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Workflow Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to the Workflow Technical Documentation FAQ page!

Here, we've compiled a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions to assist you in navigating the difficulties of the IFS Cloud Workflow solutions. Whether you're just getting started or seeking solutions to specific challenges, this FAQ page is designed to be your go-to resource. If you don't find what you want, explore the full documentation here.

If you want to better understand workflows, check the Considerations Before Designing a Workflow page.

Question: Does the IFS Failure Event support dynamic error messages?

Answer: No. Dynamic error messages are not supported in the IFS Failure Event. As an option, you could make the error messages more specific by using one or more decision tasks (gateways) and multiple failure events with each failure event having a unique message relevant to the conditions given to the gateway.

Question: Can I trigger a Workflow by doing changes to tables using direct SQL operations or from a background job?

Answer: Yes. It is possible to trigger a Workflow in this kind of situation if a Workflow type event action is configured with Asynchronous timing. However, if the timing is after, the Workflow won’t be triggered here. For more details about Workflow timing, please check the Workflow timing page.

Question: How do you call bound actions/functions within a Workflow?

Answer: When calling bound actions/functions inside a Workflow, you need to have an IFS Projection Read before the bound action/function. The reason is that bound actions/functions need the bound entity as a parameter. Since Workflows doesn’t support giving the entity as a parameter in API tasks, first you must read the relevant entity that needs to call the bound action/ function and then call the bound action/ function without any parameters. By reading the entity, it retrieves the ETag and uses it internally to pass it as a parameter to the action/function call.

Question: Can I continue or redirect a Workflow that has already ended in an IFS Failure Event?

Answer: No. Once the Workflow ends in the IFS Failure Event, the whole transaction gets rolled back. Therefore, you cannot continue the Workflow or redirect it to another.

Question: Is it possible to impersonate the user within the Workflow?

Answer: No. Workflow executes on behalf of the user who triggers the Workflow, therefore there is no way to impersonate the user during the Workflow execution.

Question: Is it possible to assign user forms to different users/roles?

Answer: The Workflows do not support the user/role base approval for user forms. Therefore, it is not possible to assign user forms to different users or user roles.

Question: What are the supported date formats in modeling Workflows?

Answer: Workflow supports below two date formats.

  • dd/MM/yyyy (22/09/2023)

  • yyyy-MM-dd (2023-09-21)

Question: What are the supported datetime formats in modeling Workflows?

Answer: Workflow supports below two datetime formats.

  • yyyy-MM-dd-HH.mm.ss (2023-09-21-07.04.39)
  • yyyy-MM-dd-HH.mm.ss.SSSSSSS (2023-09-22-08.04.39.0000000)

Question: Are enumerations supported in Workflow User Forms?

Answer: It is possible to add static enumeration to the Workflow User Form. However, enumerations defined in IFS Cloud are not supported currently in the Workflow User Form.