Documentation › Create a Process
Create a Process: the blueprint of your work
A Process is the blueprint for work that repeats: which steps, in what order, assigned to whom, with what deadlines. You draw it like a diagram, then each time you start it, it becomes a concrete process instance.
In the process you draw steps; once a process instance is started, each step becomes a task given to a person.
What is a Process for?
The step types available in the editor:
| Step | It represents… |
|---|---|
| Phase | A group of steps, with a recommended duration and, if needed, a number of repetitions ("Group steps and repeat them"). |
| An email to send: recipients (To, CC, BCC), subject and message body. | |
| Meeting | A meeting: required and optional attendees (Required attendees, Optional attendees), subject and invitation message. |
| Document | One or more documents to produce or provide (see the Use an Artifact in a Process page). |
| Task | A free-form task carried out by the assigned person. |
| Azure DevOps | Creates a work item (product backlog item, bug, task…) in Azure DevOps. How it works. |
| Milestone | A key point in the process. |
| Condition | A branch: the path depends on conditions. |
| Wait | A wait: for a delay (months, days, hours, minutes) or until a given moment (next Monday, a day of next month, a date). |
| Join Bar | Merges several paths into one. |
| End | The end of the process. |
1. Create the Process
- Open the Processes tab
Click Processes in the top bar.
- Click New process
The Create New Process panel opens.
- Name it
Enter the Process name (required) and, if needed, the Contributors who will be able to edit it.
- Click Save
The process appears in the list. Use the pencil Edit to open the editor.
2. Draw the flow
- Declare the people and the variables (Start block)
Double-click Start (Editor Configuration): you will find a Description (what the process does, visible to the people who start it), the list of Variables (the process's information) and Users and groups (the people and groups from which you will pick the owners). A group can also have participants (With participants): seats to be taken, filled with real people when the process instance starts.
- Add the steps
Drag Email, Meeting, Document, Task, Milestone or Phase from the left column onto the grid.
- Link them
Drag a link from a step's handle to the next one. Use Condition to create alternative paths and Join Bar to merge them.
- Finish with End
Place an End step at the end of each path to mark the end of the process.
Processes
Design the processes your process instances are built fromCreate New Process
Processes
Design the processes your process instances are built fromEmail — Send an email when this step runs
3. Configure a step
Double-click a step: its panel opens. Depending on the type, you will find tabs there:
| Tab | What you set there |
|---|---|
| Properties | The name (Title), the Required option (mandatory step), the assigned people (Assigned to), the description, the estimated effort and the reminder before the due date. |
| Attachments | The step's files: to upload, to provide later, or generated from a template. |
| Outcomes | The information to fill in when the step is finished. It is mandatory if the step is Required. |
| Reviewers | The people who check the step's result before it is considered done. |
| Signers / Validators | The people who sign the documents of a Document step (Signers), or who confirm that a milestone has been reached (Validators, Milestone step). |
| Appearance | The step's colors in the diagram (purely for visual comfort). |
A Required step has to be completed: it can only be set to "Done" once all its Outcomes are filled in.
Wait until Monday, next month or a date
In the panel of a Wait step, the Wait list chooses what the process waits for:
| Choice | The process goes on… |
|---|---|
| For a delay | after the time entered (Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, Years). |
| Until next weekday | on the coming Monday, Tuesday… chosen in Weekday. If today is already that day, the process waits for the following week. |
| Until a day of next month | on the day chosen in Day of next month (1 for "the beginning of next month"). In a shorter month, it goes on on the last day of the month. |
| Until a date | on the Date chosen, or on the date held by a Date variable (Linked variable button). A date already past does not make the process wait. |
For the last three choices, Time of the day sets the time the process goes on (09:00 by default). The steps after the wait start at that moment. Until a date needs a date: without one, the step cannot be saved.
4. Save and publish
- Save draft
Saves a minor version (draft): handy for carrying on later. A dialog asks you to confirm first.
- Publish
Publishes a major version. A dialog asks you to confirm first. This is the one you will be able to choose when you start a process instance.
Only published processes are offered when you start a process instance. If yours cannot be found, check that it has actually been published.
View the details
To see who created a Process, when, and how many versions exist, click the View details icon (the “i”) on its row in the Processes page. A panel opens on the right, without leaving the list:
- Overview: the creator (name and email), the creation date, the last modification, the latest version and the number of process instances started from the Process.
- Version history: every version, from the newest to the oldest, with its date. A draft is flagged Draft, a published version Published, and the newest one Latest.
The Open process button opens the editor; Close, the cross or the Esc key close the panel. The pen icon (Edit) opens the editor straight away, without showing the panel.
5. Delete a Process
A Process you no longer need is deleted from the Processes page: click the bin icon (Delete) on its row, or open it in the editor and choose More → Delete process. Confirm, and the Process leaves the list.
- Only the owner of the Process, or one of its contributors, can delete it.
- While process instances were started from it, deletion is refused: delete those process instances first.
A deleted Process can no longer be chosen to start a process instance.
Good practices
- Name steps by their result: "Send the offer" rather than "Step 3".
- One step = one owner: always fill in "Assigned to" so the task lands on the right person's My tasks page.
- Set realistic durations (effort, phase duration): they feed the due dates you will see afterwards.
- Keep the diagram readable: use the colors in the Appearance tab to tell departments apart.
- Publish in small versions: test with a first process instance, then improve.
Permissions
What you can do with a Process depends on your roles. You need Create processes to see the New process button. To edit a Process (Save draft, Publish) or to delete it, you need Edit processes or Delete processes and to be its owner or a contributor (unless you have Manage all processes and artifacts). Otherwise the pencil, the trash, Save draft and Publish are hidden. With the Viewer role you can only look.
Rights on processes are separate from those on Artifacts: being a contributor of an Artifact does not let you edit a process.
Everything about roles and permissions: Users and roles.