11.7 Enabling Workflows

After a workflow is created, you can enable the workflow to automatically start when certain types of entries are created in the folder, or when users comment on or reply to entries. Or, you can enable users to manually start workflows when they view the entry.

Before you can enable a workflow, the workflow must first be created. For information on how to create a workflow, see either Section 11.1, Creating a Simple Workflow or Section 11.2, Creating an Advanced Workflow, depending on the type of workflow that you want to create.

You can enable workflows only in folders for which you have appropriate rights. When you enable a workflow in a folder, it is automatically enabled on all sub-folders and sub-workspaces, and can be applied to all entries that are created in that folder and its sub-folders.

11.7.1 Enabling Workflows to Start When an Entry Is Created

You can enable a workflow to automatically start on all entries that are created in a specific folder, whenever an entry is created. This is called “associating workflows with entries.”

  1. Navigate to the folder where you want to enable the workflow.

  2. Click the Configure icon next to the folder title, then click Configure Views, URLs and Controls.

  3. On the Folder Views, Entries and Workflows tab, in the Workflow Associations section, click the drop-down list next to the entry type that you want to associate the workflow with, then select the desired workflow.

    To add workflows to this drop-down list, you need to create them. After workflows have been created at this folder level, or at a higher workspace level, they appear in this list. For information on how to create workflows, see either Section 11.1, Creating a Simple Workflow or Section 11.2, Creating an Advanced Workflow, depending on the type of workflow that you want to create.

  4. Click Apply > Close.

    Now, when this type of entry is created in this folder, Vibe automatically starts the workflow by placing the entry in the initial state of the workflow process that you specified.

When you enable a folder to support multiple entry types, you can associate workflows to the specific types of entries. For example, if you have a folder that supports both file entries and calendar entries, you can have one kind of workflow start when you create a file entry, and another kind of workflow start when you create a Calendar entry. For information on how to enable multiple entry types in a single folder, see Section 3.3.1, Enabling Alternate Folder Entry Types.

11.7.2 Enabling Workflows to Start When Users Comment on or Reply to an Entry

You can enable a workflow to automatically start when users comment on or reply to an entry. This is called “associating workflows with comments or replies.”

  1. Navigate to the folder where you want to enable the workflow.

  2. Click the Configure icon next to the folder title, then click Configure Views, URLs and Controls.

  3. On the Folder Views, Entries and Workflows tab, in the Workflow Associations section, click the drop-down list next to the comment or reply type that you want to associate the workflow with, then select the desired workflow.

    To add workflows to this drop-down list, you need to create them. After workflows have been created at this folder level, or at a higher workspace level, they appear in this list. For information on how to create workflows, see either Section 11.1, Creating a Simple Workflow or Section 11.2, Creating an Advanced Workflow, depending on the type of workflow that you want to create.

  4. Click Apply > Close.

    Now, when this type of comment or reply is made to an entry in this folder, Vibe automatically starts the workflow by placing the entry in the initial state of the workflow process that you specified.

11.7.3 Allowing Users to Manually Start Workflows

You can allow users to decide if they want to start a workflow on an entry, and if they do, at what point they want to start the workflow. Also, you can give users the option to choose among multiple workflows for each entry.

  1. Navigate to the folder where you want to enable users to start the workflows.

  2. Click the Configure icon next to the folder title, then click Configure Views, URLs and Controls.

  3. On the Folder Views, Entries and Workflows tab, in the Allowed Workflows section, select the workflows that you want to allow users to choose from.

    The Local Definitions section in the Allowed Workflows section displays all of the workflows that you have created locally. The other workflows listed in the Allowed Workflows section were either created by your Vibe administrator, by another user at a higher level in the workspace tree, or are included with the Vibe product.

  4. Click Apply > Close.

    Now, when users create entries in this folder, they can start and stop workflows as they desire. For information on how to start and stop a workflow, see Using Workflows in the OpenText Vibe 4.0.8 User Guide.