Streamlining Workflows
If a business workflow is very complex and has to be managed through one workflow, there will be lots of redundant fields and configurations. It will cause great obstacles to preliminary building and later maintenance.
Now you can streamline the workflow with child workflows and say goodbye to redundant workflow.
The image shows project management workflows. On the left is the old workflow without child workflow, and on the right is the new workflow streamlined via child workflow.
The former project management workflow includes three parts — material procurement, project initiation & implementation, and project subcontracting from left to right. These three parts can flow independently, so you can split and manage the workflow through child workflows.
Next, the article will take a project management workflow as an example to describe how to break the complex workflow down.
1. Create two workflow forms — Material Procurement and Project Subcontract, configure workflows for them, and enable the workflows. Only enabled child workflows can be selected in the parent workflow.
If you intend to change the old-version workflow to a new one, directly copy the former and modify it based on your needs.
2. In the parent workflow, create a child workflow, connect its two nodes with others, and name the child workflow as Material Procurement. Select the Material Procurement form from the drop-down list of Form of Child Workflow and select Workflow Initiator under Child Workflow Initiator.
3. Set data transfer rules. Firstly, configure the Parent Workflow -> Child Workflow to assign the parent workflow field values to corresponding child workflow fields automatically when data flow from the parent workflow to the child workflow.
4. Then set Child Workflow -> Parent Workflow. When the Procurement Details child workflow ends, the Complete field value will be assigned to that of the parent workflow. Click OK after configuration.
5. In Advanced, configure the workflow rules: Proceed to the Next Node when the child workflow is ended (Sync). That is, only when the material procurement process ends can the child workflow node corresponding to the parent workflow move to the next node.
And enable Auto-submit once initiated. If you want the child workflow to be submitted after editing information at the start node, disable it.
6. Finally, you can configure the Project Subcontract child workflow by referring to the settings of the Material Procurement child workflow.
This feature can be realized via Automations, but child workflows are better than Automations in:
- Child workflows are more convenient to configure and manage.
- Child workflows can move to the next node automatically after returning and there is no delay. But Automations need to be submitted manually and there are delays.