Assign a task to multiple users

Use the Assign a task to multiple users action A tool for building the processes, logic, and direction within workflows. Actions are the steps the workflow performs to complete a process. to assign a task to one user or multiple users at the same time and direct subsequent workflow logic based on the assignees' responses.

When you configure an Assign a task to multiple users action, a Form-based, Express approval, or combination task type is created. The workflow sends the task to the task assignees Recipient of a task. and then pauses until an outcome is decided. Depending on the completion rule you select, the task can be completed by assignees when the rule is satisfied; otherwise, the default outcome is used.

Before you begin: 

Jump to:

Configure the Assign a task to multiple users action

Important: 

Emails from tenants with a trial license can be sent only to email addresses of domains registered in the tenant. To see the list of registered domains in your Nintex Automation Cloud tenant, go to Settings and then select Domain management. For more information about domain management, see Domain management.

  1. Add the action to the workflow and open the action configuration panel. For more information, see Add an action to the workflow.

  2. Type a Task name.
  3. Type a Task description.
  4. Enable one or more Task types for the action. For more information on task types, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.
    • Task form
    • Express approval

      • Note: If your Express approval task response emails are not allowing user comments in a workflow that you previously created, disable and re-enable the Express approval task type for the task.

  5. If you enabled Task form as a Task type, configure the form:
    1. Click Design form to open the forms designer.
    2. Define controls, rules, and styles as required for this task form.
    3. Click Apply changes.

  6. Specify the task Outcomes. For more information, see Add task outcomes. The Outcome fields that are displayed depend on the Task type and Outcomes you choose.

    1. If you want to use task outcomes, enable Multiple outcomes and type the Outcomes you want or click Add outcome to add more outcomes as new branches to the action.
    2. If you are using an Express approval, type the Express approval term that your assigness must respond with to complete the task.
    3. Select Completion rules.

  7. If you want users to sign in to Nintex Automation Cloud to access the task form, enable Assignee authentication. For more information, see Enable Assignee authentication.

  8. Specify the Assignees.

  9. Select an Assignment behavior.

  10. In the Message section, type the Subject.

  11. Type the Message body of the email. To expand the message body window and to see more options in the toolbar, click (Expand editor). For email file attachment information, see Add file attachments to the task email.

  12. If you want to send reminders to the assignees at intervals you specify, enable Reminders. For more information, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.

  13. If you want to escalate the action and send the task to the recipient you specify, or complete the task with an Autocomplete outcome, enable Escalation. For more information, see Define the task escalation.

For more information on the fields, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.

With Assignee authentication, you can configure a requirement for the task assignees to sign into Nintex Automation Cloud to access and complete the task. If you do not enable Assignee authentication, assignees don't need to sign in to Nintex Automation Cloud to access and complete the task.

Note: 
  • User directory lookup configuration is recommended for assignee authentication. The prerequisite to user directory lookup is to configure Identity federation. For more information, see User Management.
  • Currently, you can only connect to Azure Active Directory to assign tasks to users in your directory.

  1. Open the action configuration panel. For more information, see Add an action to the workflow.

  2. In the Assignee section, enable Assignee authentication (enabled by default).

  3. Type in the Assignees field to filter and select a user. Only the following users can be selected for assignee:
    • Users who are already listed in the User Management page.
    • Users from your Azure Active Directory, provided, you have configured User directory lookup. Once an assignee is selected from the Azure Active Directory, the assignee's account will be auto-onboarded into the User Management page.

    4. The selected users will need to sign into Nintex Automation Cloud to access and complete the task.

    If you're using a variable instead of selecting users, the variable should be in the email address format.

For more information on the fields, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.

You can configure the Assign a task to multiple users action to retrieve one or more files from previous points in the workflow, and then send the files as attachments with the task email to the assignees.

Note: Attachments must be a File or a Collection (of Files). If an attachment is a URL pointer to a document (URL in a text variable), the task email will not be sent.

  1. Open the action configuration panel. For more information, see Add an action to the workflow.

  2. In the Message section, click the File attachments field.
  3. Click + Insert.
  4. Click the variables representing the files you want to attach. You can use Collection and File type variables. If there are no existing variables, you may need to create a variable first before you can insert it.
  5. Click Insert.

For more information on the fields, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.

Outcomes are responses from the assignees that direct the workflow along a particular path. You can add, remove, or rename outcomes. Reject and Approve are the default outcomes.

  1. Open the action configuration panel. For more information, see Add an action to the workflow.

  2. Enable Multiple outcomes.
  3. Edit the Reject or Approve Outcomes as required.
  4. To add a new outcome, click Add outcome.
  5. Type the new outcome name.

    6. Each outcome is displayed as a new branch on the canvas.

For more information on the fields, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.

You can configure the due date for the task. If the assignees don't respond to the task within the timeframe you set, then the action does one of the following:

  • Escalates by sending the task to another assignee.
  • Autocompletes the task with a selected outcome.

  1. Open the action configuration panel. For more information, see Add an action to the workflow.

  2. In the Escalation section, enable Escalation, and then select to use a date variable or calculate an amount of time:

    • Use a date variable

      1. Click Use date variable.
      2. For Due date, select a date variable.

    • Calculate an amount of time

      1. Click Calculate date.
      2. For Number, type a value or select a variable (decimal or integer type).
      3. For Unit of time, select a time unit.
  3. Select an Activity on due date.

    • If you select Escalate, in the Escalation assignee field, type an email address. Optionally, click Customize email to send a customized message when the task is escalated.

    • If you select Autocomplete, select an Autocomplete outcome.

    Note: You can choose an Autocomplete outcome only when Multiple outcomes is enabled. If Multiple Outcomes is disabled and Express approval is enabled, the Express approval term is selected automatically. If Multiple Outcomes is disabled and Express approval is disabled, the Autocomplete outcome is automatically set to Autocompleted.

For more information on the fields, see Assign a task to multiple users fields, buttons, and settings.

The Assign a task to multiple users task variables are available once you have configured the task. To find them in the Insert variables or Variables panel, click the task name object for the Assign a task to multiple users action.

The available task variables include:

  • The First Response object, which provides the responder name and the outcome of the first person to respond to the task.
  • The Task Responses collection, which provides the responder name and outcomes of all people who responded to the task, including the first responder.

You can use a Loop for each action to access the variables in the Task Responses collection in your workflow.

For more information on using variables in workflows, see Variables.

Depending on your action configuration, the following variables are also generated:

  • Form URL - The URL that an assignee can use to access the form.

  • Task name (Form link) - A hyperlink to the form URL using the Task name.

You can only use these variables in the Assign a task to multiple users Message body.

Note: When you use Start event variables or workflow action variables in your workflow, the workflow object is dynamically added to the form toolbox. You can use the data from these object variables in a form. See Workflow Objects for more information.

Section

 Field Description

Variable types

(Unlabeled)

 

Task name

The name of the task. See Tasks.

Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection

Task description

Description of the task the action sends to the assignee.

Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection
Task type

Task form

Allows you to design a task form. Use this task type when you want to collect information. For example, use a task form to collect information from a new employee or for a support ticket. Users can respond to the task via My Nintex, Nintex Mobile, or by clicking the form URL in an email. This task type can also be used in conjunction with the Express approval task type.

Click Design form to open the forms designer.

(n/a)
Express approval

Use this task type when you need a simple outcome from users, like Accept or Reject. Users who respond via email can also enter comments (up to 500 characters) with the task response.

Note: Sensitivity labels in email messages are not supported and will result in an invalid response to the task.

You can also use this task type with an action with only one branch when assignees do not need to select an outcome, but are required to acknowledge that they have completed the task. For example, use this task type with one branch (no multiple outcomes) if you simply need users to acknowledge a task.

When Express approval is enabled, the Smart response detection toggle is displayed. This is available only if the feature is enabled in the AI features for the tenant.

When Express approval is enabled and Multiple outcomes is disabled, the Outcomes are not displayed and you can specify the Express approval term.

When Express approval is disabled and Multiple outcomes is enabled, you can configure the action to allow assignees to select an outcome.

Users can respond to the task via My Nintex, Nintex Mobile, or by replying to an email. This task type can also be used in conjunction with the Form task type.

(n/a)
  Smart response detection

Displayed when the feature is selected in the AI features for the tenant and the Express approval toggle is turned on for the action.

Enable the toggle to turn on smart response detection for express approval task responses. With this enabled, task responses from assignees don’t need to be an exact match to one of the Express approval terms. Smart response detection will analyze and evaluate the response, considering things like the tense, spelling mistakes, and similar terms, and select the closest approval term.

Smart response detection requires a certain confidence level to function effectively. If the response doesn't meet that level and seems too unclear, it's taken as an invalid response. The task assignee will get an email about the invalid response and is asked to respond again.

(n/a)
Outcomes

Multiple outcomes
  • Enable to allow multiple task response options. Each outcome has its own branch in the action.
  • Disable if a task has a single outcome.

    • When Multiple outcomes is disabled and Express approval is enabled, the Express approval term field is displayed, which requires assignees to respond with the Express approval term.

Note: Disabling Multiple outcomes deletes all branches and contained actions, and causes any form rule that references the outcomes to error.

(n/a)
Express approval term

The message that you want an assignee to respond with after completing a task.

The Express approval term you specify is displayed in the Footer text of the email that is sent to assignees. For information about what's displayed in the footer, see Footer text.

This field is displayed only when Multiple Outcomes is disabled and Express approval is enabled.

 Text

Outcomes

The possible responses for completing the task.

The outcomes you define here determine the branches of the action.

By default, the Assign a task to multiple users action creates Reject and Approve outcomes. You can add, edit, and delete outcomes. To edit an outcome name, type in the outcome name field.

If you add a new outcome, another branch is added to the action. The outcomes appear as options in the Required outcome and Default outcome drop-downs.

(n/a)

Add outcome

Click to add task outcomes.

If you add a new outcome, another branch is added to the action.

If you add an outcome while Multiple outcomes is disabled, the Multiple outcomes toggle switches to enabled.

The maximum outcomes that you can add is 30.

(n/a)
Delete icon

Deletes an outcome.

The Delete icon is displayed only if you define more than two outcomes.

 (n/a)
Completion rules

The rule that determines the overall outcome of the task based on the response from assignees.

Select one of the following options:

  • All assignees must respond: A task is completed when all assignees respond. The workflow proceeds using the outcome with the majority of responses. For example, if the majority of the assignees respond with Approve, then the workflow will use the Approve outcome.

    In the case of a tie, the outcome received with the first response is used. For example, if the outcomes are Approve and Reject and an equal number of three responses are received for both outcomes but the first response received is Reject, then the workflow uses the Reject outcome.

  • First response completes the task: A task is completed when one assignee responds. Without waiting for more responses, the workflow will proceed using the outcome from the first response. For example, if the first response received is Reject, the workflow proceeds using the Reject outcome immediately.

  • Wait for a specific response: The task will wait until the required outcome is received. If the required outcome is not received, the default outcome is used. For example, there are three outcomes, Approve, Reject, and Review, and the default outcome is Review. If the required outcome is Approve but all assignees respond with Reject, then the workflow will use the Review outcome.

    The Wait for a specific response rule is available only if Multiple outcomes is enabled.

  • Wait for percentage of a response: The task will wait until the required percentage of the required outcome is achieved. If there are no outcomes, the task will wait until the required percentage of responses is achieved. For example, if you need 60% of assignees to agree on an outcome, and you set the required outcome to Approve, then the task will wait until 60 percent of the assignees respond with Approve outcome.

Note: The Default outcome, Required percentage, and Required outcome fields that are displayed depend on the completion rule you choose.

 (n/a)
Default outcome

The outcome to use if the required outcome is not received or if the required percentage of a response is not achieved.

The Default outcome field is displayed only if you select one of the following completion rules:

  • Wait for a specific response

  • Wait for a percentage of a response

 (n/a)
Required percentage

The percentage of a specific response from assignees that must be achieved.

The Required percentage field is displayed only when you select Wait for percentage of a response.

 Integer
Required outcome

The response that must be received or achieved before a task is completed.

The Required outcome field is displayed only if Multiple outcomes is enabled and options for the required outcome depend on the outcomes you specify.

 (n/a)
Assignee Assignee authentication
  • Enable (enabled by default): The assignees must sign in to Nintex Automation Cloud to access the task form.
  • Disable: The assignees can access the form without signing into Nintex Automation Cloud. 

If Assignee authentication is disabled and Express Approval is enabled, the Verify responder's email address is displayed.

 (n/a)
Verify responder's email address

Requires assignees to respond only from their email address. Responses received from other email addresses will not be accepted.

This field is available only if you enable Express approval and disable Assignee authentication.

  
Assignees

Recipients of the task.

Type in the Assignees field to filter and select users. Use semicolons to separate multiple email addresses.

Note: 

  • You can search for and select up to 20 users.

  • Tasks are sent to assignees, depending on the selected assignment behavior.

Tip: If using a variable in the Assignee field, we recommend using the assignee's email address in Text format. Searching for a user's first name and last name may not return a unique value, causing the action to fail.

 Text, Collection
Assignment behavior

The order that a task is assigned to users.

  • Parallel: assign to all users at the same time: Tasks are assigned to all users at the same time.

  • Sequential: assign to users one at a time: A task is assigned to the next user only after a response is received from the current user.

(n/a)
Message

Sender display name

The From name in the email that the action sends. The sender display name is followed by the default sender.

For example, if your Sender display name is "Marketing Team" and the default sender is nintex@workflowcloud.com, the From field in the email displays as: Marketing Team <nintex@workflowcloud.com>.

If you don't enter a sender display name, then the email shows the default sender in the From field.

Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection

Subject

Subject of the email message that the action sends.

Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection

File attachments

Variables representing files to attach to the email that the action sends.

Collection, File

Message body

Body of email message that the action sends. To expand the message body window and to see more options in the toolbar, click (Expand editor).

Button

Tooltip

Description

Bold

Apply bold formatting to the selected text.

Italic

Apply italic formatting to the selected text.

Underline

Apply underline formatting to the selected text.

Strikethrough (Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)
Apply strikethrough formatting to the selected text.
Subscript (Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)
Convert the selected text into a subscript.
Superscript (Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)
Convert the selected text into a superscript.
Block quote (Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)
Highlight selected text quoted from another source.

Font family

(Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)
Apply a font style to the selected text. The default font name is Open Sans.

Font size

Select the size of the font for the selected text.

Font color Change the text color for the selected text.
Font Background color Apply a background color for the selected text.

Insert/Remove Numbered List

Convert the selected text into one or more numbered list items.

Insert/Remove Bulleted List

Convert the selected text into one or more bulleted list items.

Paragraph Formatting styles Apply formatting styles from h1 to h6 to the selected text.
Text alignment Align the selected text to left, right, center or justify. When justified text is distributed evenly between margins when this is selected.

Link

Add a hyperlink to selected text. When you click the Link button, the Message body window presents two additional fields relating to the hyperlink: URL and Text. Type the URL and amend the Text if necessary. Click OK to confirm the hyperlink for the text.

Unlink

Remove a hyperlink. The unlink button becomes available after you click a hyperlink in the message body.

Decrease indent

(Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)

Decrease indentation for the selected list items.

Increase indent

(Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)

Increase indentation for the selected list items.
Remove format

(Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)

Removes the formatting on the selected text.
Table

(Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)
Opens a dialog to insert a table. Click inside the table to access the contextual toolbar, where you can add or remove columns, merge cells, or split cells.
Image via URL

(Displays only in the larger panel that's displayed when Full screen is selected.)

Opens a dialog to add the image URL. Click on the image to access the contextual toolbar, where you can include alternative image text, caption, and styles.
Source View or edit the HTML version of the message body.

Expand editor

Display the field and toolbar buttons in a larger panel with additional toolbar buttons available.

Text, Decimal, Integer, Boolean, DateTime, Collection

Footer text

When the toggle is enabled, footer text is automatically added to the end of the message body in the email that the action sends. The footer text that is included is based on the task type.

  • Task form: You may complete this form: [URL link to form].

  • Express approval with multiple outcomes: You may reply to this email with: "Reject", or "Approve" followed by a comma and any comments.

  • Express approval with one outcome (no multiple outcomes): You may reply to this email with: "Proceed" followed by a comma and any comments.

  • Express approval with one outcome (no multiple outcomes) and Task form:  You may complete this form: [URL link to form], or you may reply to this email with: "Proceed" followed by a comma and any comments.

  • Express approval with multiple outcomes and Task form:  You may complete this form: [URL link to form], or you may reply to this email with: "Reject", or "Approve" followed by a comma and any comments.

This footer text cannot be edited. If you want to add your footer text, disable the Footer text toggle and append the required footer text to the end of the message body.

When the Footer text toggle is disabled, the email the action sends does not automatically include footer text after the message body. You can add your own Task form links using variables so your assignees can access the forms and respond appropriately.

(n/a)

Reminders

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reminders

When you enable Reminders, the action sends reminders to the assignees at intervals you specify.

When you do not enable Reminders, reminders are not sent to the assignees.

Example: If you enable Reminders, set Number to 1 and Unit of time to Hour(s), a reminder will be sent 1 hour from the start of the task assignment.

(n/a)

Number

Displays when you enable Reminders.

The quantity of Unit of time before the action sends the first email reminder to the assignees.

Decimal, Integer

Unit of time

Displays when you enable Reminders.

Time unit used with the Number field for the first email reminder.

(n/a)

Customize email

Displays when you enable Reminders.

Presents the Custom email section and fields for reminder emails the action sends. See the Subject, Message body and Footer text information above.

(n/a)

Subsequent reminders

When you enable Subsequent reminders, the configuration panel presents additional Number and Unit of time fields. The action sends subsequent reminder emails for the task to the assignees as frequently as you define in the Number and Unit of time fields until the task is completed.

When you do not enable Subsequent reminders, the action does not send additional reminders for a task.

Example: If you enable Subsequent reminders, set Number to 2 and Unit of time to Hour(s), subsequent reminders will be sent for every 2 hours after the first reminder.

(n/a)

Number

Displays when you enable Subsequent reminders.

The quantity of Unit of time before the action sends subsequent email reminders to the assignees.

Decimal

Unit of time

Displays when you enable Subsequent reminders.

Time unit used with the Number field for the subsequent email reminders.

(n/a)

Escalation

 

 

 

 

 

 Escalation

When you enable the Escalation toggle, the configuration panel presents additional fields. The action escalates and sends the task to the recipient you specify, or completes the task with the selected Autocomplete outcome.

By default, Use date variable is selected, which presents Due date and Escalation assignee fields.

When you do not enable Escalation, the action does not escalate nor autocomplete.

 (n/a)

Use date variable / Calculate date

Select to either use a date variable from your workflow or a set amount of time after the task is first created to escalate the task.

This is selected, by default.

(n/a)

Due date

Displays when you select Use date variable.

The date the action escalates or autocompletes the task.

DateTime

Number

Displays when you select Calculate date.

The quantity of Unit of time before the action escalates or auto-completes the task.

Example: If you enable Escalation with Calculate date, set Number to 2 and Unit of time to Hours(s), an escalation email will be sent 2 hours after the start of the Assign a task to multiple users action.

Decimal

Unit of time

Displays when you select Calculate date.

Time unit used with the Number field for the escalation email that is sent to the assignees.

(n/a)
Activity on due date

Defines the activity that occurs when an assignee fails to respond to a task by the due date. Select one of the following:

  • Escalate: Escalates and sends the task to the Escalation assignee.

  • Autocomplete: Applies the Autocomplete outcome to the task on the due date.

 (n/a)

Escalation assignee

The recipient of the task escalation.

This field is displayed only when Activity on due date is set to Escalate.

Text

Customize email

Presents the Custom email section and fields for escalation. See the Subject, Message body and Footer text information in the Message section above.

This field is displayed only when Activity on due date is set to Escalate.

(n/a)

Autocomplete outcome

The outcome that is applied automatically when an assignee fails to respond to a task.

These are the options for the Autocomplete outcome:

  • If Multiple Outcomes is enabled, you can choose the Autocomplete outcome from the list of outcomes that are identified in the Multiple outcomes section.

  • If Multiple Outcomes is disabled and Express approval is enabled, the Express approval term is selected automatically as the Autocomplete outcome.

  • If Multiple Outcomes is disabled and Express approval is disabled, the Autocomplete outcome is automatically set to Autocompleted.

This field is displayed only when  Multiple Outcomes is enabled, Escalation is enabled, and Activity on due date is set to Autocomplete.

When a task is autocompleted, the status of the task in the Tasks page is displayed as Autocompleted.

(n/a)