View active workflows as a user
In BIMcollab Twin, the use of Workflows allows for automated project approval processes for your documents. This means that space administrators can transform various tasks (and the outcome of those tasks) into an automated sequences of events.
Workflows are created by Space Administrators and cannot be edited by regular users. However, a workflow is triggered when a user uploads a document that meets the predefined workflow criteria. Based on the workflow actions, users can be automatically assigned specific tasks. Workflow steps and progress can be viewed by users in the Workflow modules. This article describes everything related to workflows from the user side.
A workflow is triggered when a team member uploads a new document or new version that meets the predefined criteria; it will not be applied to existing documents in the phase.
If you are a space administrator, you can learn more about how to add and create workflows in this article: Workflows in BIMcollab Twin
Workflow Actions
When an administrator sets up a workflow, there are four different actions that can be included as steps in the workflow.
- Audit Round - This creates a number of different audit tasks that are assigned to multiple users where comments must be given by a certain deadline. The outcome of the audit round (whether comments are given or not by the deadline) determines the next step in the workflow. These tasks can be found in the To do's module.
- Review Task - This creates review tasks for responsible persons who will either approve or reject a document. The workflow will only continue as soon as the first person responsible for completing a review task does so. These tasks can also be found in the To do's module.
- Stamp - As a result of an Audit or Review task, an automated stamp can be placed on a document based on the outcome. See Create stamps for more information.
- Notification - Notifications can be scheduled to be sent at any point in the workflow. If you as a user are a recipient, this notification is sent by e-mail but it will also be visible in your personal dashboard in the To do's module.
As a user, you can be assigned as a responsible person for Audit tasks or Review tasks, or you may be the recipient of a notification according to a workflow.
While only administrators can set up and edit a workflow, regular users can view workflows that are active in their project in one of two ways: either through the Settings Module or the Documents Module.
Viewing Workflows
Understanding how to view and track workflows within your projects is essential for staying informed about the status and progress of various tasks. Below, we guide you through the steps to access and review workflows associated with specific project phases and documents.
Settings Module
The Workflows page under the Settings Module will display all the workflows that are currently active the specific project phase that is selected.
- First navigate to the project or phase that a workflow has been added to
- Select the Settings Module either from the top horizontal bar or the left side bar
- Navigate to the Workflows page
- All workflows that are active in the current project phase will be displayed here
The workflow information includes its Name, Order, Description as well as the phase it is attached to.
A user must have the required
permissions enabled to
View Settings and Workflows, otherwise the Settings module or Workflows page will not be visible for you. If you do not have the right permissions, contact your space administrator.
Selecting the name of a workflow will take you to the Workflow Overview page which is explained later in this article.
Documents Module
In the documents module, a user can view which workflows a specific document is associated with.
- First navigate to the project or phase that a workflow has been added to
- Select the Documents Module either from the top horizontal bar or the left side bar
- Select the document number you are interested in
- Navigate to the Workflows tab
- Any active workflow that the document is a part of will be displayed here
The workflow information includes:
- Document's version number that triggered the workflow
- Workflow Name
- Date when the workflow was started (based on when the document was first uploaded and triggered it)
- Any Active workflow steps related to the document
- Total number of steps that have been completed in the workflow
Selecting the name of a workflow will take you to the Workflow Overview page which is explained later in this article.
To view a complete history of all the actions that have occurred to a document, you can also navigate to the document's Events page. Here, an action log exists which includes all previous actions that have occurred to a document as a result of passing through a workflow, as well as any additional actions that occurred outside of the workflow.
Workflow Overview
When selecting a workflow name either from the Settings module or Document details page, this will display the workflow overview page which can be read as a table or dashboard.
This is made up of a number of different columns:
- Document list: All the documents that met the conditions for the workflow will be listed on the left hand side, as well as their description and version number.
- General Workflow information: Summary overview of entire process including when the workflow began for a particular document as well as its status of completion.
- Workflow steps: Break down of each step in the workflow where every type is distinguished by its colour and icon:
- Audit Rounds are yellow and include information such as when it was started, its status and outcome (comments). The individual audit tasks for the responsible persons is also displayed including the task's status, completion date and outcome (comments).
- Review Tasks are green and include information such as when it was started, its status, as well as when the review was completed.
- Stamp actions are orange and include when the stamp was placed on a document.
- Notification actions are blue and include when the actual notification was sent.
Reading the workflow overview for a document
Each document will be displayed in its own row, and the workflow information for that particular document can be read horizontally.
Once a workflow has been triggered to begin, it is easy to track its overall completion according to the status information in the general workflow column:
General Workflow - x/x steps completed: If a workflow is not yet complete for a document, its status will be open and display how many steps have been completed out of the total amount.
- Completed: Only when all responsible persons have executed their tasks outlined by the workflow for a document, then its status will be complete.
Once a step has been started in the workflow, its status can also be tracked which is based on the results of the relevant To do's item:
Workflow Details
The "details" page includes all information about the workflow according to how the administrator set it up. This includes the following pages:
- Information - outlines relevant conditions and workflow steps determined by the administrator.
- Documents in Workflow - provides a summary of all the documents whose details met the criteria for triggering the workflow.
- Events - overview of when the workflow was added, activated or deactivated.
To view more information on each of the workflow steps, click on the name to expand or collapse each action. For example, you can see who is responsible for a task, or who are the recipients of a notification.
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