Workflow Current Activity (Advanced Model)

Flowset supports two different types of Workflow Model

1. Standard Models - activity level behaviour
2. Advanced models - Activities are broken down into Task models

This article describes the behaviour with Advanced Model workflows.  Details of Standard models can be found in Workflow Current Activity (Standard Model)

Visualisation in the Workflow Assistant

The current activity is comprised of :

The name, description and overall completion status of the current activity (1).

A collapsible section containing any activity task fields (2).

Activity task fields that the agent should fill in (3).  These activity task fields will have been configured so that as the agent fills in values, further fields will be displayed to capture further information.  You may need to scroll down to see them.  When these task fields have been filled in satisfactorily the current activity status will be complete and onward transitions will be displayed.

 

Activity Completion Status

In order for an activity to be considered complete the activity task fields should be filled in such that the Task model is able to complete and produce an outcome.  Depending on how the task model is configured, there could be several combinations of task field values that will result in the activity being completed.

A coloured tab to the left of the activity name shows whether the activity is complete. 

Incomplete - Grey Tab

A grey tab indicates that the activity is incomplete :

In this case, the task fields have not been completed such that the Task Model produces and outcome.

Complete - Green Tab

A green tab indicates that the activity is complete :

In this case, the task fields have been filled in such that an outcome is satisfied.  The current activity is marked as complete and onward transitions are shown.  Here we see that the onward transition Confirm Start is enabled, but Finish Workflow is not.  This will be controlled by the outcome that was satisfied by the task field values entered.

 

Activity Completion Criteria

When using Advanced models, activities are broken down into Task Models which detail information that needs to be captured from the agent and based on the information provided, will take one of many routes through the model.  Therefore, the model will control which information to capture based on information already provided.  For example, we only want to capture the Wifi Modem type if we have previously identified there is a problem with the Modem.

Based on the information provided, eventually all details will have been entered to allow the Task Model to produce an outcome.  This outcome indicates that the current activity is now complete, and can also be used to control which transitions are available when moving to another activity.

 

Activity Task Fields

Task fields are used to capture information from the agent as they proceed with the current activity on the ticket.  These task fields can be of many different types 

• Text
• Text Area (multiline)
• Drop down
• Multi select
• Checkbox
• Yes/No
• Integer
• Decimal
• Currency
• Regular Expression
• Date
• Date Time

Additionally there are read-only field types that display fixed targeted information to assist the user through the workflow. 

• Guidance (Simple text and optional hyperlinks)
• Rich Guidance (HTML text, images, tables, hyperlinks)

And a field of type :

• Comment 

adds a predefined comment to the ticket that can include data values from the task fields

 

Tasks

Task fields are organised into one or more Tasks.

The fields may sometimes be displayed inside a collapsible section grouped under their task name.

You may need to complete the fields in an earlier task before you see the fields in a later task.

 

Task Field Value Restrictions

Certain character based field types have built in restrictions. For example :

• Integer
• Decimal
• Currency

generally only accept numbers and few additional supporting characters.

E.g. typing a character 'z' into the above field types will not be accepted.

The workflow definition may define restrictions on other fields types :

• Text and Text Area fields may have min and max length restrictions
• Regular Expression fields define a pattern against which the value must match

Field value restrictions are evaluated whilst the user is typing the value and after the value has been entered. If the restrictions are not satisfied the input value changes from black to red. 

1. Here, the value entered for the National Insurance number is not in the correct format
2. Here, the length of value being entered is still insufficient.

 

Character Based Fields

Apply and Cancel Buttons

The following field types require the user to type a series of characters to complete the value

• Text
• Text Area
• Integer
• Decimal
• Currency
• Regular Expression

Floating buttons appear when these types of task field are being edited : 

 

Here, the user is in the process of filling out the text field called "Candidate Name". 

1. Clicking the tick button will commit the value typed so far and trigger re-evaluation of conditions such that new task fields may appear and/or activity outcomes become satisfied
2. Clicking the cross button will discard the value typed so far and redisplay the previous value in the field.

Once a task field value has been committed or cancelled the floating buttons disappear.

 

Input Field Accelerators

• Pressing the <Escape> key on all the above field types cancels the current value and is equivalent to clicking the cross button
• Pressing the <Enter> key on all the above field types (except Text Area) applies the value and is equivalent to clicking the tick button

Auto Apply

If the user is typing into a character based task field and then clicks elsewhere (outside the field), the latest typed value will be automatically applied as though the user had pressed the tick button. The same is true if the user tabs to the next task field.

 

Task Fields that represent Zendesk Ticket Fields

A Task field can capture a value for an associated Zendesk ticket field. The type of the task field will match the underlying type of the Zendesk Ticket Field. eg Checkbox, Text, Dropdown. 

The corresponding Zendesk Ticket field will be disabled in the Agent Interface because its value is now being controlled in the workflow assistant.

Such task fields can be read-only in which case they will be greyed out and show the latest value from the ticket

NB Their values are only committed to the ticket when the workflow transitions to the next activity or finishes, see Persisting Changes

 

 

Collapsible Activity Section

The chevron to the right of the current activity name can be used to expand or collapse the section detailing its activity task fields. On entering an activity, the workflow assistant will automatically expand this section if the current activity is incomplete, on the basis that this should be the agent's next focus of attention.

Expanded

Collapsed

Note: Be aware that the workflow assistant may automatically collapse the current activity section as a result of performing other actions, such as selecting an onward activity.

 

 

Persisting Changes

At any time the Zendesk submit button may be pressed as normal to persist changes to field values, comments etc.

When pressing submit the workflow assistant may briefly enter a busy state whilst the Flowset specific information, such as activity task field values, are recorded.

Task Fields of type Zendesk Ticket Field

Please note that Task field values that represent Zendesk Ticket Fields are only committed to the ticket when the user presses submit to transition to the next activity; pressing submit without transitioning will preserve their latest value in the workflow assistant, like any other field, but the corresponding ticket field will not be updated at this point.