Processes

A Process is a planned course of action that occurs when certain conditions are met regarding one record on one page (for example, processing a new Group Inquiry or Event approval).

Process Steps

Process steps are the specific actions that make up a single process (for example, sending an email to someone who submitted a Group Inquiry). Steps can cause the following actions to take place:

1. You assign a task to a user (for example, make a phone call, grant approval, send a mailing, review of the record).
2. You need approval from a user.
3. The system sends a message.
4. The system performs a task.

Process Submissions

The system creates a submission task when a record change invokes a process. This happens when you create or update a record that matches the criteria set in an active Process. (See Special Considerations: Submission). When you save the record, you're prompted to submit the record to the Process.

For any workflow steps to take place, you must submit a record to a Process. This happens in one of two ways:

• When edited in the Platform (and submitted by a user)
• When edited by the API (and automatically submitted)

When you save the record, you're prompted to submit the record to the Process. You can click Submit to submit the Process (this completes the Submit Task) or click Cancel to submit later (the Submit Task remains for you to complete later).

You must submit a record when the record meets the conditions specified in the Trigger Fields and Dependent Condition settings in the Process.

Changes to a record may invoke more than one Process. You may associate a page with more than one active Process.

Process Tasks

Every step in a process is associated with a Task. When you submit the Process, the system creates a Task for the first step and waits until it is completed. The system repeats this until you complete all Tasks, reject an Approval Step, or restart Processes. This is how the Process tracks which steps are complete and which step is currently in progress.

• When you complete the Task, the Process creates the next Task.
• The system or an individual can complete the Task, depending on the type of step.
• For Email steps, the system creates the Task and attempts to send the email.
  • If the email sends successfully (reports no errors when sending), the Task is marked complete.
  • If the email fails, the Task remains open with an Error status. In this case, you must manually complete it and mark it cmplete. You can find these in the Incomplete: System Emails From Me View on the My Tasks page of the User assigned to the Task.
• Any Tasks with rejected approval stop the Process from moving forward.
• Any qualifying edit to the record also stops the Process and invokes qualifying Processes.

You can also create a Task using the Assign A Task Step-Type. Complete the Task to move the Process forward in the workflow.

All open Tasks assigned to you are listed in the My Tasks tab on the Home page. Approval, Submission, and Assigned Tasks have an attached record you can go to using the Edit Task dialog.

Record Status

When a Task associated with a record is not complete, the indicator remains yellow. This is true for Tasks created through a Process or when a User has one associated manually.

Rejected associated Tasks are indicated by a red status.

Approval

You must receive Approval when a Process defines a Get Approval Step. The Approval button displays in the toolbar above the record.

Summary

Anytime you add or edit a record in MinistryPlatform, the system checks to see if the record qualifies for a workflow process. If it does:

• You must submit the added or edited record. If you added or edit the record through the API, this happens automatically. For all other instances, you must click Submit to submit it manually.
• Process Steps fire in order one at a time. As the system works through the Steps, the record's task status indicator light is yellow.
  • If a Process Step fails, the system doesn't process any further Steps.
  • If a Process Step fails or the user assigned to the Step rejects it, the submitting user must review the record. They can then edit the record and resubmit the necessary changes or delete the record.
  • If a user fails to complete a task by the deadline and the task is set to escalate, the system automatically transfers the task to another user.
• Escalated or rejected tasks have a red task status indicator light.
• When you complete the final step, the record has a green task status indicator light.