Workflow Terminology

Type of business rule that can be executed on arrival in a new state (on-entry), on exit from a state (on-exit), or on the transition between two states (on-transition). Actions may modify data.

The user or group to which a task is assigned for work to be performed. User states can be assigned directly to a named user or to a user group. When a state is assigned to a user group the task is ‘offered’ to all members of that group. To perform the task associated with the state, a member of the group has to claim the task. Once a task is claimed it is no longer visible in the group task list; only the person who claimed the task is able to view it. A user may subsequently release a task back to the group.

State in which the STEP system performs the required work and automatically progresses the workflow when the automated work is complete. Typically requires the use of at least one business rule.

Automated activity that may implement customer-defined rules, such as validations, automatic updates, notifications, data-driven workflow routing, etc. Also refer to Condition and Action.

Type of business rule that can prevent a transition from being taken when an event is attempted. Within a workflow, conditions may only be executed on attempted transitions (e.g., before ’Proceed’ event is allowed, validate that all required data has been populated). A condition may not change data.

Optional setting for time allowed for a task to be completed. If a deadline expires on a task it is possible to perform an escalation.

The action(s) to be taken when a deadline expires. Escalations require at least one business rule to be configured, which is triggered by the escalation.

The name associated with a transition between two states, such as Proceed, Reject, or Accept. When a task is completed an event is triggered to transition an object to the next state(s) in the workflow. In most cases where there is just a single event, this is called ’Proceed’ but in some cases there is a need to support different routing via different events (e.g., ’Accept’ or ’Reject’) or a different name is chosen to add clarity (e.g., ’Approve’).

The state within a workflow or a parallel cluster that is the last step of this workflow or parallel cluster. A final state cannot have any outbound events as there are no available transitions from the state. Note that for parallel clusters, final states are used to auto-progress the workflow when all concurrent parallel clusters have reached their final state.

The first state that is activated within a workflow or within a parallel cluster of a workflow.

The work and/or action that must be completed within a specific workflow state (whether by a user or via automation).

Fields (attribute, reference, workflow variable) that are available within a specific state for the system or a user to access (view and/or populate). Task fields may or may not be included in the view.

A set of states that form a sequential branch of dependent states which may run parallel to other independent branches within the same workflow.

A step within a workflow to which a specific user, user group, or system can be assigned to complete the task(s) associated with the state. Also refer to User State and Automated State.

The change of tasks from one state to another.

State that requires a user to complete a task before marking the state complete. May include some automation that happens on entry or exit of the state, but requires a user to trigger the exit from the state (indicating completion of the associated task).

The set of specific data points that are presented to the user in the STEP Workbench when a task is selected. Views are configurable by state and are only applicable for user states that will be accessed directly from the STEP Workbench. Views are not applicable for automated states, and states accessed via a Web UI have interfaces defined via the Web UI configuration. Within the STEP Workbench, users can still choose to use the full set of workbench data and tabs to work on workflow tasks if desired (and permitted via privilege configurations). However, a view can streamline work processes so that only a small subset of fields that are directly relevant to the task / state are displayed.

Business process(es) modeled as a series of states and tasks that can be executed by users and/or automatic processes within the STEP system. Workflows prompt the next step of a process to be started, by either creating a task for a user, or sending an alert. Workflows may contain a number of process steps or tasks, as well as business logic.

A temporary asset attached to a task, that does not exist outside of the workflow.