Workflow Start Conditions

Define the conditions that allow a workflow to be assigned to a ticket

To edit the start conditions of a workflow, double click the process shape and edit the start conditions

Workflow start conditions specify a set of ticket field values that must be satisfied in order that the workflow can be assigned to the ticket.  If the start conditions are not satisfied, then the workflow will not be available for this ticket.  If a workflow has no start conditions, then it will always be available.  To edit the conditions, click the add (or edit if they already exist) button.  See Configuring Conditions for details of how to edit conditions.

Start Condition Details

As well as defining start conditions on the workflow, you can also define conditions on the start activities and the transitions to them in the workflow definition.  In order for a workflow to be assigned to a ticket, all such conditions, when defined, must be satisfied.

Here we see a workflow which starts with an activity called 'Change Definition'.  The workflow (1), the start activity (2) and the start transition (3), can all have conditions defined on them.  

Workflow start conditions are used in two different ways

Auto Workflow Assignment

When a new ticket is created (and only when it is created), if the values of the new ticket fields satisfy the start conditions of a workflow (plus any defined transition and start activity conditions), then the workflow will be assigned to the ticket automatically.   If a workflow has no start conditions specified, then it will not be considered for automatic assignment, it will only be available for manual assignment.

Manual Workflow Assignment

When a ticket is created or updated using the Zendesk agent interface, a ticket sidebar app will appear.  For tickets that currently do not have a workflow running, a list of available workflows that can be assigned to the ticket is provided.  The list will contains all workflows whose start conditions (workflow, transition and start activity) are satisfied, including workflows with no start conditions.

Any workflows with start conditions that are not satisfied by the ticket field values will not be included in the list of available workflows.

If you create a new ticket using the agent interface and manually assign a workflow to the ticket, then auto workflow assignment will not be applied.