stuck in workflow status

RoySharp

I have answered this myself before posting but I think that it is still useful information so here it is...
If a transaction is stuck in the ready state on a workflow step which doesn't have user interaction e.g. gendoc then check the variables used in the templates.
I had several stuck on a gendoccancelled step and resubmission just returned them to this stage.
In the logs there was a getValueStringMapInternal prior to timing out.
By cross-checking the underlying variables with commonvars.xml / other product definitions and the templates used by this trade it was possible to spot the typos and hey presto the trade goes to the review queue.

happy hunting

Roy