How workflows run
Versioned workflow definitions, instances pinned to their version, the kinds of steps, and what a workflow never decides.
For: OwnerAttorneyStaff
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A workflow is the firm's process for a kind of matter, written down so the platform can run it: which tasks happen, in what order, who does each, where an attorney must decide, what the client is asked for, and what waits on a deadline or an appointment.
Definitions, versions and instances
- A definition is a named workflow, such as Family-based petition.
- A version is one edition of it. A version is edited as a draft, reviewed, and published. Once published it cannot change; edits make the next version.
- An instance is one run of a version, usually for one matter.
An instance stays pinned to the version it started on. Publishing a new version affects new matters only. To move running matters to a new version, the firm creates a migration plan: map the old steps to the new ones, preview which instances can move, get it approved, and apply it. No active matter is moved silently, and a plan that would skip past an attorney gate needs an attorney.
Workflows are managed in Configuration → Workflows, Workflow packs and Workflow migrations in the Firm workspace. Running instances are on Workflow instances, which supervisors and attorneys also see.
What a step can be
A workflow is a graph of steps. Step kinds include:
- tasks for workers, attorney tasks, QA reviews and client tasks,
- document requests, document generation and classification,
- signatures and payments,
- appointments, deadlines and timers,
- waiting for an event,
- approvals, including attorney approval gates,
- rework loops,
- parallel branches that fork and join,
- holds, child workflows, integration calls, notifications and escalations,
- completion and cancellation.
Each task step becomes a work item in a queue, with its own service level. See Work items and queues.
What a workflow never does
A workflow never makes a legal decision.
- Deadlines come from verified notices or deadline rules an attorney published, never from arithmetic inside a workflow.
- Decisions come from attorney gates. An attorney gate opens only with the attorney's own decision for that round.
- Facts come from the matter's verified fact store.
Every condition a workflow evaluates is stored with a trace of what it read, so you can see why it went one way rather than another. Values from sensitive facts are masked in those traces for anyone not allowed to read them.
Operating a running workflow
From Workflow instances, people with operating permission can pause, resume, retry a failed step and extend a timer. Skipping a step, moving the workflow to another step, cancelling, or changing a variable is an override: it is requested with a reason and may need a second approver.
Some overrides always need an attorney or supervising attorney: skipping, moving past or cancelling over an attorney gate, signalling an attorney decision, and releasing an attorney hold. A support session acting on someone's behalf may only read, retry and extend timers.
When a workflow is cancelled, its completed effects are undone in reverse order where that is safe. Facts, milestones, generated documents, decisions and verified deadlines are never undone.
Workflow history on the matter
The matter's Workflow tab shows its running and completed workflows, the step each is on, and its history. A completed workflow stays in the matter's workflow history.