Workflow and Non-workflow BPs

Business processes (BPs) can be designed with or without workflows. A workflow specifies how a business process should proceed, from start to finish. Workflows define how records are routed and govern the behavior of each step in the business process. Each step uses the forms that were designed for it in uDesigner.

Most business processes will include a workflow or workflows; however, some business processes have a single purpose of storing data. These business processes are called non-workflow BPs. An example of a non-workflow BP is a form that records a Warranty or Estimate. The log for a non-workflow BP includes an Edit Record column that indicates whether the record is in an editable state by displaying an Edit Record icon . If the record has a status such as submitted, terminal, or initiated, no icon is displayed. A user can use the Create New View option and the Show Edit Records parameter to filter the log to display only those records that are in an editable state. For more information on setting up filtering, see Business Processes in Company Logs and Logs Nodes.

After a workflow BP record is created by using any workflow schema (unique combination of Setup Name + Workflow Name), the workflow record continues to reference the workflow schema even if the status of the workflow schema has been set to Inactive.

This condition includes workflow records that are in the following statuses:

• Draft
• Initiation Step (I-Step)
• Also, this condition includes any workflow record at any other step in the workflow.

If there is an Active BP Template, the template continues to create records referencing the Inactive workflow schema. For instructions on creating a template, see Creating BP Templates and Scheduling BP Creation.

Behavior of the Due Date (due_date) Field

In the Workflow Settings field in the Workflow Setup of a BP, if the Override Workflow Due Date field is set as Yes, you can edit the due date in the creation step. Also, a due date added or updated through file imports (CSV or Microsoft Excel) will be used.

If the Override Workflow Due Date field is set as No, you cannot edit the due date in the creation step. Also, you cannot edit the due date if the work has started or the work has moved to the next step (is in-flight) in the workflow process.

When you create workflow BP records through file imports (CSV or Microsoft Excel), the system currently sets the Due Date automatically based on the Workflow Settings; the Due Date provided in the input file is ignored. Also, when you update workflow BP records through file imports (CSV or Microsoft Excel), the system uses the Due Date that was based on the Workflow Settings and ignores the Due Date provided in the input file.