As Darin mentioned in a previous post, Personnel Actions takes advantage of the core workflow functionality provided by Dynamics AX. In this post we will take a deeper look at the routing functionality that is available via workflow in Dynamics AX.
The workflow runtime provides the configuration details needed for workflow, while each of the application areas determines the business rules/logic needed to support the workflow process. For example, every workflow has the option of having 1 to many approvers for a step of the workflow. This functionality is provided by the runtime. The business logic of when workflow is available and on what documents is decided upon and designed by each application team.
When you are considering building your workflow, it’s best to draw out your desired workflow before beginning. For example, do you want only one person approving the first step or do you want multiple people listed? Do you want to auto approve a first step if it meets a particular condition or will a first level approval always be required? With the feature set provided by Dynamics AX workflow, these scenarios can be met.
In the following paragraphs, I will walk through five different step types, and provide examples of how each step could be used in your process.
1. Approval – This is the most basic step. In its simplest form the approval step basically routes the workflow item to a user for their approval. However, there are various properties that can be decided with each approval step.
- Assignment – This is where you select the users that the approval task will be routed to. You can route to a security/group role…for example, any user who is a human resource assistant. You can route based on a hierarchy type, so for example it can be routed to the workflow originator’s manager. Also, the approval task can be routed to a specific user, like John Doe. There is also the capability to route the task to a work item queue. With a queue any member of the queue has the ability to act on the approval task. Lastly, the approval task could be routed to a workflow user. So for example, it could be routed back to the originator (assuming you are on a step other than the first) or the workflow owner.
As part of the assignment process you can specify a completion policy which has various options regarding the number of approvers necessary to move onto the next step, as shown below.
You can also specify how much time the user has to complete the task. If the user doesn’t complete the task in the allotted time, you can have the task escalated. (See the escalated bullet for more information on these settings.)
- Condition – This option determines if the step is always run or if the step is only run when a certain condition is met. So for example, if a new worker has a pay rate below a certain dollar amount, the step can be skipped, and the workflow can move onto the next level of approval.
Escalation – This option specifies how to escalate overdue workflow task. It provides an escalation path of who to route the work item to, and also what action to take if the users in the escalation path fail to act within the specified time limit.
There are four remaining steps types that are available as part of workflow:
- Manual decision-A manual decision is a point in which the workflow divides into to braches. A user must make a decision and the decision determines which branch is used. For example: the manual decision might be "Does the worker require any loaned equipment?" If yes, route to HR assistant to setup loaned equipment information. If no, continue to next workflow step.
Conditional decision – A conditional decision is a point in which the workflow divides into two branches based on a condition that is setup on the step. So using our pay rate example again, if the pay rate is less than a certain amount, then the HR assistant must approve. If the pay rate is greater than a certain amount, then the HR manager must approve.
Parallel activity – This allows two steps to run at the same time. For example, you might want to route the workflow step to both the budgeting department and the HR department at the same time.
Subworkflow – A subworkflow is a workflow that runs in the context of another workflow.
As you can see, there are many options available for creating a workflow routing process that meets your specific business needs. You can find more information about workflow here.