Designing workflow

Idiom Frequently asked questions

designing workflow?

Workflow automates the globalization process with steps, assignees, and logic. When you create a project, tasks are created and assigned to the assignees (users or workflow roles) specified in the first workflow step. Once that first step is completed, the task moves to the next step and assignees in the workflow. Each asset follows the workflow individually; that is, in a project, one asset could be complete, while another has not progressed past the first step.

NOTE: You can optionally use workflow roles if you repeatedly use the same multiple users for a particular role, for example, French translation.

You can create different workflows to meet your needs. You create workflow in the Workflow Editor, accessed from Management>Workflow>Workflows.

In the Workflow Editor, you create steps and transitions between the steps. The Workflow Editor provides the following five types of steps:

  • A human step is assigned to a WorldServer user or workflow role to complete. For example, translate. When you insert a human step, you choose the step action and one or more workflow roles and/or users. In addition, you can choose whether to activate segment locking for human steps or not. Segment locking prevents translators from changing reviewed and approved translations. You can add new human steps to WorldServer.
  • An automatic step is one that WorldServer programmatically runs. For example, notify. When you insert an automatic step, you select the step action and specify values for the Input Arguments. When you add an automatic step to your workflow, an Auto Error step appears in the Workflow Editor window. You need to designate what happens when an error is encountered during an automatic step. You can add custom automatic steps provided by Idiom Technologies, Inc. through the WorldServer interface.
  • A parallel review step is assigned to and claimed by 2-5 separate users or workflow roles simultaneously. When you insert a parallel review step, you select the number of parallel reviewers and the users or workflow roles. For example, use a parallel review step if you need a legal, technical, and marketing review to be conducted before a translation is accepted.
  • A sub-workflow step contains another complete workflow within it. This workflow must already exist. When you create a sub-workflow, you need to end it with automatic steps that set return values. So, for example, if the last step in a sub-workflow is review, it should have two branches: one branch that goes to an automatic step that sets the return value to 1 for success, and the second branch that goes to an automatic step that sets the return value to 0 for failure. Then, when the sub workflow terminates, it can send failure or success to the parent workflow, which can then branch accordingly.
  • A parallel sub-workflow step is multiple sub-workflow steps completed simultaneously. That is, it has 2-5 branches that are each a complete workflow. When you insert a parallel sub-workflow step, you choose the number of branches and choose for the step to be an "And" or an "Or". Selecting "And" means that all of the branches must be completed. Selecting "Or" means that only one of the branches must be completed.


You create a transition between each step to indicate the path of the workflow. You can use transition order when a step can proceed in more than one possible direction. This transition order determines the order in which the next steps appear in the Complete Task dialog box.


Comments