Many Conditions
An activity can be defined as belonging to multiple roles based on the Workflow model instance information. An activity that is defined as Many in the Who section requires further defining. Click the Set Conditions… button to access the Multiple Conditions and Roles dialog.
The Many Conditions grid consists of rows and columns. Each row contains at least one column (1st) with the role that will be assigned to the action if it qualifies, and at least one condition that will be evaluated at execution time. A row can contain as many condition columns as necessary to qualify the role for assignment. Condition columns are evaluated as ands within a row. That means each non-blank column must qualify for the row to qualify (in other words, if column 1 = true and column 2 = true) for the assignment to occur. Depending on the settings, each row can be evaluated and assigned if it qualifies, or the first qualifying row can be assigned and the rest ignored.
If you need to make changes to a row, edit one operation at a time and click OK to save the change before you perform another operation. If you need to delete a row, do not make any edits to the row, and place your cursor on the group value, not in a data field of the row that will be deleted. After you delete a row, click OK to save the change, then reopen Many Conditions to confirm that the row is deleted. If needed, make additional adjustments, one at a time, and click OK to save each change before the workflow model is saved.
Groups
The starting point defining a row in the condition grid is to select a group. Workflow-enabled roles are available for selection in the Choose Group drop-down menu. Use the buttons on the drop-down menu to control group entries in the condition grid.
Add Group: Add the selected group to the condition grid.
Change group: You can change a group within the condition grid by selecting the appropriate row, select a new group from the Choose Group drop-down, then select the Change Group button to populate the row with the new group.
Delete Group: Delete a group by selecting the desired row and pressing the Delete Group button. Any remaining rows below it will be shifted up in the grid.
Move Up: The user can move a row up within the grid by selecting the row and then select the Move Up button. Each time the button is clicked, the selected row will move up in the grid one position until it reaches the top row position. All other rows will move down one position as they are passed.
Move Down: The user can move a row down within the grid by selecting the row and then select the Move Down button. Each time the button is clicked, the selected row will move down in the grid one position until it reaches the bottom row position. All other rows will move up one position as they are passed.
Process
The Process section is used to further define the behavior of the condition grid at execution time.
First Qualifying Only: The Workflow engine starts at the first qualifying row when evaluating the rows in the grid. Any qualifying rows below it will be ignored. Since only one row qualifies, the duplicate checkboxes are disabled.
All Qualifying Groups: The Workflow engine evaluates each and every row in the grid and all qualifying rows are assigned. The duplicate checkboxes are enabled when this box is checked.
Skip action if no group qualifies: Activity is ignored if no rows qualify. This is acceptable under some conditions in a Workflow model. An example is when a particular buyer does not need to review a Purchase Request under a certain dollar amount. However, if this box is not checked and no rows qualify, this activity will end in a no-transition status and the Workflow model instance will be routed to the No-Transition activity for handling.
Skip duplicate qualifying groups: Applicable to a grid that is set up to include duplicate roles with different conditions applied in the individual rows. When this occurs and the role qualifies during evaluation more than once, the result is multiple assignments (Task List items) for the same activity. The duplication of roles can be avoided by selecting the Skip Duplicate Qualifying Groups. The result is that the role assignment will only occur once during the execution of the activity. The benefit is that the activity does not require attention more than once by the same role to satisfy the activity.
Skip duplicate qualifying users: Duplicate assignments to the same BusinessPlus ID are ignored. This covers the scenario in which multiple roles in a grid result in the same BusinessPlus ID getting an assignment twice.
Conditions
In the Conditions section, data elements and operations are used to further define conditions for columns within the condition grid. Function buttons are available to add, delete and edit the conditions.
Add Condition: Select a data source from the Data Elements tree and select the Add Condition button the add the data element column to the condition grid. Once inserted, select a cell, then select the Edit Condition button, to add a value condition.
Delete Condition: Once a condition column is inserted into the grid, it is possible to delete it. Select any cell for that column, then select the "Delete Condition" button. The condition (column) is deleted and remaining columns to the right are shifted one position to the left.
Edit Condition: To insert a value condition, select the row/column desired, then select the Edit Condition button to display the Edit Grid Condition dialog. When inserting values, keep in mind that:
when a string is entered, the string must be within quote symbols
when a numeric value is entered, always remember to exclude the quotes
A column heading can be renamed in the Title field. The Code field includes the XML search string that makes up the condition. In general, this string should not be amended as it could result in the condition grid not behaving in the manner that it should.
Autosize Headings: Selecting this button results in condition grid rows being resized based on heading length.
Copy/Paste: Once a Many Condition is created for a group, the condition can be copied and pasted into another activity or to a notepad. The copy and paste function is an option in case other WF activities required the same Many Conditions.
Adding, removing, or reordering rows while instances are in progress can cause instances to require the workflow group to approve the activity a second time. Many Condition approvals are tracked based on the condition being true and the row number, if either of those change while the instance is in progress it could require a second approval.