Step types
A workflow is a list of steps, run from top to bottom for every work item. Each step is one of a fixed set of step types: the building blocks every workflow is made from.
In the workflow editor, Add a step (or the + between steps) opens Choose a step:
| Step | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Choice | Runs one of two sets of steps, then carries on |
| End the work item | Closes the work item where it is |
| Identify the contact | Asks MCS who sent the message. Always first |
| Look up in MCS | Fetches facts from your MCS system, such as a purchase order or the items on hire |
| Read the documents | Reads attachments such as invoices |
| Read the email | Picks details out of the email itself |
| Check | Checks the work item is complete and right |
| Ask the sender | Emails the sender for what is missing, and waits for the answer |
| A person approves | Decides whether a person must approve before anything is created in MCS |
| Create in MCS | Creates the record in MCS and waits for MCS to confirm it |
| Reply | Emails the sender a confirmation or answer |
| File in MCS | Attaches the email or documents to a record in MCS |
| Tell someone | Lets people in your company know something happened |
On every step
Every step card has an optional Title, shown on the card and on each work item. Use it to say what the step does in your workflow, for example "Find the purchase order". Steps can be moved with Move up and Move down, and removed with Remove step. Problems with a step are shown on its card.
What happens next
Where a step can end in different ways, its settings let you choose what happens next for each:
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Carry on | Go on to the next step |
| Ask the sender | Go to the workflow's Ask the sender step |
| Hand to a person | Stop and put the work item in the inbox, with the reason |
| Stop | Close the work item with nothing to do |
A person can always take over
Whatever the workflow says, a step hands the work item to a person when it cannot finish, for example when something it needs is not set up, a service returns an error, or it finds more than one match where it needs one. You do not set this up and cannot switch it off. Nothing gathered so far is lost, and the person sees the step that stopped.
If MCS or the AI service cannot be reached, the work item waits and carries on by itself when they are back.
When this step acts
Ask the sender and Reply send email. Each has a When this step acts setting:
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Act straight away | Send without asking. Every safety rule still applies |
| Ask a person first | A person approves the email before it is sent |
| Prepare it, a person sends it | The email is prepared; a person sends it |
New steps start on Ask a person first. An email waiting for a person shows on the work item with Approve and send email.
Create in MCS also shows this setting, but it has no effect there: approval before creating a record is set by the A person approves step.
Where values come from
Steps pass information to each other through fields. Every value remembers where it came from, and when two steps set the same field, the more trustworthy source wins. See fields and where values come from.