Workflows

WEBCON BPS Standalone is what we call an installation of the system that operates without SharePoint. It was already possible to synchronize groups and individual users into the system by using the designated Portal interface. In version 2020.1.3., a new functionality for managing BPS groups and users has been added to supplement this process. The “Synchronization mode” parameter defines whether the action is to wait for the synchronization process to complete. Both synchronization modes are described in the context help in the system under the “F1” button.

WEBCON BPS can be extensively integrated with Microsoft SharePoint Online. This article describes how to start a workflow by using a standard SharePoint list with advanced column formatting.

In the presented scenario, the SharePoint list will be used to start the workflow of inviting people to the conference – after entering the name and surname, a marketing workflow will be started. The current status of the task can be checked in the SharePoint list column.

There are situations in which, after going through a path, you will need to go back to one of the previous steps of the workflow e.g. when the form has been incorrectly completed or you forgot to add an attachment to the instance. The article describes two basic configuration methods: Moving back an instance to the defined step and Moving back an instance to the previous step using the “Back to the previous step” predefined option. Using using more advanced types of configuration e.g. using the system step where, on the appropriate condition, the instance moves back to the defined step – you can create intricate combinations specifically tailored to your scenario.

One of the methods to start a bpm workflow in WEBCON BPS is to use REST API BPS. It can be especially useful in situations such as:

1) Data exchange between different WEBCON BPS instances – e.g., there is an internal application for your organization and a public application available for your clients.
2) Data exchange with external systems e.g., CRM, ERP.

To give you an idea of how you can use it, let us show you how the REST API can be used to start a workflow in the design process.

WEBCON BPS allows you to start workflows in several ways. In addition to a manual start by the user, instances can also be launched by the system using dedicated actions. The "Start a subworkflow" action allows you to start a workflow within the same application. By using them you can start only one workflow instance – in this case it will be creating an additional task in the Design process. The "Start a subworkflow (SQL) action allows you to start a workflow instance(s) within the same BPS application and differs from the previous with its “Data” tab, and in that it is not possible to save and store the IDs of started workflow instances in form fields.

WEBCON BPS allows us to manage our company and streamline the assignment of tasks by design workflows. A workflow is a sequence of steps that an instance of the workflow must complete in order to fulfill its business goal. Such a workflow facilitates and optimizes work by clearly specifying the order in which steps must be completed and who they must be completed by. In Designer Studio, a workflow consists of steps and transition paths connecting individual steps.

WEBCON BPS gives a wide range of possibilities when it comes to assigning tasks. The task for users can be created based on the value of a form field, SQL/CAML query, directly indicating the users/groups or by selecting one of the predefined options. This article describes the predefined options of task assignment. The predefined task assignment allows configuring a business application based only on its logic without having to assign tasks to the specific users/groups. The predefined task assignment options allow you to easily handle many scenarios by simplifying the configuration process. However, remember to make sure that the selected option meets the requirements of the created process.

When creating large and complex processes, problems with workflows becoming too complicated can often appear, which can be problematic especially for end-users. To check if our process requires reconstruction and simplification, we recommend making an audit of such workflow. A workflow audit in WEBCON BPS allows you to quickly obtain detailed information about the workflows. By generating the report we can check e.g. how many instances have gone through a given path, how many instances have ever been found in a specified step or how many instances have been processed that have a higher ID than specified.

WEBCON BPS platform allows you to manage business processes in multinational and multilingual environments. Particular parts of the form were designed in such a way, that you can provide translations to any language that is used by the users while creating the workflow.

From version 2019.1.2 on multilingual choice fields are complimentary to forms created with multilingual usage in mind. This functionality allows you to define choice dictionaries so that the text displayed in them is coherent with a language in which the form is presented to the user.