Workflow Steps Tab of Workflow Type Configuration

Use this tab to predefine the business rules for steps on a workflow, or set up how related actions or reminders occur. The steps on the Progress Steps tab are preset.

For information about editing fields, see Rules for Editing a Workflow form.

After you make changes to the steps, you can export the workflow type, make a copy of the ItemTypeExport folder, and place the copies into the Final Backups folder. This makes it easy to import the workflow types for testing or for production.

For more information, see Steps Overview.

Tip: Create the default notifications before setting up the steps. Changing the defaults after the step is created does not change the text in the existing notifications.

Edit Steps

Click to display the Edit Steps dialog box and edit the steps. You must be a member of the SYSADMIN group to select this button. This button only displays if the workflow type has a workflow step that is in progress.

Example

Click to display the Step Example help topic to assist you in understanding the step setup. An example of a possible step for a Work Authorization workflow is also available in the example.

Steps Grid

This grid displays the list of steps. As you select a step, the Step Actions grid displays the actions that occur during that step. Each step includes a description that you can use to see the records created in Administration » Alerts.

Grid Toolbar

Option	Description
Steps	Click the drop-down arrow to display the following options: Print — Select this option to display the Print Preview form with the grid’s contents displayed. Export to Excel — Select this option to display the Microsoft Excel application with the grid’s contents displayed.
Insert	Click to add a new row below the current selected row.
Copy	Click to copy the current selected row and paste it into the grid directly below the selected row.
Move Up	Click to move the selected step one row up.
Move Down	Click to move the selected step one row down.
Delete	Click to delete the selected row and all of its step actions.

Grid Columns

Field Name	Description
Step	Use this column to view sequential numbers for the rows.
Description	Enter a name or description of the steps that will help you understand the step.
In-Progress Step Status	The in-progress state determines various rules for the workflow while in this step. Use this column to define the state of the workflow. New — This status is typically reserved for workflows that have yet to have the steps started. The workflow is editable and the identifying fields, such as the project and control account, are also editable. Active — The assignee can edit the fields marked as editable on the Fields on Form tab of Workflow Type Configuration. In Approval — The workflow is read only. In Review — The assignee is able to edit the fields marked as editable in the Fields on Form tab of Workflow Type Configuration.
Assigned To	This column displays the user or group to whom the task is assigned. Click in the Assigned To column to display the Select Users dialog box. Each step can be assigned to one or many people. This is done in one of two ways: A person or group is manually assigned in the workflow. A user field which is defined in one of two places: User Field Mapping — This is used when the control account, activity, or other data element contains a user field. This information is entered (and maintained) in a source system such as Cobra or Open Plan, or imported through the general import. User Defined Data — These are custom user fields added to the PM Compass project, or workflow. These custom fields are maintained in PM Compass. If the CAM creates a change request and does not add a control account, when the steps are started, the first step is assigned to the CAM, but in reality, the scheduler adds the needed information. If the first step has CAM, it results in an error but if you set the step to Created By, there is no step error. You can use this grid to manually assign a user to a task.
Who Must Complete	This column displays how many of the assigned users must complete the step’s action for the step to be considered completed. This field is only enabled when more than one user/group is selected in the Assigned To field. Select one of the following options: Any — Use this to assign the task to anyone as soon as one of the assignees completes their assignment action. All — Use this to assign the task to everyone. All of the assignees will have to complete their assignment action before the step will be completed.
Days Allotted	This column displays the number of working days allowed to complete the step before the step becomes past due. Use this field to calculate the due date for each step. Progress Entry Type The Days allotted field value is used differently for Progress than it is for other workflow types. For other workflow types, when the step is started, the system adds the number of allotted dates on the step to the step’s start date to arrive at the step assignment’s due date. For Progress, the system determines the due date of step 1’s assignment by subtracting step 2’s days allotted from the due date. The due date for step 2’s assignment record will be equal to the due date. For example, if the due date is 8/6 and step 2’s days allotted is 1 day, the due date for step 1’s assignment will be 8/5 and the due date for step 2’s assignment will be 8/6. Although the user can change the value for step 1’s allotted days, it does not affect the due date of the assignment.
Completed Step Status	Use this column to determine when this step has been completed. Submitted — This is the status after you click the Submit button. Approved — When the completed state is approved, the user’s name is added to the Approval grid on the Progress tab. Complete — See System Checks When a Workflow is Completed to learn more about how the data is refreshed and the validations that occur when a workflow is on the completed step. Published — This option is useful for workflows that are meant to be retained as read only during the life of the project. This can be done manually using this completed state, or automatically using a step action of Publish on the final step. When the last step is completed, the system closes the workflow and assigns the current date as the close date. One exception to this is if one of the steps has Completed step status = Completed. When Completed is assigned on the step in the Completed step status field, the system closes the workflow when the steps Completed Step Status is achieved. Any subsequent steps will not be started.
Review Action	Use this column to send the workflow back to the previous step or originator without rejecting the workflow. This way the originator can review the changes for the workflow and start the step again. Select one of the following options: Prior — Use this to send the workflow back to the previous step. Assign to Originator — Use this to assign the step back to the one who created the workflow. None
Reject Action	When a step has something other than None selected, there is a Reject button available when the assignee is viewing the workflow. Use this column to indicate what is to occur if a workflow is rejected. Select one of the following options: Assign to Originator Restart Beginning — PM Compass assigns the Rejected step status to the workflow and immediately starts the steps over from step 1. Restart Prior — PM Compass assigns the Rejected step status to the workflow and restarts the steps from the step just prior to the current one. Suspend — The follow occurs in this order: The step status is set to Rejected. Any rejected notifications are sent. The step status is changed to the current in-progress step status so that when the workflow is resumed, the current In-progress step status can be retained. The Suspend flag is set to N (so the stage returns to In-progress) and any necessary actions can be taken to continue the steps. No further steps are processed. Cancel None

Step Actions Grid

Use this grid to determine the action that will be taken along with each step. You can define many step actions for each step on the Steps grid. Most step actions are associated with notifying the assignee that they need to complete a task or a reminder notification. Each step includes a description that you can use to see the records created in Administration » Alerts. See Create a step action alert for steps on creating step alerts.

When you add step actions in Workflow Type Configuration, alerts are automatically created. If you delete and re-add step actions, it is possible to get the alerts out of order. See Move a Step Action to a Different Line in the Step Actions Grid for more information.

If you add a step action, it is added after the last step action in the grid. If that step action needs to occur at a specific point, you need to manually move the step action using the Move Up and Move Down buttons found in the grid toolbar.

Disabled Grid

If a workflow fails, the step actions grid is disabled and a message displays below the grid letting you know that <number> in-progress workflows have failed and that you cannot edit any step actions. The failed workflow must be cancelled before you can reorder the step actions.

See Completing the Process When a Workflow Fails for more information including steps for finding a failed workflow.

Grid Toolbar

Option	Description
Step <#> Actions	Select the following options from the drop-down list: Print — Select this option to display the Print Preview form with the grid’s contents displayed. Export to Excel — Select this option to display the Microsoft Excel application with the grid’s contents displayed.
Insert	Click to insert a step action that you would like to associate with the selected step.
Copy	Click to copy the currently selected step action row and paste it as a new row directly beneath the original row.
Move Up	Click to move the selected step action one row up.
Move Down	Click to move the selected step action one row down.
Delete	Click to delete the current selected row.

Grid Columns

Field Name	Description
Step Action This column displays the step actions, process actions and notifications associated with the selected step.	The first 3 notifications occur at step beginning or via a scheduled alert. Notification A notification is sent to an assignee when there are workflows that need an action on their part x number of days before the step due date. When selected, the Add Notification Alert dialog box displays. The default is Currently Assigned for all notifications. Reminder A reminder notification is sent when the specified number of days after the step’s start date has passed, and every x number of days since the last reminder has past. The number of days is defined when you create the step action. The scheduled alert sends a notification if the parent workflow is not suspended or closed, the step stage is in-progress, and there is a remaining assignment. When selected, the Add Reminder Alert dialog box displays. Manager Escalation A scheduled notification is sent to the assignee’s manager (defined in the EPM Security Administrator) x number of days before or after the step due date. Only the original assignee’s manager is notified. The delegate’s manager is not notified. This action occurs at step start. When selected, the Add Manager Escalation Alert dialog box displays.
	The next 6 notifications occur at the end of the step, based on the step action taken. Management Escalation, Reminder, and Past Due notifications are based on calendar days set on the System Calendar. Approval Notification Select this option to send notification for when the workflow is approved. When selected, the Add Approved Alert dialog box displays. Review Notification Select this option to send the workflow back to the previous step or to the originator without rejecting the workflow. The originator can review the changes and start the workflow steps again. You can choose to Assign to Originator and send it back to the workflow creator or select Prior to send it back to the previous step. When selected, or if there are changes to the workflow after review, the Add Review Changes Alert dialog box displays. Rejection Notification Select this option to send notification when the workflow is rejected. When selected, the Add Rejected Alert dialog box displays. Upon rejection, an email is sent to all CAMs who are assigned on that step, letting them know that someone rejected the workflow. If there is only one person on the step (like the PM) and the workflow rejection action for the step is: Restart Prior — Change the notification to go to Originally Assigned. This is the person who was assigned to the step when the step started. Assign To Originator — Change the notification to go to Created By. This is the person who created the workflow. If the step is assigned to many people, like the CAM or the EA Analyst, Deltek recommends that you add a new rejection step action. You can then send the email to the currently assigned and either to the prior step assignee or to the person who created the workflow. By default, the rejection notification is sent to the assignee in a dashboard alert and/or email. The text is provided with this workflow type and applies to both notification methods. You can click the Email or Dashboard links in the Active column to revise the text. In addition, you can change the notification step actions to inactive if you don’t want the rejection notifications to occur as set Suspended Notification Select this option to send notification for when the workflow is suspended. This alert needs to be added to every step in the workflow, or it can be manually added as a user-initiated alert at the workflow level (you will need to create one for each workflow type). If Suspended Notification is selected, the Add Suspended Alert dialog box displays. Past Due Notification Select this option to notify the assignee when the workflow becomes past due. A scheduled alert sends notice when today’s date is x number of days past the due date. This notification needs to be added to each step, or manually added in Scheduled Alerts with Area = <workflow type>. If Past Due Notification is selected, the Add Past Due Alert dialog box displays. Originator Notification Select this option to notify the originator when a step starts or ends. If Originator Notification is selected, the Add Originator Alert dialog box displays.
	In addition to notifications, there are other processes that can be run. Update Source Use this process to move data from the workflow to the source system. This action occurs at step end. The approved progress is posted back to the activity table or the work package table depending if progress is entered through the schedule or the cost system. When Open Plan or Cobra is the source system, the updates can be viewed in these systems. The system checks to see if the Open Plan schedule was opened in exclusive mode. If it was, a message displays letting you know that the project was opened in exclusive mode and the progress was not posted. If the submitter is the approver, the auto advance of the step provides a different message, letting them know that the project is open in exclusive mode and that progress must be approved. For Progress, this step action indicates that when progress is approved, the activity or work package (or control account) is updated. You cannot make this step action inactive. Publish This process sets the status to Published. Use this option to create filters for important workflows. For example, the default workflow types of Initial Work Authorization and Approved Change contain a step action of Published when the workflow is approved. Using a filter on a dashpart of Workflow Status = Published allows you to easily access these important workflows from a CAM notebook dashboard. This action occurs at step end. Create Workflow This process creates a new workflow. It is often used in the default data to automatically create workflows when data events occur. For example, creating an Explain Variance workflow when the thresholds are exceeded. You can use it to create a Work Authorization after the change request has been approved. This action occurs at step end. If Create Workflow is selected, The Create Workflow Configuration dialog box displays.
	The change management step actions are listed next. To see the order in which change management step actions run during the complete step, see The scheduler applies the approved change to the live project on the Change Management Process page. Update Cost Details Grid This step action recalculates the Cost Details grid. This is helpful if another change request has updated the budget before the current workflow is completed. The calculations used depend on settings in Workflow Type Configuration. See How the Cost Details Grid is Populated for details on how the grid is calculated when this step action is executed. In addition to the grid, the Cost and Date group boxes are also updated. This information is also used during the final check to ensure that the data is loaded into Cobra correctly. See System Checks When a Workflow is Completed for details about this final check. Cost System Process After a workflow is approved in the Add-In, this process moves newly added (or changed) activity assignments and dates to the work package, or up to the Cost tab at the work package level in the Change Details view. It runs the Cobra schedule integration process (using Cobra's API) which calls the Integration Wizard. The configuration file selected in the Schedule Integration Configuration field on the Change Details on Form tab of Workflow Type Configuration is passed to Cobra’s Integration Wizard to update the temporary Cobra project with the Change Baseline created by Open Plan. During the Complete step, schedule integration is run to load the change baseline into the live Cobra project. This brings over changes to work packages driven by changes made to activities in the Change Details view or during the approval step in the Add-In. This is done by loading the resource assignments into a temporary class into the live Cobra project, and then using Reclass to add to existing. If the option to Update the Forecast with the Change amount is selected, the reclass is run a second time to add the change amount to the existing forecast. During the Apply Cost Changes step action, the manually entered changes to a work package are applied first, and then the integration is run to load changes to the activities into Cobra. This two-step process puts a priority on information in the schedule. For example, if a milestone date is manually entered using a different date than an activity to which the milestone is linked, the schedule integration updates the milestone date. When the process is complete, a second check is performed to make sure the workflow form matches what was loaded into Cobra. If the costs are different, the cost difference field is populated on the workflow form and the Explanation field on the Advanced tab is enabled. When Cost System Process is selected, the Cost System Process dialog box displays and you can select one of the following options: Schedule Integration — This step action is the process that moves newly added (or changed) activity assignments up to the Cost tab on the work package. It runs the Cobra schedule integration process (using Cobra's API) which calls the Integration Wizard. The configuration file selected in the Schedule Integration Configuration field on the Change Details on Form tab of Workflow Type Configuration is passed to Cobra’s Integration Wizard to update the temporary Cobra project with the Change Baseline created by Open Plan. By default, the Budget Change Request has this action on the first step of the workflow. The Schedule Integration workflow action is run at the end of the step. When the process runs, it generates a process log which can be viewed in Cobra under Tools » Process Logs. You can check the process log to see if there were any errors or warnings generated from the integration wizard. Recalc — If you change the rate on a budget class (that is not loaded from a schedule), you can use PM Compass to get approval from CAMs. To do this, create a Budget Change Request type, select initialize the workflow with a copy of the class with the new rate, and add Cost Process = Recalc to the first step in the workflow. Create the workflows and start the workflow steps. When the assignee receives the workflow, the change class values will have been recalculated. Calculate Apportionment — Add this step action when you want to include apportionment calculations as part of the workflow. If you have a resource-loaded schedule, you must add the step action to the Scheduler Approval step right after the Create Downstream Workflow step. If you do not have a resource-loaded schedule, you must add it right after the schedule integration or before the Remove Temporary Data step. When the step action is added, Execute Calculate Apportionment on Approved displays in the Description column. For more information, see Apportionment Calculations and Apportionment in the Cobra online help. See Set Cost System Process for the steps to set the cost system process that will run when workflow status is approved. You can view the Cobra log by clicking the link on the workflow Links tab. Apply Cost Changes When this step action is executed, the data entered at the work package level in the Change Details view is applied to the live/source schedule. If the change class was manually added to the work package, then the status date on the sandbox project is compared to the live project. If the dates are different, the sandbox project status date is checked to see if rolling wave has been run, and how many periods were advanced. If the calendar has been advanced, the sandbox project is advanced. If rolling wave was run on the live project, it is run on the sandbox project to expand any requested values into weekly periods. If the calendar was advanced more than two periods, the time phased data before the status date is summed and applied as an adjusting entry in the current period. The following manually entered data is moved to the source project: Description EVT Milestones/steps Work package manager Code assignments and user fields Notes If no activities are assigned to the work package, the start and finish dates of the source project are updated. If the change class is a budget class and the dates are updated, the source project is checked to see if there are other approved budget classes that exist in the work package that are not in the temporary project. If they exist, those budget classes are respread into the new work package dates. The change class is reclassed into the live project. See Applying Changes to the Live Project for more information. Create Downstream Workflows Use this option to notify downstream CAM's that changes have been made to their control accounts as a result of a change request on a related project. When you select this option, the Create Downstream Workflows dialog box displays. Regardless of whether or not this option is used, control accounts are changed as part of the change request and can be viewed in the sandbox project. See What Happens During a Create Downstream Workflows Step Action? for more information. Apply Schedule Changes This step action is needed if you use Open Plan and the workflow type indicates you can edit activities. It is used during the complete step to apply schedule changes to the live project. On the complete step, you access Open Plan to complete the workflow. After clicking the Complete button, a message displayed indicates that the process has been scheduled. The Apply Schedule Changes step action is executed by the process server. The project is opened exclusively. Changes made to activities in the schedule are applied to the live project. Time analysis is run and the project is saved. Every attempt is made to update the existing resource assignment. However, new assignment records will be added if any of the following is true: There are offsets and periods defining time phased resources. The resource that is to be added to the activity does not use the same curve as the existing resource. The cost class on the existing resource assignment does not match the completed class for the change request. If the activity is in progress, remaining quantity will be updated by adding the amount added to the existing remaining quantity. For example, an activity has a resource assignment of 500 hours and remaining quantity of 300 hours. The change adds an assignment with a quantity of 200 hours. On complete, the new total quantity is 700 and remaining quantity is now 500. The Change Baseline is merged into the Budget Baseline (the selecting in the Project Details view) by deleting the existing activity record from the Budget Baseline and copying in the Change Baseline. The class is updated to the final class in the cost system. The Forecast Change Baseline is merged into the Forecast Baseline (selected in the Project Details view) by deleting the existing activity record from the Forecast Baseline and copying in the Forecast Change baseline. The newly added records will have the class that was selected in the Forecast Class field on the Change Details on Form tab of Workflow Type Configuration. See Applying Changes to the Live Project for more information. Move Work Package Use this step action to schedule the Cobra’s Move Work Package process that moves the work package to a different control account and updates the project audit log to reflect the change. Export Change Details Use this step action to export the Change Details report and/or the cost/schedule change logs and attach them as Excel spreadsheets to the workflow form Links tab. When you insert the step action, an Export Change Details dialog box displays where you select what you want to export as well as the report template that you want to use. Exporting this data is useful because once the change request is complete, this information is no longer available from the workflow form. This step action must be added to the Complete step before the Apply Schedule Changes, Apply Cost Changes, and Remove Temporary Data step actions. Remove Temporary Data Use this step action to clean up the temporary data created by PM Compass to support the change process. All other Change Management steps should be run BEFORE this step action runs. PM Compass removes the following: The temporary Cobra project The PM Compass Change Details View data The View Summary data The Change Baseline Any classes no longer needed in the source Cobra project It is a good practice to cancel any test workflows created so that the sandbox project and other data is removed from the database.
Description	Use this column to view the description of each step action.
Edit Content	Use this to access the link displayed in the column to load the Email or Dashboard Configuration dialog box.
Active	By default, these are marked for the rows that result when a step action is inserted. If you clear the check box, that action will no longer happen for this step.