Defining Workflows

You can create a new workflow by clicking on the view page of a workflow or on the button New in the Workflows section. The form Configuration Management – Workflows – Create is opened:

The form is divided into the areas General Properties, Edit Steps and Sign Steps, which are described in the following.

General Properties

You determine the general properties of the workflow in the first section of the form:

Active

This option allows you to determine whether a workflow should be usable. If the workflow is to be usable, select this option. If you currently do not require this workflow definition but are not sure that it will not be used later, deactivate the workflow.

Name

Enter the name of the new workflow in this entry field. The name cannot be subsequently changed.

Title

Enter here the title of the workflow in the language in which you configured your personal preferences. If your Content Management Server is set up for multiple language use, you can switch to Configuration Management – Workflows – Edit – Multilingual Titles form by clicking on the Other Languages button:

Enter here the title in the respective foreign language in the corresponding field. Please confirm your input with OK. The title the Content Management Server displays in the HTML user interface depends on the language the user has configured in his or her personal preferences. If there is no title in the language the user has set, the name of the workflow is displayed as the workflow title.

Edit Steps

In the second area of the form you can determine which user groups take part in editing files:

Here you can define which user groups are to edit a file which runs through this workflow. To do this, click on the Sign Steps button. If you have defined an edit step, you can insert a workflow step at any position using the Insert Step button and the popup menu to the right. Enter the name of the group of editors in the entry field. Alternatively, you can click on the Browse button to switch to the selection page for groups. You can limit the search from the start by entering a part of a group’s name in the entry field and afterwards clicking on the Search button. On the selection page you can start a new search at any time by entering the search term in the entry field and clicking on Search. Then click on the name of the desired user group in the corresponding list entry to move the group name to the entry field. Repeat the procedure until you have all the edit steps necessary for your workflow.

If you have defined too many edit steps by mistake or you would like to remove a group from the edit workflow, you can remove the excessive steps by selecting the edit step to be deleted from the popup menu to the right of the Remove Step button and then clicking on this button.

Sign Steps

In the third area of the form you can determine which user groups take part in verifying files:

You determine the name of the user group whose members provide the signature, i. e. those who may sign a content the same way as described above. The Content Management Server saves the signature in a signature field. Enter the name of the field in the entry field for each verification step. Alternatively, you can click on the Browse button to switch to the selection page for fields. You can limit the search from the start by entering a part of a field’s name in the entry field and afterwards clicking on the Search button. On the selection page you can start a new search at any time to find the desired field. You move the name of the field to the entry field by clicking on the field name in the corresponding list entry.

Whenever a user signs a file with this workflow, the Content Management Server saves the date, time and login name of the user signing the file in the signature field. Signature fields are created in the same manner as other custom content fields.

Multiple Signatures Allowed

Enable this option if, for this workflow, employees of the groups entitled to provide signatures for a content may sign more than once for this workflow. If, e.g. a verifier is a member of two of the workflow’s verification groups, he or she may provide signatures in both verification steps when this options is enabled. File administrators are always permitted to sign the contents of their files.

Click on OK to conclude workflow definition. The Content Manager then displays the view page of the new workflow.