Choice Activity

Activity Description

The Choice Activity is used in the AVEVA Work Tasks workflow process design in cases where a task needs to be assigned with multiple options for an action. This activity can be configured with buttons, with the provision to set the output of each as task completion makers. A maximum of ten such buttons can be configured.

Application Scenarios

To illustrate the functionality of the Choice activity, consider a scenario in which the approval activity in a process requires a provision to send back the approval request in addition to the standard responses of approval and rejection. In this case, the Choice activity can be used to create a customized approval activity with an additional button named 'Send back' in addition to the 'Approve' and 'Reject' buttons. Without this activity, a custom activity would have to be created to achieve this functionality.

Workflow Variables for Choice

Steps to define variables for use in the Choice activity

This section describes how to define variables for use in Choice activities. It gives the syntax for creating the variables and typical examples for different cases.

Variables for capturing WorkItemIds

The Work Item Id's for the Choice work item can be retrieved using a variable of type array, with the following syntax:

'^'+CurrentActivity.Name+'WorkItemIds'.

For example, ^CandidateApprovalWorkItemIds.

Variables for capturing All Actors' Details

The details of the actor(s) to whom the Choice work item gets assigned can be accessed by declaring a variable of type array with the following syntax:

'^'+CurrentActivity.Name+'ActingUsers'

For example, ^CandidateApprovalActingUsers.

Variables for capturing Responding Actors' Details

The details of the actors' responding to the Choice work item can be accessed by declaring a variable of type resource with the following syntax:

'^'+HWSActivity.ActivityName+'RespondingUser'

For example, ^CandidateApprovalRespondingUser.

This variable stores the responded user information. If it is more than one user, it will retrieve the last user details.

Note: For single user, you can declare this variable as Resource type. If task is assigned to more than one user and to get all responded users information, then declare this variable as array.

Variables for capturing Comments

Comments entered in a Choice work item can be retrieved

using a variable with the following syntax:

'^'+_HWSActivity.ActivityName+'CommentChoiceStatus'.

For example, ^CandidateApprovalCommentChoiceStatus.

Variables for assigning queue system variable

To assign queues instead of setting the queue through Assign Queue property, add a variable with a name prefixed by '^', with the following syntax:

"^"+ CurrentActivity.Name + "_QueueVariable".

For example, if the activity name is 'Approval1' then declare the variable as ^Approval1_QueueVariable in the Start activity with the Type as String. Using the "Update Variable" activity, assign the queue-id (GUID) for this variable in the workflow.

To assign multiple queues, specify the queue-ids with semicolon (;) separator. Skelta.HWS.Queue.QueueCollection class can be used to retrieve queue information.

Variable for Queue Acting Users

You can declare an array type variable to get updated information about the name of the actor to whom an activity gets assigned from a queue.

In the Workflow Variables, define the variable in the following format:

^+CurrentActivityName+'QueueActingUsers'

Ex: ^HRFormQueueActingUsers

HRForm is the activity name.

For example, the value of the user who acts on the HRForm activity will be stored in the variable. The Approval1 task will be assigned to the same user.

Variable for storing timeout warning value

Suppose if you want to store the timeout warning value for Choice activity in your workflow. The naming convention for the system variable to be declared is

^<ActivityName>ResponseByWarningTimeout

The value returned by the variable will be in UTC format. For multiple user scenarios the highest timeout value calculated for a user will be available in the variable.

Note: Multiple timeout warnings cannot be tracked using this feature.

Activity Properties

The Choice activity has to be configured by specifying appropriate values for the different properties in the Activity Properties area. The Activity Properties can be accessed by clicking on the Activity Properties tool in the Tool Bar or by selecting the appropriate option from the right-click menu for the Choice activity. The Activity Properties are organized under the following groups of related properties. The properties under each group are described in this topic.

Name & Description

The properties in the Name & Description group have been described below. You can use these properties to specify the name and description for the activity.

Name - This property can be used to specify a name for the activity.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Description - This property specifies a brief description to be displayed for the activity.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Display Name - This property specifies name to be displayed for the action in the Work Item List.

Property Type: Optional (This property need not be set if the display name is already configured in the Actions.xml. The name entered here overrides any display name that is configured for this activity in the Actions.xml file.)

Configuration 

The properties in the Configuration group have been described below. You can use these properties to configure the functionality of the activity.

Delivery Channels - This property is used to specify the delivery channels to deliver this activity to the assigned actor(s). Multiple channels can be specified giving the actor(s) different options to act on the work item.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to set the Delivery Channels Property

1. To select the Delivery Channels, click the button for the 'Delivery Channels' property to open the property window.

2. In this window, the Delivery Channels that have been configured are listed on the left along with a check box against each channel. Click and select the check-box corresponding to the channel you wish to select. You can select multiple channels by selecting the respective check-box.

3. Click on Save Channels button.

See Choice - Delivery Channels for a detailed description of the Delivery Channels property window.

Action Outputs - This property is used to specify the outputs of the Choice work item assignment. These outputs can be specified as buttons, which will be displayed in the Work Item list of the recipient. To assign activity outputs, click the 'Activity Outputs' button in the Properties pane for the Choice activity. A new window pops up. In this window, enter the name of each button and indicate whether it is a completion maker or not.

Property Type: Mandatory (This property must be set for the activity to be used in the workflow.)

Steps to set the Action Outputs property

4. To specify the Action Outputs, click the button for the 'Action Outputs' property to open the property window.

5. Enter the button name in the Button Name field.

6. Select "Yes" from the drop down for the Completion Maker field to set the button output as the completion maker of the Action Output. Select "No" if you do not want the action output.

7. After entering the output details, click Add Row to add this variable and display a new row for entering another output.

8. Remove rows if necessary by selecting them and clicking Remove Selected.

9. After entering all the variables, click Update.

See Choice - Action Outputs for a detailed description of the Action Outputs property window.

Work Item Fields - This property is used to add the Work Item Fields to be used to display application data as well as value in variables and content in the Work Item list when this activity is executed.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to set the Work Item Fields property

10. To select the Work Item Fields, click the button for the 'Work Item Fields' property to open the property window.

11. In this window, the Work Item Fields that have been set are listed in a grid. Click a row to select the corresponding Work Item Field.

12. Right-click the row and select the "SetWorkItemField" option from the context menu to set it.

See Choice - Work Item Fields for a detailed description of the Work Item Fields property window.

Actors

The properties in the Actors group have been described below. You can use these properties to specify the actors who will work on the activity and related properties.

Assign Actor(s) - This property specifies the actor(s) who has to take up the Choice activity. It is tagged with the Ignore Unavailable Resources property which in turn is tagged with Alternate Resource Allowed. This will be explained in detail later.

Property Type: Mandatory (This property must be set if the activity is to be assigned to any actor(s).)

Steps to set the Assign Actor(s) property

13. To specify the actors, click the button for the 'Assign Actor(s)' property to open the property window.

14. In this window build an expression to select the actors using the actors properties. Select an attribute from the first drop down list, then select the operator, type of value (Value, Variable, Content, XMLVariables), and the corresponding value for the property from the corresponding drop downs. Select "End" from the last drop down to complete the expression. If you are building a compound expression, you can select one of the logical operators to connect the different conditions that form the expression.

15. Add the condition to the expression by clicking Add. This will display the expression to the text area.

16. You can remove a condition already added to the expression by clicking Undo.

17. You can also clear an existing expression if necessary by clicking Clear. This is useful if you want to clear large expressions in the text area in order to build a new expression.

18. After building the expression, click Update to save it.

See Choice - Assign Actor(s) for a detailed description of the Assign Actor(s) property window.

See the Using XML Variables section in the About the XML Variable User Interface topic for details on how to use the XMLVariables to build the expression.

Assign Queue(s) - This property specifies the queue(s) to which the Choice activity is to be assigned.

Property Type: Mandatory (This property must be set if the activity is to be assigned to any Queue(s).)

Steps to set the Assign Queue(s) property

19. To specify the queue(s), click the button for the 'Assign Queue(s)' property to open the property window.

20. In this window select the queue(s) from the Available Queues list box. You can select multiple queues by selecting with the <Ctrl> key pressed.

21. After selecting the required queue(s) click on the [>] button to move it to the Selected Queues list box. You can click the [>>] button to select all the queue(s) and move them to the Selected Queues list box.

22. You can remove any queue from the selected list by selecting it and clicking the [<] button. You can remove all the queues by clicking the [<<] button.

23. After adding the required queue(s), click Assign to assign the activity to the selection.

24. Click Close to close the window without saving the selection.

See Choice - Assign Actor(s) for a detailed description of the Assign Queue(s) property window.

Min. Ownerships [% or Number] - This property, which can be specified as a number or percentage, is the minimum number of actors who should take ownership of the Choice request. This property is related to the 'Timeout warning for Ownership' and 'Timeout for Ownership' properties. To illustrate, when 'Timeout for Ownership' is reached, the activity first checks if the ownership count is less than Min.Ownerships (if it is set). If it is, the work item will be removed from all Work items lists. If the 'Min.Ownerships' has already been satisfied, then the work item will be removed from the Work items lists of those who have not taken ownership. If the Min.Ownerships value is 0, then the activity checks if the ownership count is less than Max.Ownerships (if it is set). If it is, the work item will be removed from all Work items lists. Else the work item will be removed from the Work items lists of those who have not taken ownership. If both Min.Ownerships and Max.Ownerships are set to 0, then there should be at least one actor taking ownership within the set time, otherwise the work item will be removed from all Work items lists.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in group response scenarios.)

Max. Ownerships [% or Number] - This property, which can be specified as a number or percentage, is the maximum number of actors who should take ownership of the Choice request. If 'Timeout for Ownerships' is specified and achieved, and the 'Min.Ownerships' is also satisfied, then the activity waits for action from those who have taken ownership. If the Min.Ownerships value is set to 0, then it checks if the ownership count is less than Max.Ownerships. If it is, the work item will be removed from all Work items lists. Else the work item will be removed from the Work items lists of those who have not taken ownership. If both Min.Ownerships and Max.Ownerships are set to 0, then there should be at least one actor taking ownership within the set time, otherwise the work item will be removed from all Work items lists.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in group response scenarios.)

Enable Take Ownership? - If this property is set to Yes, then the actor is provided with a Take Ownership option in the Work items list to take ownership of the task. If you are not required Take Ownership option in the Work items list, then set this property as No.

Note: By default, this property is set as Yes.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to set the Enable Take Ownership? property

Select Yes or No from the Enable Take Ownership drop-down list.

Re-Assign Allowed? - If this property is set then the actor is provided with a Re-Assign option. Using this the approver can re-assign the work item to another actor.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Ignore Unavailable Actors? - This property provides the following options - Yes, Yes - holidays excluded and No. If this property is set to 'No', when the Approval activity is assigned to the actor's Work item list, a check is first done to see whether the actor is available. If the actor is not available then a check is made for an alternate actor assigned to the unavailable actor. Simultaneously the value of the property 'Alternate Actor Allowed' is checked. If that is also set, then the Approval work item is assigned to this actor. If this property is set to Yes - holidays excluded, the workflow engine will ignore the fact that actors are not available if the day is an organization holiday and the output Not Enough Resources will not be generated.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Alternate Actor Allowed? - This property is set to assign a particular task to an alternate actor in the absence or unavailability of any actor.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Notification Contents

The properties in the Notification Contents group have been described below. You can use these properties to specify the content used to notify actors about the activity.

Subject - This is the subject of the Choice work item. The subject can be customized for each actor.

Property Type: Optional (This property need not be set. If it is not set, the default subject line from the Actions.xml file is displayed.)

Steps to set the Subject property

25. To specify the subject, click the button for the 'Subject' property to open the property window.

26. In this window enter the subject text directly in the text editor.

27. If you want to customize the subject you can do so using the Field controls to add resource property values. For example, to add a subject that includes the email id of the actor submitting the approval request, you can do as follows: Type in the text "Submitted By". Select "Variable" and "Variable.SubmittedBy.Email" from the two drop downs for Field and click Append. This will add the placeholder for the variable after the text entered in the text editor. At run-time, this placeholder will be replaced by the corresponding value, i.e. the email id.

28. You can manipulate the text using the appropriate tools from the tool bar. You can cut, copy and paste text, undo and redo changes, zoom in and zoom out the view as well as print the text.

29. You can format the text, if necessary, using the formatting tools. You can make text bold or italic or change the font or size, set text color or background color.

30. After adding the subject, click Update to save it.

31. Click Close to close the window without saving the subject.

See Choice - Subject for a detailed description of the Subject property window.

Body - This is the actual message body of the Choice sent to the actor(s). The body can be customized for each actor. There is an Enterprise Console Explorer (plug-in) icon in the Body property window to get the work item details URL. See Enterprise Console Control (EC Plug-in) for more information.

Property Type: Optional (This property need not be set.)

Steps to set the Body property

32. To specify the message body, click the button for the 'Body' property to open the property window.

33. In this window, enter the body text directly in the text editor.

34. If you want to customize the body you can do so using the Field controls to add resource property values. For example, to add a body that includes the name of the actor submitting the approval request, you can do as follows: Type in the text "Hi, Please cast your vote in the poll conducted by". Select "Variable" and "Variable.SubmittedBy.name" from the two drop downs for Field and click Append. This will add the placeholder for the variable after the text entered in the text editor. At run-time this placeholder will be replaced by the corresponding value, i.e. the name.

35. You can manipulate the text using the appropriate tools from the tool bar. You can cut, copy and paste text, undo and redo changes, repeat the last command, zoom in and zoom out the view as well as print the text.

36. You can format the text, if necessary, using the formatting tools. You can make text bold or italic or change the font or size, set text color or background color.

37. After adding the body, click Update to save it.

38. Click Close to close the window without saving the body.

See Choice - Body for a detailed description of the Body property window.

From Email Address? - This property is used to specify the email address from which notification messages will be sent for the activity.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. If it is not set, the default value in Activities.xml will be used.)

Hide Responses? - If this property is set to 'No', then actors can see the responses of other actors in a group Choice scenario. To view these responses i.e., ownerships, choices or rejections, select the 'Take Ownership' option. This will open a new pop up with the responses of other actors who have taken ownership.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in group response scenarios.)

Priority - This property is set to indicate the priority of the Choice request. Enter the values 0-33 to set as Low, 34-66 for Medium, or 67-99 for High. The default value is set to 34.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Show Custom Document View Window - If this property is set to 'Yes', then the Custom Document View Window will be shown to actors in their Web Work Item Lists. The data posted to the page are application, workflow, executionid, executiondetailsid, and workitemid. The posted data can be retrieved as Request.Form["workitemid"].

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Send Notification Email - If this property is set to 'Yes', then notification emails will be sent to the actors. If it is set to 'Yes-HTML', then the emails will be sent in HTML format.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Notify if alternate actor is considered - If this property is set to 'Yes', then notification emails will be sent to the actors when an alternate actor is considered.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Redirect URL - This property is used to get the URL of the web page to redirect the client to, in the case of synchronous execution of the activity.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to set the Redirect URL property

39. To specify the Redirect URL, click the button for the 'Redirect URL' property to open the property window.

40. In this window, enter the Redirect URL directly in the text editor.

41. If you want to customize the Redirect URL you can do so using the Field controls to add resource property values. For example, you can add a variable or content that will hold the URL. You can do so by selecting "Variable" from the first drop down and the appropriate option from the second drop down for Field, and clicking Append. This will add the placeholder for the variable in the text editor. At run-time this placeholder will be replaced by the corresponding value, i.e. the URL.

42. You can manipulate the text using the appropriate tools from the tool bar. You can cut, copy and paste text, undo and redo changes, repeat the last command, zoom in and zoom out the view as well as print the text.

43. You can format the text, if necessary, using the formatting tools. You can make text bold or italic or change the font or size, set text color or background color.

44. After adding the Redirect URL, click Update to save it.

45. Click Close to close the window without saving the Redirect URL.

See Choice - Redirect URL for a detailed description of the Redirect URL property window.

Custom Document View URL - This property is used to get the URL of the page to which the custom document dlls does a post.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to set the Custom Document View URL property

46. To specify the Custom Document View URL, click the button for the 'Custom Document View URL' property to open the property window.

47. In this window, enter the Custom Document View URL directly in the text editor.

48. If you want to customize the Custom Document View URL you can do so using the Field controls to add resource property values. For example, you can add a variable or content that will hold the URL. You can do so by selecting "Variable" from the first drop down and the appropriate option from the second drop down for Field, and clicking Append. This will add the placeholder for the variable in the text editor. At run-time this placeholder will be replaced by the corresponding value, i.e. the URL.

49. You can manipulate the text using the appropriate tools from the tool bar. You can cut, copy and paste text, undo and redo changes, repeat the last command, zoom in and zoom out the view as well as print the text.

50. You can format the text, if necessary, using the formatting tools. You can make text bold or italic or change the font or size, set text color or background color.

51. After adding the Custom Document View URL, click Update to save it.

52. Click Close to close the window without saving the Custom Document View URL.

See Choice - Custom Document View URLfor a detailed description of the Custom Document View URL property window.

Mail Channel

The properties in the Mail Channel group have been described below. You can use these properties to customize the Choice activity(activities) with different mail channel templates.

Use html template from property - If this property is set to 'No', it will take the mail channel template from the physical path

'[AVEVA Work Tasks Installed Path]\BPM.NET\WorkflowElements\Default\en-US\Templates\OutlookEmailTemplate\Choice.html.

If this property is set to 'Yes' and the "HTML Template" property is empty, it will take the mail channel template from the physical path

'[AVEVA Work Tasks Installed Path]\BPM.NET\WorkflowElements\Default\en-US\Templates\OutlookEmailTemplate\Choice.html.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

HTML template - This property is used to define the html template for mail channel.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to set the HTML template

53. To specify the HTML template, click the edit icon to open the property window.

54. In the HTML template window, provide the template which should be in html format. If you are pasting a copied html content, right-click the HTML template window and paste it as "Paste Plain Text".

    

    

55. Click Update.

Attachment

This property is used to configure Report to be sent as an Email attachment.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

See Choice - Attach Reports for a detailed description of this property.

Decision Influencers

The properties in the Decision Influencers group have been described below. You can use these properties to specify some parameters that influence the outcome of the activity.

Max Actors Required For Choice Completion [% or Number] - This property is used to check what percentage or number of actors should take action for Choice. Decision on the Choice is taken only after the specified number or percentage of actor(s) have taken the action. The activity waits for the actors' action until the 'Timeout for action' is reached.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in group response scenarios.)

Min Actors Required For Choice Completion [% or Number] - This property specifies the minimum number of actors to act on the Choice before the 'Timeout Warning for Activity'. If the action limit is reached before the 'Timeout Warning for Activity' then the warning message is not shown.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in group response scenarios.)

Escalation & Timeout Top

The properties in the Escalation & Timeout group have been described below. You can use these properties to specify escalation and timeout settings for the activity.

Set Calendar for Timeout - This property is used to specify the calendar to be used to determine activity timeouts.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Steps to Set Calendar for Timeout

56. To specify the calendar for timeout, click the button for the 'Set Calendar for Timeout' property to open the property window.

57. In this window select the required calendar by clicking the calendar name in the tree structure.

58. Click Set Calendar to set the selected calendar.

59. You can specify that a resource calendar should be used, if available, by clicking to check the corresponding check box.

See Choice - Set Calendar for Timeout for a detailed description of the Set Calendar for Timeout property window.

Minimum available time for Activity - This property is used to check the availability of an actor to whom a task must be assigned while executing the activity. The availability check for the actor is done based on the Calendar settings (Global or Resource Calendar). If the time taken to complete the task is within the value set for the Minimum available time for Activity property, then the task will be assigned to that actor. However, if the time taken to complete the task exceeds the value set for the Minimum available time for Activity property, then the task will be assigned based on the values set for the Ignore Unavailable Actors? and Alternate Actor Allowed? properties.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Timeout warning for Ownership - This property specifies the time at which a warning is provided to an actor to take ownership of the work item assigned to him/her. If the actor does not take ownership within this time the engine is notified with a warning. Thus if 'Min.Ownerships' is set, and it is not satisfied before the given time then a warning is sent. If Min.Ownerships is 0, it will check for Max.Ownerships. If the ownership count does not reach the Max.Ownerships value within the set time, a warning is sent. If both Min.Ownerships and Max.Ownerships are not set, this property is ignored.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

• Choice activity is assigned to the actors in the Choice assignment list by the workflow engine. Choice activity has a default property set that at least one actor has to Take Ownership of the Choice activity.

• A drop down interface has been provided for the actor to Take Ownership. However, the actor can act on the Choice without taking ownership first, in which case ownership will be considered to be done. i.e. if the actor acts upon the Choice action without taking ownership, then it is considered as an ownership with action taken.

• After the actor has taken ownership, a link is provided to the actor, which opens a pop up with the details of the other actors. This is again tagged with the 'Hide Responses?' property. The link will be provided only If 'Hide Responses?' is set as 'No'. The pop up will have details like Actor name, Ownership Status, Action taken, Comments.

• If the 'Min.Ownerships' property is set and the ownership count has reached the set limit [percentage or number] then the 'Timeout Warning For Ownership' property is not considered.

• If the 'Min.Ownerships' property is set and the ownership count has reached the set limit [percentage or number] and the 'Time Out For Ownership' is also reached then the work item is removed from other actors' Work items list and the work item waits for action from those who have taken ownership.

• If the 'Min.Ownerships' limit is not reached for the Choice action, and the 'Timeout Warning For Ownership' has been exceeded then the actor is notified with a warning by including an email or an information activity, with the Timeout Warning for Ownership link to it.

• If 'Timeout For Ownership' is set, if the Choice activity has not reached the minimum limit (Min.Ownerships) and the 'Time Out For Ownership' has been reached, then the work item is removed from the Work items lists of all the actors.

• If 'Min.Ownerships' = 0 and if 'Max.Ownerships' is set, the activity waits for actors to take ownership or action until the 'Time Out For Ownership' is reached (if this is set).

• If none of the Ownership properties are set then the work item waits until the actors take ownership or act upon it.

Timeout for Ownership - This property specifies the time until which actors are allowed to take ownership, i.e. the time until which the Choice action will wait for actors to take ownership. If Min.Ownerships is set and is not reached, the work item is removed from all Work Item lists. If Min.Ownerships is 0, it will check if ownership count is less than Max.Ownerships. If it is, the work item is removed from all Work Item lists. Else the work item will be removed from the Work Item list of those who have not taken ownership. The work item will remain in the Work Item list of actors who have taken ownership and wait for action from them.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Timeout warning for Activity - This property specifies when a reminder has to be provided for the actors to act on the Choice request, if the action count has not been reached. If properties such as Max.Ownerships, Affirmative Action for Choice (AAA), and Action Limit (AL) are set, once the property values are reached then a warning is sent to the actor. When the timeout is reached, the following checks are made: if AL is set, when the action count i.e. the no. of Choices or rejections (AC) < AL, then a warning is sent, if AL = 0 and AAA is set, and when AC < AAA, then a warning is sent to the actor.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in setting escalations.)

Timeout for Activity - This property's value is used to decide until what time the activity should wait for actors' action. If properties such as Max.Ownerships, AAA, AL are set, once the property values are reached the work item is removed from the Work Item lists of all the actors. When the timeout is reached, the following checks are made: If AL is set, when the action count i.e. the no. of Choices or rejections (AC) < AL, then the timeout for action is performed and the activity is removed from all Work Item lists. If AC > AL, it checks with the no. of Choices or 'decision count' (DC) and AAA. If DC >= AAA (if it is set), the activity is considered approved; otherwise, it is rejected. If AAA = 0 and if DC >= AL, the activity is considered approved; otherwise, it is rejected. If AL = 0 and AC < AAA, then the timeout for action is performed and the work item is removed from all Work Item lists. If AL = 0 and AC > AAA, it will check with DC. If DC > AAA it is approved; otherwise, it is rejected. If AL = 0 and AAA = 0, then if DC is at least 1, then it is considered approved; otherwise, it is rejected.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in setting escalations.)

Multiple Timeout Warning - This is used to set recurring timeout warnings that will be sent to the actors who have to take action. To set multiple timeout warnings, click the 'Multiple Timeout Warning' button in the Properties pane for the Choice action. A new window pops up. In this window, set the interval for the recurring warning as well as the output message. You can also set the Recurring Time Interval. This can be used to set a different recurring time out after the first timeout happens. For example, if 'Time Interval' for the property is set as 7 days and 'Recurring Time Interval' is set as 2 days, then the first time out will happen after 7 days and there will be a recurring time out every second day after the seventh day (first) time out.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary. It is useful in setting escalations.)

60. To set the multiple timeout warning, click the button for the 'Multiple TimeOut Warning' property to open the property window.

61. Enter the time interval for the timeout in the Time Interval field.

62. Select "Yes" from the drop down for the Recurring? field if you want the timeout warning to recur. Select "No" otherwise.

63. Enter the output message corresponding to the timeout warning in the Output field.

64. Enter the time interval for the recurring timeout in the Recurring Time Interval field.

65. After entering the content details, click Add Row to add this timeout setting and display a new row for entering another timeout setting.

66. Remove rows if necessary by selecting them and clicking Remove Selected.

67. After specifying the timeout settings, click Update.

See Choice - Multiple Timeout Warning for a detailed description of the Multiple TimeOut Warning property window.

Looping Behavior

The property in the Looping Behavior group has been described below. You can use this property to specify the looping behavior of the activity.

Loop through this action if output is - This property is used to specify the condition for looping the activity by selecting an activity output from the drop down.

Property Type: Optional (This property needs to be set only if necessary.)

Miscellaneous

Redirection Enabled? - This property enables redirection. When this property is set to Yes, the workflow redirects the user to the URL in the Redirect URL property in the next activity.

Action outputs:

The Choice Action returns the following values -

Action Completed: Displayed when all the actors have taken part.

Action Completed - Affirmative Percentage Not Reached: Displayed when all the actors have not taken part.

Not Enough Resources to Take Acknowledge: Displayed when the filter condition did not yield enough actors to whom the request can be sent.

Timeout - Acknowledge: Displayed when the specified minimum number of actors did not take ownership of the request in the given time.

Timeout - Action: Displayed when some or all of the specified actors did not perform the required action in the given time.

Timeout Warning - Acknowledge: Displayed when a warning is generated that the specified minimum actors have not take ownership of the request in the given time.

Timeout Warning - Action: Displayed when a warning for timeout is generated because some or all of the actors did not perform the required action in the given time.

Note: The following outputs will return only if user assigned tasks to a queue user.

Resource Unavailable for Queue - If a queue is assigned to a task & if there are no resources available in the queue then this output will get triggered.

TimeOut for Queue Task - This output gets triggered when the task in the queue is not picked by any users within the queue escalation time resulting the completion of that task.

Timeout Warning-Queue - This output gets triggered when the task in the queue is not picked by any users within the queue escalation time resulting in sending a warning out put. However, the task will still be sleeping.

Timeout Warning-Queue Participant - This output gets triggered when the task in the queue is picked by user but still not acted on that task within the queue escalation time out settings resulting in triggering a warning output. However, the task will still be sleeping.

Exception Behavior

Each activity has the Raise Error on Unhandled Linked Output property on click of which, it shows all the default configured mapped error outputs in red with their check boxes selected.

See Mapped Error Outputs for more details.