Workflows are executed from the issue detail screens. If there are workflows associated with an issue, the Workflow link will be available on the Issue bar. Click the workflow you would like to execute. The fields that are being prompted for will be displayed. Fill in any required fields and click Update Issue. Anything specified in the Assign Values table will be done and any specified notifications will be sent.
Workflows are created by Project Administrators. Once a particular issue meets the criteria defined for a workflow, that workflow will be available to use to modify the issue. If no workflows are available for an issue, the workflows dropdown on the issue bar will not be displayed.
To complete a workflow, all you need to do is select it from the Workflows dropdown or the issue bar and enter comments and any data for the fields displayed by the workflow. When finished select Update Issue.
For example: Let's say a wedding planner's project has four workflows set up:
- Meet with Point of Contact - For updating client preferences & action items tracked in related separate issues after a meeting.
- Follow-up - Completion of any further actions after a meeting.
- Update Vendors - Add or Update vendor information for the wedding.
- Completed - After all vendors have been specified, complete the issue.
If a planner submits a new issue, to track the general items involved in planning the Peterson-Li wedding, then immediately they would see the workflow to meet with the point of contact. The other workflows would be unavailable because the criteria set to show those workflows has not been met by this issue yet.
Once they have met with Eddie and Jennifer, the planner would use the "Meet with point of contact" workflow to update the necessary fields in this issue. The planner might assign the wedding to another planner, indicate that there are action items for her to complete before the next meeting, or list any client preferences she might have discovered. Once the issue has been updated, that workflow will automatically update the issue to have a status of "In Progress".
The next time the planner atempts to update the issue, the "Meet with point of contact", "Follow-up", and "Update Vendors" workflows will all be available to her, since the criteria for each has been met. After completing all her action items and marking the "Action Items?" field as No, she will not be able to use the "Follow-up" workflow again until the field has been updated. The planner can continue to add comments and update information in the issue using the same 3 workflows, until all the vendor information has been selected. At that point, the planner can still use the other workflows, but she now has the "Completed" workflow available. Once all changes are final and the wedding is over, she can use this workflow to update the status to completed.