Accessing Workflow Activity Guides Through Worklists

Worklist links are generated when a transaction triggers a workflow event that sends a routing to the worklist. The workflow event is part of a business process and activity that were defined when the workflow application was built.

In worklist links, the &ActName value is the name of the workflow activity where the event is triggered, not the name of the workflow activity guide that works the item. However, when resolving a worklist link (identifiable because the ICType=Worklist), PeopleSoft determines the name of the activity that works the event and, if that event is a workflow activity guide, puts the page in workflow activity guide mode.

Notice that you can direct users to workflow activity guides from their worklists. To do this, build a workflow application with a page on which the user initiates the workflow event. The user then receives a routing, either in a worklist or by email, with a link that takes the user to the workflow activity guide.

For example, you can create a page on which users update marital status. This page isn’t part of a workflow activity guide; it’s a regular PeopleSoft page accessible through regular portal navigation. Behind the page, you create a workflow application that is worked by the Marriage activity. If the Marriage activity is marked as a workflow activity guide, the workflow link that takes users to this activity enables users to see the page in workflow activity guide mode.

The advantage of using workflow to access workflow activity guides is that the necessary link is automatically created by standard workflow processing. You don’t need to create the link manually or understand the syntax of the link.

The disadvantage to using workflow to access workflow activity guides is that, from your users’ perspectives, there are two separate transactions involved: the one that triggers the workflow routing and, after the user has received the routing, the one that works the item.