Workflow Editor

To create a Workflow, begin by navigating to the Workflow Editor located under Manage > Workflow. Pressing the plus button on the top of the left bar will open a New Workflow dialog. As seen in Figure 67: New Workflow, from here most data concerning a Workflow can be entered, such as its name, description, and color. When creating a Deliverable Workflow be sure to have Deliverable selected under the “Search Type” field.

Create a new workflow

To create a new folder, click the "+" button on the top of the left sidebar

To create a new workflow, click on the green icon. This will open up a popup form where you can enter some preliminary information for the workflow.

Once you have created the new workflow, an empty workflow canvas will open up with a single process node. You can select the node at this point whih will bring up the info panel for that particular node type.

Process Nodes

Process nodes are places in the workflow where work needs to be done. This work can take on the form of a task, where the person assigned to the task will perform some work internal or external to TACTIC Applications.

Each task process can have a customized interface which will guide the user as to what they need to do for that part of the workflow.

Process Info

All process nodes have settings that will customize their behavior. When a process node is selected, an info box will scroll into the screen on the right side. This info box will contain the settings for this particular workflow. The settings available will be specific to the type of process node.

Changes to the settings of a process node will not be saved until the entire workflow is saved using the save button at the top of the workflow canvas.

Connectors

Workflow process nodes are connected together with connectors. Connectors are places on the workflow where two nodes will communicate with each other. The connectors introduce a dependency between process nodes. A process node can have multiple incoming and outgoing connectors. A connector implies that communication must occur between two nodes. In general, the incoming process node will complete its work and send out a message outgoing connectors that it is complete. This will cause connected process nodes to process their work.

Two process nodes can be connected together simply by dragging from of the nobs on the side of a node to another.

A connector can be connected to another process node simply by dragging an existing connector onto another node.

A connector can be deleted by dragging an existing connector and dragging it to an empty location on the canvas.

Connectos have their own info box which will appear when they are selected. The info box will slide on the right side of the screen.

The Workflow canvas

Adding and Modifying Processes Nodes

Workflows are created by placing and connecting nodes together. Each node represents a process to be worked on in the job.

When a node is connected to another, it establishes a dependency between these two processes. The simplest example of communication between processes is that when a task from one process is completed, the tasks in the next process will be set to pending.

To add a node to an empty Workflow, press the “Add Process” plus button in the top bar and a new default node will appear. To select other node types, click on the node you want to change and go t o the dropdown at the top right of the view. to change an existing node’s type, Click on the dropdown in this node settings section and select a node type. If a Workflow already has nodes, the top bar plus button will still be available.

TIP: You can drag from the output handle and releasing the mouse button will create a new node.

Rename a Process Node

To name a new node, right click and click “Rename Node”. Nodes can be joined together to better represent a project Workflow. After all desired nodes are created, named and joined, save the Workflow to ensure all of these nodes get saved to the system as processes and will be properly created as Tasks when set on a Deliverable.

Node properties can be further edited and viewed by right clicking and selecting “Edit Properties” or simply clicking the node. As nodes or processes represent Tasks, each node can have a pre-defined set of statuses that their Tasks can take. Simply select a Workflow from the dropdown menu to assign it to that node. Any node can take any Task Status Workflow.

Searching process nodes

You can search for a process node by name in the text input on the top right of the canvas

Hotkeys

When the mouse is placed inside the workflow canvas, there are several hotkeys available for quick navigation and access to functionality

Managing the Workflow Library

The sidebar on the right of the workflow editor displays a list of all the workflows in the system. These workflows can be organized into categories.

Process Node Types

There are various types of nodes which determine the actions that take place in the workflow. There are a number of basic types defined in TACTIC Open Source as well as a number of specific ones in TACTIC Project.

These process node types are list in Workflow document

Task Status Workflows

Task Status Workflows are created in almost the same way as Deliverable Workflows. Creating Deliverable Workflows, except that in the new Workflow dialog, Task should be selected for the “Search Type” field. Nodes are created and joined together in the same way. When a Deliverable Workflow’s node is assigned a Task Status Workflow, that node or Task, when created, will adopt the node statuses defined in the Task Status Workflow.