Workflow Management Orientation & Navigation

All Workflows definitions and deployments can be managed centrally via the Flowset Navbar App.

Overview

The Flowset configuration tool provides a central point for administrators to view and manage all aspects of their workflows definitions.

The configuration tool is accessed by clicking the Flowset Icon    in the Zendesk Navigation bar.

• Click the Flowset Nav bar icon to access the Flowset Configuration Tool (1).
• Type in a search term to filter the workflow definitions by name.  Use in conjunction with the Match case checkbox to improve search accuracy. (2).
• Click "Add Workflow" to create a brand new workflow (initially inactive) (3).
• This (selected) tab shows the list of active workflow definitions; those that can be enacted on tickets (4).
• The inactive tab shows the list of inactive workflow definitions; those that cannot be started on tickets (5).
• The Templates tab shows example read-only workflow definitions that can be cloned as a starting point for a new workflow definition (6).
• Each entry represents a independently managed workflow definition (7).
• The "lock" status of the workflow definition (green=one's own lock, red=another agent has the lock) (8).
• The "published" status of the workflow definition (9).
• The "draft" status of the workflow definition. Indicates if there are new edits yet to be published (10).

Independent Workflow Definition Management

Only Zendesk Administrators can use the Flowset Configuration tool, but importantly, each workflow definition can be managed independently by a different administrator. The "Last Updated By" column shows the name of the user who last manipulated the workflow definition.

The tool supports multi user change management using a locking methodology which is fully described in a separate article, Workflow Change Management

Workflow Definition Commands

Common commands for managing Workflow Definitions are shown in the following table. More detail about each command is available in its associated article link : 

Workflow Operational Deployment Commands

The configuration tool allows two further commands for operational deployment of completed workflow definitions

• Activate  (make available for general agent use)
• Deactivate  (undeploy from general agent use)

Activation and Deactivation are only available on workflow definitions that have been published at least once.

Activating Workflows

To activate an inactive workflow open the popup menu by clicking  the ... button at the right end of the workflow entry and select Activate

Deactivating Workflows

To deactivate an active workflow open the popup menu by clicking  the ... button at the right end of the workflow entry and select Deactivate

The Concepts behind Activation and Deactivation

The concept of activation and deactivation should be familiar to anyone who conducts Zendesk administration. In Zendesk., deactivation allows metadata and business logic to be removed from the Zendesk runtime environment without need to delete its definition. In this way it can quickly be re-instated when necessary by activating it again.

Flowset has adopted the same general concept for workflows, but with some slight differences.

Only active workflows will be available for starting on new or existing tickets. This is true both for workflows that are manually selected in the Workflow Assistant and for those that will automatically be started on a new ticket submission when the workflow's start conditions are met.

However, if a ticket is in the middle of running a workflow that is subsequently deactivated it will continue to enact the process through to completion. At which point it will not be possible to rerun it on the same ticket or any other new ticket.

A new workflow, created using the Add Workflow button, is always initially placed into an inactive state.

Initial Experience with No Workflows

When the Flowset App is first installed there are no workflows defined aside from readonly Templates provided by Cloudset.

The Active and Inactive tabs therefore are initially empty.

• From here it is possible to create your first workflow using the Add Workflow button (1). Please see Creating Workflows for a full description of how to use this command.

Alternatively it is possible to create your first workflow by cloning one of the Templates on the "Templates" tab. Note the number and content of the Templates is managed by Cloudset and subject to change.

• Clone existing Workflow (2).

For a full description on how to clone a template please see, Workflow Templates