Workflow report field guide

The Workflow Report answers two questions: how is the work going, and what exactly happened, by whom, and what was changed (for audit). It is read only: nothing on it changes a workflow, a run or a step.

Open Reports & Analytics > Workflow Report. You need the right Read the workflow report, which auditors, HR officers and administrators have. It grants no right to change anything; designing workflows is a separate right. For how workflows work, read the Workflows field guide.

1. Filters (apply to every tab)

Filter	What it does
Period	Last 7, 30, 90 (the default), 180 or 365 days
From / To	An exact period. The last day is included. A period is at most a year; a longer one is cut to the last year and the screen says so. A date that is not a date is refused
Workflow	One workflow only. The list holds every workflow that has had a run in the last year, whatever you filtered
About	One kind of record: people, sales and support, clients, projects, marketing posts, orders and purchases, production
Person	Steps given to, or finished by, one person
Refresh	Reads again. Changing company starts the screen over: nothing of another company remains on it
Save as spreadsheet file	Saves the current tab as a file (section 10)

The report is for the company you are in. Another company's workflows, steps and history never appear.

Basis. Runs are counted by when they started; steps by when they opened, both inside the period.

2. Overview

Figure	Meaning
Runs started	Workflows begun in the period
Running / Finished / Cancelled	Where those runs stand now
Average time to finish	Start to finish of finished runs
Running over 14 days	Runs still open after two weeks: look at these first
Steps given	Tasks and approvals opened in the period (notices and questions are not counted)
Steps finished	Done, approved or rejected
Finished on time	Of steps with a finish time, the share finished by their due date. A step with no due date counts as on time
Average time per step	Opening to finishing
Overdue now	Open steps past their due date at this moment
Escalated	Steps that went up to a manager
Rejected	Approvals refused

Below the figures:

1. By workflow - runs, running, finished, cancelled, average time to finish, steps, on time, overdue and escalated for each workflow, with its version and whether it is on. Click a name to filter everything to it.
2. By kind of record - runs and how many are running.
3. Runs started per day - a bar per day.

3. Runs

One row per run: workflow and the version it ran on, what it is about (click to open the record), status (with the reason when cancelled), when it started, who started it (a person, or "automatic" when an event did), when it finished, hours to finish, steps done of steps, overdue now, and who it is waiting with. Path opens the whole run: every step reached, who had it, what they wrote, and when.

Filters: status and a text search over the record and the workflow name. Pages of 50.

4. Steps

One row per step: step, workflow, what it is about, given to (and why), opened, due, done, done by, hours taken, status (with "late" and who it escalated to) and the note written. Filters: status (open, done, approved, rejected, cancelled), overdue only, text search. A role-assigned step shows "Anyone in (the role)" until somebody takes it, then the person who did. Pages of 50, up to 200.

5. People

Per person who held or finished a step in the period:

Column	Meaning
Given	Steps given to them
Finished	Steps they finished
On time	Share finished by the due date
Average	Average time from opening to finishing
Open	Steps they hold now
Overdue	Of those, past due
Escalated from them	Their steps that went up to a manager
Rejected	Approvals they refused
Finished for others	Steps they finished that were somebody else's, not through escalation or cover (for example an administrator finishing a step while its owner was away)

Click a name to see their steps.

6. Where work waits

One row per step of each workflow: how many opened and finished, average hours, 90% within (nine in ten finish within this time), the late share, how many are open now, overdue now, the oldest open one, escalations and rejections. Ordered by the total time work has spent there, so the first rows are where the process is slowest. A bar shows the average against the longest.

7. Exceptions

Tab	Shows
Overdue now	Open steps past due, oldest first, with how long, and whether it has escalated
Escalated	Steps that went up, and to whom
Rejected	Approvals refused, who refused and the reason they gave
Cancelled runs	Runs stopped on purpose and the reason
Finished for somebody else	Who finished it, and for whom
Handed over	Steps moved from one person to another, with why

8. Audit trail

Every change and every action, newest first, each as a sentence: when, who (or "The system"), on what, what.

On	You can read
Workflow	Created (from which standard); edited (which settings, and which steps were added, removed or changed); published (the version, the number of steps, and what changed from the version before); switched on or off; standard workflows added
Run	Started (which workflow and version, for which record, on which event); cancelled (the reason)
Step	Finished, approved or rejected (with the note, and whether late); escalated; steps handed over (how many, from whom, why)
Leave cover	Began and ended, with how many steps moved

Narrow it with Show: Everything, Changes to workflows, Runs, Steps, Leave cover.

A draft edit is audited as well as publishing, so "who changed this between version 2 and 3" has an answer.

9. Versions

Pick a workflow to see every version: which versions have runs on them, and each publishing with who, when, what changed and the steps as they were published. A run is always read against the version it ran on.

10. Spreadsheet files

Each tab saves as a CSV file (opens in Excel or any spreadsheet) named for the tab and the date. A file holds up to 20,000 rows; steps, runs, people, where work waits, the chosen exceptions tab, and the audit trail are all available. A cell whose text begins like a formula is saved as plain text, so a note starting with "=" can never run anything when the file is opened.

11. Questions the report answers

Question	Where
Which workflows are stuck?	Overview: running over 14 days; Runs filtered to Running
Where is the process slow?	Where work waits
Who has the most overdue work?	People; Exceptions: Overdue now
Why was this order not delivered?	Runs > Path
Who approved this, and what did they write?	Steps (filter by workflow and person) or Audit trail
Who changed the approval workflow and when?	Audit trail > Changes to workflows; Versions
Did an administrator step in for somebody?	Exceptions: Finished for somebody else
Which runs were cancelled and why?	Exceptions: Cancelled runs

12. Speed and limits

1. Totals are computed in the database, lists are paged, and the period is at most a year.
2. With 45,000 runs and 160,000 steps on record, every section of the report answers in under a second.
3. A file holds up to 20,000 rows; narrow the period or the filters for more.

13. How to verify it

1. Run a workflow with a rejection: reject an approval and write a reason.
2. Open Exceptions > Rejected: the reason appears with who refused.
3. Open Audit trail: the same rejection is there as a sentence.
4. Publish the workflow again after adding a step: Audit trail says "Published version 2... added (the step title)"; Versions lists both.
5. Save Steps as a file and open it: one row per step; no cell begins with an unquoted "=".