Troubleshooting - Activity Does Not Complete

It is reasonable to expect that if all users with allocated work items in their worklists complete their tasks that the activity will complete. This, however, is not always the case. An Activity will not complete when the number of destination users exceeds the number of destination slots. To prevent the Activity remaining permanently active it is important to define additional Succeeding conditions that ensure that the Activity completes.

Example: Project Concept Approval

Consider the example of five managers reviewing a project proposal. The project proposal needs to be:

Approved by three managers for it to be taken to the next phase (planning)
Turned down by two manager for it to be shelved

At first glance it is easy to see at least three slots are required to ensure the project can reach approval, and two slots for the project to be declined. Assuming three slots will be enough, consider the case where three managers have opened the item - i.e. all slots have been allocated - and one manager turns the project proposal down:

The task item remains in two managers worklists - if both approve the proposal - the proposal can not be considered approved or declined, it is in limbo
There are also two managers still available to review the proposal

Increasing the number of destination slots to four ensures that the stalemate above is resolved. The fourth manager now holds the deciding vote.

So in this scenario four slots need to be created.

Problem:

For the Review Proposal Activity to complete, without a Succeeding Rule, it requires that all instances complete the associated approving action. In the example above five activity instances are created but only four users will complete the approving action - so the Activity remains in an active state. This will stop the process from continuing.

Solution:

Add a Succeeding Rule that sets the Activity status to complete when:

Three managers have Approved the project concept, OR
Two managers have Declined the project concept

The particular path taken by the process is determined by the Line Rules defined for the Approved and Declined line