life. For each individual state, you can configure various settings, including entry criteria, automated document actions, user-initiated actions, and user role permissions.

Accessing Lifecycle States

Lifecycle states are visible and editable from Admin > Configuration > Document Lifecycles > [Lifecycle Name] > States. You can view or edit settings by clicking on the lifecycle state name.

How to Create Lifecycle States

The following procedure outlines the process for creating a new lifecycle state and provides links to articles which cover specific aspects in detail. You can also create a new lifecycle state by copying an existing lifecycle state.

To create a new lifecycle state:

  1. From the States tab, click Create.
  2. Enter a Label for the state. This value appears in the Status field for documents while they are in the state.
  3. Optional: Enter a Description for the state. This value only appears in the Admin area.
  4. Select an option from the Workflow Cancel State picklist. You can select any state configured on the lifecycle, No State Change, or State in which workflow started (default). See details below.
  5. Optional: Select Do not execute entry actions for workflow cancel state to skip all entry actions when a document enters the configured workflow cancel state.
  6. Optional: If the state should not be active immediately, select Inactive in the Status picklist.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Optional: On the States tab, click into the new lifecycle state and set any necessary options for security settings, entry actions, etc. See details below.
  9. Optional: In the Overlays tab, configure a conditional overlay template to apply to documents in this state when users download the viewable rendition.

How to Copy Existing Lifecycle States

Creating lifecycle states from copies is useful when the two states differ by only a few configuration points. Once you’ve created a copy, you can modify the copy as needed.

To copy an existing lifecycle state:

  1. From the States tab, click on the state name.
  2. Select Make a Copy from the Actions menu.
  3. Provide a name for the new state copy when prompted and click Continue. This value appears in the Status field for documents while they are in the state.
  4. Click Edit, make any necessary changes to the lifecycle state details, and click Save.

How to Reorder Lifecycle States

To reorder lifecycle states:

  1. Click Reorder.
  2. Click and drag a state using the small triangle in the upper left corner.
  3. Click Save.

Vault doesn’t include changes to document lifecycle state order in the System Audit History. The first time that you reorder the Planned state after you make it Active, Vault includes updates to the state’s label in the System Audit History, but not the state’s order.

About Workflow Cancel State

When defining each lifecycle state, you must make a selection for the Workflow Cancel State field. This selection defines which state to automatically move a document to if a user cancels the document’s workflow while it’s in this state. The default selection, State in which workflow started, moves the document to the state it was in when the Workflow Owner began the workflow.

For example, the Review workflow moves a document from Draft to In Review. If a user canceled the Review workflow, the document could move back to Draft if your Vault uses the default option or could move to Review Incomplete if that was the defined Workflow Cancel State.

Entry Criteria & Entry Actions

As of 20R1.2, workflow cancel states check entry criteria and perform entry actions for the new state. If a document does not meet entry criteria, it will stay in its current state.

Document Workflows

When canceling document workflows, Vault uses the same state change logic as with a standard workflow. If users remove a specific document from a document workflow, the removed document goes into the Workflow Cancel State.

Lifecycle State Settings

The lifecycle state details page is organized into various tabs:

How to Delete States

To delete a state:

  1. Open the Details tab for the state to delete.
  2. Click Delete.
  3. In the confirmation dialog, click Continue.

How to Disable States

To disable a state:

  1. Open the Details tab for the state to delete.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Select Inactive from the Status picklist.
  4. Click Save.

If you disable a state that documents are currently using, it has no effect on those documents. The documents do not automatically move to another state and users can still access the configured user actions for the disabled state.

Restrictions on Deleting & Disabling

In certain circumstances, you cannot delete a state. Most of these conditions also prevent you from changing a state’s status to Inactive:

  • There are documents currently using the state. Inactive status is allowed.
  • A workflow uses the state.
  • The state is selected as one of the “special” states for the lifecycle (Starting State, Steady State, Superseded State).
  • A state change user action exists to move documents into the state.
  • The state is “standard” or system-managed, meaning that it is integral to processes in Vault. Inactive status is allowed.

Lifecycle Stages & Stage Groups

Lifecycle Stages allow organizations to group document and object lifecycle states into ordered collections of stages. Vault then visually represents a document or object record’s current stage in the Doc Info page and object record detail page through the Lifecycle Stages Chevron panel. Learn more in Configuring Lifecycle Stages.