# Workflows and workflow instances

A workflow describes a process within your organisation and consists of various steps that you compose yourself, such as planning, filling in a form or approving, for example breakdown repair, periodic maintenance, registration of meter readings, registration of downtime, entering production data, etc.

Based on a workflow you can start an (unlimited) number of workflow instances. The steps followed are described in the workflow. Optionally, extra information can be passed to the user by adding a description or media to a workflow instance.

# Workflow steps

When you compose a workflow through the menu Tasks > Workflows, you decide yourself how a process within your organisation runs. A 'Step' contains an assignment or action that is created and assigned automatically by Eye on Data once the previous step has been completed.

# Types of steps

A new workflow always contains the default steps 'Start' (first) and 'Completed' (last). You decide yourself how many and which steps have to happen in between.

Every step you create by clicking '+ Step', and then dragging the step into the right order, can be either of the type 'Form' or 'Automation'. Depending on the type of step you can add different components and configure different options.

Note that you can give every step in the workflow its own name.

# Start

The 'Start' step is always the first step of a workflow, in which the standard information such as the project has to be filled in. When workflows are created automatically and this information is already known, this step can optionally be skipped.

# Form

A 'Form' step is assigned to a team of users. The members of this team can complete this task by answering the form.

A 'Form' step contains a job component with the following configuration options:

Text: name of the job
Type: fixed or dynamic. Fixed means that the job type is known in advance and configured permanently in the workflow. Dynamic means that the 'Job type' is chosen when a workflow instance is started. This is handy when, for example, you want to apply a general maintenance workflow but the job type (form) differs per project or installation.
Team: the team this job has to be assigned to by default. The members of this team can find and complete these tasks.
Job type has to be planned: if you activate this option, an extra 'Plan' step is added to the workflow before the current step.
Job type has to be approved: if you activate this option, an extra 'Approve' step is added to the workflow after the current step.

# Plan

Optionally, in the configuration of a form you can indicate that the job has to be planned. In that case an extra 'Plan' step is added automatically before the 'Form' step.

The 'Plan' step allows the subsequent action to be planned. This means indicating a moment in time and a responsible person who can complete this action.

# Approve

Optionally, in the configuration of a form you can indicate that the job has to be approved. In that case an extra 'Approve' step is added automatically after the 'Form' step.

The 'Approve' step allows the completed form to be checked and, if necessary, adjusted before the next steps, such as sending a report or storing historical data, are carried out.

Note that the Approve step also has the option to be approved. This makes it possible to have several approvals in a row. That is interesting when, for example, you first want a technical approval and only afterwards an administrative approval, carried out by different teams of users.

# Automation

An automation step is carried out automatically by Eye on Data.

# Report

The Report component makes it possible to generate a report automatically and send it by e-mail. You can choose for which step of the workflow the report has to be generated.

Optionally you can choose to adjust the data per workflow. In that case an extra step is added to the workflow before the Automation step, in which a user can still make changes before the report is generated.

When sending by e-mail you can have the subject and the content determined dynamically. The report is attached in PDF format.

Optionally, the logo of the organisation can be included or not.

Note that sending reports requires the SMTP connection to be set up (see organisation).

# Conditions

You can choose to add extra conditions to your steps.

"If" indicates when a condition is met. For example when a step is placed in the status "Ready".

"Then" indicates the action you want to carry out:

Start a new sub-workflow instance
Start a new workflow instance
Go to step

When starting a new workflow instance, the name can be composed using placeholders and the desired planning date can be filled in automatically. By default this is based on the previous desired planning date and the repetition configured on the service (e.g. monthly, yearly, etc.). You can also choose to determine the desired planning date based on the execution date.

The option "Skip the start step" allows the start step to be completed immediately and the second step in the workflow to be activated.

# Status

The workflow task and the underlying jobs can be assigned a number of fixed statuses:

# To do

The job or task is ready to be carried out.

# In progress

The task is being carried out.

# Blocked

If it is not possible to carry out the task, it can be placed in the blocked status.

A reason can optionally be given for this: instructions not clear, equipment not available (tools, power supply, etc.), consumables not available (spare parts, refills), waiting for a colleague, waiting for the customer, no access, weather conditions.

# Ready

Once the task has been completed, the task is ready and closed.

# Order

The task can go through the following statuses:

Note that a job with the status blocked also causes the parent workflow task to be blocked. The workflow cannot be completed further before the job is put back in progress.

# Starting a workflow instance

To create a workflow instance, navigate to Tasks > Add and complete the following configuration:

the type of workflow that has to be carried out
for which project (installation/production line)
for which service

Depending on the configured steps and options it is possible that you have to complete extra information, such as a planning date or a job type.

# Answers

In most cases a task is completed with one answer, e.g. filling in a form.

It is possible, however, that several answers are expected and sent for a task.

Note that if you stop while filling in a task and resume later, that partial answer is kept and sent as one answer once you click submit.

It is possible to share an answer form by opening the workflow instance in the "Execute" step and clicking the Share button at the bottom. In the pop-up screen you can then copy the URL or download the QR code. The person who receives this URL or scans the QR code is asked to log in and then navigates straight to the form.

# Planning work orders in bulk

When you want to plan several work orders in the 'Plan' step at the same time, you do not have to open them one by one.

Go to Tasks and select the work orders you want to plan in the workflow overview (tick them in the first column).
Click Bulk actions (appears as soon as at least one work order is selected) and choose Plan.
In the Custom planning window, enter an execution date (from/to) and choose an employee.
Confirm with Plan. All selected work orders are given the same planning at once.

PLEASE NOTE

The Plan action is only available when all selected work orders are in the 'Plan' step.

# Job types

A job type describes a job that can be carried out as a step of a workflow. The job type contains general data, required material and a form with a selection of questions or assignments for this specific job.

# General

Setting	Description	Value
name	user-friendly name	Bruges Markt maintenance
Description	description of the job type	Maintenance sheet for the project Bruges Markt
expected duration	expected duration in minutes	120
category	category this type belongs to	maintenance sheets
default project	default project this type belongs to. When you select this job type, this project is filled in immediately and the planner does not have to indicate it.	Bruges Markt
default service	default service this type belongs to. When you select this job type, this service is filled in immediately and the planner does not have to indicate it.	Bruges Markt - Maintenance contract 2023
Skills	list of required skills for this job type	Aerial work platform certificate
Data connector	to be activated optionally if it is possible that this form will not be answered by an employee but by a machine or PLC.	Yes/No

# Material

Select a number of device types or articles needed for this assignment, for example a pressure washer, 10 litres of chlorine.

Note that while planning this assignment you can select the specific device or article from the desired stock location.

# Checking asset data

For forms with linked assets, you can configure that the person carrying out the work first has to check and confirm the asset data explicitly before the form can be filled in. The data is then shown prominently (not summarised or hidden behind a pencil icon), so that the person actively confirms it, comparable to accepting terms and conditions. This improves the quality and correctness of the asset data.

# Form

The form can be built up with one or more sections. This means you can bundle components and navigate to another section by clicking previous or next.

The following components can be added to a section of the form:

Title: main title; the text can be completed and translated.
Subtitle: subtitle; the text can be completed and translated.
Text: free text field that can be completed and translated. It is possible to make the text collapsible and to set it as collapsed by default.
Measurement type: select an existing measurement type or create a new measurement type.
Table: a dynamic table block with freely fillable fields per row. You determine the columns yourself (e.g. cell to cell, number of connections, tightening torque, execution, check, etc.). While filling in the form, the user can add as many rows as needed through Add row, duplicate an existing row (handy when many rows are similar) or delete a row, and fill in every row separately, useful for inspection or check documents where the number of rows is not fixed in advance. Available in both the portal and the mobile app.

Measurement options:

Show title: Yes/No
Override title: override the default title for this form
Show description: Yes/No
Material: link a device to the measurement; with the fixed type you choose the device straight away in this form. If it is dynamic, you can choose the device when the form is started.

While filling in the form it is possible to add comments or media. In addition, next to the measurement you can click a trend icon to show the history in a chart.

# Variants

It is possible to create different variants of a form. This means you can configure one job type but determine, for every measurement type, when it applies to a variant.

This can be applied to a maintenance matrix, to configure what has to be filled in at commissioning, monthly maintenance, yearly maintenance and decommissioning.

A variant can be created with the following settings:

Executor (company)
Periodicity: daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.

# Creating a job type

Navigate to the module Tasks > Job types.

Click the default section 'Step 1' and change the name if you wish.

# Manual configuration

Navigate to the subtab 'Components' on the right-hand side and drag the desired components from the list on the right into the form on the left.

Click save.

# Export/import configuration

Next to the '+ SECTION' button you will find a menu behind the 3 dots. Through this menu you can choose to export or import the form.

To create a new job type, carry out the following steps after you have created a new job type and copied its ID.

Navigate to an existing job type and export the job type, or use a previous export. Note that if you want to carry out the import on a different job type, you have to replace the ID in the first column.
Delete all lines that do not apply to this form and add extra lines if needed. Note that you need the ID of the measurement type for this.
Check whether the Section column has been filled in correctly and change it where necessary.
After the section column you can create an extra column for every variant and place a cross on every line that applies.
Save the changes.
Navigate to the job type you want to adjust and import the file.

Remarks:

deleting lines is possible
measurements that are not assigned to a variant are always shown.
measurements have to have an ID and are therefore not created automatically during the import.

← Services Planning →

# Workflows and workflow instances

# Workflow steps

# Types of steps

# Start

# Form

# Plan

# Approve

# Automation

# Report

# Conditions

# Status

# To do

# In progress

# Blocked

# Ready

# Order

# Starting a workflow instance

# Answers

# Sharing

# Planning work orders in bulk

# Job types

# General

# Material

# Checking asset data

# Form

# Variants

# Creating a job type

# Manual configuration

# Export/import configuration