Business Processes
Business Processes in Workflow
Business processes are created, managed, and monitored in Workflow.
More information about business processes in Workflow:
- Building a business process in Workflow
- Business process activities: Business Process Step, Update Business Process, Update Participant, Update Step Due Date, Update Step Instructions, and Associate Entries.
- Business process reporting in Workflow
Terminology
- Business process: A type of Laserfiche workflow that can be started from the Laserfiche web or Windows client and that can report on a workflow’s progress (in the Windows client, the web client, and Workflow). The Workflow business process activities determine which details are reported in the Laserfiche clients and in Workflow.
- Business process instance: A single time a business process runs. The business process instance reports information to Laserfiche client applications; it does not perform any activity in a repository. Each business process instance has an associated workflow instance which performs the "action" of the business process, such as interacting with entries in the repository. If you dissociate or delete a business process instance (from the Workflow Administration Console), it removes details from the selected entry on the Laserfiche Server. The workflow instance will continue to run normally until it reaches a business process activity, at which point it will terminate with an error.
- Business process details: Information shown in the Laserfiche Windows client and the web client about the current status, step, and history of a business process. Workflow records and displays even more information about business processes including how long participants take to complete their tasks and various charts and graphs showing the relative duration of instances and steps. The particular information in the details is configured in Workflow when the business process is created.
- Status: The status describes the current state of the business process instance. Statuses can give you an idea of what is going on in the business process (e.g., being processed by Marketing). Additionally, you can search for business processes based on their current status. Learn more about how Workflow updates statuses with the Update Business Process activity.
- Step: Generally, steps are more specific than statuses and contain a collection of Workflow activities that achieve a specific goal. Steps also have reporting details associated with them; each step can contain a due date, a list of the people involved (participants), and instructions on what needs to be done. Completed steps record a resolution in the business process history. If a step is completed after its due date, an overdue resolution is recorded. Steps are defined by the Business Process Step activities used when creating the business process in Workflow.
- Instructions: Specified in the Business Process Step activity, instructions give information relevant to a particular stage of the business process and outline the actions participants (users) need to take to keep the business process moving.
- Due Date: Each step can have a due date associated with it. The due date appears in the step information so that users know when they should complete the step. Participants can be notified of overdue steps or steps at risk of being overdue, and administrations can track overdue steps in Workflow.
- Resolution: When a step completes, a description of how the step resolved appears in the History section of the business process details.
- Overdue resolution: Alternative resolutions will appear in the History section of the business process details if the step completes after the due date.
- Participant: The user or group associated with a business process step. Participants can have business process instructions assigned to them and can be notified of a business process step that is waiting for them.
- Role: The category or job title of a participant, such as Team Lead, Approver, or Records Manager. Business process notifications are configured based on role, so even if the participants in a step change, the users involved will still receive the relevant information. More information.
Example: The instructions might read, "The proposal has been approved by Susan (Department Head). Please determine if we have enough funding for this project and mark your approval or denial by setting the Financial Approval field." (You can use tokens in Workflow so that the instructions and resolutions (described below) are unique to each time the business process runs.)
Example: The resolution might read, "Edward denied the proposal giving the reason: insufficient funding."
Example: The overdue resolution might read, "Edward denied the proposal giving the reason: insufficient funding. Note: This decision was made after the deadline!"
- Business process rule: Configured in Workflow, the rule specifies the prerequisites required before a business process can be run from a Laserfiche client application. The rule includes which entry access rights a user must have to run the process on a specific entry and the required properties an entry must have for the business process to run on it.
- Business process icon: As part of its business process rule, a business process can be assigned a colored icon in Workflow. These icons can help you categorize business processes by type or draw attention to important business processes. The colored icon is shown in the Start Business Process dialog box and will be the icon for the business process if you create a toolbar button for it.
- Associated entries: Entries for which the business process details appear. The entry the business process is started on is automatically considered an associated entry. You can associate more entries with the Associate Entries activity.
Example: The Project Proposal business process rule specifies that the process can only run on documents in the Proposal folder that have the Project template applied and the due date field filled out. Additionally, users must have the Modify Contents and Write Metadata entry access rights to a document to run the business process.
Note: Business processes can also be assigned conditional starting rules or schedule starting rules. They do not need to be started manually from a Laserfiche client application.
Business processes and shortcuts
- Shortcuts can have business processes launched directly on them in the Windows client and the web client. The shortcut will be used as the workflow's starting entry. Thus, some Workflow activities will affect the shortcut itself and some activities will affect the shortcut's target entry.
- If you view the Business Process Details on a shortcut in a Laserfiche client application, the details for the target entry will be displayed.
- You can start business processes and view business process details on an entry from a shortcut to that entry (even if you don't have the security rights to navigate to the target entry).
Security considerations
- In Laserfiche client applications, the Browse entry access right is required as a bare minimum to start a business process on an entry and view its business process details. In Workflow, you can configure stricter security (based on entry access rights) for which trustees can run the business process (the Start right) or view its details in the Laserfiche web or Windows client (the View Details right). More information.
- Only users with a full license are allowed to create and edit business processes that can be viewed or started from the Laserfiche client applications. More information.
- The security settings you configure in the Workflow Administration Console determine if you can create a business process or view its reporting details in Workflow. More information.
- The connection profiles (configured in Workflow) for your business process require that you define Workflow users. These users need sufficient rights and privileges to modify entries in the ways specified by the business process. More information.
Audit Trail
Business process actions can be tracked using Audit Trail. For example, when a user starts a business process from the Laserfiche web or Windows client, that user, plus the actions performed, can be recorded and a report can be created on this information. In order for the business process actions to be recorded, the Entry and Metadata event classes must be enabled under the Audit tab of the group that is being audited. The actions specific to business processes that can be tracked are: Create Business Process, Modify Business Process, Start Business Process, Delete Business Process, Create Business Process Details, and Delete Business Process Details.
Search
You can search for entries associated with a business process by searching for the business process's name, status, and start or completed date. You can also use advanced search syntax. However, you cannot search for entries associated with removed business processes.
Example: You can search for entries that were processed by the "Travel Request" business process in the last week and still have the status "Under review by HR."
Disabling Business Processes
You may want to disable a business process to update it or temporarily take it offline. A disabled business process will still appear in the client applications: In the Start Business Process dialog box, in the Start Business Process context menu if it was made a favorite, and on the toolbar if its toolbar button was added. However, the business process will be grayed out (cannot be started) for all users. Learn more about disabling business process rules in Workflow.
Removing Business Processes
When you remove a business process in Workflow,the business process will be completely deleted from the Workflow Designer and Workflow Administration Console.
In the client applications the business process will be removed from the Start Business Process dialog box--unless it was made a favorite. Favorite business processes will continue to appear in the Start Business Process dialog box and context menu, but will have "(Removed)" next to their name. If you clear the star from the business process and close the dialog, the business process will be completely removed. Toolbar buttons for removed business process will stay on the toolbar until you remove them, and you cannot add a toolbar button for a removed business processes.
The same security applies to the details of a removed business process as when the business process still existed.
Example: Bob can see the details for the Travel Request business process. When this business process is removed, he can still see the old details. Janet could not see the details for the Travel Request business process when it was live, and she still cannot see the details after it was removed.
Dissociating Business Process Instances
Dissociating a business process instance from an entry means that the business process details will no longer show up in the Business Process Pane or the Business Process Details dialog box for that entry. You can dissociate business process instances from entries associated with a business process by using the Manage Business Process Instances tool in the Workflow Administration Console.
Deleting Business Process Instances
Deleting a business process instance removes the business process instance from the Laserfiche Server so that no details from the instance will show up for any entries. If you delete a running business process instance, the workflow instance will continue running until it reaches a business process activity, at which point the workflow instance will terminate with an error. You can delete a business process instance from the Manage Business Process instances tool in the Workflow Administration Console.