Human Decision

Definition

The Human Decision action provides a controlled checkpoint where decisions from specific users or groups determine the workflow's progression. It requires one or more participants to vote on a decision, and their collective input (approval or rejection) dictates which branch of the workflow is followed next. 

Instructions

To add the Human Decision action to a workflow to the workflow diagram, drag and drop the action from the list on the left onto a "+" icon in the workflow diagram.

Properties

The properties of the action can be customized on the step properties panel on the right-hand side of the Workflow Designer.

Customize the Step Name and Step Description. The Step Description for this action will be visible to the user as the Task Description on their Decisions List. 

The Reject Label and Approve Label is used to change the verbiage the user sees when they vote on a decision.

The Minimum Approvals Need and Minimum Rejects Need configurations determine the number of user votes that must occur before the decision will conclude and the workflow will progress.

Document Management

Document Management is an option for adding an optional attachment for this task. Attachments are not strictly files from the Document Library but rather any attachment to the task. This can be a Link, Form, Folder, Document, or Form Template. Multiple attachments of varying types can be associated with a single decision.

Links

From the Links tab, you can attach a link by typing in a valid URL and clicking the Add Link button.

Each link you attach will appear on the list to the right. To the right of the link, you can click the preview button to be taken to the linked URL. Clicking the x icon will remove the link.

Add one or many links, then click Save in the upper right corner to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

Forms

The Forms tab allows you to attach an existing form record from the system. Under Simple, you can choose specific static form records to attach. Under Dynamic, you can use search conditions and workflow variables to dynamically determine which form record to attach.

For Simple configurations, first select the form template name from the Form dropdown list. Using the search bar or scrolling through the list of forms, check which form(s) to attach to the task. There is an option to Open the form record from the table to ensure the correct form is being attached.

For Dynamic configurations, click the Add new dynamic condition button. In the modal, you will select the Form/data source dropdown and add the search conditions to determine which form will be attached. Click the Add dynamic condition button to confirm the selections. 

When a dynamic condition is set, you will see a preview of the search rules on the Forms tab.

Once all items are attached, click Save to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

Folders

The Folders tab allows you to select an existing folder from the Document Library to attach to the task. You can use the search bar to narrow down the results. Check the folder from the list to attach it.

Once all items are attached, click on Save to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

Documents

The Documents tab allows you to attach documents from the Document Library to the task. This tab also has a Simple and Dynamic option that both operate similarly to what was seen on the Forms tab.

For Simple configurations, use the search bar or scroll through the list of documents and check which document(s) to attach to the action. There is an option to Open the document from the table to ensure the correct document is being attached.

Once all items are attached, click on Save to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

For Dynamic configurations, click the Add new dynamic condition button to open a popup modal. The document(s) resulting from the search will be attached to the Human Decision. 

Searching for documents can be done by comparing a Data Source (either Document Field or Index Field) to either dynamic WF Variables or static Values. 

• Additional conditions can be added on a new line by clicking the Add next condition button. You will need to set the And/Or operator between lines of conditions.
• Delete lines with the trash icon to the right.

Click the Add dynamic condition button to commit the change and return to the Documents tab.

When a dynamic condition is set, you will see a preview of the search rules on the Documents tab.

Once all conditions are set, click Save to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

Form Templates

The Form Templates tab allows you to select a form template to attach. This will attach a new, blank instance of the form template on the task for the user to access.

To select a form template, check which template to attach from the list. A search bar is available above the list to narrow results as needed.  

Each Form Template you attach will appear on the list to the right. Once all items are attached, click Save to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

• Form Templates can be previewed before and after selection by clicking the Open button.
• Form Templates can be removed from the list by unchecking the box or clicking the x icon on the right-hand panel.

Manage Approvers

Set the group of users allowed to vote on the Human Decision action by clicking on Manage Approvers on the bottom right of the Step Properties panel.

You will be brought to the Assign Approvers screen.

In the upper left corner, you can optionally assign the task to the originator or supervisor of the originator.

In the Groups column, the user groups found across VisualVault are listed. Selecting one or many groups here will be a static selection of approvers.

In the Variables column, workflow variables can be selected to dynamically determine the assigned users. Acceptable values for this variable include a Group GUID, the GUID of an individual user, or the email address of an individual user.

• Groups or variables can be removed from the list by unchecking them.
• The selected approvers will appear in the right-hand panel. When more than one group or variable is selected, you will need to select the default group using the Assign as default button on the right-hand panel. You will not be able to save the configurations until one group is assigned as default.

The Notify section (in the upper right corner of the Assign Approver screen) allows you to choose if users will receive an email notification when they are given a new Human Decision to vote on. Check Notify Users to send an email and specify the Subject of the email to be sent. You can add Workflow Variables to the subject by clicking the Add Workflow Variable button or typing the variable name inside curly brackets {}.

Once all configurations are set, click Save in the upper right corner to commit the change and return to the workflow diagram.

After approvers are configured, the number of groups will be shown on the bottom right of the Step Properties window.

Troubleshooting

The workflow designer will prevent you from publishing a workflow when configurations are incomplete. Here are the most common error messages and how to address them.