You can use workflows to route business processes such as project initiation requests through your organization to gather information and visibility before a go/no go decision is made. Template data, routing designators, and approval rules can be set for each stage of a workflow. To illustrate these options, pretend we have a workflow involving five key approval managers. You can define the workflow such that all five must approve and even specify a particular sequence, if any. A much more relaxed approval rule would require only one out of the five to approve. The following are just some example of how you can use workflows.
Workflows are defined, deployed, and configured in BPM where your workflow designer defines the workflow tasks involved and assigns them to specific users, roles, or groups. Then, in P6, a business need kicks off an instance of the workflow and its required tasks are automatically routed to their users, roles, or groups.
When a specific user or any user assigned to a role or group logs into P6, the Workflows portlet on their dashboard will display their relevant tasks at this stage of the workflow, as authenticated by BPM. As a workflow participant, you can select a task in the workflow instance and claim ownership for it. This means you will be responsible for performing the task. The application refreshes itself to show only the actions permitted for this stage of the workflow for you (the currently logged in user).
After your administrator sets up BPM for P6, they can configure a dashboard to display the Workflows portlet. The following list represents a list of the key Workflow elements that you can observe in the portlet depending on your configuration.
- Action Required Tab: This tab shows the tasks that are important to you (the currently logged in user).
- My Workflows Tab: This tab enables you to view all workflows according to role and status filters you can set.
- Initiate a Workflow: Click Initiate a Workflow to start a new instance of a workflow based on a predesigned template.
- BPM Workspace: Use the BPM Workspace to update the progress of tasks, initiate a change, request a project, and retrieve project information. You are also able to apply a bulk action to multiple work items.
Note: If SSO authentication is not configured with BPM, you must log into BPM in the resulting window, close that window, and then return to P6 and click _ View Form again. This procedure is required whenever your BPM session expires.
- Sample Workflow: A basic workflow image with tasks for a business user, two project offices, and a project manager.
- Workflow History: View a chronological sequence of all the previous actions, users, and stages in the current workflow.