Working With Template Rules

Template rules apply to all tasks in the template, and rules are also applied to groups of tasks. Rules that you configure in the Template dialog box apply to the Schedule dialog box and the Edit Task dialog box, and they are displayed on the Rules tabs, in read-only form.

Template rules:

  • Auto Approve Task: Automatically completes specified approvals if specified conditions have been met.

    Examples of conditions that could apply to this rule:

    • Attributes have specified values (including calculated attributes)
    • Predecessor task contains an attribute with a specified value

    When conditions are satisfied, the rule causes the specified approver levels to be marked as complete, and workflow progresses to the next approval level or is closed if no additional approval levels exist.

    This rule runs when the Task status changes to Open with Approver.

  • Auto Submit Task: Automatically submits a task if specified conditions are met.

    When conditions have been satisfied, the rule causes the assignee role to be marked as complete, thus progressing workflow to the first approval level, or to Closed if no approval levels exist.

    Note:

    • Auto Submit Task runs when the Task status changes from Pending to Open with Assignee. Auto Submit Task rule honors predecessor relationship. It will only run when Finish-To-Finish predecessors have completed without error and Finish Error-To-Finish predecessors have completed. When a Finish-To-Finish predecessor is Closed by either user or rules, it should check for its Running successors and trigger Auto Submit Task rules if necessary.
    • Auto Submit Task rule is not triggered when the task has missing parameters.
  • Prevent Task Approval: This rule prevents approval of a task based on attribute values, or other characteristics. This rule runs when the Approver clicks Approve.
  • Prevent Task Submission: This rule prevents submission of a task based on attribute values, or other characteristics. This rule runs when the Assignee clicks Submit.
  • Prevent Task Rejection: This rule prevents rejection of a task based on attribute values, or other characteristics. This rule runs when the Assignee clicks Submit.
  • Send Email on Update: This rule runs based on user actions on the task. Hence, you must set the conditions for the rule appropriately. The most common condition is to have a condition with the Status attribute or the Status Detailed attribute:
    • Status attribute: The only valid value that you can select is Closed. Pending, Open, and Error are all statuses that result from automated actions on the task.
    • Status Detailed attribute: The valid statuses are with the approver.

To work with template rules:

  1. On the Home page, click Application, then click Task Manager.
  2. Click the Templates icon Templates tab on the left.
  3. Open a template.
  4. Select the Rules tab. You can view the following information about the rules that are associated with a template:

    • Order: The order of precedence

    • Rule

    • Conditions: The conditions that must exist before running the rule

  5. To create or edit a rule, on the Rules tab, click New icon New or Edit icon Edit and update:

    • Rule: Select a rule.

      Note:

      When you make changes to a rule definition, the additional information is added to the audit log. You can view the changes both in the History tab as well as the Audit Report.

    • Description: Optional. Explain why you configured the rule and how it should be used. You can enter a maximum of 255 characters.

    • Approver Level: Select All Levels or select the Approver levels.

    • Select Create Filter and populate the conditions section or select Use Saved Filter, and then select a filter. The filter selected and configured for the rule determines the conditions that trigger the rule to apply.

    • Conditions:

      • Use Saved Filter: The Conditions section displays a read-only version of the conditions associated with the saved filter.

      • Create Filter: The Conditions section is enabled and you can click Create Condition or Create Condition Group to specify conditions.

        Conjunction, Source, Attribute, Operator, and Value behave as they do for the existing advanced filter feature.

    • Filter Task: Specify for which task the condition should be selected:

      • Current Task
      • Any Predecessor
      • Specific Task: Provide the Task ID
  6. To delete, duplicate, or reorder a rule, click the appropriate button and follow the instructions.
  7. Enter the necessary information in the template sections: