IBM Enterprise Records, Version 5.1.2    

Workflows

IBM® Enterprise Records includes workflows that help automate the review and disposal of record categories, record folders, volumes, and records. A workflow includes the tasks, procedural steps, personnel, input and output information, and tools for each step in a business process.

You can modify existing workflows and create new workflows. Most of the IBM Enterprise Records workflows are run automatically. This automation is the result of either the Disposition Sweep process or the execution of an action associated with the workflow. The Physical Record Management workflow and the Create Record Folder workflow must be manually run.

When you create a disposition phase in a disposition schedule, you must associate a disposition action and a disposition workflow with the phase. At the end of the retention period of entities in a particular phase, the entities are due for disposition. You must manually initiate the disposition action which runs the associated disposition workflow. For more information about the disposition process, see the disposition schedule topics:

Before you can start using the workflows, you need to complete configuration tasks. These tasks are completed during the IBM Enterprise Records installation. For more information, see the Configuring workflows topic in the IBM Enterprise Records Installation and Upgrade Guide.

Types of workflows

The following workflows are provided in IBM Enterprise Records.

Workflow notifications

The system shows notification messages that include information about the status, failure, and validation errors encountered while the workflow is in progress. There are four types of notification messages that include the following items:

Transcript

A transcript is an XML file that the system generates when the disposition action is performed successfully on entities approved for disposition. This file contains information about: The system automatically sends this file as an attachment to the records manager. The records manager can view this file, save it to a local drive, or open the file in a browser.

Warning

IBM Enterprise Records shows a warning message when the value specified for the various fields in a particular step of a workflow is incorrect or missing from required fields. If you do not specify the value of the Location field in the Physical Transfer step of the Interim Transfer workflow, you see the warning message through IBM Enterprise Records.

Information and status messages

IBM Enterprise Records shows information and status messages for the Physical Record Management and Create Record Folder workflows. The messages contain the status of entities or any other relevant information about the entities. For example, if the current holder of a physical entity delays the release of the entity, IBM Enterprise Records places the message as a work item in the Inbox of the person who is scheduled to receive the entity. For more information about the information and status messages, see the physical entities topic and the creating a record folder by using a workflow topic.

Failures and exceptions

Failure and exception messages show the affected entities and the reasons for the failure of a workflow step. For example, you complete the Cutoff step for a batch of 10 entities and out of these 10 entities, two entities are reopened. In this situation, this message indicates that the Cutoff action is not completed for the two entities and shows the cause of the failure.

In the Message step, click Complete to complete the workflow step that failed, and remove the work item from the Inbox. You can correct the problem and run the workflow again to complete the step properly. In the example given earlier, you can close the two entities for which the Cutoff step failed and run the workflow again.



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Last updated: November 2013
managing_workflows.htm

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