Table of Contents
How Syllabus Proposals Use Workflows
Building a Standard Workflow
Workflow Notifications
Logic Jumps in Syllabus Workflows
Assign a Syllabus Workflow to a Form
Related Articles
Overview
Workflows function the same way in Syllabus Management as they do in other Coursedog products, with a couple exceptions.
Admins can create multiple Workflows, assign each Form a Workflow, and ensure that any Syllabus Proposal goes through any required steps of review.
When an instructor submits a Syllabus Proposal, it goes through the dedicated approval workflow.
If preferred, it’s also easy to ensure that any Syllabus goes through no review at all and passes directly from Author to Approval.
How Syllabus Proposals Use Workflows
At each workflow step, the workflow graph is re-evaluated using “Just In Time” functionality. This has several impacts on the proposal workflow:
Each time a field is being modified using the downstream editing functionality, the predicted workflow is updated to reflect the upcoming next steps, assuming users vote "approve" on all the upcoming steps.
If the user changed a field value that would impact any upcoming logic jumps, the workflow will be recalculated from the current workflow step onwards, the proposal would change its path and progress through a different set of workflow steps. For example, when the department chair has been changed in the department step after the proposal has been initially submitted, we ensure it is sent to the correct users (use cases here include changes of department chairs, etc.). Now, the change would impact the proposal's workflow as the workflow would be dynamically re-evaluated.
If a user utilizes logic jumps and those logic jumps depend on a condition that has not yet been met to be true (e.g. If proposal = approved at specific workflow step), then the workflows tab will not display the "correct" route until that condition has been met.
Building a Standard Workflow
Learn about workflow basics here.
To learn how to build a standard workflow, see this article.
Workflow Notifications
All workflows give you the ability to define default email templates as well as the ability to further customize emails at both the workflow as well as the step level.
Learn more about workflow notifications here.
Logic Jumps in Syllabus Workflows
Overview | Using Field Groups and Fields | Using Custom Fields in Logic Jumps
Overview
Within workflows, you can create logic jumps. These are conditions that can be used to dynamically change the path of a request.
Each step in a workflow can have a series of associated logic jumps.
Generally speaking logic jumps in Syllabus work the same as they do in other products, which is outlined here.
Using Field Groups and Fields
When creating a logic jump, you can select from different "field groups" to base the form logic on. Field groups allow you to select specific fields from a Form.
Once you select a “field group,” the “field” menu will populate with fields from the selected Form. When you select a field group from a specific form, that logic jump will only be evaluated for that form.
Using Custom Fields in Logic Jumps
Overview | How to Do It | Additional Note
Overview
Custom fields are not part of the static list of options for a logic jump when choosing from template field groups (such as Course or Program), but they are still accessible in logic jumps via other field groups.
How to Do It
If you would like to use a custom field for a logic jump:
Under “Field Group”, select the specific name of the form that is both associated with this workflow and is the form that uses the custom field.
When you have selected the specific form under Field Group, the custom fields will be available as options under “Field”, and you can use them for logic jumps.
Additional Note
If you are associating multiple forms with a single workflow and the custom field is used on each of those separate forms, you will need to create a separate logic jump for each form.
For example, if you want to create a logic jump based on “Custom Field 1” and that field is on two forms, “Form A” and “Form B”, that are both associated with the workflow, you will need to create two logic jumps.
You will create one logic jump where Field Group is “Form A” and then Field is “Custom Field 1” and another logic jump where Field Group is “Form B” and then Field is “Custom Field 1”.
Assign a Syllabus Workflow to a Form
During Initial Creation
You will need to create a workflow (even if it isn’t fully configured) before you can create a form.
Once a workflow has been created, you can assign it to a form during the form creation process (select it from the “Workflow” dropdown on the “Add Form” modal).
Changing Assigned Workflow
You can later change the Workflow assigned to any Form by navigating to Syllabus > Forms > (Select Form) and using the Approval Workflow dropdown in the upper right hand corner. Just select the workflow and click “Save”.
