Workflows in Incentives
Workflows are made up of steps that push a Presenter adaptive or Presenter structured report from one state into another based on a set of defined rules.
When you create a workflow, you associate it with a Presenter adaptive or Presenter structured report. Within a workflow, you can add any number of nodes. A path is created between those nodes that defines the logical flow of the business process.
You can create three types of workflows in Workflows.
- Admin-initiated workflow
In an admin-initiated workflow, web users can submit data only one time per cycle of the workflow. If users must submit data again, the admin must restart the workflow.
This type of workflow is ideal for data submission that occurs during a specific time, like an MBO self-scoring form where a user submits scores once a quarter. This type of workflow also works well for situations where the user's submission must be approved by a manager before it can be accepted.
- User-initiated workflow
In a user-initiated workflow, web users can submit data an unlimited number of times as long as the workflow is active.
This type of workflow is ideal for data submission that occurs frequently over a long period of time, like an expense report.
- Inquiry workflow
An inquiry workflow is a special type of workflow you can use to define unique rules for routing inquiries throughout your organization.
By default, inquiry trees are assigned based on user groups. When a user makes an inquiry, that inquiry goes to another group. This is usually based on a reporting relationship. With an inquiry workflow, you can use conditional routing to have more control over the inquiry process. For example, you can route inquiries to go to a different group or a specific user depending on the inquiry category.
To find out more about Workflows and Inquiries, check out the Managing Workflows and Inquiries in Incentives course on our Varicent Academy.
Adding a workflow
In Varicent Incentives, the first step to creating a business process is to create an admin-initiated or user-initiated workflow in Workflows.
In Workflows, click Create workflow and then select one of these workflow types:
Type
Description
User-initiated workflow
In this workflow, web users can submit data an unlimited number of times as long as the workflow is active. This type of workflow can be used with Presenter Adaptive and Presenter Structured reports.
Admin-initiated workflow
In this workflow, web users can submit data only once per each cycle of the workflow. If you want users to submit data again, you must restart the workflow. This type of workflow can be used with Presenter Adaptive and Presenter Structured reports.
Inquiry workflow
This is a special type of workflow that you can use to define the rules for how inquiries are routed. This type of workflow can be used with Presenter Adaptive and Presenter Structured reports. For more information about this type of workflow, read: Inquiry Workflows.
Click the Edit icon next to the Add a workflow name heading to type a name and description for the workflow.
On the Choose Report tab, complete the following steps:
Select the Presenter report to associate with the workflow.
To use the Presenter report's default value for a parameter, leave the Use report default value checkbox selected.
To select or enter a different value for a parameter, clear the Use report default value checkbox, and complete one of the following steps:
To select the web user or form initiator for a parameter, select Value from the menu next to the parameter, and then select the value from the next menu.
To specify a constant value for a parameter, select Constant from the menu next to the parameter, and then type the constant value in the field.
If you selected a user-initiated workflow, on the Layout Restrictions tab, complete the following steps:
Clear the Visible checkbox next to any layout tables that you do not want to display on the Presenter report.
Clear the Editable checkbox next to any layout tables that you do not want to be editable in the Presenter report.
On the Type tab, select one of the following choices:
Type
Description
Explicitly select payees
You can choose the payees that are part of the form initiator swimlane.
Select payees by restrictions
You can set restrictions to define the payees that are part of the form initiator swimlane.
On the Data Sources tab, add any additional Data sources that are required to define the payee or payee group that makes up the first swimlane. You can use any table or calculation with a payee partition as a source.
On the Restrictions tab, define the Restrictions for the payee or payees who make up the form initiator swimlane.
If you are not defining payees by restriction, on the Payees tab, select or clear the column to add or remove payees from the form initiator swimlane.
Click Create.
Configuring data update settings for Workflows
You can auto-update or delay data updates for Workflows that use a Presenter Adaptive report.
In Workflows, select an Admin or User-initiated type workflow.
Click the Workflow settings
or Expand panel 
button.Select one of the following data update settings:
Auto Update: Instantly update the model sources as the workflow progresses.
Delay Update: Delay data updates of the workflow to model sources until the workflow has been completed. Both an approve path and reject path are needed to delay data updates.
Close the panel and click Run workflow
.
Editing a workflow
In Incentives, you can make changes to an existing workflow in Workflows.
Note
You cannot edit a workflow that is currently running. Additionally, it is not possible to directly modify an archived workflow. Instead, you will need to duplicate the workflow to make any changes.
In Workflows, click the workflow that you want to edit.
Make necessary edits to your workflow:
Form initiator: To modify the form initiator, edit the Form Initiator swimlane. Note that changes cannot be made while the workflow is in progress. However, you can still review it using the Workflows wizard.
Edit a node: Click on the Edit
icon within any node to make modifications.Add a node: Click on the Add
icon to add a new node to your workflow.Add a Swimlane: If you need to add a swimlane, click the + Add Swimlane option.
Note
Although there isn't a separate save option for the workflow, remember to save changes to the specific components or nodes you edit during this process.
Duplicating a workflow
In Incentives, you can copy a workflow in Workflows.
When you duplicate a workflow instance, the process duplicates the configuration of the workflow, such as the workflow type and the linked Presenter Adaptive or Presenter Structured report, along with the swimlanes and nodes. The process does not duplicate the workflow state, such as errors, pending actions, or history, of any running workflows. You can duplicate a running workflow, but a duplicated workflow is initially in a stopped state.
In Workflows, from the row with the workflow that you want to copy, click the More options menu (...).
Select Duplicate.
Type a name for the new workflow.
Click Save.
Renaming a workflow
To rename an existing workflow:
Note
You cannot rename a running workflow.
From the Workflows module, click the More options menu (...) of the workflow you wish to rename.
Click Rename.
Enter the new name of the workflow, and then click Rename to apply changes.
Deleting a workflow
To delete an existing workflow:
Note
You cannot delete a running workflow.
From the Workflows module, click the More options menu (...) of the workflow you wish to delete.
Click Delete.
Selecting a payee as form initiator
When configuring your swimlanes, you may require a more dynamic setup. For example, say you have a Sales Manager swimlane where you have two or more Sales Managers overseeing different sales reps. The Sales Manager swimlane would then need to change based on the sales rep that prompts the workflow. You can achieve this by setting payee restrictions, and you can test your configuration by selecting a payee to act as the form initiator. This selection is for testing purposes only. By selecting a payee to act as form initiator, you can preview the payees appearing in subsequent swimlanes based on your selection.
For example, say you have two Sales Managers, Dave Darcy and Kathy Kerry. The sales rep, Peter Posy, reports to Kathy. If you select Peter to act as your form initiator and then preview your Sales Manager swimlane, you will see that Kathy is the Sales Manager alerted in the next step of the workflow.
From the Workflows module, click a workflow to open it.
Click the Workflow settings icon
.Click the Swimlanes tab.
Select a payee to act as form initiator.
Click the Edit icon
on the swimlane where you want to test payee restrictions.Click Preview.
Review the list of payees that appear based on your selected form initiator.
Click X to close the preview and return to the swimlane configuration dialog.
If the results aren't as expected, adjust your data sources and restrictions as needed. Read Swimlanes for user and admin-initiated workflows.
Running workflows
After creating your workflow, the next step is to run it.
From the Workflows module, click a workflow to open it.
Click the Run workflow icon
.On the confirmation dialog, click Run.
Stopping a workflow
All workflow types - Inquiry Workflows, Admin-Initiated Workflows, and User-Initiated Workflows can be stopped. Stopping each type of workflow follows a specific process and may impact linked reports or ongoing inquiries.
To stop a workflow:
From the Workflows module, click on an existing running workflow.
From the top navigation menu, click
Stop workflow.If the workflow is an Inquiry workflow, click Archive.
Note
When you stop an Inquiry Workflow, it moves into an archived state. You can’t run or edit it anymore but can still make copies. If there are any ongoing inquiries, they will continue until they reach the end node.
Sometimes, an Inquiry Workflow could be linked to a Presenter Adaptive report, which might be used as a web tab in the Portal Access module to display in the Sales Portal.
If you stop the Inquiry workflow, the inquiry resets in the Presenter Adaptive report, and the linked report in the Portal Access module will also be cleared.
To copy an archived workflow, read: Duplicating a workflow.
If the workflow is an Admin-Initiated or User-Initiated workflow, click Stop.
Note
All progress will be erased once you stop an Admin-Initiated or User-Initiated workflow.
Adding payees after a workflow has started
You can include payees in the designated swimlanes even after initiating a workflow. For example, the form initiator has a restriction for all payees with the QA role and the workflow has started. When a new QA is added to the payee table, it will meet the requirements, so when Scheduler starts the task, it will add the new QA into the workflow.
Here’s how to add payees after a workflow has started:
From the Workflows module, start a workflow or select a running workflow.
From the toolbar, click the Add workflow payees icon
, and click Confirm.From the Data Sources tab, add any additional Data sources that are required to define the payee or payee group that makes up the first swimlane. Any table or calculation with a payee partition as a source can be used.
From the Restrictions tab, define the Restrictions for the payee or payees who make up the form initiator swimlane.
Note
If you used restrictions to define payees, you can schedule the addition of workflow payees in the Scheduler module.
If you are not defining payees by restriction, on the Payees tab, select or clear the selected column to add or remove payees from the form initiator swimlane.
Click Save.
Organizing workflows
Organizing your workflows effectively in Varicent Incentives can enhance your productivity and make managing tasks more efficient. By understanding how to create, move, rename, delete, and navigate your workflows, you can keep everything organized and easy to access.
Creating a workflow folder
You can create and organize your workflows into folders to keep everything tidy and accessible. Here’s how:
To create a workflow folder:
From the Workflows module, click the Add folder
icon.A new folder appears in the side panel. You can create a new workflow or move an existing workflow into your folder.
To learn more about creating a workflow, read: Adding a workflow.
Click the More options menu (...) of the folder, and select Rename to name your folder.
To create a nested folder/subfolder:
From the Workflows module, click the Add folder
icon, or select an existing folder that you wish to use as a parent folder.Click the More options menu (...) of the parent folder, and select Add folder .
Click the More options menu (...) of the nested folder, and select Rename to name your subfolder.
If you want to move your workflow folder, read Moving a workflow folder to learn more.
Moving a workflow folder
To organize your workflows, you might need to move folders within the Workflows module. Whether you're rearranging your folder structure or just managing existing files, relocating a workflow folder can clear up your workspace and increase productivity.
You can move a workflow folder in three ways:
Move to folder option
From the Workflows module, click the More options menu (...) of the folder that you wish to move, and select Move to folder.
Select the folder from the available list to move your selected folder into.
Click Move.
Drag and Drop
From the Workflows module, locate the folder you want to move.
Click and drag the folder to your desired location.
Keyboard shortcuts
From the Workflows module, press the Tab key or click the arrows on the folder to navigate until the desired folder is highlighted.
Hold down the Space bar to begin dragging the selected folder.
Use the Arrow keys to navigate to the target folder.
Press the Space bar again to drop the folder in the new location.
Deleting a workflow folder
To keep your workflow tidy and organized, you may find it necessary to delete folders that are no longer needed. Follow these steps to remove a workflow folder:
From the Workflows module, click the More options menu (...) of the folder that you wish to delete, and select Delete.
Note
Deleting a folder removes all its workflows and sub-folders, if any. You cannot delete a folder that has a running workflow.
Click Delete.
Moving workflows to a folder
Moving workflows to different folders helps organize your tasks more efficiently. You can move workflows from the Workflows module home page to a specific folder. Read Creating a workflow folder to learn more.
You can move existing workflows in two ways:
Moving a single workflow to a folder:
From the Workflows module, click the More options menu (...) of the workflow that you wish to move, and select Move to folder.
Select the folder from the available list where you want to move your selected workflow.
Click Move.
Moving multiple workflows to a folder:
From the Workflows module home page, locate the workflows that you wish to move.
Select the check boxes beside each workflow you wish to move.
Once you have selected one or more workflows, the Move to folder
icon appears in the top panel.Click the Move to folder
icon.Select the folder where you want to move the selected workflows.
Click Move.
Navigating workflows
The Workflows module provides various features to help you effectively manage and organize your workflows. By searching, filtering, sorting, and starring your workflows, you can easily keep track of your projects and tasks.
Searching workflows
To quickly find a specific workflow:
From the Workflows module, click the Search
icon on the top panel.Enter keywords related to the workflow's name you're searching for. The matching workflow will then appear.
Sorting workflows
Sorting your workflows helps you organize them in a way that makes sense to you. To sort workflows:
From the Workflows module, click the Sort
dropdown on the top panel.By default, all workflows are sorted by Name. However, you can choose to sort by various criteria including:
Type
Reports
Total runs
Last run date
Last action
Status
From the Sort dropdown menu, choose either Ascending to organize your categories from the lowest to highest value or Descending to sort them from the highest to lowest value.
Filtering workflows
Filtering can help you quickly find the workflows most relevant to your current needs. To filter workflows:
From the Workflows module, click the Filters dropdown on the top panel.
From the Filters dropdown, click the Type field.
A checkbox list appears, allowing you to filter workflows by type using the following options:
Admin-initiated
User-initiated
Inquiry
From the Filters dropdown, click the Status field.
A checkbox list appears, allowing you to filter workflows by status using the following options:
Running
Stopped
Draft
Archived
Viewing starred workflows
Starring important workflows helps you quickly identify them for easy access later. To star a workflow:
From the Workflows module, click the Star
icon next to the workflow that you want to mark as important.Click the Starred button on the top panel to view all workflows you’ve marked as important.