Workflow management rules form the core of your workflow. With the appropriate tools, you can simplify tasks, identify bottlenecks, and automate repetitive tasks. However, even the most well-planned plans can be scuppered by unexpected events or errors by employees. A workflow management system can identify potential problems before they become serious issues and help you avoid permanent damage by quickly resolving these.

There are various types of workflows, depending on how complicated your workflow is. Sequential workflows consist of a series of steps that must be performed in order. One step is not able to begin until the preceding one is completed. State-machine workflows require input from several team members, and frequently are repeated until the task is completed. Rules-driven workflows follow a sequential format but they also incorporate additional rules. These are usually designed as conditional statements, such as “if this then that”. Parallel workflows are designed to accomplish a number of tasks simultaneously.

With Zoho’s workflow program, you can build and configure rules to monitor and then execute the outcome of any record, based on certain conditions. You can even send automated email notifications to the submitter and approver of the record when the rule is triggered. You can also make it automatic to update specified field values with a workflow rule.

If you are developing workflow rules for records, ensure that your approval and assignment procedures are set-up correctly to avoid conflicting assignments. For instance, you might want to assign a different approver for incidents based on their severity (e.g. high severity vs. low severity incidents). You can see whether there are any conflicts between rules when you look through the log of workflow rules. The log is accessible if you have Manage Workflow Rules or the wider system logs enabled.

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