Overview

Tracker allows you to customize workflows to match your organization's procedure for processing records. A workflow process is a set of steps, represented by states and transitions. Each record will move through the workflow steps to be processed by various users who enter information into the record throughout the process. Any number of workflows and states may be defined. Each state may have one or more transitions. A state group is a collection of states that can be used in workflow settings, transitions and reports. A transition is a path from one state to another state.

A Default Workflow is created in each workgroup. The name of the default workflow depends on the template that was used to create the workgroup. For example, the Product Development template has the "Product Development Issue Process" created by default and the Help Desk template has the "Help Desk Ticket Process" created by default. Information about the default settings in a particular template can be found in the template list in the Putting It All Together section.

The following sections describe aspects of the Workflow Customization in detail:

Workflows
States
Transitions
Forms
Email Rules

Before customizing your workflow, it may be helpful to review the Tracking Defects with Tracker section to get a feel for how the workflow settings interact with other areas in Tracker.

Multiple workflows can be created and managed in the Workflows section. By default, a single workflow called "Default Workflow" is configured in a workgroup.

To view the properties of a workflow:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. By default the Default Workflow's properties will be displayed. To view another workflow's properties, select a workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top of the page. The page will be refreshed to display the properties of the selected workflow.

   The workflow properties include the states that are part of the workflow, the transitions available in each state, the forms which use the workflow and the email rules in effect for the workflow.

   Click on the Expand All link to the right of the workflow name to expand all of the sub-sections of the workflow. Click on the Collapse button to collapse the expanded sub-sections. The sub-sections include:

   • States
   • Next States for each state
   • Transitions for each state
   • Transition Properties, Task Fields and Alerts
   • Forms
   • Form Properties, Email Content and Alerts
   • Email Rules

Adding a Workflow

To add a workflow:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Click on the Add Workflow button
5. Enter a name for the workflow in the Workflow Name field.

   While holding down the Ctrl button on your keyboard, click on the states you wish to include in the workflow in the Include These States field. Additional states can be added to the workflow later using the (for instance, if you have not yet created all the states you wish to use).

   In the Form field, select a form to be used with this workflow.

   For Form's Allowed Add States, select the state group that contains the states that should be available in the Status field when it is displayed on the Add Page (basically, to which states can a newly added record be routed).

   For Form's Default Add State, select the state to which a newly added record should be routed when the Status field is not available on the Add Page. The states available for selection are the states in the state group selected for Form's Allowed Add State.

6. Click OK to save the new workflow
7. Click OK to view and manage the properties of the newly added workflow or click Add another Form to this Workflow to add states to the newly added workflow.
8. If you opted to add another form to the workflow, you will be prompted to select a form in the Form field.

   For Form's Allowed Add States, select the state group that contains the states that should be available in the Status field when it is displayed on the Add Page (basically, to which states can a newly added record be routed).

   For Form's Default Add State, select the state to which a newly added record should be routed when the Status field is not available on the Add Page. The states available for selection are the states in the state group selected for Form's Allowed Add State.

9. Click OK to complete the operation

Editing a Workflow Name

To edit the name of a workflow:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Select the workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top of the page. The page will be refreshed to display the properties of the selected workflow.
5. Click on the Edit button to the right of the Workflows pulldown
6. Edit the name of the workflow in the Workflow Name field
7. Click OK to save the change
8. Click OK when the change is confirmed

Deleting a Workflow

A workflow can only be deleted if it is not currently being used by any project.

To delete a workflow:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Select the workflow in the Workflows pulldown at the top of the page. The page will be refreshed to display the properties of the selected workflow.
5. Click on the Delete button to the right of the Workflows pulldown
6. Click OK to confirm the operation
7. If there were no projects using the workflow you are deleting, a warning will be displayed to note that by deleting the workflow all of its Transitions, Form Settings (such as Default Add State Settings, Email Common Content, Alerts) and Outgoing Email Rules will be permanently removed. Click OK to proceed.
8. Click OK when the confirmation page is displayed

   If any projects are currently using the workflow you are deleting, you will be prompted to either change the workflow being used by the project or remove the form using this workflow from the project.

   To change the workflow being used by the project:

   1. Click on the Admin icon
   2. Click on the Projects link
   3. In the Projects pulldown, select the project using the workflow you wish to delete
   4. In the Forms section, locate the form using the workflow you wish to delete
   5. Click on the Change link to the right of the Workflow field
   6. Select another workflow in the Workflow pulldown and click OK to save this change. Another workflow may not be available for selection depending on how your forms are configured. If another workflow is not available for selection, proceed to the steps below to remove the form from the project instead.
   7. Repeat the steps above starting with To delete a workflow to delete the workflow

   To remove the form from the project:

   1. Click on the Admin icon
   2. Click on the Projects link
   3. In the Projects pulldown, select the project using the workflow you wish to delete
   4. Click on the Manage link to the right of the Forms section
   5. Click on the form, then click on the Remove button
   6. Click OK to confirm the operation
   7. A warning will be displayed to note that by removing the form from the project all records for this project that were created using this form will be permanently removed (along with related information such as History, Attachments, Record Security, Source Code Files, Alerts, Discussion Threads, etc.) as well as the form's State Manager and Incoming Email settings. Click OK to proceed.
   8. Click OK when the confirmation is displayed
   9. Repeat the steps above starting with To delete a workflow to delete the workflow

Setting a Default Workflow

You can select which workflow you would like to see by default when you go to the Workflows page in the Admin section.

To set the default workflow:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click on the Admin icon
3. Click on the Workflows link
4. Select the workflow you wish to make the default in the Workflows pulldown at the top
5. Click on the Set as Default button to the right of the Workflows pulldown. If the Set as Default button is not available, this indicates that the workflow is already set as the default workflow.

The Status and Assignee of a record can be determined automatically when records are created using the Add form or processed using the Task operation. Automatic assignment functions for the Add and Task operations are based on:

• The combination of Form and Project selected for the record
• Whether the Status, and, Assigned To fields are visible on the Add page
• the selection made in particular pulldown fields for the record such as Product, Priority, Severity or other pulldown fields you customize (optional)

Automatic Assignment Guidelines for Add Page

When a field is visible on the Add page, this indicates that the field's visibility settings are configured such that the field is displayed on the Add page when a user creates a new record. Please review the Field Visibility section of the Fields Help section for more information.

Tracker's automatic assignment for a new record is a combination of the values selected for Form, Project, a particular pulldown, Status and Assigned To fields on the Add page. These fields can either be selected by the user on the Add page or selected automatically based on the guidelines described below:

• The combination of the Form and Project fields determine which states are available in Status field via the Allowed Add States Setting. The Allowed Add State setting can be based on a selection made in a particular pulldown (e.g. If Priority is set to 1, the Status field will contain the states from one state group and if Priority is set to 2, the Status field will contain the states from another state group).

• The combination of the Form, Project and Status fields determine which user will be assigned to a record via the State Managers setting if <State Manager> is selected in the Assigned To field on the Add page. The State Managers can be based on a selection made in a particular pulldown (e.g. If Product is "Product A", assign the record to "Developer One". If Product is "Product B", assign the record to "Developer Two".)

• If the Allowed Add States or the State Managers are based on a particular field and the particular field is not visible on the Add page, the user cannot select a value in the field for the new record. When a new record is saved, the field is set to the default value and inherits the Allowed Add States or State Manager set for that value.

• When the Status field is visible on the Add page, the user can accept the default for the Status field (by not making a selection), which will route the record to the state listed in the field Default Add State for the combination of Form, Project and pulldown field selected in the record. If the user chooses to make a selection for the Status field, when the new record is saved, it will be routed to the state selected by the user.

• When the Status field is not visible on the Add page, the user cannot select a state. When the new record is saved, it is routed to the state configured as the Default Add State for the combination of Form, Project and pulldown field selected in the record.

• When the Assigned To field is visible on the Add page, the user can accept the default for the Assigned To field (by not making a selection), which will assign the new record to the State Manager for the combination of Form, Project, pulldown and Status selected in the record. If the user chooses to make a selection for the Assigned To field, when the new record is saved, it will be assigned to the user selected in the Assigned To field.

• The value State Manager can be listed as the default for the Assigned To field when the General Preference Include State Manager in the Assignee List on Add operation is enabled. When a new record is saved with "State Manager" selected, the record will be assigned to the State Manager for the combination of Form, Project, pulldown and Status selected in the record.

• When the Assigned To field is not visible on the Add page, the user cannot select an assignee. When the new record is saved, it is assigned to the State Manager for the combination of Form, Project, pulldown and Status selected in the record.

• If the fields Status, Assigned To, pulldowns (fields that settings are based on) are not visible on the Add page, the newly added record will be saved with the pulldowns set to their default values, Status set to the Default Add State for the default value of the pulldown it is based on and Assigned To set to the State Manager for the Default Add State for the combination of Form and Project selected in the record.

Automatic Assignment Guidelines for the Task Operation

When a record is processed using the Task Operation, the settings in the transition selected determine whether automatic assignment is used.

• If the State Manager settings for the combination of Form and Project are based on a particular pulldown, the value of the pulldown field in the record is used to determine the State Manager.

• If a transition has New Assignee set to "<State Manager>", the record will be routed to the State Manager for the New State that corresponds to the transition.