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Viewing process status using process web pages

The Web Client provides two built-in web pages to view the process status of plan files:

• Process Directory: Using this page, users can view the process status for all plan files they have access to within a file group.
• Process Routing: Using this page, users can view the process status and details for an individual plan file.

These web pages are primarily intended to be used when plan files are form-enabled, and the main client for end users is the Web Client. The pages can also be used with spreadsheet plan files, but in this case you must consider the user experience between the Web Client and the Desktop ClientGeneral term for using either the Excel Client or the Windows Client, both of which are installed to the user's desktop.. For example, if users normally access the Web Client and only use the Desktop Client when they need to open a spreadsheet plan file, then it makes sense to provide users with access to the pages so that users can review process status without needing to launch the Desktop Client. However, if the Desktop Client is the main client for end users, then it may be confusing for users to be directed to the Web Client for this information.

Using the Process Directory page

Using the Process Directory page of the Web Client, users can view the process status of all plan files that they have access to.

• You can customize this page to specify which columns are shown, the initial sort level of the list, and other formatting options.

• To open the Process Routing page for a particular plan file, users can click the hyperlink in a designated column. In the following example screenshot, the CapitalID column is the designated hyperlink column.

• Users who are step owners of one or more plan files can complete the associated process tasks. Administrators and process owners can also complete tasks from this page.

• Users can use the search box at the top to locate a particular plan file. You can configure which columns are included in the search.

• Using the View options, users can see all of the plan files they have access to, or just the plan files for their current process tasks. If the file group is an on-demand file group, users can also see all of the plan files where they are the process initiator.

• Using the Filters panel, users can filter the page by process status, step status, and current owner. You can also optionally provide users with a set of predefined options to filter the list by plan code groupings, using refresh variables.

Example Process Directory page

The process details shown on this page are from the designated plan file process for the file group, as defined in the file group properties.

If the file group is an on-demand file group, users can also create new on-demand plan files by clicking the plus button in the top right-hand corner. This button uses the Add File Message text, and it only displays if the file group has a designated Add File Form (both as defined in the file group properties). Clicking the button launches the form. This is equivalent to the functionality in the Open Plan Files dialog to create a new on-demand plan file.

For more information on configuring this page, see Configuring display settings for the Process Directory web page. For more information on using this page from an end user perspective, see Viewing process status for all plan files (Web Client Help).

Accessing the page

There are two ways to access this page:

• Users can click the totals links in the Process Summary component to be taken to this page. This is the only "built-in" way for users to navigate to the page.

• Alternatively, you can provide users with a hyperlink to the page, using the following syntax:

  <baseURLtoAxiom>/filegroups/filegroupID/process

For example, if the file group ID is 50, the URL would look as follows:

You can use the GetFileGroupID function to return the ID for a file group. To make the link dynamic, you can use a file group alias in the function. For example:

Using the Process Routing page

Using the Process Routing page of the Web Client, users can view the process progression of a particular plan file and open that plan file. If the user is also the current step owner, they can complete the current task from this page as well. For more information on using this page, see Viewing process details for an individual plan file (Web Client Help).

The availability of this page depends on the following setting in the plan file process definition: Make routing page visible to anyone with read access to the plan file. If enabled, then any user with at least read-only access to the plan file can access this page and view the process progression and activity details for the plan file. If disabled, only administrators and process owners can access this page.

If the user is not the current step owner, or an administrator, or a process owner, then the Process Routing page is for information only. The user can still see the current status of the plan file at the top of the page, but the user cannot complete the task.

Accessing the page

There are several ways to access the Process Routing page:

• Users can click any of the individual task links in the Process Summary component or in the Process Tasks page to be taken to the Process Routing page.

• Users can click on any hyperlinked column in the Process Directory page (see previous section).

• Alternatively, you can provide users with a hyperlink to the page, using the following syntax:

  <baseURLtoAxiom>/process/processID/planfile?planvalue=code

  The code is the plan file's dimension value from the key column of the plan code table. For example, if the plan code table is Dept, then the codes are department codes.

For example, if the process ID is 5988 and the plan file is for Dept 42000, the URL would look as follows:

You can find the ID for a process by using the GetProcessInfo function, or by hovering over the process definition in the Explorer task pane.

You may want to provide users with hyperlinks to this page so that they can continue to view the process details even when they are not the current step owner. For example, if the process is for capital requests, you may want the initial requester to be able to view the routing details for the plan file for the duration of the process, so that they can see the current status of their request.

To do this, you could display hyperlinks to each user within a Formatted Grid component as follows:

• Use an Axiom query to bring in the plan codes for which the current user is the initial requester.
• Use a formula in the query's in-sheet calc method to build up the necessary URL for each plan file.
• Use another formula in the query's in-sheet calc method to wrap the resulting URL in an HREF content tag, to display the URL as a clickable hyperlink in the form.

Information panel

You can also optionally configure an information panel that users can access from this page. This customizable panel can display details about the plan file, to help users decide if they are ready to complete the process task for the plan file. For more information, see Configuring process web pages for plan file processes.

Example information panel