Workflow Templates are the foundation of the Workflow Manager functionality. Workflow Templates hold the details and steps necessary to complete your business processes. Here you can outline exactly what Tasks, Checklists, and possibly Approvals are needed, in what order, how long these should take to complete, and who will be assigned to each step in the process. The Workflow Launcher then copies the Templates to create new Workflows with the same, repeatable processes.
Administrators will access Elements Configurations to view, edit, and create Templates. Elements comes with six preconfigured Templates for you to get started and edit to best fit your own internal processes. To learn more about the Salentica Default Workflow Templates, click here.
What's in a Template?
Workflow Templates contain the information needed to create multiple Tasks and assign them to different users or queues to complete a business process through a Workflow. Workflow Templates are copied by the Workflow Launcher to create new Workflows for individual Relationships. For example, if your new account opening process requires the same Tasks every time the process is done, then it can be set up as a Workflow Template.
The Details tab shows general information about the Workflow Template. Here you can name the Template, select a Workflow Type and Subtype for reporting, determine the total Estimated Business Days Until Completion, set the Frequency to one-time or recurring, determine how to handle Holidays, and give the Workflow a Description.
In this example, this Workflow Template will be used to create the Tasks needed for a Standard Account Opening for brokerage accounts, which will happen one time and take a total of 10 business days to complete.
The core of a Workflow Template is the Steps. Steps are the objects that create and assign specific Tasks to users or queues automatically. Once a Step is kicked off by the Workflow, an associated Task is created that carries over the specified Assignee, Subject, Description, and Duration. The Assignee is notified via email or in-app notification that the Task has been assigned to them. Once the Assignee marks the Task Complete, the Step is also automatically marked Complete, and the Workflow will kick off the next Step in order. This process will continue until all Steps are completed, and then the entire Workflow will be marked Complete.
The Workflow Template example below contains six Steps that will kick off five Tasks and an Approval, in the order specified.
Within each Step, you can determine whether the Step should assign a Task, Approval, or Checklist, who will be responsible, and how long they have to complete the Task, Checklist or Approval. In this example, the Client Service Manager is assigned to the Task, Complete New Account Open Form. This is the first task in the Workflow, is due to be completed in one business day after the assignment, and should take 20 minutes to complete for Time & Expense tracking. The Subject and Description will show on the Task created by the Step.
Parts of a Step
1. Select a Name for the Step.
2. The Order the Step will occur in the Workflow. Steps can be linear, started one after another, or concurrent, started at the same time. To learn more about Step Order, check out this article.
3. Select whether the Step will create a Task or an Approval. If Approval is selected, you will then see an option to Select an Approval Step and Upon Rejection options. To learn more about Approvals, check out this article.
4. Enter the number of Business Days you expect the associated Task to be completed in.
5. The Workflow Template Name will automatically fill in.
6. Assign a Checklist. The Step will create a Task with the assigned Checklist. We recommend creating the Checklist before assigning to a Template. To learn more about Checklists, check out this article.
7. This Subject will be the name of the Task or Approval that the Step creates.
8. Give a Description that will show on the Task or Approval that the Step creates. This gives the user more details on what is required for their process.
9. Assign a user who will be responsible for completing the Task or Approval that the Step creates. This can be a Specific User, a Role that is assigned to the Relationship Team, or a Queue. We recommend assigning to a Role for ease of use in case a User leaves or changes positions, you won't have to reassign Tasks/Approvals assigned to the old user.
10. Enter the Duration of time in minutes this Task/Approval should take to complete. Once the Task/Approval is marked complete, this amount will be tracked in Time & Expense.
Clone a Template
Don't want to start from scratch, but want to edit an existing Template? You can clone an existing Workflow Template and make changes from there.
1. Login with permissions to access Elements Configuration and the Elements Workflow Manager Administrator permission set.
2. From the App Selector, select Elements Configuration.
3. Select More and Workflow Templates.
4. Click on the Name of the Workflow Template you want to clone to open it.
5. Click the Clone button at the top right. This will copy in all the Workflow Template Details.
6. To also copy the Steps from a Workflow Template, check the box for Copy Steps from Existing Template. Select the Template to copy. Save.
7. Give the new Workflow Template a new Name to distinguish it from the original Workflow Template. Save.
8. Make any edits you need to the Details or Steps and Save.
Create a New Template
1. Login with permissions to access Elements Configuration and the Elements Workflow Manager Administrator permission set.
2. From the App Selector, select Elements Configuration.
3. Select More and Workflow Templates.
4. Click the New button.
5. Complete the Workflow Template required fields as well as the other details. Save.
6. Click the Steps tab.
7. Click New.
8. Enter the Step required fields and any other details. Each Step will create a Task/Approval/Checklist as specified in the Workflow process. Save.
9. Create additional Steps, one for each Task/Approval/Checklist needed to complete your business process.
Once you have added all of the Steps needed for the Workflow, your Workflow Template is ready to use. You can now copy it via the Workflow Launcher into a new Workflow.
