User tasks

This page explains how to add user tasks to workflow definitions. User tasks allow business users to perform actions in workflow instances.

Data-driven workflows, available in Semarchy xDM 2023.1 and later, are subject to specific licensing requirements; please confirm your eligibility to use such new functionality by consulting your license agreement or by contacting your Semarchy account representative prior to use.
All customers can still use the workflow feature available in previous versions (now known as legacy workflows). For more information, see Workflows (legacy).

The Assignment Condition property enables data-driven assignment in workflows. This determines the candidates and assignees for user tasks.

  • Candidates are all the users who can claim a task. The list of candidates is determined by the Assignee Required Role and the Assignment Condition properties.

  • Assignees are the users who are assigned to a task. The assignee is selected manually when:

    • A candidate claims the task.

    • Next Task Assignee is selected on the previous task.

    • If the list of candidates only contains one candidate (auto-assignment).

Add a user task

To add a user task to a workflow definition:

  1. Click the Create step Create Step button.
    The Add Step dialog appears.

  2. From the Type drop-down list, select UserTask.

  3. In the Name field, enter a name for the user task.

  4. Click Create. The step is added to the diagram:

    User Task step icon

  5. Click the step you just added. The side panel sweeps in from the right.

  6. Set the user task properties.

User task properties

General properties

General properties
Property Required Description

Label

Optional

Label given to the user task. This label is visible in the diagram.

Icon

Optional

Image displayed:

  • On the user task in the workflow diagram.

  • In My Tasks within an application.

  • In workflow instance history.

Click the Browse image Browse image button to select an image from the image library.

For optimal rendering in data applications, it is recommended to use SVG image files.

Application

Required

Application in which the user task is processed.

Assignee Required Role

Optional

User role to which the current task can be assigned.

If <None> is selected (default), any user can claim and process this task.

Assignment Condition

Optional

SemQL expression to determine the assignee for the task. The condition may be used instead of Assignee Required Role or in addition to it.

Click the SemQL editor SemQL editor button to open the SemQL editor.

For more information on all the attributes, see Workflow attributes.

Only the workflow initiator can be a candidate for the task
Username = StepInstance.WorkflowInstance.InitiatorName

Assignee Can Release

Optional

Determines whether the user to whom the current task is assigned can release it.

Task Type

Required

Type of user task. Possible value is:

  • Data Authoring: task used for authoring data using a stepper.

Entity

Required

Entity authored using the current user task.

Stepper

Required

Stepper to use to author data in the workflow.

The hierarchy of entities manipulated in this stepper must be declared in the Entities section of the workflow definition.

My Tasks configuration

Within My Tasks, the task board table view can be configured to display details of the record handled in a task. To show the record details columns, choose a collection from the Collection drop-down menu under the My Tasks Configuration section.

My Tasks configuration
Property Required Description

Collection

Required

Collection to use to display record details in a task’s table view in My Tasks.

If the entity related to the user task has a single-record cardinality, My Tasks will show the display card defined on the collection, along with all the attribute columns defined on this collection. However, if the entity has a multi-record cardinality, only workflow properties are displayed in My Tasks, and there will be no display card or collection columns shown. For more information on cardinality, see Entity properties.

Notifications

Notifications inform users of key events related to tasks in a workflow instance, such as task assignments, task time limits, and workflow due dates. These notifications are sent by email and can be configured for each user task in a workflow.

Workflow email notifications are sent using the first SMTP notification server defined as default server in the Configuration module.

Configure email notifications

To configure notifications for a specific user task:

  1. Select the desired user task in the editor to open its side panel.

  2. Configure the notification options in the sections described below.

    1. In the Notifications—​Task Assignment section, configure the following options:

      • Notify Candidates: select or clear the checkbox to specify whether candidates are notified when a task is assigned to them (enabled by default).

        If the Notify Candidates option is enabled and the user task is not automatically assigned to a single user, notifications are sent to all candidates in the following scenarios:

        • When the task is created and the candidate list is generated.

        • When an administrator manually refreshes the candidate list (for more details, see Workflow administration).

        • When the task is released.

      • Notify Assignee: select or clear the checkbox to specify whether the assignee is notified when a task is assigned to them (enabled by default).

        If the Notify Assignee option is enabled and the task is assigned to a single user, notifications are sent to the assignee in the following scenarios:

        • For automatic assignments, when the list of candidate assignees contains only one user.

        • When an administrator refreshes the candidate list, and it contains only one user to whom the task is automatically assigned (for more details, see Workflow administration).

        • When the task is automatically assigned to the next task assignee.

        • When a workflow administrator assigns the task manually (for more details, see Workflow administration).

    2. In the Notifications—​Task Time Limit section, configure the following options:

      • Max Duration (minutes): enter a value to specify the time period after which a notification will be triggered if the task is still pending.

      • Notify Candidates/Assignee: select or clear the checkbox to specify whether the task candidates or assignee are notified if the task exceeds the time limit (disabled by default).

      • Notify Admin: select or clear the checkbox to specify whether the workflow administrator is notified if the task exceeds the time limit (disabled by default).

      • Notify Role: expand the dropdown menu and select a role to be notified when the task exceeds the time limit.

    3. In the Notifications—​Workflow Due Date section:

      • Notify Candidates/Assignee: select or clear this checkbox to specify whether the candidates or assignee are notified when the workflow’s due date is reached (disabled by default).

In an MDM application, users can opt out of receiving email notifications by switching off the relevant toggle in My Tasks  Notification Settings and clicking Save. The following options can be disabled:

  • Tasks assigned to me

  • Tasks assigned to my team

  • Task expirations

  • Workflow due dates reached

Customize email notifications

The layout of email notifications is pre-defined. Also, the notifications are sent in the language defined in the user’s profile. However, designers can customize the following elements:

  • The branding of notifications using the application properties of the user task. For more information, see Configure the application branding.

    The following application properties can be customized:

    • Title Bar Default Color: header color of the email template. If this property is not set, the xDM default title bar color is used.

    • Logo: image of the image library to use as the application logo. Defaults to images://default/logo.png with height set to 50 and width set to Keep ratio.

      For optimal rendering, using SVG image files is not recommended, as this format is not supported by many email clients.

    • Title: application’s title.

  • Record data displayed in notifications by setting the Display Card property for the concerned entity in the Entities section of the workflow definition. If no display card is selected, then the default display card of the entity is used. For more information, see Display cards.

    User-dependant built-in variables (such as V_USERNAME) included in the primary or secondary text expressions of display cards are ignored in workflow email notifications.

  • The subject and textual content of notifications using custom translations. For more information, see Custom translations.

Transitions

A user task must have at least one transition. Transitions determine the different steps that the workflow can move to after the current step.

When multiple transitions are available in a stepper, business users can select a transition that the workflow should move along.

The first transition is visible as the primary action of the split button. The remaining transitions are considered secondary actions and can be accessed by expanding the split button.

The button also contains other default actions like Save for later and Release.

workflow transitions multiple

To add a transition:

  1. Click the Create Create button to create a transition.

  2. In the Add Transition dialog, enter a name for the transition.

  3. Click Create.

  4. In the side panel, expand the transition you just created and set its properties.

General transition properties

Transitions
Property Required Description

Target Step

Required

Step that should follow the current step.

Name

Required

Technical name given to the transition. Click the Edit Edit button to edit the name.

Label

Required

Label given to the transition. This label appears:

  • In the workflow diagram.

  • In data apps:

    • On stepper actions and buttons.

    • In workflow history.

Icon

Optional

Image to display in the workflow diagram as well as in steppers.

Click the Browse image Browse image button to select an image from the image library.

Required Role

Optional

Role required to perform the transition. The value <None> allows users with all roles to perform the transition.

The transition is not available if the current task assignee does not have the specified role.

Available From My Tasks

Optional

Determines whether the transition is available in My Tasks.

User Task Completion Required

Optional

Determines whether the user task needs to be completed to perform the transition.

Selecting this option makes the transition unavailable until the stepper is completed.

Behavior On Transition

Required

Defines how the data is processed after the transition. Possible values are:

  • Keep Data: preserves the data in its current state.

  • Revert Data: restores data to its state before the current step.

Validations

Optional

Displays the number of active validations for the selected transition. To configure validations for a transition:

  1. Click the Open Validations editor Validations editor icon.
    The Validations editor opens in a dedicated window.

  2. Click Synchronize transition validations Synchronize Transition Validations to view and refresh the list of available validations defined for the entity.

  3. Select the Edit Edit button on the selected validation’s line to display the behavior configuration options:

    • Block: prevents the transition if the validation fails.

    • Skip: ignores the validation result and allows the transition to proceed.

    • Warn: allows the transition but issues a warning message if the validation fails.

The following order of precedence applies to validations in a workflow:

  1. Step validations: if specified, these are executed first when a step is completed.

  2. Workflow transition validations: if specified, these are executed next when the workflow instance moves to the selected transition.

  3. Stepper validations: if no workflow transition validations are active, stepper validations are applied upon completing the stepper.

For more details on validation types, see Stepper validations.

If a validation fails in an MDM application, a dialog appears showing the error messages. End users can either choose to proceed (for Warn) or cancel the transition (for Block).

Show the Wait Dialog

Optional

Displays a dialog after the transition is triggered informing the user that the transition is being processed. This dialog is visible until the user hides it, another user task is initiated, the workflow enters or exits a parallel block, or when the workflow is complete.

Users can click Run in Background to hide the dialog.

Transition parameters

The Transition Parameters section allows to select which parameters are displayed to users within a transition dialog. This dialog appears at the conclusion of a workflow step and the initiation of the subsequent one, if any.

Transition parameters
Property Description

Enable Next Task Assignee Selection

Allows the current task assignee to select an assignee for the next task in the workflow. The selection can be made in the transition dialog.

This option can only be selected if the next step is a user task.

The next task assignee selection is not possible if the next user task has an assignment condition defined.

Mandatory Next Task Assignee Selection

Only applies if Enable Next Task Assignee Selection is selected.

Makes it mandatory for the current assignee to select an assignee for the next task.

Enable Description

Allows the current assignee to enter a description in the transition dialog.

Enable Comment

Allows the current assignee to enter a comment in the transition dialog.

Mandatory Comment

Only applies if Enable Comment is selected.

Makes it mandatory for the current assignee to enter a comment.

Enable Priority

Allows the current assignee to select the priority in the transition dialog.

Enable Due Date

Allows the current assignee to specify a due date in the transition dialog.

Mandatory Due Date

Only applies if Enable Due Date is selected.

Makes it mandatory for the current assignee to specify a due date.

Enable Attachments

Allows the current assignee to add attachments.

Mandatory Attachments

Only applies if Enable Attachments is selected.

Makes it mandatory for the current assignee to add an attachment.