Starting or stopping a workflow

A workflow is only applied by the system if it has been started. Once a workflow is started, it will be enforced until it is completed or stopped.

NOTE: The user who starts the workflow will be designated as the workflow administrator for the purposes of receiving administrator notifications about the workflow. This designation cannot be changed once the workflow is activated.

Starting a workflow

In the File Groups pane of the Workflow Manager, navigate to the workflow.
In the toolbar, click Start.

TIP: You can also right-click the workflow and select Start Workflow.

Axiom Software starts the workflow, and the initial set of tasks are assigned for the first stage. The workflow status is Pending until all background processes are complete, at which time the workflow status is changed to Active.

If the workflow is for an on-demand file group, then most likely no plan files exist when the workflow is started. As users create new plan files, Axiom Software checks for active workflows for the file group, and automatically activates the plan files within the workflow.

Stopping a workflow

When you stop a workflow, all current tasks are deleted for all plan files. If the workflow is restarted, it starts over from the first stage in the workflow. To stop a workflow:

In the File Groups pane of the Workflow Manager, navigate to the workflow.
In the toolbar, click Stop.

TIP: You can also right-click the workflow and select Stop Workflow.

Axiom Software stops the workflow and deletes all current tasks. The workflow status is changed to Aborted.

NOTE: You can stop individual plan files in a workflow and restart them instead of stopping and restarting the entire workflow. See Managing plan file status in a workflow.

Completing a workflow

For standard file groups, if all active plan files have a status of either Completed, Aborted, or Inactive, then the workflow automatically moves to Completed status. When a workflow is completed, it is essentially inactive. You can no longer move plan files in the workflow or change plan file status.

For on-demand file groups, workflows stay active until they are explicitly stopped. If the workflow is no longer needed or should no longer be applied to plan files, you must stop it. This behavior also applies to workflows where Automatically start child plan file workflows when the parent workflow is started has been disabled (typically used for "copy target" file groups).

Scheduling a workflow

You can use the Scheduler task Administer Workflow to automatically start or stop a workflow at a specific point in time. The schedule can be one-time, or recurring.

If the workflow is already active when the Scheduler job executes, you can decide what to do with the current workflow. You can leave the current workflow running, or you can stop the current workflow and then restart it.

If you use a recurring schedule to start the workflow, then the workflow stages should use relative due dates so that the due dates will adjust dynamically for each execution. If the due dates are specific calendar dates, then you must remember to edit the workflow before each scheduled execution for the new calendar dates.

For more information, see Scheduler and Scheduler task: Administer Workflow.