Repeat Routing for Approval Template

This workflow sends a document back and forth between an employee and manager, until the document is approved.

How it works

  1. When an entry is put in the Proposed Plans folder, the Repeat activity checks to see if the entry has the “Workflow Templates: Approved” tag. If it does not, then the following activities run.
  2. The Rename Entry activity appends a version number to the entry’s name.
  3. A Route Entry to Folder activity sends a shortcut to the entry to Bob's folder for initial processing. The activity waits until the “Workflow Templates: Needs Review” tag is set on the entry, then it removes the shortcut from Bob’s folder
  4. Another Route Entry to Folder activity creates a new shortcut in the Manager folder and waits until the manager adds a “Workflow Templates: Additional Edits Required” tag or a “Workflow Templates: Approved” tag.
  5. If the manager adds the “Workflow Templates: Additional Edits Required” tag, the Repeat activity will repeat, running the contained activities again. As long as the “Workflow Templates: Approved” tag is not set, the Repeat activity will continue to run.
  6. If the manager adds the “Workflow Templates: Approved” tag, a Move Entry activity will file the entry in the Approved Plans folder.

Tip: Always include a wait condition inside your Repeat activity, or set the repeat condition to a specific number of iterations. Without these safeguards, the activity will repeat 100 times in quick succession and then fail.

Note that the Route Entry to Folder activities clean up tags that are no longer relevant, ensuring the wait conditions will not be accidentally satisfied by a tag that was left on.

To run this workflow template in the provided test environment

Important: Ensure your Workflow user (the user specified in your connection profile) is excluded in the starting rule for this workflow before you run it. The condition should read: User does not equal insert your Workflow user, and the rule should be republished after the condition is added. Otherwise, the workflow will interfere with the Template - Email Signers workflow.

Note: To start the workflow, you must be logged into the Laserfiche Windows or web client as someone other than the Workflow user, or else the workflow will ignore your actions.

  1. Ensure the workflow’s starting rule is enabled in the Workflow Rule Manager.
  2. In the Laserfiche Windows or web client, move an entry into the \Workflow Templates - Test Entries\Documents to Process\Proposed Plans folder. For example, the Plan B and Plan C documents work well with this workflow.
  3. Check the \Workflow Templates - Test Entries\Employee Folders\Bob for the newly created shortcut.
  4. Add the “Workflow Templates: Needs Review” tag to the entry to move the shortcut to the Manager folder.
  5. Add the “Workflow Templates: Additional Edits Required” tag to route the shortcut back to Bob. Or, add the “Workflow Templates: Approved” tag to file the entry in the \Workflow Templates - Test Entries\Storage\Approved Plans folder.

Alternatively, you can test the workflow (bypassing the starting rule) with the Run Current Workflow option in the Workflow Designer. You can test this workflow on the Plan G document in the \Workflow Templates - Test Entries\Documents to Process\Proposed Plans folder.

Ideas to expand this workflow

If you want to send email notifications to the people involved in the revision/approval process, configure the Email tab of the Route Entry to Folder activities.

You can also replace the Route Entry to Folder activities with Route Entry to User activities to make use of default folders and your managerial structure. Adding a Find Manager activity to the top of your workflow will create a token for Bob’s manager that can be used in the second Route Entry to User activity.

You can put the entire Repeat activity inside a Business Process Step activity to gather reporting data, include instructions, and more. Additionally, you can put each Route Entry to Folder/User activity inside Business Process Step activities to create sub-steps with even more detailed instructions and reporting.

Republish the workflow once you have made all desired changes.