Administer > Application setup > Process Designer > Process Designer Workflows > Workflow phases > Add a phase

Add a phase

Applies to User Roles:

System Administrator

Implementer

You can add a phase to an existing workflow by using the graphical interface of the workflow editor.

Note After you add a phase and click Save, you cannot modify its name. You can modify only its display name.

To add a phase to a workflow, follow these steps:

  1. Click Tailoring > Process Designer > Workflows from the System Navigator to display the workflows list.
  2. Select the applicable workflow for which you want to add a phase.
  3. Click Add phase.
  4. Drag the mouse to add a new transition and a phase.

  5. Enter the details described in the table.

Details

Phase Order

The Phase Order field gives a numerical order number to each phase of a workflow. These numbers are used in calculations for Service Level Targets (SLTs) and similar metrics, so that the number and timestamps of entries and exits from specific phases can be tracked. For example, an SLT calculation can determine the time of entry to the final phase and therefore determine whether a breach has occurred.

As best practice, you should specify your starting phase as 1, and your closing phase as the highest number. We also recommend that these numbers should be roughly sequential from phase to phase. However, some workflows may loop multiple times through a sequence or take divergent paths.

Name

Type the name of the tab.

Display name

Type the display name of the tab.

Table name

The selected table name during workflow creation. You cannot modify it.

Form Edit condition

If the condition evaluates to true for a user, who will be able to edit the form.  If it does not, the form will be read-only.

Records in this phase are active

Select the check box if you want the records in this phase to be active.

Make this the first phase

Click Make this the first phase if you want it to be the first phase.

Make this the default phase

Click Make this the default phase if you want it to be the default phase. Click Save.

Note If the current phase of a record is set to a phase that does not exist in the current workflow, it will be moved to the default phase. This may occur if a phase is removed from a workflow or if data is imported from another source that did not share the same workflow.

Additional Phase Information

Click Additional Phase Information to open the Extended Phase Information page to modify phase information.

Note  

Only the Change Management module supports this feature.

You cannot edit or delete a phase name from the Extended Phase Information page or the cm3rcatphase.main form.

Change Management workflows have unique workflow phases but they will share change phases if the workflow phases have the same name. For example, if the Workflow1 and Workflow2 each have a phase named ‘Build and Test’ they will share the same change phase record.
Description Enter a description of the workflow phase. This field supports hyperlinks.

Forms

Display form

The display form is the primary method to capture and display data. If you do not specify a form, the system will look for a form that has the same name as the current table name.

To add a display form, follow these steps:

  1. Select the display form from the Default Display form drop-down list.
  2. Click Save.

To add a display form that is selected by a condition or set of conditions, follow these steps:

  1. In the Additional/Display forms section, click Add.
  2. In the Name drop-down list, select the form name.
  3. In the Description field, type a description of the form.
  4. Click the Form Condition field and use the condition editor to enter a condition.
  5. In the Type drop-down list, select Display Form.
  6. Click Update to add the additional form.

Note You may also specify a form in a RAD expression, for example “display.form in $L.category”.

Additional Forms

You can add, edit, and delete additional forms for a workflow phase.

To add an additional form to a workflow record, follow these steps:

  1. Click Add.
  2. In the Name drop-down list, select the table name.
  3. In the Description field, type a description of the form.
  4. Click the Form Condition field and enter a condition.
  5. In the Type drop-down list, select Additional Form.
  6. Click Update to add the additional form.

Rule sets

Add

To add rule sets at various stages:

  1. Click the On enter, After successful enter, On exit, Initialization, On display, On update, or After successful update tab. Form more information, see the note after step 4.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Select the appropriate rule sets check box you want to add.
  4. Click Save.

Note You may also specify a form in a RAD expression, for example “display.form in $L.category”.

  • On enter – Runs when the record tries to move from another phase into this phase. For example, the rule set can set the time at which the record first entered the phase or send notifications that the record has entered the phase.
  • After successful enter – Runs after the record successfully moves from another phase into this phase.
  • On exit – Runs when the record moves out of this phase. For example, the rule set can set the time at which the record left the phase or send notifications that the record has left the phase.
  • Initialization – Runs once just before the record is displayed to the user.  For example, the rule set can set up variables for display that are not meant to change while the user is viewing the record.
  • On display – Runs each time the record is displayed after a user action.  For example, if the user uses the “fill” function to populate a field, the display rules will run after the action is completed and before the form is displayed.  A possible use may be to populate a variable that is displayed on the form, which is calculated based on other values in the form.
  • On update – Runs immediately before the record is updated in the database (or created if this is a new record).  For example, the rule set can validate field data (the record will not be updated if validations fail), set default values, or perform calculations on existing fields.
  • After successful update – Runs immediately after the record is updated in the database (or created if this is a new record).  For example, the rule set can send notifications of the record update or update related records based on changes to this record.

Actions

Add

Actions perform a task for the phase. In Knowledge Management, Actions are used to preview the document. Actions refer to rule sets that are marked as Available as Action.

  1. Click Add to add an action, which runs associated rule sets for that phase of the workflow.

  2. Type the identification name, which is how the action will appear in the Tray, More Options List, or on the button.

  3. Select the action from the drop-down list.

  4. Select the location of the action: Tray, More Options List, or Button.

    Note If you select Button, then manually add a button to the form with the option number of the action specified.

  5. Click Action Condition to add a condition if required.
  6. Select Add, Save, or Delete for action when complete.

  7. Select Requires lock check box if you want to lock the record before the action can be performed.

    Note If another user has the record locked, you will not be able to perform the action.

  8. Click Save.

Approvals

Reset condition or Recalculate condition
  1. Click Reset Condition or Recalculate Condition.
  2. Click Save.
Add approvals
  1. Click Add to add approvals.
  2. Select desired approvals for the phase.
  3. Click Save.

Alerts

Reset condition or Recalculate condition
  1. Click Reset Condition or Recalculate Condition.
  2. Click Save.
  • To reposition the phase, select the phase, hover your mouse until you see a crosshairs symbol, and then move the phase to the desired location on the workflow page.
  • To delete a phase, select the phase and either click the trashcan symbol next to the phase or Delete from the toolbar. You cannot delete default or first phases.
  • To move multiple phases at the same time, press Ctrl and select multiple phases, and then move the phases or section of the workflow to new location.
  • In the Rule Sets tab, select a rule set and either double-click the rule set or click the View icon to open the rule set page.
  • In the Approvals tab, select an approval name and either double-click the approval name or click the View icon to open the Approval Definition page.
  • In the Alerts tab, select an alert name and either double-click the alert name or click the View icon to open the Alert Definition page.

Related topics

Process Designer
Workflow phases
Workflow transitions
Upgrading to the Process Designer Knowledge Management workflow

Create a workflow
Create a manual workflow transition
Create an automatic workflow transition
Create a default workflow transition
Copy an existing workflow