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Discussion Forum API's

Discussion Forum API's

Status: Archived Submitted by 4-Participant on ‎Oct 01, 2015 10:13 AM
3 Comments (3 New)

A common complaint amongst Users is that the "conversation" that takes place in a workflow such as Votes and Comments is "buried".  I can find it, but I do sympathize as the Process Status is grouped with other display information that the everyday User doesn't care about (like the running process instance).

The idea is to leverage the Discussions Forum for Change Objects to capture and display the workflow "conversation".  I see Antonio Villanueva has accomplished this via Expression Robots (see WF Expression to auto create discussion topics and postings), but the API's to my knowledge are not public or supported for customization.  At the very least it would be great if these API's could become public/supported.  If this functionality were to get baked into the OOTB functionality then it probably needs a Preference to turn it on/off because not everyone is going to want it.

For those that are trying to get Users to leverage the Discussions and reduce the use of e-mail (which inevitably results in the loss of important information) having the (Change Object) Discussion as the easily accessible location for the workflow conversation would support adoption. 

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3 Comments
JeffZemsky
17-Peridot
17-Peridot
‎Oct 01, 2015 12:40 PM
‎Oct 01, 2015 12:40 PM

Keir,

with 10.2 M030 and the Native Task Templates you can display the Change object Discussion Forum on the workflow activity pages which might make it easier to interact & track any ongoing threads.

The idea above however seems more like a workaround.  Perhaps the idea might be around improving the visibility and control over the votes and comments?

kpritchard
4-Participant
4-Participant
‎Oct 01, 2015 02:35 PM
‎Oct 01, 2015 02:35 PM

Jeffrey,

Isolating the Votes and Comments display and customizing the Action Model for the Change object Process Tab would definitely help.  I've done a partial improvement on that by reordering the existing OOTB Actions in a custom Action Model for the Process Tab but I don't think had the desired positive impact on user perception.  Votes and Comments are also tied to the Workflow instance and not the pbo so things get lost a bit if you reassign the lifecycle which may start a new process instance.

The other aspect is trying to get traction on the use of the Discussions.  The thought was to try to get Users accessing the Discussion Forum and come to the realization of "Hey... we should use this instead of e-mails for...".  It's clearly a powerful tool to keep the collaborative discussion on a Part, CAD Document or Document... or at the Project/Product level.  The preceding statement actually illustrates some of what overwhelms users somewhat... which one should they add/access information to?

A supported API would also allow me to cc the Product/Project level Discussion when a Posting is made to a Discussion on a Part/CAD/Document within the Product/Project.

olivierlp
Community Manager
Community Manager
‎Jan 05, 2022 11:10 AM
‎Jan 05, 2022 11:10 AM
Status changed to: Archived

Hello,

We are archiving your idea as part of a general review. This action is based on the age of your idea and the total number of votes received, as per this announcement.

You can always post a new idea with all the details required in the form.

Thank you for your participation.