Workflows - Part 2 - Permissions

Workflows Permissions and Settings

Permissions

The permissions which directly relate to the Workflows module are:

• Workflows:View Controlled Document Workflows - grants access to the Workflows menu and allows searching and viewing workflows of the type, Controlled Document Workflows (document review and publishing workflows)
• Workflows:Create/Edit Controlled Document Workflows - allows creating new workflows or editing existing ones of the type, Controlled Document Workflows

In both cases, the user will only have access to workflows from OUs where the permission has been granted.

Sharing is an exception to this. A workflow that has been shared with an OU can be opened by any user holding the permission in that OU, even if they hold no permission in the OU the workflow was created in.

Users flagged as read-only are handled separately. A read-only user is only granted a permission if it is included in the non-editable Global Viewer (excluding admin and personnel records) role, and neither Workflows permission is included in that role. A read-only user therefore cannot view workflows at all, even if they have been given the Controlled Document Workflow Viewer role.

The permission, Workflows:View Controlled Document Workflows is included in the roles, Controlled Document Workflow Editor and Controlled Document Workflow Viewer.

The permission, Workflows:Create/Edit Controlled Document Workflows is included in the roles, Administration Editor and Controlled Document Workflow Editor.

Either permission on its own grants access to the Workflows menu and allows searching and viewing workflows - the View permission is not a prerequisite for the Create/Edit permission. The Administration Editor role holds only Workflows:Create/Edit Controlled Document Workflows, and users with that role can still reach and search the Workflows menu.

Site Admins and Facility Admins automatically have these permissions.

The Settings procedure below needs two further permissions, which are not part of the Workflows module:

• Desktop:Show Settings Menu Item - to reach Administration > Settings
• Organisational Units:Manage Settings - to open the Organisational Unit Preferences tab, and any OU within it

Of the three roles named above, only Administration Editor includes both. A user given Controlled Document Workflow Viewer or Controlled Document Workflow Editor can view and edit workflows, but cannot carry out the numbered steps below. Facility Admins can also open the Organisational Unit Preferences tab.

Settings

Controlled Document Workflows can be applied as the default (review and/or publishing) workflows for all new documents in an OU (whether the documents are created individually or by using the ‘Import Documents’ feature). Different workflows can be applied to each type of document and in each OU. The document types covered are SOPs, Documents, Policies, Health & Safety Documents, COSHH Documents, External Documents and Job Descriptions.

There are options to enforce and lock down selected workflows on all documents of the same type in an OU. When these preferences are ticked, the workflows cannot be changed from within the documents - they become greyed out.

To set a workflow as the default in a given OU:

1. Navigate to Administration > Settings > Organisational Unit Preferences
   
   
2. Select the relevant OU from the Organisational Unit dropdown menu
   
   
3. Click the row marked, Document Review Settings to open that section
   
   
4. Click the field for the appropriate document type and workflow type (e.g., Default Review workflow for documents of type COSHH Document in this OU, Default Publishing Workflow for documents of type SOP in this OU)
   
   
5. Select a workflow from the dropdown menu displayed
   
   

   Note

   Workflows need to be created in or shared with the OU in which they want to be applied. Otherwise, they will not appear listed in the dropdown menu. Publishing workflows must also have at least one round defined. A publishing workflow with no rounds does not appear in the dropdown menu, even when it has been created in or shared with the OU. Review workflows are not filtered in this way.

   
   
6. If the workflow is to be enforced on existing documents of the same type and OU, tick the checkbox of the corresponding option -
   
   ‘Lock the selected publishing workflow for…’ or,
   
   ‘Lock the selected review workflow for…’
   
   

   Note

   When a workflow is locked for a type of document in a given OU, it won’t be possible to change it from within the Review Settings or Publishing Settings of that set of documents. The workflow will appear greyed out and custom workflows won’t be available until the lock is removed. Locked documents also can’t be reassigned from the Documents tab of the workflow itself under Administration > Workflows - they are filtered out of the assignment list there. While the lock is on, the workflow can only be changed from this preferences screen.

   
   
7. Assign workflows to other types of documents as required (by repeating the last three steps)
   
   

   Info

   If any of the documents have an in-progress workflow those workflows will be restarted.

   
   
8. Scroll down and click Save
   
   
   
9. If you have ticked a lock option, or changed a default while a lock was already on, a confirmation window opens instead of the settings being saved. Read the warning - ‘The changes you’re making will alter the current document settings and if any of the documents have an in-progress workflow those workflows will be restarted.’ - and confirm it. Nothing is saved, and no workflows are restarted, until you confirm.
   
   

Next Step:

The next article covers Creating/Deleting Workflows

Previous Step:

The previous article covers Workflows Introduction