Workflows and approvals

The builder

Lesson 4 of 9 6 min

Canvas, blocks, paths, the happy path, and the reject lane that loops back.

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In this lesson

  1. The canvas
  2. Trigger and End
  3. Paths and outcomes
  4. The reject lane
  5. Starting a new one

Canvas, blocks, paths, the happy path, and the reject lane that loops back.

The canvas

A template opens as a diagram you read left to right. Blocks are the steps, and the lines between them are the paths a run can take. Fit the whole graph in view and the process is legible as a picture, which is exactly what a written procedure never manages.

Trigger and End

Every workflow starts with a trigger, usually a record being submitted, and finishes at an End block, which sets the final state: approved, rejected, or whatever terminal status the module has. A workflow with no End block is unfinished, not merely untidy.

Paths and outcomes

The interesting structure is in the middle. A decision block has outcomes, and each outcome is its own path. Approve carries on along the top; the other outcomes lead somewhere else. Configure a block by clicking it and using the panel on the side.

The reject lane

The pattern worth copying: a reject outcome drops to a lower lane that sets the record to rejected, notifies the submitter, gives them a task to revise, and loops back into the same review. That loop is what stops a rejection being a dead end, and it is why a rejected claim can come back around without anyone starting again.

Starting a new one

A new workflow can begin from an empty canvas, or from a plain-English description, which the builder turns into a first draft for you to edit. The last lesson in this course covers that.

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