Configuring workflow rules

Enter a descriptive name for the workflow rule.

For each workflow rule that you create, a workflow action with the same name appears on the Project page, and clicking the workflow action performs the relevant action. If you specify a 'display name', the display name is used to identify the rule rather than the standard name.

Optionally, enter an alternative name with which to identify the rule on the Project page.

You may want to specify a display name for a workflow rule if you have set up a number of similar rules with only minor differences. For example, you may have set up two workflow rules called 'Approve Progress', with one applying to the 'Contract' programme type and one applying to the 'Tender' programme type. In this situation, you could give each rule a standard 'name' that indicates the programme type to which it relates, and give both workflow rules a display name of 'Approve Progress'. This would mean that users would see the workflow rules identified on the Project page simply as 'Approve Progress', regardless of the programme type to which they referred, but administrator users would be able to use the standard 'name' to differentiate between the rules.

Specify the action that you want the workflow rule to perform.

• Select 'Programme Status Change' to specify that the rule should change the status of a programme to a particular value.
• Select 'Programme Field Change' to specify that the rule should change the value of a programme-level user-defined field.
• Select 'Programme Status and Field Change' to specify that the rule should change the status of a programme to a particular value and change the value of a programme-level user-defined field.
• Select 'No Programme Status or Field Change' to specify that the rule should change neither the status of a programme nor the value of a user-defined field.

If you want a programme of a specific type to be created when the workflow rule is performed, select a programme type in this field. If you select a programme type, a copy of the current programme is taken and saved as a new programme of this type when the rule is performed, unless a programme of this type exists already, in which case no action is taken.

This is useful if you want to create a programme of a particular type when a programme of a different type reaches a similar status. For example, if you have two different programme types - 'Tender' and 'Contract' - you could configure a workflow rule to create a 'Contract' programme when the 'Tender' programme reaches a certain status.

If a programme of the type selected in this field has been suspended, using this option subsequently in a workflow rule recreates, or restarts, the suspended programme, effectively undoing the suspension. The suspended programme is replaced by a copy of the current programme, and the contents of any programme-level user-defined fields are reset to the values stored in the current programme.

If you have selected a programme type in the Create/resume programme field, select this check box to omit the workflow rule's button from the Project page if a programme of the selected type already exists, or clear the check box to display the button regardless. You may want to hide the button as a programme of the type selected in the Create/resume programme field cannot be created if one exists already.

If a programme of the selected type exists but has been suspended, the workflow rule's button is displayed regardless of whether you select this check box, as it is still possible to recreate, or restart, the suspended programme.

If you have selected a programme type in the Create/resume programme field and you have not selected the Hide action if programme type exists check box, this check box becomes available. If you select this check box, if a programme of the type selected in the Create/resume programme field exists already, it will be replaced with a copy of the current programme. The contents of any programme-level user-defined fields that have been recorded in the programme of the selected type will be retained, but the active comment, error state and quality check values will be reset to those of the current programme.

This is useful if you want the ability to update the programme of one type with the latest version of a programme of another type. For example, if you have two different programme types - 'A' and 'B' - and you have already used one workflow rule to create a 'B'-type programme when the 'A'-type programme reached a certain status, you could configure another workflow rule, with the Always overwrite existing programme type check box selected, which would overwrite the 'B'-type programme with a later version of the 'A'-type programme.

If a programme of the type selected in the Create/resume programme field has been suspended, using this option subsequently in a workflow rule replaces the suspended programme with a copy of the current programme, with the contents of any user-defined fields being set to their values in the current programme.

If the programme of the type selected in the Create/resume programme field is checked out or in web progress, an error appears to inform you that the destination programme cannot be overwritten as it is not in a valid state.

If you want the workflow rule to change the status of the whole project, specify the status that should be applied to the whole project when the workflow rule is performed in this field. For example, you could configure a workflow rule that archives the whole project, rather than just the current programme, when it is performed. Leave this field set to 'No Change' if you do not want the rule to change the project status.

If you configure a workflow rule to change the status of the whole project to 'Archived', this status change will happen regardless of whether the user's access rights enable them to archive or delete projects.

Some workflow actions may be applicable only to users of the Asta Vision website, or only to users of Asta Powerproject; others may be applicable to both. Specify whether the workflow action should appear only in the Asta Vision website, only in Asta Powerproject, or in both, in this field.

The default setting means that new workflow rules apply to both.

Select the user roles to which the workflow rule should apply. If you want the rule to apply to users of more than one role, CTRL or SHIFT-click to select as many user roles as you need. If the workflow rule should apply to all roles, do not select anything in this field.

To deselect a user role that is currently selected in this field, hold down CTRL and click the user role.

Select the programme types to which the workflow rule should apply. If you want the rule to apply to more than one programme type, CTRL or SHIFT-click to select as many programme types as you need. If the workflow rule should apply to all programme types, do not select anything in this field.

To deselect a programme type that is currently selected in this field, hold down CTRL and click the programme type.

If you configure a workflow rule to apply to one or more specific programme types, a 'Specific Programme Types' indicator appears against the rule on the Workflow Rules page. Hover the mouse pointer over this indicator to view a tooltip that shows the programme types to which the rule applies:

A list of field rules that apply to this workflow rule.

If you want the workflow rule to be triggered only if the value of one or more enumeration, integer or user-type user-defined fields matches certain criteria, you can add field rules to the workflow rule. For example, you may want to specify that a workflow rule should be triggered only when the value of an enumeration-type, project-level user-defined field that represents the regions in which you work equals 'North'. This would create a workflow rule that applied only to projects in your north region; you could create similar workflow rules that applied to the projects in your other regions. You may want to specify that a workflow rule should be triggered only when the value of an integer-type, project-level user-defined field that represents the cost of a project is greater than £40,000. This would create a workflow rule that applied only to projects that cost over £40,000. Or you may want to specify that a workflow rule should be triggered only when the value of a user-type, project level user-defined field matches either the currently logged-in user, or the user specified in a different user-type user-defined field.

To add field rules to the workflow rule:

1. Click Add Field Rule. The New Field Rule popup appears.
2. Specify whether to trigger the rule based on the value of a project, programme or user-level user-defined field in the Object field. For some types of rule, not all three types of user-defined field are available.
3. Select the enumeration, integer or user-type user-defined field in the Field field. If you have selected 'Project' or 'User' in the Object field, all project or user-level, enumeration, integer and user-type user-defined fields are available; if you have selected 'Programme' in the Object field, all programme-level, enumeration, integer and user-type user-defined fields are available, as well as the Status and Type fields.
4. Specify whether the rule should be triggered if the value of the selected field is equal to, or not equal to, a specific value in the Comparison field.
   
   If you have selected a user-defined field that relates to a hierarchical user-defined enumeration, you use this field to specify whether the rule should be triggered if the value of the selected field is within, or not within, a specific branch of the hierarchy.
   
   If you have selected an integer-type user-defined field, you can also specify that the rule should be triggered if the value of the selected field is less than, or greater than, a specific value.
   
   If you have selected a user-type user-defined field in which more than one user can be selected, the rule will be triggered if any one of the users selected in the field is equal to, or not equal to, a specific value.
5. If the field rule is based on a project or programme-level, enumeration-type user-defined field, the With field appears. Select 'Fixed Value' to populate the Value field with the contents of the user-defined field specified above, or select 'User Field' to populate the Value field with the names of any user-level, enumeration-type user-defined fields.
   
   Selecting 'User Field' here enables you to specify that a rule should be triggered if the value of a programme or project-level user-defined field is equal to, or not equal to, the value of a specific user-level user-defined field. For example, you might want a rule to be triggered only if the value of a 'Region' user-defined field for a project matches the value of a 'Region' user-defined field for the logged-in user.
   
   If you select 'User Field' here, it is always the value of the field for the logged-in user that is compared, unless this is a 'Can Be Assigned to Project' rule, in which case the value of the field will be checked for each user in the assignment list, and a user will not be included if the field values do not match.
6. Select the value that the selected field must be equal to, not equal to, less than, or greater than, for the rule to be triggered, in the Value field.
   
   If you are basing the field rule on a user-defined field that relates to a hierarchical user-defined enumeration, you select a branch of the hierarchy in the Value field. The rule will be triggered if the value of the selected field is within, or not within, any level of the selected branch.
7. If you want the field rule to apply only to users with a specific user role, select the role in the Applies to role field. This field enables you to trigger rules according to different criteria for different types of user: a rule may be triggered for one type of user if field 'A' is set to a particular value, or it may be triggered for a different type of user if field 'B' is set to a particular value.
   
   If you need a field rule to apply to more than one type of user, you can set up two identical field rules, with the only difference being the user role specified against each one. This is easier than having to set up multiple security, workflow or email rules for different types of user.
   
   If you configure a field rule to apply only to users with a specific user role, the role name appears to the left of the field rule description in the list of field rules once you have created it:
   
   
   
   The role name also appears to the left of the field rule description on the Security Rules, Workflow Rules or Email Rules page:
   
   
8. For workflow and security rules, a Ignored by administrator roles check box is available. Select this check box if you want this field rule to be ignored for users with an administrator role, meaning administrator users will be able to carry out the rule's action even if this field rule is not met.
9. Click OK. You return to the previous page, where a row appears for the field rule to the right of the Fields field. For workflow and security rules, field rules that do not apply to administrator users - those for which the Ignored by administrator roles check box has been cleared - are marked with a .
10. Repeat the above steps as many times as required to add more field rules to the rule.

Click Remove to the right of a field rule to remove it from the list if required.

You can specify that the workflow rule's action is available only to users that are assigned to the current project:

• To make the action available only to users that are assigned to the current project, select the All roles must be assigned to project check box.
• To make the action available to all users, regardless of whether they are assigned to the current project, clear the All roles must be assigned to project check box and select nothing in the Specific roles which must be assigned field.
• To make the action available only to users with specific roles that are assigned to the current project, clear the All roles must be assigned to project check box and select the user roles in the Specific roles which must be assigned field. CTRL or SHIFT-click to select as many user roles as you need.
  
  To deselect a user role that is currently selected in this field, hold down CTRL and click the user role.

If you use these fields to restrict a rule to certain types of user that are assigned to a project, the rule will not apply to users with other roles, even if their role has been specified in the Applies to role field for the workflow rule or one of its field rules.

If you have selected an administrator role in the Applies to roles field, users to which the administrator role has been assigned will always be able to carry out the workflow rule's action regardless of your selection in these fields.

Select this check box if you want Business Intelligence data to be extracted from the latest revision of the programme and baseline when the workflow rule is performed.

If you select this check box, Business Intelligence data is extracted, provided that the programme type is configured for Business Intelligence data to be extracted when specified workflow actions are performed. The extracted data is used for external Business Intelligence reporting and to populate programme dashboard views.

If a workflow rule suspends a programme, you may want to select this check box so that the workflow rule triggers a Business Intelligence update at the same time. This would ensure that your Business Intelligence data is updated with the programme's 'suspended' status; you could then filter out suspended programmes from your Business Intelligence reports if you wished.

Select this check box if you want a baseline of the current programme to be created when the workflow rule is performed.

If you select this check box, a baseline of the current programme is created when the rule is performed if the programme type is configured to work in Vision Managed Baselines mode, or if the programme type is configured to work in Asta Powerproject Managed Baselines mode and no baseline currently exists.

Select this check box if you want to be prompted to enter a new name and description for the latest revision of a programme when the workflow rule is performed.

If you select this check box, a popup appears when the rule is performed, asking for this information. The information is applied to the latest revision of the programme and to any baseline that is created when the rule is performed.

If you select this check box, the Set revision name only check box is unavailable: the two are mutually exclusive.

Select this check box if you want to be prompted to enter a new name for the latest revision of a programme, but no description, when the workflow rule is performed.

If you select this check box, a popup appears when the rule is performed, asking for this information. The information is applied to the latest revision of the programme and to any baseline that is created when the rule is performed.

If you select this check box, the Set revision name and description check box is unavailable: the two are mutually exclusive.

Select this check box if you want to be prompted to record a comment against the latest revision of a programme when the workflow rule is performed.

If you select this check box, a popup appears when the rule is performed, asking for this information. You can use programme comments to inform other users of issues with a programme.

If you have selected the Set programme comment check box, select this check box to enable users to attach a file at the same time as they record a comment against the current programme.

Attached files are made available on the Programme Comments page. You may find this useful if you want to provide users with additional information about a comment that you are entering.