Workflow transitions (legacy)

This article applies to the legacy workflow feature. For more information on the data-driven workflow feature introduced in version 2023.1 of Semarchy xDM, see Data-driven workflows.

A transition links two tasks of the workflow. When a user completes a task, he moves the workflow to another task via a transition.

When a transition occurs, it may send email notifications, trigger data changes or raise validation issues to the user.

Add a transition to a workflow

A transition links to tasks in the diagram.

To add a transition from the diagram:

  1. In the Workflow diagram, select the Add Transition tool in the Palette.

  2. Select a task the diagram or the Start event. Keep the mouse button pressed, and move the cursor to the next task in the workflow, or the built-in Submit or Cancel tasks.

  3. Release the mouse button.

The transition is created and a link appears between the two elements in the diagram.

Transitions have a direction. If a transition goes from Task_A to Task_B, it only means that you can move in the workflow from Task_A to Task_B. If you want to move from Task_B to Task_A, then you must create another transition in the other direction.
It is possible to create multiple transitions between two tasks, even in the same direction. For example, you can have two transitions from Task_A to Task_B, each transition having a different configuration.

Configure a transition

A transition selected in the workflow is configured from the Properties view.

You can configure the following properties:

  • In the Name and Definition section:

    • The Name, Label and Description for the transition.

    • The Icon displayed along with the Label when selecting this transition.

    • The Required Role defines the role required for a user to view this transition.

    • Ask for Comments prompts for comments when the task completes.

  • In the Stepper Configuration section:

    • Stepper Mode defines how the stepper of the next task starts:

      • Create Single Record opens the stepper in a mode that allows the user to create only one record and then finish.

      • Edit Single Record opens the stepper in a mode that allows the user to review/author only one record (the first in the list) and then finish.

      • Multi-Records opens the stepper in a mode that allows the user to manipulate multiple records, according to the other properties, including the Multi-Record Start Action.

    • Multi-Record Start Action defines how a stepper started in a Multi-Records stepper mode behaves

      • Edit First Record opens the stepper on the first record, allowing to move to the next records for review/authoring.

      • Create New Record opens the stepper for the creation of a new record, allowing afterward to review/author the other records.

      • Import opens the stepper on the new records import wizard. The Import Mode property allows to select if records can be created and/or updated.

      • Display Root Collection opens the stepper on list of records manipulated in the workflow.

    • Enable Create, Enable Edit, etc: Select the actions to allow in the stepper.

    • Import Mode: Select if new records can be created and/or existing records can be updated during import:

      • Create and Update (default): Create new records and update existing records.

      • Create: Only create new records. Existing records cannot be updated.

      • Update: Only update existing records. New records cannot be created.

  • In the Assignees section:

    • Candidate Assignees defines the list of candidate assignees (users) for the next task. This list appears when a user completes the previous task via this transition.

      • No Candidate: No candidate users. The Assigned To role defined for the next task must be included to the list.

      • Members of Next Task’s Role: All the members of the Assigned To role defined for the next task.

      • Workflow Performers: All the users who have collaborated to this workflow.

      • Previous Task Performer: The user who has performed the previous task in the workflow.

      • Current Task Performer: The user who has performed the current task.

      • All Performers of Selected Task: All the users who have collaborated to the Selected Task.

      • Last Performer of Selected Task: The user who has last worked on the Selected Task.

      • User Name from a Variable: User whose name is returned by the Assignee Name Variable.

    • Selected Task and Assignee Name Variable must be set depending on the Candidate Assignees configuration.

    • Include Assigned to Role adds to the list of users the Assign To Role defined for the next task. This option must be selected is Candidate Assignees is set to No Candidate.

The transition from the Start Event (circular shape) to the startup task of the workflow cannot be configured. The first task’s stepper automatically starts with a mode that depends on the action from the action set that was triggered and the record selection that was made. Transitions to the End Event (circular shape) cannot be edited.

Configure email notifications

When a transition is executed, it can trigger an email notification sent to a list of recipients.

To configure an email notification for a transition:

  • Select the Email Notifications section of the workflow transition properties. This table shows the list of notifications for this transition.

  • Click the Add Notification button Add Notification button in the properties panel toolbar. A new notification is added to the list.

  • Click the Name cell for this notification and edit this notification’s name.

  • Click the Subject cell and then the edit expression button Edit Expression button to edit the email subject. The subject supports Notification variables (legacy) that return contextual information about the workflow.

  • Click the Message cell and then the edit expression button Edit Expression button to edit the email body. the body supports Notification variables (legacy) as well as plain text or the Markdown syntax for rich text.

  • Click the Recipient cell to configure the recipients for this notification.
    Recipients are contextual to the transition’s previous and next tasks, to the workflow, or to a Select Task in the workflow. You can also define a list of emails in the Other Recipients.

Triggers and validations

A transition can perform data transformations and enforce data quality checks. These checks warn the user of possible data issues and can optionally block the transition.

The following sections are available in the Properties view for configuring data transformations and data quality checks on transitions:

  • The Triggers section contains a list of procedures executed before or after the validations when the transition executes.

  • The Validations section contains the list of validations applicable to the entities managed in the task. Each validation is configured to Warn the user, Block the transition, or you can simply Skip it.

Configure triggers

A transition trigger can execute a procedure declared in the model.

To create a transition trigger:

  1. In the Transition properties, select the Triggers section.

  2. In the table toolbar, select the Add Trigger Add Trigger button. The Create New Workflow Transition Procedure wizard opens.

  3. In the Workflow Transition Procedure wizard step, enter the following values:

    • Name: Internal name of the object.

    • Procedure: Select a database function defined as a procedure in the model.

    • Trigger Type: Select whether the trigger should run before or after the validations defined for this transition.

  4. Click Next.
    The Configure Procedure step of the wizard displays the arguments of the selected procedure.

  5. For each argument, click the edit expression button Edit Expression button to create a SemQL expression that will be bound to the argument.

  6. Click Finish to close the wizard. A trigger is created

  7. Select this trigger and then use the Move Up and Move Down buttons in the toolbar to order the list of triggers. Triggers, for a given Trigger Type, are executed in the list order.

Configure validations

A validation runs a data quality check when the transition executes.
If a validation fails, it is raised to the user, and may possibly prevent him from proceeding.

To configure transition validations:

  1. In the Transition properties, select the Validations section. This table shows the list of validations defined for the entities managed in the workflow.

  2. Click the Synchronize Stepper Finish Validations Synchronize Transition Validations button in the table toolbar to refresh the list with new validations.

  3. Select the validation you want to run or select multiple validations while keeping the Control (or Command on macOS) key pressed.

  4. Right-click and then select the behavior of this validation:

    • Skip: Do not run this validation

    • Warn: Run this validation and raise a failure as an issue to the user. The user may choose to ignore the warning and proceed.

    • Block: Run this validation and raise a failure as a blocking issue to the user. As long as blocking issues exist, the user cannot proceed.