What is the Workflow Simulator?
Kuali Build has the ability to streamline testing of complex workflow processes. Traditionally, testing workflow processes can be very labor-intensive. The Workflow Simulator reduces this burden significantly, ensuring you and your team can feel confident in quickly completing and launching new processes.
Our Workflow Simulator quickly helps you identify any issues in each step of your workflow, including who you’re routing approvals to, custom email notifications, and parallel branch logic. Below are a few common issues that may be easily overlooked:
- You assign an approval to a department chair instead of a faculty member, resulting in an incorrect approval routing.
- You accidentally misspell a word in a custom email notification, causing process quality to suffer.
- You choose the wrong routing criteria in a complex parallel branch, causing the branch to not route as expected.
The Workflow Simulator will quickly help you catch small errors like the ones above, improving the quality and launch-time of every future process.
Begin Test
To launch the Workflow Simulator, switch the toggle button at the top center of the Workflow Builder screen from “Design” to “Test.”
The workflow simulator screen will show on the right side of your screen. To begin the workflow testing process, select Run Test.
Complete Form
Select which user would you like to impersonate by selecting the dropdown next to the Current User.
The Current User field at the top of the simulator will always show the user who would be experiencing the respective step, and the form will mirror the experience of the selected user completing the form.
Three users are available to test as form submitters:
- App Admin (You): The user using the Workflow Simulator.
- Anonymous Person: User that has not logged in to Kuali Build.
- Generic Logged-in Person: User that has logged in to Kuali Build.
The Workflow Simulator may highlight potential issues of the form, such as if a field is required as part of the workflow but is not a requirement for completion of the form. Only fields affecting the workflow need to be filled out in order for the simulator to work. All other fields can be ignored even if they are marked as required.
Once all highlighted fields have been completed, click Submit.
Testing Steps
The Workflow Simulator will proceed to test each workflow step:
Approvals
Approval steps will show the email notification the assigned user would receive as part of the workflow process. Verify the Current User and To: email address matches the expected recipient.
You will be given the chance to interact with the email as the user would by clicking ‘Begin Review’. Alternatively, you can click next to proceed to the next approval view in Kuali Build.
- Note: The Workflow Simulator only works with approvals that are set up to accept the first approver. Approvals designed where a percentage of approvers must respond is not supported at this time.
You can approve or deny to verify the workflow meets expected behavior.
Acknowledge
Acknowledge steps are handled very similarly to approval steps. You will be shown the step email notification and be able to verify the recipient is correct. Following, you can review and acknowledge the step.
Notifications
Email notifications will mirror the notification designated for the selected recipient. Verify the correct recipient, subject, email copy, and custom variables are correct.
Branch Steps
Route testing supports simulating different workflow routes to ensure the logic and steps within each route are error-free.
Complete the form with information specific to a route in your workflow. When testing parallel branches, the simulator will route the testing scenario based upon the information completed in the submitted form.
For example, if my route logic is dependent on the selection of the English Department, this route will be tested if I select the English Department in my original form submission. In order to test another route, you can begin the Workflow Simulator again, modifying the form submission to match logic in another route.
When testing different routes, the route currently being tested will be highlighted at the top of the Simulator. In the screenshot below, Route 2 is being tested so it is highlighted.
The route will follow the logic as outlined in the workflow steps, such as continuing on approval or stopping on denial.
Integrations
The Workflow Simulator will test the integration activity to confirm data is routing to the correct location and updating as expected.
As a note, this is an advanced component that is helpful for individuals with some familiarity with API structure and the integration design.
When testing, the Simulator will show the URL the document will be sent to during the step.
You may review the JSON, if desired, to validate the code of the information being sent is as expected for the integration to function.
Comments
4 comments
Are acknowledge steps not designed to be set up at the beginning of workflow? In the simulator, I wasn't able to run tests because it wouldn't let me get past the first acknowledge step (the "acknowledge" button was grayed out and I couldn't move the simulator past it). I discovered that I had to move the acknowledge step to be after any of the approvals I wanted to test and they would work. When I publish the form, I want to make sure setting up acknowledge steps at the beginning of workflow won't cause any problems (and those set to acknowledge will be able to do so).
Kathlen Lee Yes, Acknowledge Steps can be set up at the beginning of the workflow. Did you have an Office Use Only section with a required field in it? If yes, that could be the reason the acknowledgement step wouldn't progress. If there is a required field in the Office Use Only section, the workflow can't progress until it is filled out. Fill free to have Cameron send in a ticket to our Support portal, and we're happy to troubleshoot your specific form further to find out what is happening with it.
Thanks, Shannon. I did a test and was able to run the acknowledge nodes by removing the Office Use Only requirement (just have to remember to turn them back on after I'm done testing workflow). I assume that it will be fine in published workflow and it's just a limitation of the simulator?
Hi Kathlen Lee. It will work the same way in the live form as it does in the simulator. If you have an Office Use Only section with a required field, the first reviewer (including an acknowledger) will have to fill out that field before the workflow can move on. You have a few options:
1. Make an approver the first reviewer upon submission and have them fill out the field.
2. Remove the required field from the Office Use Only section.
3. Hide the Office Use Only section from the Acknowledger if you want the Acknowledge Step first. I believe in this instance that even if the field is required but it is hidden from the reviewer, it will not stop the workflow from progressing.
Please sign in to leave a comment.