Workflows field guide

An approval rule decides what is allowed ("a delivery over 5,000 needs the sales manager"). A workflow decides who does the work and in what order ("the store delivers, accounts invoice, the salesperson collects the money"). They sit side by side on the same record, and this chapter explains the second. For the first, read the Workflow and approval field guide.

One engine runs every workflow in OSERP, whatever it is about. You draw it once as a tree of steps; each step lands in a person's Tray; finishing a step opens what follows. The people, the order and the rules are your own data - nothing is written in code for one trade.

1. What a workflow can be about

A workflow is always about one kind of record. That is fixed when you first publish it, because its steps name who does them by their relation to that record.

About	Starts on	"The owner" is	Typical use
An employee	Joined, given a job role, probation ending, leaving	(the person and their manager)	Joining, probation review, leaving
A deal or support request (CRM record)	A record is created, reaches a stage, is won, is lost	The record's owner	New enquiry, proposal follow-up, hand-over after a win, support request
A client	The client's first project	The client's salesperson	Onboarding, reviews, annual renewal
A project	Created, released, technically complete, closed	The project manager	Kickoff, go-live, hypercare, change request, close
A marketing post	Written, sent for approval, approved, refused, published, failed	Whoever wrote it	Content check, creative, a post that failed
A sales or purchase document	A document reaches a stage (Sales order, Delivery, Invoice, Goods receipt...)	The salesperson on it, else whoever raised it	Order to payment, purchase to vendor payment
A production order	Planned, released, started, completed, closed, cancelled	Whoever planned it	Production run

Every workflow can also be started by hand from the record itself, by someone allowed to.

2. Where to open the designer

1. Administration > Users & Access > All Workflows shows every workflow, with tabs by subject (All, People, Sales and support, Clients, Projects, Marketing posts, Orders and purchases, Production).
2. Each module also has its own entry under Administration > Module Settings: Order Management (Order & Purchase Workflows), Manufacturing (Production Workflows), CRM (Sales & Support Workflows, Client Workflows), Projects, Marketing, People & Payroll. They open the same designer filtered to that subject.
3. You need the right Design and publish workflows. Reading the report (see the Workflow report guide) is a separate, read-only right.

3. The list of workflows

Control	What it does
Subject tabs	Show only the workflows about one kind of record
Add the standard workflows	Installs the ready-made ones for the tab you are on (or all). A workflow already there is never overwritten. Those about orders, purchases and production arrive switched off: a workflow on every order puts a task on someone for each one, so you read it and switch it on yourself
Start from	Begin a new workflow from a standard one or blank
About	What a blank workflow will be about
Name	Your name for the new workflow
New workflow	Creates it as a draft and opens it
Draft with AI	Describe the process in words and the AI proposes a tree (section 12)
Table columns	Name, what it is about, what starts it, state (Not published, On, Off, Unpublished changes), version, runs going, runs finished

4. The builder

Open a workflow to see its tree on the left and the settings or the selected step on the right.

Button	What it does
Save draft	Saves what you changed. Nothing running is affected
Publish	Saves, checks the tree is sound, and makes the draft the version new runs use. Runs already going keep the version they started on
Switch on / Switch off	A published workflow only starts by itself while it is on
Suggest improvements	Observations on the workflow, and with an AI connection a better version to read (section 12)
Run the reminders now	Runs the overdue sweep immediately instead of waiting for its next turn

A problems box lists everything that stops publishing, each naming its step. A softer warning box lists steps given to people who cannot do them (section 6).

Adding steps

Press the + under any step. The kinds:

Step	What it is	Branches
Task	Somebody does something and says so	one next step; several next steps run side by side
Approval	Somebody decides yes or no	Approved and Rejected (an End is enough)
Question	The record's facts decide the way	Yes and No
Wait	Nothing happens for 1 to 365 days	one next step
Notice	Somebody is told something; it does not hold up what follows and is not counted in KPIs	one next step
End	The branch finishes	none

A workflow is a tree, not a web: every step has exactly one parent. If two branches need the same step, draw it in both. A flow has at most 200 steps and exactly one start.

The fields of a task or approval

Field	What it means
Title	What appears in the Tray
What to do	Instructions in the person's own words
Who does it	The relation or person the step goes to (section 6)
Due in (working days)	0 to 365 days after the step opens
Pass to their manager after	Days late before it goes up to the manager; empty means never
To finish it	Just mark it done, Write a note (what was done is required) or Tick a checklist (every item must be ticked)
Checklist	One item per line when ticking a checklist
Can only be finished when this is true in the record	A condition on the record (section 7)
Counts towards	The KPI area the step belongs to (Sales, Delivery, Finance, People...)
Weight	1 to 10: how much it counts in a person's score

An approval step needs a note when it is rejected: the person it goes back to reads it.

5. The settings of a workflow

Field	What it means
Name, Name (Arabic)	Shown in lists, the Tray and reports
What it is for	A sentence for whoever opens it later
About	The kind of record. Cannot change after the first publish
Starts when	The event from section 1 (or by hand only)
Applies to	Narrows it. People: job roles, departments, employment types. Deals: pipeline kinds, stages, sources. Projects: project types. Posts: channels, account groups. Documents: kinds of document (Sales, Purchase) and the stages a document reaches. Empty means everything
Notify by email	Also emails overdue and escalation notices when a mail gateway is switched on
Owner	Who a step goes to when its own relation has nobody (see below)

6. Who does a step

Relation	Means	Available for
The employee	The person themselves	People
Their manager / their manager's manager	Up the reporting line	People
The owner	The record's owner (the deal's owner, the client's salesperson, the project manager, whoever wrote the post, the salesperson on the order)	everything but People
The owner's manager	One level up from the owner	everything but People
The owner's manager's manager	Two levels up: the second line of an approval chain	everything but People
A role on the project team	Whoever holds that role on the project; the project manager if nobody does	Projects
Anyone in a role	Every holder of a system role sees it; the first to finish takes it and it leaves the others' Trays	everything
A named person	One person	everything
The workflow owner	The person set as owner of the workflow	everything

Two rules keep work from falling through:

1. A step never goes to nobody. When the relation has nobody (no manager on record, an owner with no login, a role with nobody in it), it goes to the workflow owner, and the step says why: "Given to you because: Manager of..." or "...: the workflow owner".
2. A person whose access has been taken away decides nothing. A suspended person cannot finish a step even with a sign-in they already held.

Warning in the designer. If a step that waits for a record to reach a stage (a check) is given to a role that cannot move that record on - for example invoicing given to a role with no right to move documents - the designer says so while you draw it: "The Accountant role cannot move a document on to its next stage, so nobody in it can finish this from their own desk."

7. The record's facts

A Question step, and a task's check, read facts about the record at the moment they are reached or pressed.

About	Facts you can use
Employee	Job role, department, employment type, work state, category, their sign-in (Active, Invited, None)
Deal / support	Pipeline kind, pipeline, stage, source, lead or opportunity, value
Client	Tier, country, state
Project	Project type, status, currency, contract value
Post	Channel, kind of channel, account group, source
Document	Kind of document, stage (read from the furthest document in its chain), sub-type, priority, total
Production order	Kind (production, disassembly, rework), status, item, quantity

Text facts use is, is not or is one of; numbers use at least and at most. Comparison ignores upper and lower case.

A document is read as the furthest document of its chain: moving a sales order on to delivery makes a new document, so "has it been delivered" is a question about what came after.

8. Checks: a task cannot be ticked for work that was not done

A task may carry Can only be finished when this is true in the record. For example, "Deliver the goods" with stage is one of Delivery, Shipment, Invoice, Payment.

1. The person presses Mark done.
2. OSERP reads the record again at that moment, not as it was when the step opened.
3. If the condition holds, the step finishes and what follows opens.
4. If not, it is refused with the reason: "Deliver the goods" cannot be finished yet: SO-2026-00015 must have stage is one of DELIVERY or SHIPMENT or INVOICE or PAYMENT (it has SALES_ORDER). Do that first, then come back.

The Tray shows the condition on the step ("Can be finished when ...") so nobody is surprised. The check protects against ticking off work on someone's word alone; it never moves the record itself.

9. How runs start, run and end

1. Starting. A published, switched-on workflow starts when its event happens and the record fits Applies to. A record never gets a second run of the same workflow, and one that was cancelled on purpose is not restarted.
2. A missed start is recovered. If the server stopped at the wrong moment, the 15-minute sweep starts the missing runs. It never reaches back before the workflow was switched on (a new workflow does not run over old orders) and never more than two days. A document made by hand directly at a stage, which no stage move announced, is found the same way.
3. Waits end by themselves when their days are up (the sweep).
4. Overdue. The step's person is reminded once when it is due (a HIGH-priority Tray item, and an email if you chose it). After the days you set past due it goes up to their manager, or to the workflow owner when they have none, and the manager's Tray gets an "Overdue:" item that closes with the step. Escalation is one level.
5. The record is cancelled. A cancelled production order, or a document cancelled before it moved on, closes its runs: steps and Tray items are cancelled with the reason. (A document that came from another cannot simply be cancelled; it is reversed, and its workflow carries on.)
6. A person leaves. When HR records that an employment has ended, that person's open steps go to their manager (else the workflow owner), saying "Handed over from ...". An administrator can do the same by hand for anyone, choosing the person to hand them to. Steps given to a role stay with the role.
7. Leave cover. Leave with a handover moves a person's open steps to the colleague for the dates and brings back exactly what is still open on their return.
8. Ending. A run is Finished when no step remains open on any branch, Cancelled when stopped on purpose (a reason is required).

10. Versions, publishing and two people editing

1. Editing changes the draft. Publish makes the draft the next version.
2. Each publish records who published it, a snapshot of the published steps and what changed from the version before (steps added, removed, and which settings of a kept step moved). The report's Versions tab reads this back.
3. A run keeps the version it started on, with that version's wording, for its whole life.
4. If somebody else saved the workflow after you opened it, your save is refused with "This workflow was changed by somebody else after you opened it" - nothing of theirs is overwritten. Reload and make your change again.
5. Publishing at the same moment from two screens gives each its own version number.

11. In the Tray

Open a workflow task from the Tray and you see:

Part	What it is
Heading	The kind (Task, Approval, Notice), the title, and Finished once done
About	The record, its number, and the workflow; the due date
Open [number]	Opens the order, deal, client, project or production order itself
Can be finished when	The check, if the step has one
Given to you because	Why this person (e.g. "Anyone in Store Keeper")
Instructions	What to do
Note / checklist / Approve / Reject	The one way to finish it
The path so far	Every step reached, who had it, what they said, and when

12. The AI's part

1. Draft with AI. Describe the process in a sentence or two. The AI proposes a whole tree: its name, what starts it, the steps, who does each, due days, checklists and checks. The proposal is cleaned to what the engine accepts (unknown roles go to the workflow owner, impossible conditions are dropped) and everything changed is listed. You read it and press Create as a draft.
2. Suggest improvements. On any workflow, plain observations need no AI: a task nobody is chased for, a task due the same day it opens, a task that can be ticked off with nothing to show, an approval that simply ends the workflow when rejected, a very long wait. With an AI connection it also offers an improved tree to load into the draft.
3. The AI only proposes. It never saves, publishes or switches anything on. It uses your own AI connection under AI settings; without one, the draft button says how to connect one and the observations still work.

13. Workflows beside approval rules

Situation	What happens
A delivery under the rule's limit	Moves at once; the workflow's delivery task can be finished
A delivery over the limit	The move is held: an approval waits for the manager. The workflow's delivery task cannot be finished meanwhile, and says what the order is at
The manager approves	Approval clears the way. The person presses Advance again and the delivery goes through; then the task can be finished
The manager refuses	The order stays where it was, the task stays refused, the workflow waits for what to do next. Nothing is half done

The store keeper sees only the workflow task; the manager sees the approval; neither is asked for the other's.

14. The standard workflows

Workflow	About	Starts on	What it does
Joining	Employee	Joined	Papers and their check, statutory registration, induction, one-week check-in, and "Help them sign in" after three days if the invitation is unused
Probation review, Leaving	Employee	Probation ending, leaving	Review; handover, property, settlement
New enquiry	Deal	Created	First contact, qualify, a senior brought in for a big deal, a follow-up
Demo and proposal	Deal	Reaches Proposal sent	Prepare, price approved by the owner's manager, send, follow up twice
Deal won, Deal lost	Deal	Won, lost	Hand over to delivery (project, advance invoice, papers); learn and revisit
Support request	Deal (support)	Created	Acknowledge, fix, confirm
Project kickoff, Go-live, Hypercare, Change, Close	Project	Created, by hand, technically complete, by hand, closed	The usual stages of a delivery
Client onboarding, Review, Annual renewal	Client	First project, by hand	Look after the client
Check a post, Creative, A post failed, Look at results	Post	Written, written, failed, published	Content quality and follow-up
Sales order to payment	Document	Sales order reached	Promise a date, deliver, invoice, collect (delivery, invoice and payment are held to the record reaching that stage)
Purchase order to vendor payment	Document	Purchase order reached	Confirm with the vendor, receive, match the bill, pay
Production run	Production order	Planned	Check materials, release, make, quality checklist, close and settle cost

15. Things worth knowing

1. Scale. Tested with a hundred people in four levels of management, 600 orders raised at once, each person working their Tray together and fifteen store keepers contesting the same steps: a contested step has exactly one finisher, and a Tray list or a step finishing answers in well under a second. With 160,000 steps on record every report section answers in under a second.
2. Steps given to a suspended or departed person wait for their escalation or for an administrator with the workflow right, who may finish any step.
3. Workflows installed earlier keep their old text. A new standard version is only installed where it is missing.

16. When something is refused

You see	It means	Do this
"cannot be finished yet: ... must have stage ..."	The step's check does not hold	Move the record on first, then press done again
"is with somebody else"	The step is not yours	It is in another person's Tray; an administrator can reassign
"was finished by somebody else a moment ago"	A colleague holding the same role took it	Nothing; it is done
"Say why it is rejected"	A rejection needs a reason	Write the reason
"Not yet ticked: ..."	A checklist item is open	Tick every item
"This workflow was changed by somebody else"	Your copy is stale	Reload and repeat your change
"Your access is not active"	The account is suspended	Ask an administrator
Publish refused: a list of problems	The tree is not sound	Fix each named step

17. How to verify it

1. Install Sales order to payment, give delivery to the Store Keeper role, publish and switch it on.
2. Confirm a sales order. The salesperson has "Confirm stock and the delivery date" in their Tray.
3. As a store keeper, open "Deliver the goods" and press Mark done: it is refused, saying the order is still at Sales order.
4. Deliver the order. Press Mark done again: it finishes, and the next step reaches whoever invoices.
5. Open the order from the step with Open. In the Workflow report, find the run and read its path.