Workflow Builder

Owned by Robert Alexander Marshall
Last updated: Sept 03, 2024
6 min read
1 Overview | 2 Open workflow builder | 3 View and customize the workflow | 4 Workflow panel options | 5 Saving your modified workflow

Overview

Workflow builder in Comala Document Control offers several simple ways to modify the look and feel of the currently applied workflow.

Workflow builder can be used to understand and communicate the content and document life-cycles within your organization, or when starting a new project with a team or customer stakeholder, allowing a visual way of exploring the workflow states and the transitions.

Open workflow builder

Workflow builder can be accessed in the Comala Document Control app

When applying a workflow to a single page as a page workflow

  • open the page tools menu

  • choose the Add Workflow option

In the Add workflow dialog box

  • choose Apply & Customize

If a workflow is applied to a single page as a page workflow

Page workflows must be enabled for the instance and a space workflow is not applied to the page (workflow enabled in the space Document Control dashboard).

If a workflow is applied to a page as a space workflow

View and customize the workflow

The workflow builder has two main sections:

  • workflow panel (left side)

  • workflow navigator (right side)

The initial view is the workflow inspector showing the individual states in the workflow panel and the visual workflow diagram in the workflow navigator:

The workflow panel displays an icon to indicate the application mode for the workflow:

  • page workflow at page level (applied to the current page and unique to the page)

  • space workflow at space level (applied to all the pages and blog posts in the space)

The lefthand workflow panel is contextual and the display changes according to the currently selected workflow and workflow element: workflow; state; approval or transition.

Workflow panel options

Use the lefthand workflow panel to

  • display details for the workflow in the workflow view

  • view components of a state (state name, number of transitions, and number of approvals in the state) in the state viewer

The panel is also used to customize the following

  • the workflow page header, page footer, and workflow content label filter

  • the state attributes: name, state color, description

  • state approval options: approval action button names and enablement of the manual addition of descriptive reviewer roles

You can also choose the workflow navigator panel workflow diagram state lozenges to change the display in the workflow panel.

Workflow view

Each element in the workflow view panel can be chosen to access details of the workflow including:

Workflow editor

Select the workflow name to open the Edit Workflow option.

A space workflow can be configured to be applied to content based on the content labels. 

This content filter limits the application of a space workflow across a space. For the enabled space workflow with an added label(s), content in a space with the label automatically has a workflow applied, whilst other content is excluded from the application of the space mode workflow.

Page layout

To edit the Page Header and Page Footer applied by the workflow:

  • choose Page Layout

  • choose +add to edit the custom page header on each page

  • use the Visibility dropdown option to set the content visibility according to user permissions

  • add bespoke text or wiki markup to the header

Read Confirmation

Use the green tick slider to add a read confirmation request to the page or blog post on a transition to the final state in the workflow

The read confirmation can be configured to allow the reviewer to enable/disable the addition of the read confirmation using an option displayed in the workflow popup on the page.

If this option is unchecked the read confirmation is added automatically on the transition to the final state.

State viewer

Each state in a workflow can be customized to change

  • state name

  • state color

  • state description

The state can also be customized by

  • adding custom action names for any state approval reject and approve buttons

  • enabling assigned reviewers to be given reviewer roles in an approval

To view the state details in the state panel

  • choose the state lozenge in the navigator panel or the state name in the workflow panel

State attributes

Customize the workflow state name, color, and description.

In the workflow panel

  • select a state name

in the state panel

  • mouse over the state name

  • choose the pencil icon to open the state attributes

  • edit or amend the state name, state color, state description

  • choose Apply

State transitions

The transitions from a state can be viewed and inspected in the state panel in workflow builder

In the workflow panel

  • select a state name

  • choose Transitions in the state panel for the selected workflow state

State approval

If there is an approval in a state

  • choose Approvals in the state panel for the selected workflow state to view the approval name

  • choose the approval name to open the customize options

  • customize the approval to

    • change the default Approve and Reject names displayed in the workflow popup for the approval decision

    • enable or disable the addition of descriptive Roles when assigning a user as a reviewer on the page in the workflow popup

Saving your modified workflow

When using Workflow Builder, changes are not saved to the current workflow unless you choose Save in the workflow navigator panel:

Choose Exit to return to your page (or the space tools dashboard if using Workbuilder to modify a space workflow).

The changes to the workflow are to the current workflow added to the page or space ONLY.

  • the source workflow is not affected

  • your changes are lost if you re-apply the workflow or add a different workflow

The customized workflow cannot be copied to another page or space.