Anatomy of a Workflow

Updated on 13 Sep 2023
5 Minutes to read

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A workflow is made up of several different pieces. But primarily there are the following two main components.

States - state of the workflow, such as Started, In Progress, In Review, Completed
Transitions - how to move from one state to another, such as reviewing, addressing comments, finalising task

1.1. Workflow Transitions

When you transition a workflow, you can perform several different operations.

Make transition occur via a condition
Perform several activities on the workflow item
Capture additional data from the user

Together, this makes a very powerful and flexible tool. But it can require a little time to set up. You can configure a workflow to be as specific or as general as you want, using the workflow input variables.

1.2. Workflow Variables

When a workflow activity is run as the result of a transition or the evaluation of a condition, it gathers information about the current context. This information is made available to you as variables. The variables available entirely depends on where it is being run from. This could be one of the following:

A job attribute
A task instance of a task type
A file attribute
A folder attribute
A 12d Model project

1.3. What are Variable Inputs used for?

Take the example of a workflow activity that locks a file. Which file should it lock? You don't want it to always lock the same file. It might be the file that is part of the workflow, or maybe it's something else entirely. Workflow variable inputs give you the power to choose what it should be.

1.4. How do you Define a Variable?

All the workflow inputs are text based. You can you can just simply put the variable in { } curly brackets.
For example, to lock the current file in my workflow, you have to enter {entity}.
In this case, entity is a special variable that is always available, and it refers to the item that the workflow is attached to.

Variables can have sub properties too. For example, if to send an email that uses the file name, as the subject of the email, you will enter {entity.Name}.

1.5. Available Variables

The types of variables available depends entirely on where the workflow is being executed from. Below is the list of available variables.

1.5.1. File workflows

Variable	Description
Actor	The contact performing the transition / activity
Entity	The current file
File	The current file
Folder	The folder that holds the file
Job	The job that the file belongs to

1.5.2. Job Workflows

Variable	Description
Actor	The contact performing the transition / activity
Entity	The current job
Job	The current job

1.5.3. Folder workflows

Variable	Description
Actor	The contact performing the transition / activity
Entity	The current folder
Folder	The current folder
Job	The job that the folder belongs to

1.5.4. 12d Model Project workflows

Variable	Description
Actor	The contact performing the transition / activity
Entity	The current 12d Model project
12dProject	The current 12d Model project
Folder	The folder that the 12d Model project belongs to
Job	The job that the 12d Model project belongs to

1.5.5. Task workflows

Variable	Description
Actor	The contact performing the transition / activity
Entity	The current task
Task	The current task
Job	The job that the task belongs to

1.6. Variable Properties

Each of the different types of variables resolve to a particular entity within 12d Synergy, including

Files
Folders
Jobs
Contacts
12d Model Projects
Tasks

And each of these items has several properties, such as their name. They may also have attributes. For example, you might want to lock a file for the job's project manager. If this was captured in a variable called Project Manager, you would access it by mentioning {entity.Job.ProjectManager}.

1.6.1. File Properties

Variable	Description	Type
CheckOut	Information about the active check out	CheckOutInfo
CreatedDate	The time when this file was created	Date/Time
Extension	The extension of the file	Text
Folder	The folder that this file belongs to	Folder
ID	The identifier of the file	EntityID
LastUser	The last person to change the file	Contact
LastChanged	The last time this file was checked in	Date/Time
LastChangeType	The last operation performed on the file	Text
Link	A link to the file	Text
ModifiedDate	The last time the contents of the file were changed	Date/Time
Name	The name of the file	Text
NameNoExtension	The name of the file, without its extension	Text
Size	The size of the file, in bytes	Integer
Version	The version of the file	Integer

Any attribute attached to the file is available by its Name and not its display name.

1.6.2. CheckOutInfo Properties

Variable	Description	Type
User	Who has checked out the file	Contact
Time	When the file was checked out	Date/Time

1.6.3. Folder Properties

Variable	Description	Type
CheckOut	Information about the active check out, if there is one	CheckOutInfo
CreatedBy	The user who has created this folder	Contact
CreatedDate	The time when this folder was created	Date/Time
ID	The identifier of the folder	EntityID
Name	The name of the folder	Text
ParentFolder	The folder (in hierarchy) that this folder belongs to	Folder
ParentJob	The job that this folder belongs to	Job
Path	The path to the folder	Text

Any attribute attached to the folder is available by its Name and not its display name.