How to create a workflow?

Workflows

With workflows you can rewrite how a particular process/workflow is approved in OneHash.

You can set multiple levels of approval for an OneHash Workflow. To allow multiple people to submit multiple requests, for approvals by multiple users, OneHash requires you to fill the Workflow conditions. OneHash tracks the multiple permissions before submission.

Example of a leave application Workflow is given below:


This is an example of a two level approval with cancellation. If a user applies for leave, then his request will be sent to the HR department. The HR department (HR User) will either reject or approve this request. Once this process is completed, the user's Manager (leave approver) will get an indication that the HR department has Accepted or Rejected. The Manager, who is the approving authority, will either Approve or Reject this request. Accordingly, the user will get his Approved or Rejected status.

To make a Workflow and transition rules go to:

Home > Settings > Workflow

Once a Workflow is created, you can take actions on it via Workflow Actions

Prerequisites

Before creating a Workflow, it is advised to create these first:

Workflow Actions
Workflow States like Approved, Canceled, etc.

How to Create a Workflow

Go to the Workflow list, click on New.
Enter a name for the Workflow and select the DocType on which to be applied.
Enter the different states of the Workflow. Enter Doc Status for them, select which field to update from the Update Field column, enter what the value will be updated to under Update Value.

The Workflow States can have different colors according to the state. Eg: Green for success. Document statuses: Saved = 0, Submitted = 1, Cancelled = 2.



The field you select under Update Field will be updated for the document type when the State changes. Update Value is the text that appears on the field selected in Update Field. So here the status field is updated to Applied, Approved, etc.

Enter the Transition Rules.




Action indicates the actions an approver can take on the leave application. Next State is the State the document type will be at when the Action is applied. So here, the State changes from Applied to Approved by HR when the Approve action is performed on it.

Under Workflow State Field, enter a name for the Custom Field that'll be added to the DocType, Leave Application in this case.

On saving, the Custom Field will be created in the DocType.

Things to note when creating a Workflow

Creating a Workflow in OneHash essentially overrides the regular Save and Submit workflow. Thus the document will function based on your Workflow and not based on the pre-set code workflow. Hence there might be no Submit button/option if you have not specified it in the Workflow you create.

If you don't apply a Workflow to a document, and that document is submittable, then it has the default workflow with states: Draft - Submitted - Cancelled. If you are applying a Workflow to a submittable document, then those default states should be handled by the user.

A document cannot be canceled unless it is submitted.

If you wish to give the option to cancel, you will have to write a workflow transition step that says from submitted you can cancel.

If fields under Update Field column are not updated, a new custom field will be created with the name you set in the 'Workflow State Field' field.

Other options for a Workflow

Is Active: On ticking this, all other Workflows for the selected DocType become inactive.
Don't Override Status: This Workflow's status will not override the status of the document (Leave Application) in the list view.
Send Email Alerts: Emails will be sent to the user with next possible workflow actions.

Features

Enable/Disable Optional Workflow State

Introduced in Version 12

In States, optional Workflow state means that the state may not be a part of final approval.

E.g. states like Canceled or Rejected can be optional.



Note: Workflow Actions are not created for optional states.

Conditions

You can also add a condition for the Transition to be applicable.

For example, in this case, if sales executive creates a quotation with grand total of $100,000 or more, a particular role must approve. For this to happen in the particular transition, you can set a property for Condition:


Here, grand_total is the field name of the field 'Grand Total' of Quotation.

For example, in this case, if someone applies for a leave of more than 5 days, a particular role must approve. For this to happen in the particular transition, you can set a property for Condition under Approved by HR as:




Then if someone applied for leave for less than 5 days, only that particular transition will apply. Here, total_leave_days is the field name of the field 'Total Leave Days' of Leave Application. To see the field name of a field go to Menu > Customize.

This can be extended to any property of the document.

Introduced in Version 13

In Version 13, you can use date/time, session, getvalue and getlist functions in your condition expressions.

Allowed functions:

frappe.db.get_value
frappe.db.get_list
frappe.session
frappe.utils.now_datetime
frappe.utils.get_datetime
frappe.utils.addtodate
frappe.utils.now

Examples:

doc.creation > frappe.utils.add_to_date(frappe.utils.now_datetime(), days=-5, as_string=True, as_datetime=True)

Example of a Quotation Approval Process
When a quotation is saved by sales user, the status of the document changes to "Draft" and when clicked on submit the status changes to 'Approval Pending By Sales Manager':




When the Sales Manager logs in, he can either Approve or Reject. If approved the status of the document changes to "Approval Pending By Regional Manager".



When the Regional Manager opens the quotation, he can finally "Approve" or "Reject" it.



Example of a Leave Application Process

When a Leave Application is saved by Employee, the status of the document changes to "Applied":


When the HR User logs in, he can either Approve or Reject. If approved the status of the document changes to "Approved by HR". However, it is yet to be approved by Leave Approver.



When the Leave Approver opens the Leave Application page, he can finally "Approve" or "Reject" the Leave Application.




Related Topics
Workflow Actions
Assignment Rule

Updated on: 02/04/2023