Skip to content
English - Australia
  • There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

Task and Workflow Configuration - Workflows

Workflows within AdviceOS allow you to create a sequence of pre-set tasks within a specific flow. This may include certain events, branches, and steps based on relevant outcomes within AdviceOS. 
 
For Workflows to work correctly, you will need to ensure you have set up the relevant task templates as these will be used in this process. For further information on creating a task, please visit the Task Template article.
 
Setting up Workflows can be done via Settings > Task and Workflow Configuration > Workflows and only needs to be completed once.  After you have created the workflow within the Designer, you can use this workflow multiple times without needing to recreate it (unless you want to make any updates or edits to the original workflow).
 

Workflow Page

On the workflow page, there are three key areas you can see.
 
 1. There is a list of all previously created Workflows for your Dealer group or Practice, with any relevant information on these workflows.  
 
          a.      You can press the Edit Pencil button to modify this workflow. 
 
          b.      You can also press the Bin button to delete this workflow. 
 
Note that deleting the workflow will be permanent so make sure to save any design files if you wish to retain the workflow.
  2.  An area where you can open the Workflow Designer.
 
  3.  The ability to upload a new workflow from the Designer Advice OS.
 
 
 
  

Managing Existing Workflows

If you press the Edit button for an existing workflow, a new dialog will open that provides you with additional information on the workflow.

As you can see in the below screenshot, the dialog provides you information such as:

  • Name, description and current version
  • Date created and updated
  • Any triggers that will set off the workflow
  • The existing versions and how many current & total instances of the workflow your Practice has.
  • The ability to download a copy of this workflow so you can make further edits and re-upload a new version. It is recommended to update an existing workflow to a new version rather than creating new ones, as this may confuse users who see two very similar workflows that are active and available.

Workflow Designer

Under the workflow creation header you can see steps on gaining access to the Workflow Designer. This is a program that allows you to create your workflows, that is linked to your AdviceOS and relevant task templates.

Download the designer

The first step to access the designer is to download the latest version, by pressing the link below.

 

This will download an executable file on your computer called setup.exe. In your first install you may need to accept the terms and license agreement to proceed with the installation.

 

Once this has been downloaded the file should automatically load. If it doesn’t, you can navigate to your Download’s folder and double click the setup.exe file.

Workflow Designer Layout

The interface of the Workflow designer is broken down into the following areas:

  1.   A row of options at the top of the designer
  2.   A components panel on the left
  3.   Details panel on the right
  4. A canvas area in the middle that is broken further into:
    1. The top section, where you can drag and drop workflow components from the left
    2. A tree view of the entire workflow

Download your practice settings

The next step requires you to download your Practice settings. The latest practice settings are required to be loaded each time any changes are made to tasks and practice configurations so that these can be reflected in the designer.

The practice settings include:

  1. Tasks
  2. Task configurations
  3. Practice segmentations
  4. Practice risk profiles
  5. Practice team structures and positions

As best practice, Practice settings should be loaded into the designer as the first step every time you use the software.

These can be downloaded within the same area of the Workflows page.

After you have downloaded the file, navigate to the Designer and press ‘Load practice settings’.

     

Note – Tasks and Practice Settings need to be finalized in AdviceOS and loaded into the workflow designer before workflows can be built around them.
 

 

Load an existing workflow or create a new workflow

Once you have loaded the Practice settings, you have the option to Create a new workflow, or Load an existing workflow.
 
Note: If you have an active workflow make sure to save this before pressing ‘create’ or ‘load’ as any unsaved changes will not be retained.

 

Workflows are built by dragging workflow components from the left into the canvas area.

 

Structure of a workflow

A workflow is a control flow workflow component embedded with various tasks, process and control flow components.

The most basic workflow consists of a sequence control flow with a list of tasks that are executed one after another. Each task starts when the previous task is completed/closed.

Using different control flows and conditions allows AdviceOS to model almost any business process.

 

Types of workflow components

Following are a list of the workflow components available.

Control Flow

Parallel- Executes contained activities in parallel. The workflow will stay at the parallel stage until all branches in the Parallel flow have been closed/finalized.

 

 

 Pick- Provides event-based control flow modelling. A Pick can contain any number of branches (PickBranch), each representing a possible path for the workflow direction.

PickBranch- A PickBranch represents a potential path of execution in a Pick Control Flow. A PickBranch has a trigger, which when satisfied results in the PickBranch Action components to be executed. Once actions are complete or if Action is empty in the PickBranch, the Pick component is completed.

NOTE: Triggers must be mutually exclusive events. That is exactly 1 PickBranch is triggered for any Pick control flow.
 

 

 

Sequence- Executes contained activities in sequence. Once one task is complete it will move on to the next task below it.

Triggers

Trigger components are supporting type components used in PickBranch control flows.

TaskOutcomeTrigger- This is a secondary component used in PickBranches to allow users to use task outcomes as triggers.

 

Tasks

TaskCreateWaitForClose- This component is the building blocks of a workflow and represent pre-set tasks created in AdviceOS. The task template dropdown will contain every pre-set task set up in AdviceOS. 

The email follow-up option can be set up to prompt assigned user on this task

Email prompts can also be set up within the task template of Advice OS when building the original task.
 

The number of days is referenced from the first day this task was assigned to user.

     

If Tasks or certain outcomes are not present in the respective dropdown list, the most likely cause is that the latest practice settings has not been loaded into the Workflow designer. Ensure you are using the most up to date practice settings.
 

This component opens/creates a new task once the user closes the previous task in the workflow.

WaitForDays- The workflow can be set up to wait for a set number of days before moving onto the next action using the WaitForDays task.

Process

Workflows can be set up to send emails as part of the business process. There are 4 different process components available.

These components will require you to have set up the following for it to work effectively:

  1. Email Templates,
  1. Teams
  1. Positions

SendClientEmailFromPosition- Sends the client an email from one of the positions in a team using a predefined email template. 

This is one of the most effective ways for an adviser or staff member within your business to automate sending an email to your clients after a task has been completed. For example, you could automate sending a ‘Thank you for attending your meeting’ email to a prospective client after a User has completed a ‘Post appointment task’.

SendClientEmailFromUser- Sends the client an email from a user in the practice using a predefined email template.

SendEmailToPosition- Sends an email from the user to one of the positions in a team using a predefined email template.

SendEmailToUser- Sends an email from a user to one of the other users using a predefined email template.

Conditions

Condition components are predefined Pick and Pick branch control flow components used for particular condition triggers.

AgeCondition Age checking- If a client is above/below a certain age the workflow can be triggered to perform particular tasks and processes. This may be useful in a scenario where you want to be notified when a client has turned 65, which creates an automatic task to your office to reach out to the client to discuss their retirement.

MaritalStatusCondition- If a client is client is single or couple the workflow can be triggered to perform particular tasks and processes.

RiskProfileCondition- Based on the clients risk profile the workflow can be triggered to perform particular tasks and processes.

SegmentationCondition- If the client is a certain segmentation, the workflow can be triggered to perform particular tasks and processes. 

TaskOutcomeIfCondition- Creates a new activity depending on which outcome is selected for the current task.

Saving your Workflow

Users can save workflows for upload to AdviceOS or to continue work at a later date by clicking on the ‘Save this workflow’ button.

Ensure that any unsaved work in the canvas area is saved prior to closing, creating or loading a workflow. No warning will be prompted to save work in progress and this work will be lost.

 

Uploading a workflow to AdviceOS

Save a new workflow

You can upload a new workflow into AdviceOS via section 3 on the page. 

Select the workflow file and add a description to the workflow, then press ‘Create workflow’. This workflow will appear in the list of flows above.

You can then press the Edit icon against the new flow to see details, where you can further configure the name and description.

Update an existing workflow

If your workflow is already existing and you wish to update to a newer version, you can click on the edit icon on the existing workflow.

Here you can click on the upload button under the ‘Versions’ heading. Once it has been uploaded, you can then select the most up to date version under the ‘current version’ dropdown.