Setting Up Conditional Branching of Workflow Phases

Workflow Manager 2020

A Workflow Manager template can employ conditional branching—which means that the workflow phase that is displayed next can depend on consumer input. For example, you may want to include a question such as if any licenses are available for a requested software application. If the answer is no, the next phase could be purchasing a license; if the answer is yes, the next phase could be installing the application.

Creating a Workflow Manager template with conditional branching of workflow phases involves the following steps:

Steps to Set Up Conditional Branching of Workflow Phases

Step

Description

Step 1: Create template

Create a workflow template with multiple workflow phases, as described in Creating a New Template.

Step 2: Create branching data element

Create the question (data element) whose answer will be used as the basis for deciding which phase should be displayed, as described in Creating a Data Element to Use for Branching.

Step 3: Collect branching data element

Create a workflow step to collect (display) this data element, as described in Collecting the Branching Data Element.

Step 4: Create workflow phase that branches

Create a workflow phase that branches, as described in Creating a Workflow Phase That Branches.

The branching data element is usually not collected in the first workflow phase. Also the branching data element does not need to be part of the initial required data group that is automatically collected in the first workflow step of the first workflow phase.

Creating a Data Element to Use for Branching

To create a data element to use for conditional branching of workflow phases, perform the following steps:

To create a data element to use for conditional branching:

1. Begin creating a template as described in Creating a New Template.
2. Create at least one data group, as described in Creating Data Groups.
3. Begin creating a new data element for this data group, as described in Defining Data Elements, making the following choices:
a. On the Data Element Details view for your new data element, set the Data type to either Single Selection or Radio Button. Enter list values or labels for each radio button in the Selection list items box, one value or label per line.
b. Set the Use to define conditions/branching option to Yes.

Important:If you do not set the Use to define conditions/branching option to Yes, this data element will not be available when defining conditions.

c. If desired, enter a value in the Default value field. This must match one of the values you just entered in the Selection list items box, and the corresponding value will be the default one chosen when the person completing the workflow request first encounters this data item.
4. Click the Create button to create this new data element and add it to the data groups tree.

Next, proceed with Collecting the Branching Data Element.

Collecting the Branching Data Element

To collect the data element you created in Creating a Data Element to Use for Branching, do one of the following:

• If the data group containing this data element has its When collected? option set to At initial submission, follow the instructions in Creating the First Workflow Phase to create a workflow step that collects this data group.
• If the data group containing this data element has its When collected? option set to Later in the workflow, create a workflow step with its Collect a data group in this workflow step? option set to Yes, and then assign your data group to the step using the Select the data group list.

Proceed with Creating a Workflow Phase That Branches.

Creating a Workflow Phase That Branches

In this step, we will see how to create a workflow phase that branches, displaying a different workflow phase depending on the response given to a data element.

Before beginning, create all of the workflow phases you want to include in your workflow template, except for the branching phase. Do not link the phases together yet.

To create a workflow phase that branches conditionally depending upon user input:

1. Complete the steps in Creating a Data Element to Use for Branching and Collecting the Branching Data Element.
2. Begin creating a workflow phase as described in Creating Subsequent Workflow Phases.
3. In the Workflow Phase Details view for your new phase, set the Define a condition for workflow branching? option to Yes. The Select the branching condition list appears, along with a table listing all possible values:

4. From the Select the branching condition list, choose the data element you want to use to control branching. The possible responses to the branching question are automatically listed.

Tip:You will be able to select any element that has the Use to define conditions/branching option set to Yes.

5. For each listed value, select a workflow phase from the list. If the person completing the workflow selects this value from your data element, this phase be the one displayed when the current phase is completed.

Tip:You can assign the workflow phase to more than one value, if you like.

6. Click the Create button to add this workflow phase to the Workflow Phase tree.
7. If this branching phase is not the first phase in the workflow template, open the preceding workflow phase and link it to this new branching phase. Do this as follows:
a. Click the phase which you want to appear first in the Workflow Phase tree. The Workflow Phase Details view for that phase appears.
b. From the Link to next phase list, choose the name of the workflow phase which you want to be displayed next.
c. Save your changes by clicking the Update button.
8. Open each of the workflow phases that were selected for each of the possible branching question answers, and link them to the workflow phase that you want to display next.

Important:When linking workflow phases to branching question answers, you are only permitted to select phases ahead of the branching phase (those phases that have a sort order with the higher number). Branching phases can only be used to move a workflow forward to a new phase. If you want to move backward in the workflow, use Automatic Rollback. For more information, see Setting Up Conditions to Perform Automatic Rollback to a Workflow Step.

9. Also link together any other workflow phases which belong to the workflow template, as described earlier.
10. Test this new workflow template as described in Validating a Template.
11. Preview this new workflow template as described in Previewing a Template. In the preview, the workflow phase that collects the answer to the branching question will be displayed with yellow background: