The big picture#
A workflow is the path a request follows after it is submitted. It is a list of steps, one after another. A step can ask a person to decide, send an email, or choose a route.
If a process has no steps, requests are captured at once and nobody has to approve them.
You design a workflow on the canvas. It looks like a flow chart, from a Request submitted pill at the top to an Approved pill at the bottom.
Open the workflow designer#
Forgeyour processForge Workflow
You can also open the ⋮ menu on a process card in the gallery and choose Configure workflow.
You need permission to configure that process's workflow. You get it by holding the Forge workflow – editor permission, or by being given Can configure the workflow on that one process. See Who can do what.
Build a workflow#
- Open the designer. A new process shows No steps yet. With none configured, submissions are captured instantly (no approval).
- Click Add the first step. You can also click the + between any two steps later.
- Pick the kind of step: Approval task, Send email or Condition.
- Fill in the step's window, then click Save stage.
- Repeat for every step you need. Drag steps to reorder them.
- Open the settings gear. Give the workflow a Workflow name.
- Click Save. The button reads Saved when it worked.
- Switch the Active toggle on, in the gear, when you are ready for it to run.
Good to know:
- A new workflow starts switched off. Nothing runs until you switch Active on.
- Only one workflow can be active for a process at a time. Pick another from the workflow switcher at the top, or choose New workflow. The live one wears a Live tag.
- Undo and redo arrows sit in the top bar. Your unsaved edits are kept as a private draft, so closing the tab does not lose them. You are offered Restore or Discard next time.
- If a step cannot be reached, you get a warning and Save is blocked until you fix it.
- When you change a step's Stage type, the window warns that Changing the type clears this stage's current configuration.
The three kinds of step#
Approval task#
A person decides here. Choose Who approves:
| Choice | Who gets the request |
|---|---|
| Initiator of the request | The person who submitted it. |
| Selected user in your organisation | One named person. |
| Selected role in your organisation | Anyone who holds that role. |
| A user picked on the form | Whoever the submitter chose in a People field on the form. |
| Head, Sub-head or Head or sub-head of a department picked on the form | The leaders of the department the submitter chose in a Department field. |
| Any member of a department picked on the form | Anyone in that department. |
The last two groups need a People or Department field on the form. If your form has none, those choices are not offered. Add the field first, in Forge: fields, sections and smart rules.
Below Who approves, three coloured cards say what each decision does:
- If approved: the request continues to the next step. This is set by the step order.
- If rejected: choose where it goes. The default is Rejected · End the workflow. You can instead send it back to Stage 1 · Initiator (the start) so the submitter can rework it, or to any other step. A rejection can never end as approved.
- If redirected: when an approver sends the request back to an earlier step, choose what happens after that step approves again. Use the workflow default, Come back to this approver once it is re-approved, or Continue on from the stage it was sent back to.
Each card also has Email on this outcome, to send an email the moment that decision is made.
Ask the approver for more details#
Switch on Collect Additional Information at This Stage. A small extra form appears next to the approver's decision. Click Design fields to build it. It opens in a new tab. It shows Published or Draft. Remove takes it away, and Version history lets you make an older version live.
The answers are kept with that decision. They are also searchable in list filters and in workflow conditions. Remove may delete the answers already given through that form, so Hubtoll asks you to confirm first.
What an approver sees#
The approver opens the request and sees Your decision:
- Approve.
- Reject. A reason is required.
- Send back to: pick an earlier step, then click Send back. A reason is required.
If a stage form is on, the approver fills it in alongside the decision. Required questions must be answered. If the workflow needs a one-time code, a code window appears. See Confirm decisions with a code.
Send email#
This step emails someone and moves on. It never waits.
- Add a Send email step.
- Pick a Template, or click New to write one. See Write an email template.
- The step shows who the template sends to.
- Click Save stage.
Things to know:
- The template decides who receives the email, in its own To and Cc lines.
- If the template was switched off, the step shows a warning. Switch it back on, or pick another.
- If a request is sent back past an email step, whether the email goes out again depends on the redirect choice. The step explains which. Check it when you design a loop.
- Only Send email steps send mail. Hubtoll no longer sends its own automatic "you have an approval" email. If you want the next approver told, add a Send email step before their approval task.
Condition#
A condition looks at the answers and picks a route. It has one If these rules match branch and an Otherwise branch.
- Add a Condition step.
- Under If these rules match, build the rule. It uses the same And / Or builder as smart rules.
- Under Then send it to, pick the step the request goes to when the rule matches.
- Optional: under And update fields, pick a field and a value. These are saved on the record before the request moves on.
- Under Otherwise, pick where everything else goes. It is labelled Everything That Doesn't Match the Rule Above.
The rule can read the form's own answers. Numbers are compared as numbers, so 90000 is smaller than 500000.
And update fields lets a route fill in a field, for example set a Status to "Fast tracked". The value box matches the field: Yes / No / Clear it for a yes-or-no field, a date picker for a date, a person picker for a people field, and so on. Fields Hubtoll fills by itself, files and lists cannot be set here.
Workflow settings#
Click the gear in the top bar.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Workflow name | A name for you and your team. |
| Active | Switch on to make this the live workflow. |
| Redirection flow | Continue sequential approval or Return to redirecting user. The default for a step that sends a request back. |
| Editable when sent back to the initiator | When on, a request sent back to the person who submitted it can be changed by them. |
| Confirm each decision with a one time code | Every approval decision needs a 6-digit code. See below. |
When a request is sent back to the submitter#
If Editable when sent back to the initiator is on, the submitter sees This was sent back to you for changes. They click Revise answers, change the form, then click Resubmit. Cancel drops the changes. The request continues from where it was sent back.
If it is off, the submitter can only resubmit the request as it is.
Confirm decisions with a code#
Switch on Confirm each decision with a one time code. When an approver clicks Approve, Reject or Send back, Hubtoll asks for a 6-digit code from their authenticator app or email. Without the code the decision is not recorded.
The person who submits is never asked for a code when submitting. Only the deciding people are asked.
Write an email template#
Click Email templates in the top bar to see them all, or click New inside a step. The window has:
| Part | Notes |
|---|---|
| Template name | For your team. People who get the email never see it. |
| To | Who receives it. Separate several with commas. May contain merge fields. |
| Cc | Optional, same rules. |
| Subject | The email subject. May contain merge fields. |
| Body | The message. Use the designer, or switch to View source for the raw HTML. |
Merge fields are the clever part. A merge field is a placeholder. When the email is sent, Hubtoll swaps it for a real value.
Click a chip under Insert merge field and it is pasted into the box you used last. You can also type two curly brackets and pick from the list, or press Ctrl+Space. In the source view, typing a full stop after a People field lists its parts.
| Group | What it holds |
|---|---|
| The record | The request itself: its link, reference, dates, who submitted it, and the workflow and step names. |
| Record details | The form's own fields. |
| Custom form fields | Every field you added to the form. |
| People | The first name, last name, email and full name of anyone picked in a People field. |
| Departments | A department's head, sub-head, members and name. |
| Your company | Company name and logo. |
Useful merge fields:
| Chip | Becomes |
|---|---|
| Link to record | A clickable "Open the record" link. Raw value: {{submission.link}}. |
| Submitted by | {{submission.submittedByName}} and {{submission.submittedByEmail}}. |
| Their line manager | {{lineManager.email}} and the other parts. |
| Last approver | {{lastApprover.email}}, {{lastApprover.comment}} and {{lastApprover.decision}}. |
| Next approver | {{approvers.emails}} and {{approvers.names}}. Everyone who can act at the next approval step. |
| Company | {{corporate.name}} and {{corporate.logo}}. |
Rules:
- A person field becomes the person's full name when you use it on its own. Use the parts, such as the email, in the To line.
- An unknown merge field turns red in an error panel and blocks saving. Fix or remove it.
- A person who left an answer blank gives an empty result, never the word "null".
- Dates show in your company's time zone.
- A template belongs to the process. Any Send email step on that process can reuse it.
Track and fix a stuck request#
Sometimes a step cannot do its job. Maybe an email has nobody to send to, or the person chosen on the form has left. Hubtoll does not skip the step or send the email to someone else. It holds the request at that step and tells you why.
On the request's page you will see a red Workflow Error panel:
- Held at the step name.
- The reason, in plain words, and which merge field came up empty.
- Held since and Tried N times.
- Retry Step.
Nothing is lost while it is held. Fix the cause above, then retry; the record carries on from this step.
- Read the reason.
- Fix the cause. For example edit the email template, choose an approver in the workflow, or correct the answer on the request.
- Click Retry Step.
On a healthy request in progress, a quiet Workflow Tools panel offers Re-Run Current Step. It re-runs the step the request is on.
Where to find held requests:
- A banner on the dashboard says N Records Are Held by a Workflow Error. Click Review.
- On a built-in module's designer page, the Needs Attention tab lists them next to Designer.
Who can use Retry Step: Super admins, the module's workflow editor and its record editor, and, on a Forge process, people with Can configure the workflow on it. Everyone else sees nothing, with no error.
Who can do what#
| You want to | You need |
|---|---|
| Fill in a form | The Forge process – initiator permission, Can submit (initiate) on that process, or an editor permission. |
| Design the form | The Forge process – editor permission or Can edit the process on that process. |
| Design the workflow | The Forge workflow – editor permission or Can configure the workflow on that process. |
| Decide a request | Nothing special. You must be the person the workflow routed it to. |
Approving is an assignment, not a permission. If the workflow sent it to you, you can act on it. See Permissions reference.
Things that go wrong#
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The workflow does nothing | It may be switched off. Open the gear and switch Active on. |
| Held at an email step | The template's To line came up empty, the template is switched off, or it was deleted. Fix it and Retry Step. |
| Held at an approval step | The step points at a person or role nobody holds, or a People field was left blank. Fix and Retry Step. |
| Save will not work | A step cannot be reached, or an email template has an unknown merge field. |
| An approver cannot find the request | It may not be with them. Check the request's trail. |
| An approver is asked for a code but has no authenticator | They can be sent the code by email instead. |
Let an AI assistant draft it#
An AI assistant you have connected can create a process, design its form, write email templates and save a workflow. Everything it makes is a draft: forms are not published, workflows are saved switched off, and email templates cannot be turned on by it. A person reviews it in the browser and then publishes and activates it. Each thing it creates comes back with a link to open it. See AI assistants.
Common questions#
Can I have more than one If rule?
A condition step has one If rule and one Otherwise. To make a longer chain, put one condition step after another.
Who gets notified when a request needs approval?
Only the people your Send email steps address. Hubtoll does not send its own approval emails. Add a Send email step with {{approvers.emails}} before the approval task.
Can I change a workflow that has requests in progress?
Yes. Edit and save it. Be careful when removing or re-pointing a step that has requests waiting on it, and check the request's trail afterwards.
Where do the module workflows live?
Each built-in module has its own Forge Workflow page in its left menu. It works the same way. See Add your own fields to built-in modules for the matching custom fields.