Workflow Change Task with Multiple, Sequential Reviewers

[JimTenHoven]

We are developing our first Windchill CM workflow. One of our requirements is to have multiple, sequential reviewers for certain change tasks. Can someone provide information whether and how this can be accomplished? Our technical support folks don't have an answer. Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Jim

[MikeLockwood]

Absolutely. Fundamental to the system and very flexible. The only somewhat tricky part is handling all the possible situations of some approving / some not appproving and cleaning looping back. Need to make a one-time global decision whether to loop back by:

a) Simply go back within the same workflow process, allowing for editing of the request

b) Revise the request instead, which terminates the current workflow process and starts another

Option a is simpler but has the disadvantages that approvers see what appears to be the same thing multiples times, and the routing / process history table has some "churning" going on. Using this option, you also need to include set state robots such that the request is at an editable state when it loops back for editing and re-submitting.

Option b has the advantages of being able to compare Revisions of the request, and having a clean routing / process history table with only approvals when it is finally done.

Please contact me directly if desired.

mike.lockwood@alconlabs.com

[MatthewKnight]

How do you determine how many "steps?"

If it's always two (or any number), then that's easy.

In your container team, create a role like "A Reviewers."

In your container team, create a role like "B Reviewers."

In your workflow template, first create an activity for "A Reviewers," then the next for "B Reviewers."

If it's always the same people, that works. If not, it can get more complicated.

If you don't know how many steps until runtime, you might do it with a loop to the same activity (with an expression in between). In the expression, determine if you need to send it back to the review and populate the wt team's role with the appropriate players, or send it a different direction (away from the review).

If relying on the wt team's role's for activities, be careful with OOTB set states. They tend to reset your business object's team with members from the container team.

Do you need to send it to a group of people or an individual at one time? If an individual, I think the activity template has the option of sending it to a principal resolved from a wf variable.