Creating New Workflows & Editing Existing Ones

Overview

Workflow is a powerful feature that helps you plan and track the work needed to stay in compliance with organizational or regulatory process standards, while helping workers stay focused on the priorities that need their attention soonest. A workflow is a repeatable series of steps that define a business process; workflows are composed of steps, and each step contains one or more tasks that represent the actual work to be done.

Benefits

• Guidance for new employees: Leaders can build checklists within tasks and write descriptions for both steps and tasks. These descriptions display every time a user enters the workflow, giving newer employees built-in guidance as they work.
• Predictable deadlines: Workflow deadlines are calculated automatically so users always know what's due and when, letting workers complete more of their work independently and with confidence that they're tackling the right things in the right order.
• Visibility into outcomes: In-process and completed workflows are listed on the associated intake report, case or provider records. If a decision needs to be reviewed later, leadership can navigate to the record and see a detailed description of what happened, along with the files and forms that informed the decision.
• Manage approval lifecycles: Workflows that have steps (and the tasks in them) that require review can use workflow to route approval requests to a series of sequential approvers to capture electronic approvals.

Before You Begin

Before setting up or editing a workflow, take the time to:

• Read the introductory article on Workflows & Tasks to make sure you grasp essential concepts.
• Read the article on Using & Managing Tasks to make sure you understand other pertinent details about tasks.
• Review where you can find workflows in Admin. Workflows are created, defined, and turned on in Admin. Once there, find the Workflows section on the left-hand navigation menu under the module on which you wish the workflow to be available: Intake, Providers (Track) and Engage then select Workflows.
• Understand how notifications work, since workflows and tasks rely on notifications to keep staff informed about new assignments, reviews, and approaching deadlines. Notification behavior for tasks and workflows is configured by an administrator in Admin, under a module's Notifications settings.
• Read about how to set-up roles and teams if you intend to use either when available as assignee/reviewer options.

Create a New Workflow

Workflows are created, defined, and turned on in Admin. Once in Admin, find the Workflows section on the left-hand navigation menu under the module on which you wish the workflow to be available: Intake, Providers (Track) and Engage then select Workflows under the relevant header in the lefthand menu. To add a new workflow, click the Create new workflow button (plus sign) in the bottom right corner. The instructions for each section of the workflow editor are described below.

Basic info

Basic Information contains key, high-level information about the workflow and is the right place to start defining your workflow. Provide the following information:

• Workflow name* (Required): Name of the workflow every user will see.
• Workflow description: a description of what the workflow is set out to accomplish.
• Please be mindful of the values that you use for the workflow triggers and outcomes. If you archive or delete the value that is being used in a workflow, this will cause the workflow to break.
• Please be mindful of the forms that you include in a workflow. If you archive or delete the form that is being used in a workflow, this will cause the workflow to break.

When should this workflow run?

This section determines what condition must be true for the workflow to automatically activate. Select a trigger to run the workflow by choosing a field (e.g. provider type, license status, etc.) and a value. The value depends on the field that's chosen. This trigger will automatically create a new instance of the workflow whenever the chosen field changes from one value to the specific value you chose. If you do not choose a field/value, the workflow can only be activated manually by a user wherever that workflow has been made available (e.g., an intake report, a case, etc.). We discuss manual workflow activation in a different article.

Casebook offers many triggers, which can differ based on whether the workflow is assigned to Intake, Engage or Providers. Most triggers are self-explanatory, but here’s a few clarifications about ones that are a little more advanced:

• Service Type on the Enrollment: selecting this will allow you to choose a service type. Whenever a new service enrollment is added to the service plan with the type you selected, an instance of the workflow you are creating will activate. This is a great trigger to use when you have a repeatable series of tasks that must kick-off each time you enroll someone in a given type of service. For example, if you want to remind a case worker to review and track outcomes on a monthly basis, workflow could automate the reminders to do that.
• Case person involvement type: selecting this will allow you to choose an involvement type. Whenever a new person is added to a case with the selected involvement type, an instance of the workflow you are creating will activate. This could be a useful trigger to perform a series of onboarding tasks for each person involved on the case that are necessary from a compliance and information-gathering perspective.

What are the steps of this workflow?

A workflow can have N number of steps and tasks. All steps run in sequence (meaning, one must complete before the next becomes active) and all tasks are assigned/made available for completion when a step activates.

Complete key step information

1. Start by adding your first step by clicking on the “Add step” button. Provide the following information:
1. Step name* (Required): name of the step, which typically corresponds to the name of a key stage in a process; it is visible to your users.
2. Step description: What the workers are trying to accomplish, any important instructions, etc.
2. We’ll talk about Tasks & Reviewers in dedicated sections later in this article.
3. Set an Assignee for the step.
1. Each step can be assigned to the same person or to different people per step.
2. Steps can be assigned to full users of Casebook.
3. The assignee is the person that is responsible for marking the step as “complete.”
4. Set up a step deadline.
1. You can choose the deadline based on when the step started or when the workflow started.
2. Determine how long after the event should the deadline be.
3. Deadlines are optional, but when set, tie into notifications that can be turned on/off in Admin

Build your tasks in each step

Any step can have N number of tasks in it. All tasks are assigned and made submittable when their parent step becomes the current, active step. Tasks will appear on the home page for full as well as Client/Provider portal users. They will also appear in the Tasks section of the relevant intake report, case, or provider record. Finally, they will also appear in the workflow view of an activated workflow accessible from the “Workflows” section of the relevant intake report, case or provider record.

1. Start by adding your first task by clicking the Add task button. Provide the following information:
   1. Basic: appears as a task for an end user where they can simply submit it as done, when they are ready.
   2. Complete a form: activates a form for use and submitting the form also marks the corresponding task as complete.
   3. Upload an attachment: requires the user to upload an attachment and doing so marks the corresponding task as complete.
1. Task name* (Required): name of the step, which typically corresponds to the name of a specific action item in a process; it is visible to your users.
2. Task type* (Required): Choose between the following tasks types, which are described in greater detail in the articles listed in the “Before You Begin” section earlier in this article.
3. Task description: Provide more instructional information about the task.
4. “This task is required:” Click this checkbox to indicate a task must be completed or intentionally skipped in order to complete a step.
2. Designate a task assignee. Many options are self-explanatory, but there are a few notes to consider with regards to certain options:
1. One or more {case/intake/etc.} people: when enabled, a separate option, “Auto-send if only one {case/intake/etc.} person”, auto-assigns/sends the task to the only one, involved person on the record. If you do not check this box OR if there is more than one person involved on a case/intake report, it means the person assigned to the workflow step will need to take an additional action to choose which people involved on the case/intake report should receive the task. The experience from the step assignee’s perspective is discussed in the article “Using & Managing Tasks in Casebook.”
2. All {case/intake/etc.} people: when enabled, a separate option, “Auto-send this task to all {case/intake/etc.} people”, auto-assigns/sends the task to all people on the record. If you do not check this box, it means the person assigned to the workflow step will need to take additional action to choose which people involved on the case/intake report should receive the task. The experience from the step assignee’s perspective is discussed in the article “Using & Managing Tasks in Casebook.”
3. Save the task unless you also wish to either set a deadline or a recurrence pattern - continue reading this article for more information about these options.
4. Tasks will appear in the same order in the workflow view for a staff user as they appear here. Reorder tasks within a step, as needed by clicking them to drag and drop them. You will be able to reorder tasks after you have saved your edits to whichever task you were editing.

Is this task recurring?

Setting up recurring tasks is a powerful way to guide cyclical work in longer-running steps you may have in longer-running workflows. For example, a workflow that stays open for the duration of a multi-year case might include a task that recurs every six months to check in with the client on how things are going or record outcomes. Tasks set to recur do not currently have a deadline that can be specified. After choosing to enable this option, do the following:

1. Enter how often the task should repeat and the unit of measure. Supported units include options like hours, days, weeks, months, etc. So, if you type the number 14 and select the option “days,” the recurrence pattern would be to create a new task every 14 days.
2. Choose if you want the task to continue to recur as long as the step is open, or if you want to limit it to a specific number of repeats. When the step begins, the first instance of the task will already be visible and active.
3. Save the task if you’re done editing it.

When the workflow is activated on a record, the task will recur within that step with the configurations you selected. Within the step, a recurring task will have the recurring icon, and hovering over it will give you more information on how often the task will recur. New tasks will appear in the step as they recur. E.g, if the recurrence is set to daily, a new task will appear in that step each day.

Does this task have a deadline?

Setting deadlines on a task allow you to take advantage of the “overdue” color-coding on the Tasks table on an intake report, case or provider record as well as certain notifications (See “Before You Begin” above). Just like steps, you can set the deadline of a task to dynamically choose its date. Enabling this setting will disable the recurrence option and present a few items to configure:

1. You can choose the deadline based on when the step started or when the workflow started.
2. Determine how long after the event should the deadline be in hours, days, weeks, months, etc.

Determine if the step has reviewers/requires approvals

If a step in your process requires a review/approval process you can add one or more reviewer to a step. Once all the tasks are marked as completed, the reviewer(s) will have the ability to review the tasks to comment and send back for revisions or to approve the step. If a step requires a reviewer, a step assignee cannot advance the workflow to the next step until all reviewer(s) have approved the step. See the workflow & tasks introductory article for more information about step approval concepts. To add reviewers:

1. Scroll to the Reviewers section on the step you are editing
2. Click Add Reviewer.
3. Choose who should review the step.
1. Team: Any member of the selected team can complete the approval. The first team member to approve satisfies the requirement.
2. Role: Any user assigned the selected security role can approve the step. This option maintains compatibility with existing workflows.
3. Supervisor of the Primary assignee (cases) / Supervisor of the assignee (intake reports): Automatically assigns the approval to the supervisor of the user currently responsible for the workflow step.
4. Repeat if additional reviewers are required. Reviewers will be notified to review in sequential order. In other words, Reviewer #2 cannot review until Reviewer #1 has approved. Anyone who rejects their approval task will return the step back to the step assignee (who can remediate the reviewer’s rejection counsel) for eventual re-submission (or abandon the workflow via the “End Workflow” option).
5. Save the workflow.

To create efficient approval workflows:

• Keep approval chains as short as possible.
• Use Supervisor of Primary Assignee when approvals should automatically follow reporting relationships.
• Use Teams when multiple people can perform the same review.
• Reserve multiple approval levels for processes that truly require additional oversight.
• Clearly describe each workflow step so reviewers understand what they're approving.

Define Workflow Outcomes

Outcome concepts are covered in detail in the workflows & tasks introductory article. In short, workflows are marked as successful by the system if the final step does not require an approval and it is submitted by the step assignee without error. Workflows that require step approval where the last step in the workflow happens to require approval must have that step fully approved to be submitted and considered successful. Ending a workflow early or after a rejection of an approval cycle on the last step results in an “unsuccessful” outcome. In either case, the field selected in either outcome scenario will change to the value selected. Here are a few examples/use cases to consider:

• Successful Outcome: Choose what happens if the workflow outcome is successful. For example, if the outcome of the workflow is successful, the case status is updated to closed.
• Unsuccessful Outcome: Choose what happens if the workflow outcome is unsuccessful. For example, if the outcome of the workflow is unsuccessful, the provider status moves to on hold.

Finalize the Workflow

In general, it’s good practice to periodically save your work, so please do so throughout the creation process via the right-hand navigation bar with the “Save” icon. After your final click of the save button, use the “Activate” button to make the workflow available for use.

Edit Existing Workflows

The mechanics of editing a workflow are virtually the same as creating a new one. In fact, if you worked on your workflow over a period of sessions, chances are you are well-versed in editing an existing workflow. Similar to elsewhere in the system, you use the pencil icon to make edits to steps, tasks, etc. and the trash icon to remove elements that are no longer needed.

But, once a workflow is active, the only way to make edits on a workflow is to first inactivate it. This can be accomplished by:

1. Navigate to the workflow that you wish to edit in Admin
2. Selecting “Deactivate” from the right-hand action menu.
3. Make the necessary changes to the workflow.
1. Editing a Step or a Task in a Workflow: Select the Pencil Icon to edit a step in a workflow. You can then select the Pencil Icon on a certain task to edit that task if needed. When you are finished editing either the Task or the Step, select Save Step to save your changes.
2. Deleting a Step or a Task in a Workflow: Select the Trash Icon to delete a Step or Task in a workflow. When you are finished deleting either the Task or the Step, select Save Step to save your changes.
4. Once you are finished editing the workflow click the save icon on the right-hand navigation bar and then select Activate on the same bar.

These changes will only apply to new instances of the workflow, meaning that completed and ongoing instances of this workflow will remain unchanged. Moreover, inactivating a workflow does not hide or disable active instances of that workflow; it only prevents new instances of that workflow from starting execution.

Frequently Asked Questions

In workflow creation, why should I fill out outcomes?

Workflows are meant to support informed decision-making. Within the workflow creation process, an admin can define how a workflow will change that assignment [e.g., the provider or that case].

Example, if the licensing process is aborted, then the provider status changes to closed. This can be defined in the cb Admin workflow creation process.

When I activate a workflow with automated triggers, does it impact my existing assignments?

No, workflows can’t be triggered retroactively based on existing values.

If I make a change to an existing workflow and then make it active again? Does that change appear in, in-process workflows?

No, it doesn't.

Can a workflow have more than one reviewer?

Yes. You can configure multiple reviewers for a single workflow step. Reviewers complete approvals sequentially.

Can I assign a reviewer to a specific user?

Workflow approvals are designed to use dynamic reviewer assignments, such as Teams, Roles, or Supervisors. This keeps workflows flexible as staffing changes occur. Using dynamic assignments makes your workflows more resilient. If a specific employee changes roles, leaves the organization, or is unavailable, you can simply update the team's membership instead of editing every workflow that references that person. This approach reduces maintenance and helps ensure approval requests continue flowing without interruption.

What happens if a reviewer rejects a step?

The workflow returns to the assigned worker for updates. After the work is resubmitted, the approval process begins again from the first reviewer.

Can anyone on a team approve the step?

Yes. When a Team is selected as the reviewer, any member of that team can complete the approval. Once one team member approves, the review requirement is satisfied.

Can supervisors approve work automatically?

Yes. Selecting Supervisor of Primary Assignee automatically routes the approval request to the supervisor of the user responsible for the workflow step