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 3.6 Inserting a Loop for Running the Approval Process Again

Use

In this lesson, you model the workflow so that the approval process can be run again after the workflow step Edit Relocation Form Again (Employee) . For this purpose, you set up a loop that directs the process back to the Approve Relocation Form step if the employee has completed the Edit Relocation Form Again (Employee) step .

Procedure

  1. Ensure that you have opened the Graphical Model area in the Workflow Builder . You do this by accessing the initial screen of the Workflow Builder.

  2. Access the insertable steps for your workflow template. Access the Step Types That Can Be Inserted area at the bottom left of the Workflow Builder .

  3. Select the Loop (Until) entry and hold down the left-hand mouse button to drag it into the Graphical Model area, onto the line before the Edit Relocation Form (Administrator) step.

    The mouse pointer uses a plus symbol (+) to show you where you can insert the loop.

    The detail view for the loop appears.

  4. In the Step Name field, enter the Revised by author? name.

  5. Click on the Condition area.

    The Change Condition dialog box appears. The condition that you are currently editing is displayed in the lower section. The condition that has just been edited is identified by a red arrow.

  6. Make a comparison with the value PROCSTATE from the Workflow Container.

    Create the condition <PROCSTATE not equal to RESENT> as follows:

    1. Double-click the value PROCSTATE in the Workflow Container.

      The value PROCSTATE is copied to the condition line.

    2. Select the entry RESENT under Constant, and choose Enter .

    3. In the Operators area in the upper left of the dialog box, select the entry Not equal to .

      The following figure shows how the user interface looks after the last step:

    4. Choose Transfer Condition .

      The following expression now appears in the Condition area: &PROCSTATE& ≠ RESENT

      Note Note

      Note that after running the Edit Relocation Form Again (Employee) workflow step, the result of the condition query for the loop is always RESENT. Even if the employee does not change the form, he or she can only choose Send . That leads to the RESENT result, and therefore always causes the approval loop to run again.

      The result of the condition query for the loop is only different to RESENT, if the Edit Relocation Form Again (Employee) workflow step is not previously run.

      End of the note.

  7. Specify descriptions for the branchings in the workflow process flow. Under Outcomes , enter descriptions for the outcomes True and False .

    The following descriptions are used in our example:

    • True (Loop End): Continue

    • False (Repeated Loop Pass): Revised by author

  8. Choose Transfer and Go to Graphic .

  9. Save and activate your workflow template.

Result

Your workflow template now looks like the following graphic:

Note Note

The first process step in which the employee starts the process is outside of the workflow and is therefore not represented in this graphic. The Edit Relocation Form (Superior) step that the graphic shows as the first step is the second step of the process.

End of the note.