Duration dates on Workflows

I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to disable the duration on a workflow step? My client would like for the workflow steps to ignore duration so that it doesn?t show workflow late until it gets to the last step. The last step would have a 5 day duration but all steps prior to that should not have a duration at all.Is this possible?Thanks,Kristy

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Bhupinder_Singh

Message from Bhupinder Singh <bsingh@opentext.com> via eLink

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This appears to be possible. Do not set durations on the steps where you want the user to have as much time as they wish. On the 2nd last step (that does not have a duration defined), check the "Recalculate Due Dates" in the "Step Done" section on the General tab of the step. Assign a duration of 5 days on the last step.

You can test this too by setting up a two step test workflow with both steps assigned to the initiator, and assigning a duration of 0.001 days (which is under 2 minutes) to the last step, and configuring the "Recalculate due dates" option as described above. Send on the first step after initiating the workflow, go to your Personal, Assignments page to see the 2nd step assigned to you, wait a few minutes, refresh the page and you will see the status change from OK to Late.

Let me know if that helps...

- Bhupinder
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Bhupinder Singh, B.Math, B.Ed.
Senior Systems Analyst, Information Technology
Open Text, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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From: eLink Discussion: Development Discussion [mailto:development@elinkkc.opentext.com]
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 11:51 AM
To: eLink Recipient
Subject: Duration dates on Workflows

Duration dates on Workflows

Posted by kristyshen (Shen, Kristy) on 2009/11/30 11:50

I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to disable the duration on a workflow step?

My client would like for the workflow steps to ignore duration so that it doesn’t show workflow late until it gets to the last step. The last step would have a 5 day duration but all steps prior to that should not have a duration at all.

Is this possible?

Thanks,
Kristy

Kristy_Shen

Hi Bhupinder!Thanks so much for your quick reply. I tried your suggestion. However, if I leave the duration date out for the first 3 steps, but then it shows "none" in the due date column. The user clarified that they actually want the due date to be 5 days from the day it was initated, but they want the Status to be calculated based on whether the ENTIRE workflow exceeds 5 days or not. They don't care how long each step takes, as long as the entire workflow (4 steps) is done in 5 days or less. Thanks, kristy

Bhupinder_Singh

Message from Bhupinder Singh <bsingh@opentext.com> via eLink

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A subworkflow will accomplish this because when you define a subworkflow step it allows you to specify the duration for the entire subworkflow, regardless of how many steps it contains.

For example, create two workflows, calling them, say, Parent and Child. Put steps number 1 through 4 in the Child workflow, each step having no duration specified. In the Parent workflow, have only a subworkflow step, and, when you add this subworkflow step in the Main workflow (selecting the Child map for the subworkflow), specify a duration of 5 days for it.

Let me know if that helps...

- Bhupinder

----------------------------------------------
Bhupinder Singh, B.Math, B.Ed.
Senior Systems Analyst, Information Technology
Open Text, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
----------------------------------------------

From: eLink Discussion: Development Discussion [mailto:development@elinkkc.opentext.com]
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 5:03 PM
To: eLink Recipient
Subject: RE- duration dates on workflows

RE- duration dates on workflows		Posted by kristyshen (Shen, Kristy) on 2009/11/30 16:57
In reply to: RE Duration dates on Workflows		Posted by bsingh (Singh, Bhupinder) on 2009/11/30 15:19

Hi Bhupinder!

Thanks so much for your quick reply. I tried your suggestion. However, if I leave the duration date out for the first 3 steps, but then it shows "none" in the due date column.

The user clarified that they actually want the due date to be 5 days from the day it was initated, but they want the Status to be calculated based on whether the ENTIRE workflow exceeds 5 days or not.

They don't care how long each step takes, as long as the entire workflow (4 steps) is done in 5 days or less.

Thanks,
kristy

Kristy_Shen

Thanks Bhupinder. I'll try it out and let you know. What if I set each step to 5 days? Does that mean, with 4 steps, it'll put the Due Date as 20 days from intiation?

Bhupinder_Singh

Message from Bhupinder Singh <bsingh@opentext.com> via eLink

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The answer depends on where the steps are. If they are in the subworkflow (with the subworkflow as a whole granted 5 days), I'm not sure what the due date will be calculated as -- you'd have to try it and see. If the steps are in a single (main) workflow, the due date will be 20 days from duration.

If you don't wish to use a subworkflow, you can modify the start step to allow the initiator to specify the due date for the workflow as a whole. On the start step edit page, check the box labelled:

[ ] Initiator can specify workflow due date

- Bhupinder

From: eLink Discussion: Development Discussion [mailto:development@elinkkc.opentext.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 10:04 AM
To: eLink Recipient
Subject: subworkflow

subworkflow		Posted by kristyshen (Shen, Kristy) on 2009/12/01 09:58
In reply to: RE RE- duration dates on workflows		Posted by bsingh (Singh, Bhupinder) on 2009/12/01 09:17

Thanks Bhupinder. I'll try it out and let you know.

What if I set each step to 5 days? Does that mean, with 4 steps, it'll put the Due Date as 20 days from intiation?

Kristy_Shen

Hi Bhupinder:I tried out your suggestion. I put the duration on the subworkflow step on the main workflow as 5 days, and cleared out the duration on each step in the subworkflow.however, when i intiated the main workflow, the Due date says "None" rather than using the overal workflow duration on the subworkflow step as expected. Please help. Am I missing something?Thanks, Kristy

Bhupinder_Singh

Message from Bhupinder Singh <bsingh@opentext.com> via eLink

eLink

Can you export the maps and attach them to this discussion thread?

- Bhupinder
--------------
Sent from a Blackberry, please excuse any spelling errors

From: eLink Discussion: Development Discussion <development@elinkkc.opentext.com>
To: eLink Recipient <devnull@elinkkc.opentext.com>
Sent: Tue Dec 01 14:40:00 2009
Subject: Tried out Subworkflow but date still shows None

Tried out Subworkflow but date still shows None		Posted by kristyshen (Shen, Kristy) on 2009/12/01 14:33
In reply to: RE subworkflow		Posted by bsingh (Singh, Bhupinder) on 2009/12/01 10:15

Hi Bhupinder:

I tried out your suggestion. I put the duration on the subworkflow step on the main workflow as 5 days, and cleared out the duration on each step in the subworkflow.

however, when i intiated the main workflow, the Due date says "None" rather than using the overal workflow duration on the subworkflow step as expected.

Please help. Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Kristy

Kristy_Shen

Hi Bhupinder:Please find attached the form template and workflow maps. The "AO New Workflow Map" is the main workflow map and the "Accountable Officer Assertion Workflow Map" is the subworkflow map.Thanks, Kristy