About Workflow Rules
Workflow is the management and coordination of work actions to support business processes. Siebel CRM On Demand allows you to use workflow rules to configure the system to perform certain work actions automatically. A workflow rule is an instruction to the system to perform one or more actions each time a specified event occurs.
About Setting Up Workflow Rules Functionality
To enable the workflow rules functionality in Siebel CRM On Demand, your application must be configured by Customer Care and by your company administrator:
- Customer Care setup. When workflow is set up by Customer Care, the Administer Workflow Rules link is visible in the Business Process Management section of the Admin Homepage. Also, the Administrator user role has the Manage Data Rules - Manage Workflow Rules privilege enabled. For more information about user roles, see Adding Roles.
- Enable Workflow option. Workflow rules cannot be executed until the company administrator selects the Enable Workflow check box on the Company Profile page. For information about configuring your company profile, see Setting Up Your Company Profile and Global Defaults.
- Integration events. If your company wants to use workflow rules to create integration events, contact Customer Care to request support for Integration Event Administration and to specify the size of the Integration Queue you require. For more information about managing integration events, see About Integration Events.
- Books. If your company wants to use workflow rules to update the associations between records and books, contact Customer Care to request support for Book Management. For more information about book management, see Setting Up Books.
Workflow Rule Trigger Events and Actions
A workflow rule is evaluated when the event specified on the rule (the trigger event) occurs. If the conditions on the rule are met (or if there are no conditions on the rule), the actions specified on the rule are performed.
For example, you can create a workflow rule to specify that when an opportunity is created (the workflow rule trigger event), an email is to be sent to the opportunity owner's manager (the workflow rule action). You can also specify that the email is to be sent only if the revenue on the opportunity is in excess of a certain amount (the workflow rule condition), and you can specify the content of the email.
Workflow rules can be triggered when:
You cannot configure time-based workflow rules—for example, you cannot configure rules that are triggered by a record's due date having passed, or by a record not having been worked on for some time. Workflow rules are configured for a record as a whole, and not for individual fields.
There are six types of trigger events. Depending on the trigger event, you can specify that the system is to automatically perform one or more actions when the workflow rule conditions are met.
NOTE: After a rule is created, you cannot change the record type or trigger event on the rule. However, you can update the workflow condition.
The following table shows the actions that are available for each trigger event.
Trigger Event
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Available Actions
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When new record saved
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- Create Email Notification
- Create Task
- Assign a Book
- Create Integration Event
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When modified record saved
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- Create Email Notification
- Create Task
- Assign a Book
- Create Integration Event
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When record is deleted
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- Create Email Notification
- Create Task
- Create Integration Event
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Before modified record saved
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After association with parent
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- Create Email Notification
- Create Integration Event
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After dissociation from parent
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- Create Email Notification
- Create Integration Event
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The following information applies to workflow rules and rule actions:
Association and Dissociation Trigger Events
Association and dissociation trigger events on workflow rules are supported only for associations between accounts and contacts, and between opportunities and contacts. The actions that are available for association and dissociation trigger events are as follows:
- Create Email notification
- Create integration event
The following table describes the actions that can trigger an association or dissociation workflow rule. It also shows the integration events that are generated by the workflow rule in each case (if an integration event action is configured on the workflow rule).
NOTE: Depending on the data in the records, additional integration events can be generated. For example, if a new contact created on an account is the primary contact for the account, an additional (account update) integration event is generated.
Action
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Parent Record
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Child Record
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Channel
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Integration Event
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Create a new contact on an account.
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Account
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Contact
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User Interface
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Account: Update
Contact : Insert
Contact: Associate
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Web Services
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Contact: Insert
Contact: Associate
Account: Update
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Link an existing contact to an account.
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Account
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Contact
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User Interface
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Account Contact: Insert
Contact: Update
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Web Services
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Contact: Associate
Account: Update
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Remove a contact from an account.
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Account
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Contact
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User Interface
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Account Contact: Delete
Contact: Update
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Web Services
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Contact: Dissociate
Account: Update
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Link an existing account to a contact.
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Contact
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Account
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User Interface
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Account Contact: Insert
Account: Update
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Web Services
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Account Contact: Insert
Contact: Update
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Remove an account from a contact.
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Contact
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Account
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User Interface
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Account Contact: Delete
Contact: Update
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Web Services
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Account Contact: Delete
Contact: Update
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Create a new opportunity on a contact.
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Contact
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Opportunity
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User Interface
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Opportunity: Insert
Opportunity: Associate
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Web Services
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Opportunity: Insert
Opportunity: Associate
Contact: Update
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Remove an opportunity from a contact.
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Contact
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Opportunity
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User Interface
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Opportunity: Dissociate
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Web Services
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Opportunity: Dissociate
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Create a new contact on an opportunity.
NOTE: This action is not available through the user interface.
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Opportunity
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Contact
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Web Services
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Contact: Insert
Contact: Associate
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Link an existing contact to an opportunity.
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Opportunity
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Contact
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User Interface
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Opportunity: Update
Opportunity Contact Role: Insert
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Web Services
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Contact: Associate
Opportunity: Update
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Remove a contact from an opportunity.
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Opportunity
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Contact
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User Interface
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Opportunity Contact Role: Delete
Contact: Update
Opportunity: Update
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Web Services
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Contact: Dissociate
Opportunity: Update
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Workflow Rule Action Failures
If a workflow rule action fails to complete, the following happens:
- If an Update Value action fails, the operation that triggered the rule is blocked and none of the other actions on the workflow rule are performed. An error message displays to tell the user that the operation has failed.
- If any other type of workflow rule action fails, the user gets an error message but the operation that triggered the rule is not blocked, and other actions on the rule are performed.
Latency
Workflow rules are evaluated in sequence and synchronously. Therefore, until all the rules are evaluated, the overall update operation is not completed. Workflow rules add a certain amount of latency to operations (that is, the time between the start of an operation and its completion). For example, each task created by a workflow rule can add as much as 20% latency to a record update operation. Each email created by a workflow rule adds about 5% latency.
Expressions take less time to evaluate. To minimize latency, add restrictive expressions in your workflow conditions, so that the actions are executed only when necessary. Build your workflow rules incrementally, keeping performance in mind.
Click a topic to see step-by-step procedures to do the following:
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