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.
A workflow is a series of steps configured in Vault to align with specific business processes. The different types of steps offer a flexible way to organize a wide variety of processes for a document, including assigning tasks to users, sending notifications and changing document status. Workflow task steps in workflows also serve various purposes. Workflow tasks can allow users to enter comments, choose verdicts (approve, deny, etc.), update required fields, or provide electronic signatures. This article refers to workflow tasks. Vault also includes a User Task object class to track unplanned work. For information on user tasks, see Working with User Tasks.
Workflows are specific to a lifecycle, meaning that a single workflow cannot apply to multiple lifecycles. A single document can only be in one workflow at a time.
Note: Audit logs support a precision to one second. Events occurring within a single second may appear in an unexpected order.
Example Workflow
The Approval workflow notifies designated approvers that a document is ready for approval and creates a corresponding task for each of them. When each approver has completed the task, including adding any comments and providing a verdict (approved or not approved), Vault creates a task for the Workflow Owner to assess the results and make the final approval decision. Based on the final approval decision, the document status reverts to Draft or advances to Approved.
Workflow Users
There are various types of users associated with a workflow:
- Workflow Owner (or Workflow Initiator) is the user who started the workflow. This user can reassign all workflow tasks, add new participants, email participants, and cancel the workflow.
- Task Owner is the user assigned to a specific task in the workflow. These users can reassign or complete their own tasks. Note that license type and security profile restrictions may prevent some users from completing certain tasks.
- Workflow Participants are all users with an assigned task in the workflow. The Workflow Owner assigns users to specific roles when starting the workflow. The roles and associated users then appear under Sharing Settings in the Doc Info page. Workflow configuration controls what roles are available in the workflow start dialog.
Note: Sharing Settings allows the Workflow Owner to add participants with specific roles to the workflow. However, once the workflow begins, use the Add Participants workflow action. Sharing Settings cannot update workflow participants after a workflow begins.