Build and Run Workflows

Workflows > selected Workflow > Content tab

When you open an existing or new Workflow the Content tab displays, showing you its content, including the name, initial search target, steps including their queries, and Tag and Folder for results. The icon next to the name indicates whether the Workflow is unlocked or locked (unavailable for modification or deletion); if you have the needed permissions and there are no unsaved changes, you can click the icon to change the state.

If there are no unsaved changes, the Workflow drop-down in the upper right corner lets you do the following:

Copy the Workflow as the basis for a new one and modify it as needed.
Lock the Workflow so it cannot be edited or deleted, or unlock it if it is locked.
Edit the Workflow
Delete the Workflow

The Workflow Workflow

A Workflow is a reusable ordered sequence of searches against a specified data target. When you build a Workflow, you specify the initial search target (by default, Project Data) and each search query (step). The first query runs against the initial target, but each of the following queries runs against the results of the previous one. When the last step is complete, the final Workflow results are tagged and saved using the Tag and Folder specified in the Workflow.

A Workflow must be saved and validated before it can be run. In a new Workflow, the Save, Discard Changes, Validate and Run...) buttons are all disabled; when you have modified or added content, Save is enabled; once you have saved your changes, Validate is enabled; and when you have successfully validated, Run is enabled. A green checkmark next to the lock icon indicates that the Workflow has been validated since the most recent changes were saved.

To build a workflow, follow these steps:

Select the Initial Search Target. You can accept the default, which is Project Data, or click the Select Target button, which allows you to select one of the defined views, including Custodian, MediaID, Batch, Tag, and Folder views.
Click the Edit... button to create the query for Step 1 using the Search Query selector popup, which lets you pick a Freeform, Advanced, or Bulk Search from Search History, create your own Freeform, Advanced, or Bulk Search (combined) query, or pick from a list of Saved Searches. When you add the query and close the popup, the Step is updated as follows: the entire query appears in the Step 1 box, with color used to help identify items such as Boolean operators and special syntax; the step is labeled Term Query if you selected a term-based search or Date Range Query, which applies when you populate only the Date Range section of an Advanced Search; and the options enabled for the search (for example, Families, Metadata, and/or Synonyms) are shown next to the Edit button.
Use the drop-down next to the Edit button to add a step after or before the current one, reorder the sequence by moving steps up or down, clear the query in the current step, or delete the current step. Continue until you have built the Workflow you want, saving at any time; each step you add must contain a query.
Select or create a Tag and a Folder to hold the results.
Optionally add a Report Description in the box.
Save the Workflow, then validate it. If validation turns up errors, correct them and save until validation succeeds.

Tag and/or Folder Workflow Results

Beneath the steps your Workflow, you initially see a Tags icon with No tags and a on the left. You also see a Folder icon with No folder and a on the right. Use the appropriate icon to either add a Tag or add a Folder for Workflow results.

Tags icon – Opens the at Select Tags dialog and enables you to select one or more Tags you want applied to the Result Set. You can add a new Tag as part of this process. (Note that you cannot select the Tagging Scope or specify a Comment when selecting Tags for a Workflow.) When you click OK from the dialog, the icon for your Tag selection appears in the Status area at the bottom of the Workflow, and hover text displays the Tag name. You can then remove a given Tag by clicking the that appears to the right of the Tag name.
Folder icon – Enables you to use a pop up to select a single Folder from the list of available Folders or create a new Folder to use as part of this process. Click OK when you have made your selection, or click Cancel to cancel the operation. Once you have a Folder selected for the Workflow, you can remove the Folder by clicking the that appears to the right of the Folder name. Then you can click to select another Folder.

Use the Main Workflow Toolbar

The Workflow toolbar provides buttons that are available based on the state of the Workflow, a Last Ran status, and a Workflow drop-down that makes global Workflow actions available (for example, to Edit the Workflow name or description).

If you do not save your changes before navigating away (for example, to go to another view, to the Workflow Reports tab, or to go Home or log out), the Unsaved Changes popup appears (as described in the next section).

Note: As long as you have Workflows - View permission, you can use the Validate and Run options for existing Workflows.

Main toolbar buttons are as follows:

Save – Applies changes you have made to the Workflow.
Discard Changes – Removes the changes to the Workflow made since the last Save operation.
Validate – You must initially validate your saved Workflow before you can run it. If there are any unsaved changes for initial validation, this option will not be available for selection. When you have saved query changes and click this button, the software validates each query that serves as a step in the Workflow. Workflow validation generates a single Work Basket task (for example, Validating workflow wflow1). As long as the validation proceeds without issue, the Work Basket task reports a status of SUCCESS. In the Workflow, red text near the Validate button will indicate that errors were found. Each step that had a query with invalid syntax will be marked with the icon after validation. Hovering over an invalid query enables you to see the specific syntax error. You must then edit the Workflow to correct each invalid query, apply the changes, and then validate the Workflow again. Note that once you have initially validated a Workflow successfully, you are not required to re-validate the Workflow unless you edit the query in one more Workflow steps and then save the changes. Validation is optional (but not required) if you make any of the following changes and then save the changes: modify the Workflow's initial target, modify the descriptions for any steps, reorder steps, delete steps, add or remove Tags or a Folder, or simply run the Workflow.
Run... – As long as the Workflow initially passes validation and thereafter remains valid (that is, its queries have not changed), you can use this option, which launches the Workflow Reporting Options popup, so you can pick which level of reporting you want for the Workflow when it runs. Note that you cannot pause a running Workflow. (You can, however, pause a search from a Workflow using the Work Basket.)

To the right of the Run button you can see Workflow status information:

Last ran: – Initially indicates Never before a Workflow is run, then identifies date and time information for when the Workflow was last run. While the Workflow is running, you see a green Running... status, along with a % complete value.

From the Workflow drop-down, you can perform the following global Workflow actions, as long as you have permissions to perform those actions (actions that are not permitted is unavailable) and as long as there are no unsaved changes (in which case, the entire menu will be unavailable within the Workflow, within the Workflows Summary, and for the Workflow context menu in the Navigation Tree):

Copy (requires Workflows - Add/Edit permissions) – Enables you to make a copy of the Workflow, which copies the key contents of the Workflow to a new Workflow. The newly created Workflow inherits the following from the source Workflow: initial search query, each query, comments, reports descriptions, and tags. The newly created Workflow does not inherit the Workflow name, search results, results Folder, culled results, or Lock option from the source Workflow.
Lock (requires Workflows - Lock/Unlock permissions) – Enables you to explicitly lock the Workflow, as long as you do not have any pending edits. This option is unavailable if there are unsaved edits. (A locked Workflow cannot be edited or deleted.) Once a Workflow is locked, the available option changes to Unlock.
Edit (requires Workflows - Add/Edit permissions) – Enables you to edit the Workflow name and/or description. You can edit the name or description regardless of whether the Workflow has been run (and you do not have to re-validate). However, you cannot rename a Workflow if it is running, if there are unsaved changes, or if it has been explicitly locked.
Delete (requires Workflows - Delete permissions) – Enables you to delete a selected Workflow, as long as the Workflow does not have unsaved changes and is not explicitly locked. You cannot delete a locked Workflow. It must be in an unlocked state beforehand. (A Lock icon indicates that the Workflow is explicitly locked.) Deleting a Workflow deletes all document associations to that Workflow from the Project. You are asked to verify the deletion of the selected Workflow. Note that this does not remove any queries or results from the Project; just from the assignment to the Workflow.

View Workflow Search Results

Anyone can view the Workflows (the Workflow Cards) in a Project by clicking the Workflow under the Workflows section of the Navigation Tree. However, how you view the individual search results from a Workflow depends on whether you are the creator of the Workflow or another User in the Project.

If you have permissions, you can view the Workflow Report.

How a Workflow Creator Views Workflow Search Results

When you create and run a new Workflow with a set of Workflow searches (that is, you are the Workflow creator), you can view Workflow search results as follows:

By selecting Workflow search results from your Searches > Search History (either using the searches shown in the Navigation Tree, or using your paged Search History). A Workflow search under your Search History has the format Workflow <workflow_name>: Searching for <query>. A Workflow Search also appears in the Work Basket in this same format.
By selecting a Workflow Step under the Workflow in the Workflows section of the Navigation Tree. Here, the Workflow Steps provide the latest results for the Workflow. Each Step is numbered and identifies the type of query (for example, Step 1: Term Query). Select a Step to view the latest results for that Step.

Note: Note that while viewing a Workflow Step in the Tree, you can perform a search and choose Select Target... if you want to launch a popup that enables you to select from a list of available targets, such as Project Data, a Custodian, MediaID, Batch, Folder, or Tag view, or a search result. You can also use the down arrow shown in the button to choose Current Results if you want to search within a current set of search results. When you select this option, the target box changes to show the current results (with the query and its associated target) and enables you to enter a query as a Freeform Search.

By clicking the result number shown in parentheses after a query in the Workflow (the Workflow Card). The number in parentheses serves as a hyperlink that directs you to the correct Step of the Workflow in the Navigation Tree.

How Other Users View Workflow Search Results

Users who did not create and run the Workflow searches will not see them under their own Search History (unless they have permissions to use the Display all users' history option). Users without the ability to see the Search History of other users can still view the Workflow search results as follows:

By selecting a Workflow Step under the Workflow in the Workflows section of the Navigation Tree. Here, the Workflow Steps provide the latest results for the Workflow. Each Step is numbered and identifies the type of query (for example, Step 1: Term Query). Select a Step to view the latest results for that Step.
By clicking the result number shown in parentheses after a query in the Workflow (the Workflow Card). The number in parentheses serves as a hyperlink that directs you to the correct Step of the Workflow in the Navigation Tree.

Deletion of a Workflow Search Result Task

Deleting a Workflow Search result task in the Work Basket causes the following:

Removal of the task from the Workflow owner's Search History.
Removal of the task results from the appropriate Workflow Step. Under the Workflow in the Workflows section of the Navigation Tree, the step will be empty (and will not be selectable). In the Workflow Card, the step will no longer provide a result number in parentheses.

If you delete a query from the Workflow Card, save your changes, and rerun the Workflow, you will no longer see that query as a Step in the Workflow in the tree, or in the latest Search History entries for the Workflow.

Rerun a Modified Workflow

After the initial run of a Workflow, you can modify that Workflow and rerun it. For example, you may want to modify, add, or replace certain queries. You may also want to change the Tag used, or the Folder used to save the results.

Note: When you edit, apply, validate, and rerun a Workflow, only the new results are displayed for the Workflow under the Workflows section of the Navigation Tree. You can then either click the appropriate Step in the tree, or you can click the result number shown in parentheses after the query in the displayed Workflow Card. The results of your previous run are still preserved in the Search History, which will also have the new results (in the standard Workflow Search format). Note that when you are editing a Workflow, your previous results continue to appear in the displayed Workflow Card until you apply the changes (or rerun the Workflow). Otherwise, you see the current results if you view a Workflow.

If maintaining separate result sets for each run of a Workflow is important, then make sure that you use a different Folder for each run. If you want to use the same Folder, then be aware that the Folder will contain the results from the first run AND any new results associated with a subsequent run (the delta). You may find that if you use the same Folder, it is helpful to use a different Tag to identify results from a given run.

If you find that you need to make a large number of changes to a Workflow, it may be better to create a new Workflow.