ECMToolbox - Creating a Workflow

Getting Started

Note: Ensure that ECM Toolbox Workflow has been installed and that a Document Management System (DMS) has been connected to the system. Please consult the ECM Toolbox Workflow Installation Guide.

Plan Ahead

Before creating your first workflow, be sure that the necessary Document Management System fields to be used by your workflow have been imported on the Workflow Fields tab of Workflow Design.

If you are going to create, or work with an existing application/project in the DMS, to prepare, you should:

Add or choose an index field and value(s) that will indicate that a document should be accepted for workflow processing (kicked off).
Add or choose “status-representing” field that can be updated by your rule logic; it is recommended to use Workflow Status to represent the status of the document as it is being processed by workflow. As part of this, you should decide what the status values will be for the workflow.

Workflow Assisted Fields

Preparing a Cabinet with ECM Toolbox should include the recommended 4 fields below that can help track the progress and troubleshoot items in ECM Toolbox.

Workflow Status Recommended to be the kickoff field - set status from “NEW” to “IN PROGRESS” on kickoff.	Can be a user defined list to include “NEW”, “IN PROGRESS” and other status options to indicate the state of your document in the Document Management System.
Workflow ID	Text/Integer field: The Work Item ID that ECM Toolbox will provide to the field.
Workflow Owner	Text field: The username of the user that owns the item in ECM Toolbox.
Workflow Queue	Text field: The queue name that the document/item is currently in the workflow.
Workflow (Optional)	If you have multiple “Workflow Paths”, you can help differentiate the workflows by providing the workflow path name in the document.

See Setup Workflow Fields for further information.

Workflow Diagram

It is recommended to make a high level basic diagram of what you want workflow to look like. See an example workflow that would fit into ECM Toolbox’s Workflow designer.

This is a high-level diagram of workflow, but you can also add conditions to check if the invoice amount is more than or less than a certain amount. For example, there may be a policy to have invoice amounts greater than $2,000 to go directly to the CFO rather than letting the Department Head make the final decision.

That is where you would have a field comparison condition like this to compare field values against another value:

If you want to learn more about field comparisons, view Setup Rule Conditions – Field Comparison.