Scenario Workflow

How to Enable Enhanced Workflow Process Setup in a Scenario

Admin users can configure this feature directly from the Planful application. Please note that once this functionality is enabled within your production environment, it cannot be disabled.

To enable and set up a workflow for a new or existing scenario, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Scenario List page (accessed by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > Scenario Setup ) and click the Add or Edit icon (for a selected scenario).

2. Click the Workflow Setup tab, and then select the Enable Workflow for this Scenario checkbox.
   

3. Specify the Start Date , End Date , and Time Zone values.

   • The start date is only for informational purposes. In future enhancements, this start date will help Admin users schedule the workflow setup.

   • The end date indicates the final date by which all actions related to this scenario need to be completed. All other due dates are calculated as ‘x’ number of days before the process end date.

   • The end date serves only as a guidepost. It does not actually stop users from completing actions after the end date.

   • The time zone will be set by default based on your local time zone. But you can change the time zone, if required, to accommodate when the task should start and end.

   • The tracking of due dates for all tasks under this process is based on the selected time zone. For example, if the end date is specified as April 29th, 2019 EST, all workflow tasks will be overdue at 12:00 midnight of April 30th, 2019 EST. So, for a user operating from the pacific time zone, this task will become overdue at 9:00 pm PST April 29th, 2019.

4. The Workflow Steps section consists of the following fields for Templates and Budget Entities :

   • No. of People

   • Due Date

     Note:

     Workflow in Planning is designed around budget entities and templates. So, these two appear as steps in the workflow process. In future enhancements, other areas of the application such as application maintenance and consolidation elements are planned to be added to the workflow process.

5. Enter the number of people who must complete the required tasks in the No. of People fields, for the Forward and Approve stages.

   • This field allows you to define the multiple authorization functionality in a workflow.

   • If No. of People is set as 1, the system completes the workflow step when any one user performs the action. For example, if Joe and Jack have access to forward the budget entity and the No. of People is set as 1, the budget entity will be forwarded when either Joe or Jack forwards it.

   • If No. of People is more than 1, the application completes the workflow step when those many actions are performed. Extending the above example, the budget entity will be forwarded only when both Joe and Jack forward it.

   • Furthermore, if Joe, Jack, and Bill have access to the budget entity and No. of People is set as 2, the budget entity will be forwarded when any two of the three people forward it.

   • If the No. of People is set as 2 but access to the budget entity is given to only one person, the budget entity will not be forwarded. In such instances, the Admin user must ensure that the adequate number of users are provided with access privileges for the budget entity.

   • Currently, My Plan does not honor multiple authorization in workflow.

6. Enter the number of days before which the relevant tasks need to be completed in the Due Date fields; for the Forward , Approve , and Final Approve stages of all budget entities/templates.

   • The due date for a workflow step is set by entering the number of days before the end date, by which the given step needs to be completed.

   • For example, if the workflow process end date is set as April 30th and the Template Forward due date is given as 20 days; the application will auto-calculate the due date for this stage as 20 days before April 30th and set the due date as April 10th.

   • The workflow steps and actions are arranged in a logical order of completion; so, the due dates must be in the same pattern. Ensure that due dates are not defined to break this chain. For example, the budget entity Approve stage cannot be defined to have a due date prior to the budget entity Forward stage.

7. Click the Save icon.

   • Saving the workflow setup does not automatically start the process. The process must be manually started from Scenario List page (described below). This ensures that the Admin user can have multiple iterations of the workflow setup and can trigger the process when they’re ready.

   • When the workflow process is defined for an existing scenario, automated workflow tasks are created only for the actions that have not yet been performed.

8. Go to the Scenario List page, and then select the required scenario.

9. From the Process list, you can do any one of the following:

   • Select Start. New tasks are created on the Task Manager page with the same Scenario Code as the scenario that you selected earlier.

   • Select Sync. New tasks are created or existing tasks are modified for existing scenarios. The Admin user must trigger the Sync process so that the workflow engine can update any modifications that were made.
     
     

     Note:

     The Synchronization process runs automatically when changes occur in the application. The manual sync option is available as a safety net.

   • Automated synchronization is available when you edit the existing Workflow Definition for a scenario and perform a save on the Edit Scenario page and make any changes to the scenario that might impact the workflow tasks for that scenario. Automated synchronization updates workflow tasks when you perform any of the following actions:

     • Map or unmap a template/entity to a scenario

     • Edit or change approval role for a template/entity

     • Map or unmap a user to a scenario

     • Delete an entity

How to Edit an Existing Workflow Setup for Scenario

Admin users can configure this feature directly from the Planful application (refer to the Enable Enhanced Workflow section). Please note that once this functionality is enabled within your production environment, it cannot be disabled.

To edit an existing Workflow Setup, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Scenario List page (accessed by navigating to Maintenance > Admin > Scenario Setup ) and select the scenario with an existing workflow setup.

2. Click the Edit icon.

3. Make the required changes in the respective fields. Any change to the due dates affects the existing tasks. However, any change to the value in the No. of People field can create different use cases and will not automatically trigger changes to tasks. For example, if the original workflow setup had No. of People set as 2 for the Forward stage; and out of Joe and Jack, one person has performed the Forward action on budget entity X. The Admin user then modifies the workflow setup and changes the No. of People to 1. Now, budget entity X is not automatically forwarded since one person has already completed the Forward action. The Admin user must manually perform the Forward action on budget entity X to forward it. It is best NOT to change the No. of People field once workflow begins.

   Note:

   We recommend that you do not change the value in the No. of People field once the workflow process has started.

4. The process is synchronized automatically to reflect the changes in workflow tasks.

   Note:

   The option to end the Process is currently under development and will be part of upcoming releases. Until then, you cannot end a process that you created.

Best Practices

• When this functionality is released in production and the Workflow flag is enabled, it cannot be disabled. So, when this flag is enabled, you can still leverage most of the enhanced workflow benefits without having to start a workflow process. As a result, it is best practice to enable this flag. By default, all new applications after the July 19 release will natively have this functionality.

• It is a best practice to use Workflow Setup if you have a decentralized planning process. Tasks are generated based on your approval roles, budget entity, and template assignments. Consequently, you must be aware that a large number of tasks by end users can possibly be generated.

• Task Manager and the Planning Control Panel work closely with each other and the flow is 100% bi-directional. if an action is performed in Task Manager, the Planning Control Panel is updated accordingly, and vice-versa.

• Admin users must get familiarized with this functionality before enabling it in the production environment.

• You must follow these recommendations before enabling this feature for end users:

  • Set up a workflow process for a Planning scenario.

  • Ensure that the end users sign in to the application and navigate to the Task Manager page.

  • Instruct the users that their tasks, which are required to complete the Planning scenario, will be auto-generated for them and they will see this information in Task Manager.

  • The end users can then use Task Manager to directly interact with the Planning Control Panel.