Workflow overview

The function of workflow is to process the data captured in forms in accordance with your business needs. In AR System, workflow automates your company's processes through the use of active links, filters, and escalations. In general, workflow can be defined as the set of processes that your company uses to run itself, for example, tracking defects or administering employee benefits.

You use the workflow components of AR System to enforce business rules in a variety of ways, including notifying people of events, escalating problems to a higher level, automatically routing information, and checking whether key data is correctly entered. For example, if your organization decides that purchase orders for amounts above a certain level need director approval, you can design workflow that allows only correctly approved purchase orders to be automatically forwarded to the purchasing department.

If a workflow definition is triggered and the qualification is met, AR System can take one or more actions.  Workflow components can take any of the following actions to automate processes and ease data entry:

• Opening new windows for data entry or display
• Copying data from other forms or sending data to other forms
• Sending messages to users or sending notifications by using email or other methods
• Manipulating a form (for example, enabling or disabling fields, or changing menus associated with fields)
• Running an external process
• Managing dialog boxes, which are fields that are displayed to users who are filling out forms
• Error checking
• Logging information to a file, usually to maintain an audit trail
• Running an SQL command
• Overriding user-entered values by changing them to values that you specify
• Communicating with users by means of onscreen messages or notifications sent by email, or other methods
• Running an active link guide or filter guide as a subroutine (a predefined sequence of commands)

For more information, see: