Configuring a Workflow (What Happens After the Form Is Submitted?)

Important: If you are creating a form with no approval or acknowledge requirements, the University recommends that you use Qualtrics, not Kuali Build, to create and distribute your forms. Qualtrics has branching, integration, and notification capabilities.
Before creating your form, we highly recommend that you map out your workflow process using a program like Microsoft Visio or Draw.io.

After you have created a form in your app, you’re ready to set up a workflow. A workflow determines what happens after a form is submitted, such as emailing the department head for approval or notifying the registrar. You can add these steps to a workflow, in any order:

  • Approval – Require a user to approve the submitted form
  • Acknowledgement - Allows a user to acknowledge that they have viewed a submitted form
  • Task – Require a user to perform an action, e.g. add information to PeopleSoft
  • Notification – Notify a user via email of the submitted form
  • Branch – Set up multiple workflows that route based off conditions from the form (e.g. send the approval to the biology department OR TSS)
  • Integration - Select from a list of pre-configured integrations, such as connecting to an API.

The workflow screen has three sections.
The workflow screen has steps to add on the left, the current workflow in the middle, and step configuration on the right

  1. From the Kuali Build home screen, click the app to open it.
    Your apps are on the Kuali Build homepage 
  2. Regardless of the screen you are brought to, click Workflow in the top right.
     Workflow is the third item in the top menu
  3. The workflow screen has three sections.
    The workflow screen has steps to add on the left, the current workflow in the middle, and step configuration on the right

  1. Select a step in the lefthand Add Steps panel.
     Steps are things such as approval, tasks, and notifications
  2. Drag the step to the workflow in the middle panel. As you drag the step over the workflow, a blue rectangle will highlight to show potential locations for the step. The first step must be the form submission, but otherwise steps can go to the left or right of any other step.
     Drag a step from the steps to the workflow
  3. Drop the step in the location you desire.The step will enter the workflow unconfigured
    • Tip: If you would like to move the step to a different place in the form, click and hold the step to drag and drop it to a new location.
  4. Once you place the step in the form, the right panel will show configuration options to customize the step.The configuration panel will differ for all step types
    • Tip: If you don’t see options for your step, click the step so it is highlighted in gray.
  5. Configure the step. You can always change this later. To save your changes, click any blank space in the preview section to the left of the configuration panel. The information displayed in the step will update.
     The step preview will update as the step is configured.

 

When editing a workflow step, you’ll work in the right configuration panel. If you make changes to a workflow in an app that’s already published, these changes will not be live immediately. You will need to re-publish your form for your changes to be live (see Publishing and Distributing Your Kuali Build Form).

  1. In the workflow in the middle panel, click a step you’ve added to your form. The step will outline in gray.
    Click any box in the workflow
  2. The right panel will show configuration options to customize the step. These options will differ depending on the type of workflow step selected.
     The configuration panel has all step options
  3. Configure the step. To save your changes, click any blank space in the preview section to the left of the configuration panel. The information displayed in the step will update.

Important: There is no undo! Workflow steps that are deleted are unrecoverable.

  1. In the workflow in the middle panel, click a step you’ve added to your workflow. The gadget will highlight in gray.
     Click any workflow box in the preview panel
  2. At the very bottom of the right panel, click Delete Step.
     Delete is at the bottom of the configuration panel
  1. In the workflow in the middle panel, click the step you’d like to move.
     Click any box in the workflow preview
  2. Drag the step around the workflow. As you drag the step around the workflow, a blue rectangle will highlight to show potential locations for the step. The first step must be the form submission, but otherwise steps can go to the left or right of any other step.
         The step can be dragged anywhere after the form submission
  3. Drop the step in the location you desire.
    The workflow will update with the new order

A branch step splits your workflow into multiple routes with different workflow steps based on a condition, such as if the user chooses OVPR, biology, or TTS for their department. You will also configure a default route, which is the workflow that will run if no configured route conditions are met. You can create as many branches and routes in your workflow as you need. Each route inside a branch can have multiple workflow steps.

  • For example, I may have a research request form where the form submitter chooses if their request pertains to biology, TTS, or OVPR. If the submitter chooses OVPR, Kuali Build will follow Route 1 and send the form to the OVPR department.  If the submitter chooses TTS, Kuali Build will follow Route 2 and send the form to the TTS department. My default route will send the form to the biology department, which is the only remaining choice the user can select.

     Add workflow steps within the branch step

To build a branch in your workflow:

  1. Select the Branch step in the lefthand Add Steps panel.
     branch is near the bottom of the steps panel
  2. Drag the branch step to where you’d like the branch to occur in the workflow.
     Drag the branch step anywhere in the workflow
  3. Drop the branch in the location you desire.
     Dropping the branch opens the blank configuration panel
    • Tip: If you would like to move the branch step to a different place in the form, click and hold the step to drag and drop it to a new location.
  4. Once you place the step in the form, the right panel will show configuration options to customize the branch.
     The configuration panel has extensive options
    • Tip: If you don’t see options for your branch, click the branch step so it is highlighted in gray.
  5. Change the Step Label. This label will help you and other administrators of your form know what the branch is for.
     Step label is the first configuration option
  6. Under Route 1, click on the Route Here When dropdown menu.
     Route 1 is under the default route
  7. Select from the options available. 
     Select taking this route always or only sometimes
  8. Click the first drop down below Route Here When….
     The dropdowns will continue configuring the route
  9. You’ll see a list of questions in your form, as well as metadata Kuali Build has collected about the submission. Choose the question you’d like Kuali Build to branch on.
     All gadgets in your form will appear in a list
    • Note: The questions may have strange strings next to them (e.g. data.415535). You can ignore these
  10. After you select a question, you’ll see a progressive series of dropdown menus.
     Your options will cater to the gadget you chose
  11. Continue choosing options under the condition is complete.
    Your route is configured when all dropdowns are selected
  12. You can also create additional conditions by clicking on the gray plus sign next to the last condition for the route. 
     Add more conditions with the plus next to the route configuration
  13. Continue to add additional routes and conditions by clicking on the +Add Route icon and repeating steps 8-15.
    • Tip: Remember that “Default Route” counts as one of your routes!
       Continue adding routes with Add Route in the bottom right
  14. When you have added all routes, you may need to click outside of the branch configuration window to refresh the workflow preview.
     You can configure as many routes as you'd like
  15. In the workflow, add steps to each route in your branch step.
     The branch step has sections to drag and drop steps inside it
  16. As you add steps to the branches, your workflow will save automatically.
     Your final branch step will have steps in each route

Some workflow steps require entering specific person(s). For example, the Approval workflow step requires configuration of who will approve the step.
 Choosing a person will be required in the configuration panel

When you select an option from the list, the search field or dropdown below the options will dynamically update with your options, including pulling from Tufts’ directories.

Note: For help creating questions with lists of Tufts users, see Connecting Kuali Build to Tufts Systems


 Options change depending on what you choose

Any specific person:

Choose an individual from the Tufts directory. Typing in the search field will filter the dropdown results.
 Specific Person gives you a dropdown of everyone at Tufts

Person(s) in a role of any specific group:

Choose specific roles from Tufts departments. Typing in the search field will filter the dropdown results.
 Roles gives you a dropdown of groups at Tufts

Person(s)…….. on the form:

These require that you have questions in your form that pull users from Tufts systems. If you have configured any such form questions, the dropdown in this panel will populate with your relevant form questions.

For example, if my form has these two questions, which allow the form respondent to choose a list of Tufts individuals:
Data lookup questions on the form give user options
I will have these two questions as choices for “A list of people specified on the form” in my acknowledge step
You will see a dropdown of relevant data lookup fields
 

In Kuali Build, you can test the entire workflow. This will not be a live test – emails will not be sent; data integrations and changes such as posting to an API will be mocked but not actually performed. When you test a workflow, you will impersonate various users to see the workflow as that individual.

  1. Switch the toggle button at the top center of the Workflow Builder screen from “Design” to “Test.”
    You can toggle between design and test
  2. On the right side of the screen, the workflow simulator screen will appear.
     The screen cautions you that no data will be changed
  3. Click Run Test.
     Run test is on the bottom right of the screen
  4. You will see a preview of your form. At the top of the form, click the dropdown next to the Current User to select which user would you like to impersonate. The form will update to reflect what that user will see.
    User select is a dropdown above the form
    Three users are available to test as form submitters:
    • App Admin (You): The user using the Workflow Simulator.
    • Anonymous Person: User that has not logged in to Kuali Build.
    • Generic Logged-in Person: User that has logged in to Kuali Build.
  5. Fill out the form as you’d like, and click Submit in the bottom right.
  6. Kuali Build will go through each step in your workflow and display a preview of what will happen. For example, if you have a notification step sending an email, Kuali Build will show you a preview of that email.
    Note: No part of a test is live – the emails are not actually being sent!
     You will see a preview of any emails sent.
  7. To go to the next step in the workflow, click Next in the bottom right. 
  8. If your workflow contains branches, the test panel will alert you.
     Branches will be described as parallel routes
  9. On a panel like this for parallel routes, when you click Next, Kuali Build will preview the current route’s steps based on the route logic. You cannot preview other routes because Kuali Build is accurately testing this form submission. To preview other routes, you must submit a new test form answering the form questions appropriately.
     Route preview looks like a button, but it's just informing you which route you're on
  10. When the test has gone through every step in the workflow (following the appropriate branches), the panel will alert you that the workflow is complete.
     You can restart the test if you'd like
  11. You can click Start Over to perform another test, or toggle back to Design at the top center of this page to continue editing the workflow.