Workflow steps are set up when the workflow type requires various steps of review, approval, or other processing. Steps are data driven and the user IDs in the data are used to drive the steps.
The users defined/created in the steps have nothing to do with roles created in Deltek EPM Security Administrator (SA). Deltek EPM SA helps you define the security rights for Deltek PM Compass users and maintain license keys, groups, roles, and access to the various EPM applications. The users in the steps are the approvers of the workflow or the users that need to be notified about the workflow steps.
You can define the steps in the Steps Tab of Workflow Type Configuration view. Here, both steps and step actions are defined and these drive the step process. The steps define who has an action to be performed, and the step actions define how they are notified. For each selected step, many step actions can be defined. Most step actions are associated with notifying the assignee that they need to complete a task or a reminder notification. Each step contains a description of the step. Use this description to see the records created in Alerts.
Steps may involve sending an email, or displaying dashboard alerts which can include default text setup in Step Notification Defaults.
There are two ways to start the steps after they have been set it up for a workflow type:
Manually start the steps by creating a workflow based on the workflow type and then select the Start Steps option on the workflow form toolbar.
Use Scheduled and User-Initiated alerts that have conditions set up to create a workflow and start the workflow's steps. PM Compass has some sample scheduled alerts installed but they are set to inactive. You can activate and modify them to match your own needs.
Use the Workflow Progress tab (for example, Progress Tab of the Change Request Workflow) to quickly identify who has approved a workflow, view the history of a workflow, and view all the current and past step assignments. Use the Responsibility column to view the role of the user who participated in completing the step. For example, Created By, Control Account Manager, Project Controls Analyst, and Project Manager. If the workflow is assigned manually or is assigned to the originator, this column is blank.
After you create workflows, editing the steps can easily invalidate the in-progress workflows. Workflows with in-progress steps must be restarted or canceled before the steps can be changed. When the Workflow Steps tab is accessed, a check is performed to search for workflows of this type that are In-progress. If in-progress workflows are found, a message displays. You can choose to cancel or restart the steps for these workflows.
Limited editing can occur without restarting the steps. You can edit the Assigned To column and the step actions. When in-progress workflows reach the edited step, the new assignments and/or step actions are processed based on the edits.
For more information, see Edit Workflow.
Refer to the following topics:
Set up wstep notification defaults
Steps for different workflow types
Email login credentials in EPM SA
Complete the process when a workflow fails
Confirm a user is added to a step