You may need to ensure that a document meets certain conditions (fields are populated, etc.) before entering a specific lifecycle state. For example, users won’t know the MLR meeting date when they upload the first draft, but they will need to fill in the MLR Meeting Date field before the document can enter the Ready for MLR state. You can configure a lifecycle state’s “entry criteria” to enforce rules like this.
When users move a document from one state to another (through a state change or workflow), Vault confirms that the document meets the entry criteria and does not allow the move until the criteria are fulfilled. Users see a message with details on the unmet entry criteria.
Note: Vault does not enforce entry criteria on the initial lifecycle state (Draft state in most cases) when users create a new document. However, if the document moves to another state, Vault will enforce the entry criteria when the document moves back into the initial state. Vault does not enforce entry criteria when a user changes the state by selecting Create Draft from the Actions menu.
Accessing Entry Criteria Administration
You can configure user actions for a specific lifecycle state from Admin > Configuration > Document Lifecycles > [Lifecycle] > States > [State] > Entry Criteria.
You must have a security profile with the Admin: Lifecycles and Workflows permissions.
Criteria Types
You can set up the following types of entry criteria:
- Content
- Require that users have uploaded content (a source file) for the document
- Field
- Require that a specific document field is populated or meets the specified requirements. For example, you could create entry criteria that require a document to have at least one annotation before moving into the Review Complete state by setting Field > Annotations (All) > is greater than > 0.
- Formula is True
- Require that a formula expression returns a boolean true expression before moving the document to a new state. If the formula returns a false expression, no state change occurs and Vault displays an error message with the validation error to the user who initiated the state change. This criteria type also allows you to configure a custom error message to display to users when a formula returns false.
- Relationship
- Require that the document has one or more relationships of the specified relationship type; all standard relationship types are available.
- Rendition
- Require that a file with the specified rendition type is attached to the document; all standard rendition types are available.
- Version Binding
- Require that all documents in a binder are either explicitly bound or bound to a steady state; Vault only enforces this criteria for binders.
- Content is not checked out
- Require that the source file is not currently checked out by any user.
How to Create Entry Criteria
To add a new entry criterion for a lifecycle state:
- From the Entry Criteria tab, click Edit.
- Click Create Rule.
- Optional: Add conditions to the entry criteria rule by selecting All conditions are met or Formula evaluates to True. See details below.
- Under Validate that, select a criteria type.
- Select the criterion and any other needed values. For example, with a Relationship criteria you only need to select a relationship type to require, but with a Field criteria, you need to select a field, operator, and value.
- Optional: Add additional criteria by clicking Add Criteria. If the rule is conditional, these additional criteria will share the same conditions.
- Click Save. Vault immediately starts to enforce the entry criteria rule for documents moving into the lifecycle state, but this does not affect documents that are already in the state.
How to Define Conditions
Certain entry criteria only need to apply when the document meets a set of conditions. For example, different renditions are required for US documents and UK documents.
To define conditions, select All Conditions are met, and then a document field, operator, and value. Then, select a criteria type. You can also select Formula evaluates to True to use a formula expression that returns a boolean (true/false) expression to define the condition. Vault applies the entry criteria only if the formula returns a true expression. Some system fields and most fields associated with document types that use the lifecycle are available. If needed, you can define additional conditions by clicking Add condition.
A document must meet all of the defined conditions within a rule for Vault to apply the entry criteria. If a rule’s condition uses a field that does not apply to the document, Vault does not apply the rule to the document.
Note: With the exception of annotation-related formula fields, Vault does not support formula types of document fields in entry criteria conditions.
How to Edit or Delete Entry Criteria
To make changes to entry criteria rules, click Edit. Make any necessary edits. If you need to delete a rule, click the X icon. When your changes are complete, click Save.
Entry Criteria Limits
For each lifecycle state, you can define up to 25 entry criteria rules. Within a rule, you can specify up to ten (10) entry criteria. If a rule is conditional, it can have up to five (5) conditions. If your entry criteria validates conditions on related object records, the number of related records cannot exceed 1,000 records.