Did You Know: The Magnificent Flexi Task – Reminders and Escalation

In the  first post  of this series, we went through Flexi task behaviors. Now it’s time to skip a few icons on the ribbon and have a look at Reminders and Escalations.

Reminders can prompt the task assignee if they haven’t responded to a task within a set period of time. The reminder will continue to prompt the assignee (or group of assignees) until they have met the criteria to respond or until we run out of prompts.

Let’s look at the picture below to see what’s going on.

nintex

In this example, we are going to remind people 14 times every 4 hours. Nintex allows us to remind people every minute, though a realistic minimum reminder frequency is every 5 minutes.  I’m sure your users wouldn’t be too happy being reminded every minute either!

While I’ve manually set 14 reminders every 4 hours into this example, you can use item properties or variables to set the intensity. A good example of this is a maintenance request. If it’s low priority, set a variable to remind once a week. If it’s high-priority, set a variable to remind once a day. Nifty stuff, huh?

nintex

Also, you might have noticed that we’re only going to remind the assignee during business hours. How smart is Nintex?! It know when our office opens! Actually, there isn’t much magic in this – we get to tell Nintex our hours of operation and holidays. Office hours is actually a SharePoint setting that you can access via  Site Settings > Site Administration > Regional Settings > Define Your Work Week .

Nintex just makes things smarter by allowing us to define holidays too. You can set these at either the site level or the site collection level by navigating to  Site settings > Nintex Workflow > Manage Holidays .

nintex

If you need to wake people up in the middle of the night for mission-critical reminders, untick “During business days only” and/or “During business hours only.”  Also, remember to set the reminder communication mechanism as this differs to the mechanism you have set to send the original task.

nintex

Sometimes reminders aren’t sufficient to get a task completed — for example, if the assignee is out of the office due to illness. There are two escalation options to deal with this. You can delegate the task to someone else, or you can complete the task automatically.

nintex Flexi Task

In this example, we’re going to complete the task with the outcome of  Approved  after 8 days.  If this executes, the assignee will receive a notification their response is no longer required but keep in mind the workflow history will show that they completed the task.

Just like reminders, you can set these manually or use variables. In the example above, we’ll set the task to “Approved” after 8 business days. Here’s a challenge for you: Assuming the reminders are set to 14 reminders every 4 business hours, and we didn’t receive a response, when will this task auto-complete? After 8 business days or 15 business days?

If you answered 15, you would be correct. Why not 8, if “Time to escalation” is 8 days? What this screen doesn’t say is that you have to wait for all the reminders to be sent before the escalation timer starts. Here’s an excerpt from our help file that defines exactly what happens:

Escalation occurs after all reminders have been sent and the specified “Time to escalation” has elapsed.

The other escalation option is to send the task to a different assignee.

nintex Flexi Task

Instead of auto-completing, we can specify who the task goes to. In the example above, we’re sending the task to the approver’s manager — another brilliant lookup that Nintex provides out-of-the-box.

You can email the original assignee when the task is escalated, by defining that in the  Not Required Notification  tab, plus whatever you have put into the comments box in the  Escalation  tab.

I hope I’ve provided some insight into reminders and escalations. In summary:

  • You can remind people to complete a task. Nintex understands working days/hours and holidays.
  • You can escalate a task by assigning it to someone else or auto-completing it.
  • A task isn’t escalated until all reminders have been sent.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that escalations and reminders have nothing to do with the due date that you can set in the  Action  tab.

If you want to learn more about reminders, there’s a great discussion in our Nintex Community about it  here .

In the next blog post, we’ll look at how users can control some of their task interactions.

In the  next blog post  we cover communication methods. Check it out!

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Nintex Forms/Workflow – Flexi Task with a Data Entry Nintex Form

In the past, I’ve been asked for the best way to have an approval form where some more information will be required from the approver.

Rather than InfoPath (which I’ve generally had headaches with) or developing a custom form in C# to extend the Flexi Task action form, I’ve nudged people towards using the Request Data action or the Assign a ToDo Task.  These two actions were specifically made to get users to fill in forms.

Well, I’m now moving away from my suggestion above and leaning towards a Nintex Forms solution.

I want to send an approval request to a user.  The options they have for the approval will be Approve, Reject and More Data.

More Data will mean that they don’t approve or reject the task, but instead would like more information about something.  In order for someone to provide more information, the approver needs to also fill in some details that we can then pass on to the appropriate person.

To facilitate this, first we add the 3rd outcome, “More Data” to the Flexi Task acton:

Once this is done, we can then edit the task form using Nintex Forms:

The main thing to do now, is to add some controls so that the approver has a form to fill in, as well as provide a decision on this task.  As I’m interested in functionality and not asthetics at this stage, I simply put a Panel at the bottom of my form, add a label and add a Multiple Line of Text control.

I surrounded my main Panel control with a border so that it stands out for now.

I wanted to add one more feature to this.  I only want a user to fill in that part of the form, if “More Data” is selected as an outcome.  In order to facilitate this, you can create a Rule.  This rule would be specifically for the parent panel above (that you see with border).  The rule will be that this panel will be hidden, if any outcome, other than “More Data” is selected.

You may be asking, why am I comparing the Decision field to the number 3.  The number 3 is the internal ID of the outcome that we have in our Flexi Task action.  To confirm that value, I found that the easiest way was to query the Nintex Workflow database for the “ConfiguredOutcomes” table.  You’ll see the ID there. Alternatively, you could add a Calculated Control to the form temporarily and link it to the Decision control.  Then when you select the outcome, the calculated column will display the numerical ID.

At this stage, if you were to save this form, save the Flexi Task action, publish the workflow and run it, the approver will get this form and they’ll be able to fill it in.

We are missing one crucial component here.  How do we read the data from this form, since the controls aren’t connected to SharePoint fields?

Reading the Control Values from Nintex Workflow

In forms like this, there is a hidden item property called “Form Data”.  This is XML that you can the query using the Query XML action and pass in the appropriate XPath expression to extract the data you need.

If you’re designing a form for SharePoint List Item, the “Form Data” is a property of the current item the workflow would run on.

In our case, the “Form Data” is an item property on the Task in the Workflow Tasks list.  To get at it, we need to find the ID of the task that the user just filled and then we can use the Query List action, to query for the “Form Data” property.

First, create a List Item ID variable in your Nintex Workflow and you can then use it in the Flexi Task action to store the Task ID into this variable.

The Flexi Task action can then be followed by a Query List action to query the Workflow Tasks list, for the Form Data field of the task whose ID matches the variable “listItemID”.

The result of this action is stored in a Nintex Workflow Text variable. The contents will be a bunch of XML that looks like this :

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?> <FormVariables>   <Version />   <TextMoreData type=”System.String”>The procurement document is missing.  Please upload that the appropriate library and link it to this item</TextMoreData> </FormVariables>

Each control that you add to your form, you will need to give it a name.  For my test, I created a Multiple Lines of Text control called “TextMoreData”.  You can see in the above XML that the xml node has the same name as my control.

I can therefore use an XPath expression like //TextMoreData to pull out the text and store it in a variable.

If you have more that one control in your form, you can add further XPath expressions to the Query XML action.  This is a more efficient way of processing, rather than having multiple Query XML action.

Now that we have this data, you can use it as it suits your Business Requirement needs.  In the workflow I was working, I’m using a State Machine so that the approval goes out.  If the approver needs more information, the data they fill in is extract from the form, I jump to the next State and use that data in the Task Description and also in the email that goes out to the approver to review this item/document and they will know exactly what the original approver wanted.  Once they complete this task, it jumps back to the original state and resubmits a new approval task to the approver.

Workflow Design

*** note for nintex forms 2013 users ***.

It looks like the rule in this form needs to be tweaked.  You need to compare it to a value instead of the text ‘More Data’.

To find out what that value is if your environment, you can temporarily add a Calculated Value control and configure the formula to use the Decision field.  When you publish and view the form, select the ‘More Data’ option and the Calculated Value control will tell you what the ID is meant to be.

  Nintex Workflow 2010 : v2.3.8.0   Nintex Forms 2010 : v1.2.1.0  Nintex Worfkflow with Nintex Form : Download Workflow

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This documentation is in maintenance status and may not reflect the latest product updates. Please see the release notes for product updates.

Assign to-do task

Assigns a task to one or more users. The workflow waits for task completion before continuing.

For more information on the task review process, see Approving, rejecting, and viewing tasks .

The fields and options displayed in the configuration settings dialog box for this action depend on the button clicked in the General ribbon. For more information, see General ribbon (configuration settings dialog box) .

The following fields and options are displayed when you click Action in the General ribbon of the configuration settings dialog box for this action.

The Task Notification settings govern the initial task notifications sent to assignees, including new assignees as a result of delegation.

The following fields and options are displayed when you click Task Notification in the General ribbon for this action.

The Not Required Notification settings govern the not-required notifications sent to assignees/approvers/reviewers. Scenarios for use of the not-required notification follow.

  • A task is assigned to multiple users but only one is required to respond.
  • The workflow is terminated prior to the task being processed.
  • An error occurs in the workflow at runtime.

The following fields and options are displayed when you click Not Required Notification in the General ribbon for this action.

The Reminders settings govern the optional notification reminders sent to assignees who have not yet completed their tasks.

The following fields and options are displayed when you click Reminders in the General ribbon for this action.

The Escalation settings govern the optional escalation behavior after all reminders have been sent and the specified time to escalation has elapsed.

The following fields and options are displayed when you click Escalation in the General ribbon for this action.

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  • Community overview

Assign flexi task - Challange

  • 4 years ago 24 October 2019

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  • agrawalsonal

Whenever Workflow is going through Assign flexi task the workflow is running twice or thrice by its own, either error occured or completed.

the WF re-run as per the entry time and exit time of assigne flexi task.

This is happeing from past 2 weeks also we used to be notified whenever WF error occured.

5064i16C6696E81D166A7.jpg

Please guide us!!!

Thanks in advance,

SimonMuntz

  • Community Manager
  • 2156 replies
  • 4 years ago 25 October 2019

This workflow has been used for past 2 years as "start when item modified =YES" and issue stared from last 2 weeks. Workflow completes or sometime error occured but it re-starts again.

Assign flexi task timings matches with new workflow start timings. So we are thinking this way. Maybe there might be another thing which we are missing. Please let me know what you want to know in detail to get the correct solution.

We are marking "start when item modified =NO" for now to check further challenges.

We used to be notified when the WF error occurs, but now we do not. This is serious impact on our system getting so many errors.

Really looking forward for your suggestion,

Thanks a lot,

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COMMENTS

  1. Assign Flexi Task

    Allow LazyApproval If LazyApproval has been enabled, the workflow can permit the assignees to use LazyApproval. Lazy Approval means that a task response can be registered when the assignee replies to a notification email or an automated OCS / Lync conversation with a recognized word or phrase.

  2. Assign Flexi task

    Escalation settings Related information Find, add, and configure actions

  3. PDF How to Use the Assign Flexi Task Action and Show Behavior Outcome

    1. Select an Assign Flexi Task action and place on the design canvas. Double-click on the action to open the configuration dialog. The first thing we need to do is create the workflow variables for this action. 2. In the Ribbon, click on Variables. 3.

  4. Did You Know: The Magnificent Flexi Task

    The Flexi task is one of the most popular workflow actions. It's always in the top five when I run "know your workflow" analysis for my customers. How much of it do you really know? How many of the options have you used? In this blog post series, we'll cover how this task works. This post will cover behavior.

  5. Assign flexi task to a variable that was filled from different workflow

    +1 michaels 2 replies Hi folks, I am working for one year now with Nintex 2016 (on premise) and stopped in a problem with a flexi task. I have a main workflow that collects data (also for people) and starts a subworkflow. In that subworkflow I have a flexi-task. The assigned person in the flexi-task is handed over from main-wf into a startvariable.

  6. Assigning a variable to a Flexi Task workflow

    1. Use a Set a Variable action and type in your email address into it. 2. Use that variable in the Assign a Flexi Task action and see if that works. If it does, then whatever was in your variable before (when it wasn't working), it isn't being understood by the Flexi Task action.

  7. Nintex

    With Nintex workflow open, select Assign Flexi task Once you have dragged it to the workflow canvas, click the chevron next to the Assign Flexi task and select Configure from the list of options. When the configuration settings open up, in the Action tab add the Assignees name.

  8. Assign a task

    Use the Assign a task action to assign a task and direct the workflow based on the task outcome. The workflow sends the task to a recipient, and then pauses till an outcome is received. There can be multiple outcomes for the workflow instance depending on the task outcome received.

  9. Workflow tasks

    Flexi task tasks, also known as multi-outcome tasks, are created when a Nintex workflow containing an Assign Flexi task action is run. Flexi task tasks are represented by the MultiOutcomeTask class, in the Nintex.Workflow.HumanApproval namespace. Getting running workflow tasks

  10. The Magnificent Flexi Task

    Escalation Sometimes reminders aren't sufficient to get a task completed — for example, if the assignee is out of the office due to illness. There are two escalation options to deal with this. You can delegate the task to someone else, or you can complete the task automatically.

  11. Flexi Task with a Data Entry Nintex Form

    Nintex Forms/Workflow - Flexi Task with a Data Entry Nintex Form In the past, I've been asked for the best way to have an approval form where some more information will be required from the approver.

  12. Creating multiple Assign Flexi Tasks can impact on workflow size?

    Your approach would be the most logical one: determine based on the criteria which of the 10 possible assignees need to be selected and use 1 Flexitask. Keep in mind that you have inline functions available which may take over some of the work, reducing the number of actions you use.

  13. Flexi task, Loop, multiple items need approvals

    +14 MegaJerk Scholar 819 replies 6 years ago Why not consider an Item based workflow for this type of thing? If you try to loop over a collection of items, and assign tasks to them (which I'm not even sure if that's possible on a site-workflow level), you're going to have a bad time.

  14. Fill custom column in Assign-Flexi-Task

    7 years ago 8 replies 29 views F +2 felix 7 replies hi guys, i tried to add some values to assign-flexi-Task, which is generated out of an list workflow. Everytime the workflow add the value the Task (in tasklist) can´t be answerd anymore.

  15. Tasks

    A task is a job assigned to a person. The workflow pauses until the assignee responds to the task. In Nintex Automation Cloud, the types of tasks are Express approval and Form-based. For more information on task types, see Assign a task to multiple users. The My Nintex Tasks page displays all the tasks that are assigned to you.

  16. Assign to-do task

    Assigns a task to one or more users. The workflow waits for task completion before continuing. For more information on the task review process, see Approving, rejecting, and viewing tasks. The fields and options displayed in the configuration settings dialog box for this action depend on the button clicked in the General ribbon.

  17. Assign flexi task

    1 reply Whenever Workflow is going through Assign flexi task the workflow is running twice or thrice by its own, either error occured or completed. the WF re-run as per the entry time and exit time of assigne flexi task. This is happeing from past 2 weeks also we used to be notified whenever WF error occured. Please guide us!!! Thanks in advance,

  18. Assign a Task to Multiple Users in Nintex Workflow Cloud

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  19. Presidential Policy Directive 8 Help

    Important. When designing start forms - The start form is auto-generated. All workflow variables that are set to Show on start form are added to the gestalt when the form is first edited int Nintex Forms. Once the formulare has been saved, any new workflow variables that were set to Show on start form will not be displayed on an f rm. To add the new workflow variable onto the form, drag and ...