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What happens if I add a step to an active workflow?

Created on 17th September 2015 at 12:41 by Jamie O'Connell

It is possible to add a workflow step to an active workflow.

However, you should be aware of what will happen to the status of each element in that workflow. Specifically, all items will retain their previous status, even if the new step is added before a step that contains active items. This is because the new step does not cause other steps to become invalid.

Therefore, if you wish for all of the content to go through the new workflow step, you need to ensure that there is no existing active content in any subsequent workflow steps.

This lesson will demonstrate the above in more detail.

NOTE:
Any items that were already active in a later workflow step will be automatically marked as 'Done' for the new step, i.e., they remain committed to the later workflow step.

Running workflow

We are going to insert an 'External Review' step into the above workflow. It will be inserted between the 'Internal Review' and 'Final Review' steps.

This means that each active job item at the 'Final Review' step (1) will retain its status, and automatically bypass the new 'External Review' step. In other words, each of these items will be automatically marked as 'Done' in the new 'External Review' step.

Each active job item at the 'Internal Review' step (2) will also retain its status, but will be required to pass through the new 'External Review' step.

Pause workflow

A workflow must be paused before you make any changes to it.

Click the 'Pause' button to pause the workflow.

Add workflow step

In this example, we are going to add an 'External Review' step after the 'Internal Review' step.

To do this, simply click the plus '+' button beside a step title. This will insert a new workflow step after this step.

Set up new step and resume workflow

The 'External Review' step has been inserted and set up (renamed; user added).
You can now resume the workflow by pressing the 'Start Workflow' button.
The items in the 'Final Review' will stay where they are once the workflow has been resumed.

NOTE:
The status of the job items will not be updated until the workflow is restarted. This is why there is a discontinuity between the progress bars at this time.

Job items are updated

The status of each job item is now updated to reflect the changes that have taken place.

Specifically:

Every item that was active in a workflow step after the new step retains its earlier status. These items are automatically marked as 'Done' in the new step and, as such, are not required to pass through the new step for review.
Every item that was active in a workflow step before the new step also retains its earlier status. These items must yet move through the rest of the workflow including the new step.