Designing a Company Workflow

A Company Workflow is a reusable template for running one type of project. It defines the Project Team roles involved and the ordered milestones the project moves through, from Lead to completion. You build workflows in Company Settings → Workflows. When a workflow is attached to a project, the project gets its own copy and starts running it.

Benefits

  • Every project of a given type follows the same steps, with the same roles responsible.
  • The Project Team is set up for you: the workflow's roles, and any users already assigned to them, are copied onto every project that uses it.
  • You build a milestone once and reuse it across workflows.

Before you begin

  • The Roles your team uses must exist in Company Settings → Roles.
  • Milestones can exist before you build the workflow, or you can create them while adding them to it.
  • To add, open, or edit workflows, you need Has executive authority or Can edit milestones & workflows. Your permissions are listed at the top of the page if any are disabled.
  • If your account doesn't include workflows, the page shows “The custom workflow feature is not enabled for your account.”

Quick start

  1. Go to Company Settings → Workflows.
  2. On the Company Workflows card, click the green + (or ⋮ → Add workflow). Enter a Workflow Name, an optional Description, and a Status, then save. The new workflow opens.
  3. Under Team Members, click + and add each role the project needs.
  4. Under Milestones, pick a milestone in Pick Milestone to add ... and click Submit. Repeat until all milestones are added, in project-status order.
  5. Make sure the workflow's Status is Active, so it can be picked for projects.

The Company Workflows page

The page has three parts: Workflow Settings, the Company Workflows card, and the Company Milestones card.

  • Company Workflows lists the workflows owned by this company with their Status. Use Filter to show Active (the default), Inactive, or Show All. Click a workflow to open it.
  • Import workflows (on the ⋮ menu) copies workflows from another of your companies. Check the ones you want, then click Import checked.
    • Each imported workflow arrives with its milestones and their conditions, actions, and questions.
    • Its Team Members are not copied (“Milestone roles will NOT be copied since this data is based on the current company.”), so add them afterwards.
    • A workflow is skipped if one with the same name already exists in this company.
  • Keep Milestones Completed once Past (under Workflow Settings) decides whether a completed milestone can reopen when the project changes later. See Workflows Overview.

Details

Click the pencil to edit the workflow's details.

  • Workflow Name (required): what users pick from when attaching a workflow to a project. Use a name that says which type of project it's for.
  • Description: optional. It helps users know when to use this workflow.
  • Status: Active or Inactive. Only Active workflows can be picked for projects. Projects already using an Inactive workflow keep running it.

The Details card also shows the workflow's ID.

Team Members

Team Members are the Company Roles that make up the Project Team on every project using this workflow. When the workflow is attached to a project, each role is added to the project's Team, in the order shown here. Milestone tasks, emails, and texts are sent from and to these roles.

  • Add a member: click +, pick a Role (required), and optionally a User. Leave the User blank (“To be determined”) if the person varies from project to project. Check Show on Customer Portal to list that role as a contact on the Customer Portal.
  • Change the portal setting: check or uncheck on customer portal on the member's row.
  • Reorder: drag the handle on a row.
  • Change a member: members can't be edited. Delete the row with the trash icon and add it again.
  • ⋮ → Import team members: copies the team from another workflow in this company (click Import Team next to it). Roles that are already on this team are skipped.
  • ⋮ → Remove all members: clears the team.

Milestones

These are the Company Milestones in this workflow, in the order a project runs them. Each one is listed with its project status and everything it contains: conditions, tasks, entry and exit emails and texts, and questions. A milestone that has been made Inactive is marked INACTIVE.

  • Add a milestone: enter the position number, pick a milestone in Pick Milestone to add ..., and click Submit. Only Active milestones are listed, shown as “Project Status - Milestone Name”. To build a new one on the spot, pick Create new Milestone ... instead.
  • Edit (pencil), reorder (order icon, or ⋮ → Reorder milestones), or remove (trash) a milestone using the icons under it. Removing a milestone only takes it out of this workflow; it stays in Company Milestones.
  • Order milestones by project status, from Lead to completion. On a project, a milestone whose status comes before the previous milestone's status stops the workflow with a status error.

A milestone can belong to many workflows. Editing it here changes it in every workflow that uses it, though projects that already received it keep their own copy.

Projects

Lists the projects using this workflow, with each project's date and status. Click a project to open it. These projects have their own copy of the workflow, so changes you make here don't reach them.

Relationships

Lists the milestone questions that add this workflow to a project when answered, shown as the question with its milestone in parentheses. Click a row to open that milestone.

Utilities

  • Copy Workflow makes a new workflow named after this one with “COPY” added. The copy has the same Team Members and the same milestones. The milestones are shared with the original, not duplicated, so editing one changes it in both workflows.
  • Delete Workflow asks you to confirm. Then:
    • If the workflow is in use (by any project, or by a question under Relationships), it is not deleted. It is set to Inactive and unassigned from every project still in the Lead status (milestones already on those projects stay). You see “Unable to delete the workflow [name] due to it being used.”
    • Otherwise, the workflow, its Team Members, and its list of milestones are deleted. You see “The workflow [name] was deleted from this company.” The milestones themselves stay in Company Milestones.

Troubleshooting

  • A workflow doesn't appear when attaching one to a project. Its Status is Inactive, or it belongs to a different company. Set it to Active under Details.
  • Clicking a workflow does nothing, or Add workflow doesn't open. You need Has executive authority or Can edit milestones & workflows. Ask an executive.
  • A milestone isn't in the Pick Milestone to add list. The milestone is Inactive. Open it from Company Milestones and set its Status to Active.
  • Changes don't show up on existing projects. This is expected: projects keep the copy they received. Re-add the milestone on the project (Import Milestone After), or delete and re-add the project's workflow.
  • Delete Workflow said it was in use and made the workflow Inactive. A project or a milestone question still uses it. The workflow can't be deleted while it's in use; leaving it Inactive keeps it from being picked for new projects.
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