Welcome to the ProcNest guide
This guide shows you, jargon-free, how to build your Artifacts and Processes, start process instances and follow the work with the My tasks and Activity pages. Allow about fifteen minutes to go through it all.
The key concepts in one picture
ProcNest rests on five words. The first two, Artifact and Process, are designed once and reused as often as you like: the Artifact produces documents, the Process is the blueprint of every process instance.
Artifact
Automatically produced documents: it asks a few questions, then fills in your Word or PowerPoint template with the answers.
Process
The blueprint of work that repeats: the steps, who does what, in which order and by when. Each time you start it, it becomes a process instance.
Process instance
A real run of a process: "Marie's onboarding, November 3". It has dates, people and a status.
My tasks
Your task list: what is expected of you, sorted by due date.
Activity
The log: recent events on your process instances.
A running example. Throughout this guide we use "onboarding a new employee". An Artifact generates the employment contract; a Process chains account creation, equipment, training and welcome; each new arrival becomes a Process instance; the departments involved see their tasks in My tasks.
Your journey in 7 steps
Follow the pages in order the first time; afterwards you can come back to them like a cheat sheet.
Create an Artifact
Prepare a document template and its questions.
5 min → 2Create a Process
Draw the flow of steps and publish it.
5 min → 3Use an Artifact in a Process
Have a step generate your documents.
3 min → 4Start a process instance
Choose the process, the start date and the participants.
3 min → 5My tasks and Activity
Follow your tasks and the log.
4 min → 6Users and roles
For administrators: give roles and set permissions.
4 min → 7Enterprise parameters
Company-wide values to use in processes and artifacts.
3 min → 8Calculated variables
Variables whose value comes from a formula over other variables.
4 min → 9Personas
The roles of the organization (CTO, HR director…) that steps are assigned to.
3 min → 7Campaigns
Start a process instance for every row of a file or of a table.
4 min → 8Routines
Automatically start a process instance at regular intervals.
3 min → 10Hooks
Start a process instance when Azure DevOps creates a work item.
5 min → 9Azure DevOps item
Create a work item in Azure DevOps from a step.
4 min →Finding your way around the application
To sign in, open the application: on the Sign in screen, type your email and click Continue. ProcNest finds your organization and sends you to the Microsoft sign-in; if several organizations use your email, pick yours on the Choose your organization screen. If none is found, type the identifier of your organization (given by your administrator) in Organization identifier.
Once you are signed in, everything happens under the tab bar. Play the animation for a quick tour.
Welcome
Pick a tab to get startedMy tasks
3 assigned to you, sorted by due dateActivity
3 recent events, newest firstProcess instances
Follow the process instances you startedProcesses
Design the processes your process instances are built fromYour account: the avatar at the top right
Click your avatar at the top right of the screen: a menu shows your name and email address, then offers three actions.
- View account: opens the page of your Microsoft account in a new tab.
- Sign in with a different account: takes you to the account picker so you can sign in with another account.
- Sign out: ends your session; you will need to sign in again to come back to ProcNest.
English and French: the labels
ProcNest is available in English and in French: you choose the language in the Settings menu, Language section (or with the language selector of the sign-in screen). This guide quotes the English labels, written exactly as they appear on screen (New process, Save draft…) so you can find them easily. If your screen is in French, it uses the equivalent words:
| Label in this guide (English) | On a French screen |
|---|---|
| My tasks | Mes tâches |
| Activity | Activité |
| API call | Appel d'API |
| Process instances | Instances de process |
| Processes | Process |
| Artifacts | Artefacts |
| New process instance / New process / New artifact | Nouvelle instance de process / Nouveau process / Nouvel artefact |
| Process editor / Document editor | Éditeur de process / Éditeur de documents |
| Save draft / Publish | Enregistrer le brouillon / Publier |
| Save / Cancel / Edit | Enregistrer / Annuler / Modifier |
| View details / Overview / Version history | Voir les détails / Aperçu / Historique des versions |
| Delete / Delete process / Delete artifact / Delete process instance | Supprimer / Supprimer le process / Supprimer l’Artefact / Supprimer l’instance de process |
| Properties / Attachments / Outcomes | Propriétés / Pièces jointes / Résultats |
| Review / Generate | Relecture / Générer |
| Settings / Language | Paramètres / Langue |
| Users and roles / Users / Roles / Permissions | Utilisateurs et rôles / Utilisateurs / Rôles / Permissions |
| Edit roles / New role / Create role | Modifier les rôles / Nouveau rôle / Créer le rôle |
| Built-in / Default | Intégré / Par défaut |
| Campaigns / New campaign / Start the campaign | Campagnes / Nouvelle campagne / Lancer la campagne |
| Import a file / Add a row / Import the rows / Not imported | Importer un fichier / Ajouter une ligne / Importer les lignes / Non importé |
| View processes / Create artifacts / Edit artifacts / Delete processes | Consulter les process / Créer des artefacts / Modifier les artefacts / Supprimer des process |
| Manage all processes and artifacts | Gérer tous les process et artefacts |
| Start process instances / Work on tasks | Lancer des instances de process / Travailler sur les tâches |
The texts that you write (names of processes, steps, variables, questions…) stay in the language you typed them in.
Glossary
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Template | Your model file (Word or PowerPoint) containing blanks to fill in, for example {{Name}}. |
| Placeholder | The name of a blank in a template. It is written between double curly braces. |
| Publish | Make a version of your Artifact or your Process available to others. A process must be published before it can be started. |
| Contributors | The people allowed to work on a Process or an Artifact (field filled in when it is created). |
| Phase, Email, Document, Meeting, Task, Milestone | The types of steps in a process. |
| Outcome | A piece of information to fill in when a step is finished (for example "Contract signed: Yes / No"). |
| Team | For a personal account, a shared space: you see the processes and process instances of all your teams. |
| Role (rights) | A named set of permissions (Administrator, User, Viewer…), given to people. Not to be confused with the role of a person in a step (Assigned, Reviewer…) (learn more). |
| Permission | One precise thing you are allowed to do (Edit processes, View my tasks…). A role groups permissions. |
| Built-in role (Built-in) | One of the three roles that come with ProcNest (Administrator, User, Viewer): it cannot be renamed or deleted. |
Vocabulary
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Process | The template of a recurring piece of work, drawn in the editor. |
| Step | A block of the process: an email, a meeting, a document, a milestone… It is what you draw. |
| Process instance | A real run of a process: with real people, real dates and a progress. |
| Task | What a person has to do in a process instance: each step of the process becomes a task. You find them in My tasks. |
| Participant | A seat to fill in a process (for example "the manager"), taken by a real person when the process instance starts. |
| Variable | A piece of information the process reads and fills in (an arrival date, an amount…). It is also used by conditions and documents. |
| Condition | A Condition block that chooses the path to follow according to the values of the variables. |
| Artifact | A reusable set that produces documents: templates, questions and variables. |
| Placeholder | A zone to fill in a document template, written {{Name}}. |
| Attachment | A file attached to a step (then to the task): an uploaded file, a generated document or a document from another task (Attachments). |
| My tasks | The page that lists your tasks, most urgent first. |
| Activity | The log of what others did on your process instances. |
| API call | A REST, SOAP or GraphQL call defined on a Task step, that the person who does the task can make; the values of the response go into variables (learn more). |
| Azure DevOps step | A step that creates a work item (product backlog item, bug, task...) in Azure DevOps when the person who does the task clicks Create the item; its number and address go into variables. |