Safety rules
Every workflow is checked against the same rules as you edit it, however it was made. No step is locked; these rules keep the important protections in place instead.
To fix before publishing
| The editor says | Why |
|---|---|
| The workflow must start with Identify the contact | Everything depends on knowing who sent it |
| A step uses a field that no earlier step fills in | No step works on information that is never there |
| A step's settings are incomplete | Every step must be fully set up |
| A field is no longer in the field library | Fields must exist |
| A person must be able to approve before anything is created in MCS | There is always an A person approves step before Create in MCS |
| Values must be checked before anything is created in MCS | There is always a Check step before Create in MCS |
| Create in MCS needs every required item filled | MCS would refuse it otherwise |
| A field does not fit the MCS item it fills | Money goes into money, dates into dates |
| That MCS record type is not available | It would fail otherwise |
| A step sends work to Ask the sender, but there is no Ask the sender step | The question has somewhere to go |
| Use one Ask the sender step on each path through the workflow | The sender is asked once, not twice |
| Bank details must be checked as unchanged before an invoice is created | Changed bank details always reach a person |
| A security check cannot be removed or made a warning | Security checks cannot be weakened |
| A check's settings do not match the fields it uses | Checks work on the right kinds of field |
| The reply needs wording in every language the company uses | Nobody gets a blank email |
| The reply promises something the workflow does not check | Replies never make promises from guesses |
| Each choice needs its End, and choices cannot go deeper than the limit | The workflow stays readable |
| A choice uses a check or field that no earlier step on its side provides | The choice has something to decide on |
| A lookup this workflow uses is not installed in your MCS yet | Checked when you publish |
To consider
| The editor says | Why |
|---|---|
| Consider ending with a Reply or Tell someone step | Someone should hear the outcome |
| A field is listed but no step uses it | Tidy it up |
| Nothing after End the work item can run | Those steps are never reached |
Protections no workflow can change
Whatever a workflow says:
- Emails go only to the original sender, never to people copied in.
- Nothing is written to a sender whose email failed authentication, and their work always reaches a person.
- Nothing is sent to MCS twice by itself.
- A record to file against must come from MCS or a person, never from the email.
- Any step can hand to a person, and does when anything is off.
- Every change and action is recorded in the activity log.
A badly built workflow therefore ends up as "a person does it with the system's help", never as a wrong record in MCS or an email lost without trace.