Workflow Portal
The Workflow Portal is the central place for editing tasks.
It is accessed using Tell Me. Choose the 
icon, enter Workflow Portal, and then choose the related link.
Here the members of a Workflow Team see the forthcoming tasks and the current editing status.
The Workflow Portal is divided into the list of the forthcoming tasks in the upper part, and the operating instructions for the selected task in the lower part of the page.
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If you are a member of several teams, the team codes are separated from each other with a vertical line (|) (for example, PURCHASING|SALES|WAREHOUSE). In case you are assigned to a workflow team that has full access, the Teams field contains an asterisk (*).
The Teams field shows to which Workflow Teams you belong. The system automatically generates this information based on the login and the workflow team assignments.
If the Member only toggle is turned on, then you see only the tasks of the teams to which you belong. If you turn off this checkbox, then you will see also the tasks of the teams that include your User ID, but the Is not Member checkbox is selected. This option is useful, for example, for an executive to see the tasks of their department.
Fields
The fields that are available in the task area are described in the following table.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Approval | If the Approval checkbox is selected, this task relates to an approval. When completing the task, you will be requested to grant or to decline the approval. For more information, see Approval Management. |
| Started | The Started checkbox shows whether a user has already started to work on the task. |
| Comment | The Comment checkbox shows you via symbols, whether team members added comments to the tasks. You can enter your comments in the comment page by choosing the pencil symbol. These comments will be forwarded onto the successive tasks of a workflow, and can be seen, modified, and extended by choosing the symbol. |
| No. | The No. field contains the number of the task. |
| Complete | By selecting the Complete checkbox, you can finish processing the task. When completing a task, it will be checked whether the exit condition of the corresponding workflow line is met. |
| Cancel | Select the Cancel checkbox, if you want to cancel this task. To be able to cancel a task, the Workflow Administrator checkbox must be selected for this user in the COSMO Workflow User Setup page. |
| Read | The Read checkbox shows whether a task in the workflow portal has already been viewed by you. |
| Description | The Description field contains the description of the task. This information is copied from the task template. |
| Enquiry | The Enquiry checkbox is selected, if the task represents an enquiry regarding another workflow task. When a user sends an enquiry regarding a task to another workflow team, this enquiry is selected in the Enquiry created checkbox. If at least one of the enquiries has been completed, the Enquiry partially completed checkbox is selected. If all enquiries have been completed, then the Enquiry completed checkbox is selected. |
| Task Category | Use the Task Category field to classify the tasks or to indicate priorities. The user can filter on any task category. |
| Team Code | The Team Code field contains the team to which the task was sent and which is responsible for its processing. |
| From User ID | The From User ID field contains the User ID of the user who created the task. This field is populated by the application automatically and cannot be edited. |
| Sending Date / Sending Time | The Sending Date and Sending Time fields are populated automatically by the system and indicate the date and time when the task was created. |
| Reference | The Reference field contains information about the record that the user should work on. |
| Start Date / Start Time | The Start Date and Start Time fields contain the date and time when the processing of the task began. |
| Started by | The Started by field indicates which user started working on the task. |
| Due Date | The Due Date field shows the due date for the task. |
The fields in the Task Statistics FactBox are described below.
- The Open Tasks field shows the amount of uncompleted workflow tasks for your team.
- The Due Tasks field shows the amount of the tasks that are due today.
- The Overdue Tasks field shows the amount of the tasks whose Due Date is older than today.
- The Tasks without Due Date field shows the amount of tasks without a due date.
Processing a Task in the Workflow Portal
To process a task in the Workflow Portal, follow these steps.
- Open the Workflow Portal by using Tell Me. Choose the icon, enter Workflow Portal, and then choose the related link.
- Select the row of the task which should be executed.
- Choose the Show Task action on the Process menu.
The page with the related record will be opened. Here you can execute the task.
- After you have finished editing, close the page. You will get back into the Workflow Portal.
To complete the tasks in the Workflow Portal, follow these steps.
- Select the row of the relevant task.
- Choose the Complete action on the Process menu.
- If not all the conditions for the completion of a task are valid and the exit condition has been defined as a strict condition, the task cannot be completed in the workflow portal.
- If you try to complete the task anyway by selecting the Complete checkbox, the Condition Lines page opens. In this page, you can see the conditions that are not valid.
- If you have started to work on a task but you do not want to or cannot complete it, you can release it to the other team members choosing the Release action (the Started checkbox will be cleared). Another team member could then take over the completion of the task. A confirmation message about the release of the task for another user is displayed.
- If you have started a task and another team member tries to work on the task at the same time, the other user will receive a message asking whether to show the task anyway.
- When all the conditions for the completion of the task are valid, choose the Complete action in the workflow portal. The task will be removed from the workflow portal and the succeeding workflow task (if available) will be issued to the responsible team.
- In the Text field, you can write additional comments and information which can be viewed by the creator of the task after the task has been completed. This is especially useful when working with the Forward action that is available in the COSMO Workflow Context Menu.
- To add additional text, select an empty line at the end of the task description.
Actions Menu
There are further functions available on the Actions menu. The functions are described in the following table.
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Show Task | Starts processing of the task. Depending on the settings in the task template, this record will be opened in a corresponding page. |
| Complete | This option allows you to finish one or more of the selected tasks. Approval requests can be completed only one by one. |
| Cancel | You can select several tasks and cancel them all at the same time. This option can be used only by those users, for whom the Workflow Administrator checkbox in the COSMO Workflow User Setup page is selected. |
| Release | Releases the task for another team member. |
| Delegate | If you want to delegate a task to another team, you can use this option. The application then shows you the list of workflow teams, from which you can select the desired one. To be able to delegate tasks you need to have delegation rights in your workflow team (the Delegation allowed checkbox in the Workflow Team Users page is selected). |
| Change Due Date | Opens a page in which you can enter a new date. |
| Show Task Instructions | If a path to a document was provided in the task template, you can access it here. |
| Enter Approval Code | By using this function together with an approval code, you can directly issue an approval to a specific approval request (which you have got, for example, by email) without looking for and completing the corresponding task in the workflow portal. After you have entered the approval code you must press the Enter key. Then the application identifies the corresponding task (approval request), finishes it and waits for the approval decision. If no corresponding task could be found, an error message is displayed. The reason can be, for example, a typing error or the task might already have been completed. |
| Update team filter | Use this function to load the new structure of workflow teams if the membership of a user has been changed. Otherwise the new structure of workflow teams will be effective only after restarting the application. |
| Use this function to print a task from the workflow portal. |
Related Menu
Choose Portal > Approvals on the Related menu to overview open as well as completed tasks, for which you have issued an approval. Here you have the possibility to withdraw your approval. In order to do it, select the corresponding record and then choose the Withdraw Approval action on the action bar.
Choose Portal > Incomplete Enquiries to open the list of the enquiries that were initiated by you and have not yet been completed.
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The Workflow Administrator can see the approvals of all users.
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