Creating a Workflow – Kuali

Workflow is an important part of every app. A Workflow determines the path a document will take once a form is filled out, including what approvals need to occur or any notifications that should be generated.

You can configure a Workflow by navigating to the Workflow Builder from the top right side of the app tool bar.

Location of workflow tab

The Workflow can be configured with a variety of different steps, depending upon your specific needs. The available steps are outlined below:

Screenshot outlining step options available

Approval: Request for users to provide an approval or denial decision on a proposal. Pauses the workflow at the step until the approval or denial decision is received.
Task: Provides a step that can be used to outline actions that need to occur, possibly outside of Kuali. The workflow will pause at a task step until it has been marked as complete.
Acknowledge: A request for a user to acknowledge a proposal in progress. An acknowledgement step will not pause the workflow, and if it is the last step in the workflow, the workflow will complete without waiting for a user to provide an acknowledgement.
Notification: A customized email that may be sent to a user. Notifications are separate from system emails sent on an approval or notification step.
Branch: Provides routing for the workflow based on conditions within the form.
Integration: Allows you to add a step to push data from the form to another system through a pre-configured integration
Echo: Allows a step to be repeated multiple times based on the values within a multiselect, table, or repeater gadget.

Add a Step

When building out a workflow, you'll start by creating a series of steps that will guide submitted documents until they are approved.

- Within the workflow tab, click on the type of step you would like to add from the top left side of the Workflow screen.
- Drag and drop the step in the desired location.
- A configuration panel will open to the right, allowing you to provide details relating to the step.
  - The details for each type of step may vary. For specific information on the available options, review the workflow step you are considering adding.
- Steps will save automatically as they are added into the workflow.

Gif demonstrating how to add a step into the workflow

Edit a Step

Click into the step you would like to edit.
The configuration panel for the step will open to the right, allowing you to make any necessary changes.
- The details for each type of step may vary. For specific information on the available options, review the workflow step you are considering adding.
Your workflow step will save automatically - no need to click a Save button!

Gif demonstrating how to edit an existing step in the workflow

Remove a Step

If you find that you need to remove a step from your workflow, you can do so with either of these methods:

Keyboard Shortcut

Click on the step you would like to delete.
Once the step details open in the panel, be sure to click on the step within the workflow again so that the step itself is selected; and not the fields within the details panel.
Press the Delete key.

Within Step Details

Click on the step you would like to delete, and click on Delete Step within the configuration panel.

Delete step option

Undo/Redo Last Action

It is easy undo or redo a previous command within the Workflow Builder without having to start over.

Undo Last Action

To undo your previous action, you can take one of two actions:

Click the Undo button just above the list of workflow steps.
Use the keyboard shortcut:
- Windows: CTRL + Z
- Mac: ⌘ + Z

Redo Last Action

It's also easy to reverse the effect of your previous Undo command!

Click the Redo button just above the list of workflow steps.

Location of redo option in the workflow

Copy and Paste Steps

Often as you're creating steps in a Workflow, you may find that you have several steps that are very similar to each other in structure - so it makes sense to copy one and make edits within the copy rather than starting an entirely new step each time. You can easily copy and paste steps within workflow to help speed up your build.

Windows PC

Click on the step you wish to copy within the Workflow.
Once the step details open in the panel, be sure to click on the step within the workflow again so that the step itself is selected; and not the fields within the details panel.
Press CTRL + C to copy the step. A tooltip will appear to indicate the step has been copied to the clipboard.
You must use the keyboard shortcut to copy the step, there is no equivalent when right-clicking.
Press CTRL + V to paste the step. Once it has been copied, you can drag the step to the location you would like it and edit it as needed.

Mac

Click on the step you wish to copy within the Workflow.
Once the step details open in the panel, be sure to click on the step within the workflow again so that the step itself is selected; and not the fields within the details panel.
Press ⌘ + C to copy the step. A tooltip will appear to indicate the step has been copied to the clipboard.
You must use the keyboard shortcut to copy the step, there is no equivalent when right-clicking.
Press ⌘+ + V to paste the step. Once it has been copied, you can drag the step to the location you would like it and edit it as needed.

Gif demonstrating how to copy and paste steps in workflow

Note: This also works between apps as well! In order to copy a Workflow step from one app to another, open a separate tab or window in the same browser, and you will be able to copy steps between two different apps.

FAQs

For more information, see the following article(s):

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