K2 Designer for SharePoint - Escalations

When Workflows are instantiated after the escalation date has expired, the Workflow will escalate immediately before any tasks in the Workflow can be actioned.

No escalations are applied by default.

The advantage of an automated business Workflow is that once a step begins, the progress and the time taken for the Step to complete can be monitored. Since the starting point or existence of the step is known as a Rule, the Escalation rule is used to allocate time for the step to be completed. If the step is not actioned within that time, the step can be escalated. In the context of the step, the escalation rule serves to ensure that a step is always actioned.

The Escalation is itself an action; automated by the rule that raises a developer definable alert that the step has not been actioned in the allocated time. The Escalation rule for the step therefore determines the action taken when the step is not completed within the specified time.

Workflow Escalations are created by selecting the Escalations icon located on the step properties menu.

Fig. 1. Escalations icon

More than one escalation can be added and will be listed on the following screen:

Fig. 2. Escalation Rule

Feature	What it is	How to use it
Add	Opens the Add Escalation screen for capturing	Click Add
Edit	Opens the Add Escalation screen for editing	Select and escalation and click Edit
Remove	Removes the selected escalation	Select an escalation and click Remove
Remove All	Removes all the escalations	Click Remove All

To add an escalation, click on Add. The escalation wizard will open. Provide a name and description for the escalation and select the type of escalation.

The following escalations are available:

E-mail
Redirect
Expire

Fig. 3. Escalation Types

Feature	What it is	How to use it
E-mail	Sends an e-mail	Select this option to send an e-mail
Redirect	Redirects the activity	Select this option to redirect the activity
Expire	Expires the activity	Select this option to expire the activity

The following methods are available for escalation:

Escalate After
Escalate On

Fig. 4. Escalation Settings

Feature	What it is	How to use it
Escalate After	The Escalate After option is time based and once the time allocated in days, minutes, hours and seconds expires, the Escalation Rule will trigger. The time allocated to the escalation can also be configured to escalate more than once. This is done by enabling the *to be repeated* option and entering the number of times that the escalation rule will repeat.	Select this option if the escalation is time based
Escalate On	The Escalate On option, enables the developer to configure a Day based on a date for the escalation to take place. The Escalate On option serves best for a Workflow that is a promotion or where there is a final date for the submission of an application of some kind. The Escalate On option therefore sets a date (specific day bound by day/month/year)	Select this option to specify a specific Day

E-mail Selected

If E-mail was selected, click Next on the Add Escalation screen and insert the details required in the notification e-mail. Configure the e-mail that will be sent to the designated recipient to inform them that a Workflow instance has not been actioned and this is after the time allocated to the Workflow has expired.

Fig. 5. E-mail escalation with twisty expanded

E-mail escalation with twisty contracted

Feature	What it is	How to use it
To	The address to which the e-mail is to be sent - whether specified directly or resolved from the Workflow originator or step participant	Type text or drag and drop a field from the Context Browser
From	The e-mail address to appear in the From field - usually the e-mail setup for the K2 Server	Type text or drag and drop a field from the Context Browser. This field is pre-populated with the value of the From Address environment library field.
CC	Copy in a recipient.	Type the mail address of the person who should be copied or select a dynamic field from the context browser.
BCC	Copy in a recipient without allowing other recipients to view Bcc addresses.	Type the mail address of the person who should be blind copied or select a dynamic field from the context browser.
Attachments	Drag and drop fields from the context browser for attachments.	The following items are supported: SmartObject methods that return images or files. Item References of type SharePoint Document or InfoPath Document. InfoPath Form attachments (i.e. dragging the attachments node from the InfoPath Form schema).
Subject	The subject line of the e-mail - often one of the Workflow or step data fields is used to give a more precise context to the e-mail	Type text or drag and drop a field from the Context Browser
Message Format	The message can be displayed in HTML or Plain Text	Select the required option
Body	Enter the contents of the mail. Fields from the Context Browser can be dragged and dropped in the body if required	Select the required option

For more information on the message body and toolbar, see the topic E-mail Event Wizard > Message Body.

Redirect Selected

If Redirect was selected, click Next on the Add Escalation screen and specify the user to whom the activity should be redirected. Drag and drop the user from the Context Browser onto the canvas.

Redirect escalation