Workflow Management Groups

You can define Workflow Management Groups and add Analysts to these groups so that requests or tasks can be forwarded to an entire group of people instead of only to an individual. Any member of the group can then pick up the request or task and action it.

You may define as many groups as you wish. When a group is updated, all Analysts linked to this group will remain linked to the new group; that is, only the group name is changed.

Workflow Groups can be assigned to individual analysts from the Workflow Groups tab in their Person Details, or to Workflow Security Roles which are in turn assigned to analysts from the Security Roles tab in their Person Details.

Viewing Workflow Management Groups

Before you start

You must have Security Setup selected in the Admin tab of your General Access security role to access the Security options within the System window.

  1. Select the Menu button , then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed, with a menu of options available . In the Explorer pane, expand the Security group , scrolling up if necessary.
  2. Select the Workflow Management Groups option from the Explorer pane. The Workflow Management Groups window is displayed, listing the existing Workflow Management groups in a browse table.
  3. Use the scrollbar at the bottom of the browse table to scroll across to view the details.

Creating a Workflow Management Group

Before you start

You must have Security Setup selected in the Admin tab of your General Access security role to access the Security options within the System window.

  1. Select the Menu button , then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed, with a menu of options available . In the Explorer pane, expand the Security group , scrolling up if necessary.
  2. Select the Workflow Management Groups option from the Explorer pane. The Workflow Management Groups window is displayed, listing the existing Workflow Management groups in a browse table.
  3. Select .
  4. Complete the details as follows, scrolling across the window if necessary:
Name

The name for the Workflow Management group you want to create. This should be unique.
Approval Group

Designates the workflow group as an approval group. Approval Tasks can only be assigned to Workflow Management Groups that are Approval Groups, or to individual analysts that are members of such groups.
Email ID

The email address to be used as the group’s email address.

You can specify multiple email addresses for a group, separating them with semicolons.

If no email ID is given and Email Analysts is selected, individual Analysts will be emailed.

MMA URLs are not displayed in email messages sent to the group email address.
Email Analysts

Select to automatically email individual Analysts when a call, request or task is forwarded to the group.

Analysts will only receive an email if email addresses are stored in their Person Details

If Email ID is left blank and this option is not selected, or the Analysts do not have valid email addresses in their Person Details, no email is sent.

You may need to scroll across, using the scrollbar at the bottom of the browse table, to see this and the following fields.
Pager ID

The pager number for the group. Only one number can be entered into this field. If text messages are being used, enter the cellphone number.
Page Analysts

Select to send a pager message to the Analysts in the group when a call, request or task is forwarded to the group.
Time Zone

Select a time zone for the group from the drop down list. By default, this is the time zone specified on the vFire Core server. This is useful if you want vFire Core to apply an Underpinning Contract (UC) to a task based on the time zone of the group associated with the Underpinning Contract.
Allocate Partition(s) to Group

This is only enabled if the system is partitioned. Only partitions you have permissions to are displayed.

Allocate the group to as many partitions as necessary by selecting the tick box beside the appropriate partition(s) listed.

This enables:

  • the group(s) to be assigned to analysts in matching partitions through their Person Details
  • the group(s) to appear in the Forward window of partitioned requests or tasks

    If requests are not partitioned, all groups appear
Escalation Recipients for Group (forward)

Identify the SLM notification recipients for calls, requests and tasks forwarded to the group. Different recipients can be selected for First call back, response, resolve (up to 3 levels of escalation) and action.

This option is only enabled if Assigned to Group is selected in Service Level Management Settings
Escalation Recipients for Group (current)

Identify the SLM notification recipients for calls, requests and tasks that are currently owned by the group. Different recipients can be selected for First call back, response, resolve (up to 3 levels of escalation) and action.

This option is only enabled if Current Group is selected in the Service Level Management Settings
  1. Select to save the changes and close the window. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so. Alternatively, select another tab, if appropriate.
  2. Once the group is defined, Analysts can then be allocated to it in their Person Details.

Updating a Workflow Management Group

You can update the details held on a Workflow Management group to reflect changes to the company. Analysts linked to this group will remain linked to it.

Before you start

You must have Security Setup selected in the Admin tab of your General Access security role to access the Security options within the System window.

  1. Select the Menu button , then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed, with a menu of options available . In the Explorer pane, expand the Security group , scrolling up if necessary.
  2. Select the Workflow Management Groups option from the Explorer pane. The Workflow Management Groups window is displayed, listing the existing Workflow Management groups in a browse table.
  3. Update the details as necessary.
  4. Select to save the changes and close the window. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so. Alternatively, select another tab, if appropriate.

Deleting a Workflow Management Group

If you no longer need a Workflow group, you can delete it.

You cannot restore deleted Workflow Groups, you must create them again. Entities linked to the deleted group will remain linked until a new group is selected, and will display the deleted group with an asterisk beside the name to indicate it is a deleted value.

Before you start

You must have Security Setup selected in the Admin tab of your General Access security role to access the Security options within the System window.

Before deleting the group, all linked entities, such as person records, requests, tasks, security roles, should be updated to a new group.

You cannot delete the default workflow group. You will receive an error message if you attempt to do so.

  1. Select the Menu button , then Admin, and then select System Administration. The System Administration window is displayed, with a menu of options available . In the Explorer pane, expand the Security group , scrolling up if necessary.
  2. Select the Workflow Management Groups option from the Explorer pane. The Workflow Management Groups window is displayed, listing the existing Workflow Management groups in a browse table.
  3. Select the group you want to delete.
  4. Select . The group disappears from the browse table. However, it is not deleted from the database until you save the changes.

  5. If it is the default group for any analysts, you will receive a warning message asking if you wish to continue.

  6. Select to save the changes. Provide the Change Reasons if prompted to do so.