Process lifecycle
Important: This feature is currently in open beta. For more information, see the Nintex Beta terms document. If something is not functioning correctly, please raise this with support@nintex.com
Create > edit > publish
A new process starts as you create a draft, you then edit the process to add activities, decisions, parallel activities, and process links, along with tasks, notes, and attachments. When your process is complete, you publish it. It can then be updated through major version re-draft and re-publish actions. A published process can also be archived or permanently deleted. It can also be exported and then imported somewhere else.
The create > edit > publish > edit > publish cycle allows you to refine and improve your process as your organization grows.
Access permissions
Folder permissions form the basis of your organization's access. Folders can be viewed as 'groups'. You do not grant a user access to a process, you grant that user access to a folder, and every process inside that folder, along with the content of every sub-folder beneath it. See Permissions for more information.
Setting up a folder structure
The order in which you create folders is important because each level inherits the access permissions granted by its parent folder.
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A Platform Admin An access permmissions role. The administrator role in Nintex Processes who can create root folders, manage workspace and folder access, create and edit drafts, publish where permitted, archive, restore and permanently delete processes. creates the root folder. This is the only step nobody else can do.
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Assign at least one folder Owner immediately. Managing everything below this point is the responsibility of the folder owner, and the folder prevents you from removing the last owner later..
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The folder Owner grants access at the top level. Decide who is a Viewer An access permisions role. The user can view published processes., Contributor An access permisions role. A Contributor in Nintex Processes can view, create, edit and publish processes and filed drafts in assigned folders, assign Process Owner or Process Expert roles to a process, and archive in assigned scope. and Designer An access permissions role. A Designer in Nintex Processes can create processes outside a folder, design and edit drafts, publish where permitted, and assign Process Owner or Process Expert roles to a process.. Granting access permissions here is what makes those people eligible for process roles further down in the sub-folders.
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Create sub-folders. They inherit the parent folder’s access permissions list by default. Leave them inherited unless there is a reason not to.
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Break inheritance only when the audience genuinely differs. Keep in mind that permission changes cascade to all child items, and disabling inheritance creates a standalone access permissions list that must be managed manually.
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Finally, assign your process specific roles: Process Owners A process role. A Process Owner in Nintex Processes is responsible for managing the lifecycle of the process. and Process Experts A process role. A Process Expert in Nintex Processes is responsible for keeping the process definition updated to match how the organization actually functions.. Only users who already hold visibility and edit permissions on the process can be selected, so you must grant folder access first.
Process states
Editing a process never changes a published version. Instead, it creates a new draft based on the published version. When that draft is published, its contents replace the previous published version and become the next major version.
See Process statesfor a list of process states.
Version history
Version history lets you browse every version of a process, preview how it looked in an earlier version, and restore an earlier version if you want to go back to it.
Each time a process is published, the published version is kept. Version history lists these versions, together with the current draft if there is one. It is useful when a recent edit has introduced a mistake, or when you want to return to a version that was working well.
See Version history for more information.
Archive processes
Old published processes are kept in your tenant. You can archive and then delete them once they are no longer needed. Archiving a process removes a published process from its folder and moves it to the archive, where it remains available for recovery.
Use Archive to retire processes that are no longer current without losing their history. Archived processes no longer appear in their original folders. If a process is needed again, an administrator can restore it to a folder. When the process is no longer required, an administrator can permanently delete it.
See Archive processes for more information.
Considerations
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Contributor lifecycle rights: Contributors An access permisions role. A Contributor in Nintex Processes can view, create, edit and publish processes and filed drafts in assigned folders, assign Process Owner or Process Expert roles to a process, and archive in assigned scope. can edit processes through drafts, publish where permitted, assign Process Owners or Process Experts, and archive processes within their assigned scope. They cannot create processes outside a folder, restore archived processes, permanently delete archived processes, manage permissions, change inheritance, or create folders.
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Folder owner lifecycle actions: Folder Owners An access permission role. The folder Owner role in Nintex Processes can manage folder settings, access, permission sets, inheritance and sub-folders; create, edit, publish and archive within owned folders, and assign Process Owner or Process Expert roles to a process. can archive processes within folders they own. Only Platform Admins can restore or permanently delete archived processes.
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Publishing: In the open beta, publishing a process does not require approval. "Publish where permitted" means the user can publish any process for which they have edit permissions.
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Outside-folder process creation: Only Platform Admins An access permmissions role. The administrator role in Nintex Processes who can create root folders, manage workspace and folder access, create and edit drafts, publish where permitted, archive, restore and permanently delete processes. and Designers An access permissions role. A Designer in Nintex Processes can create processes outside a folder, design and edit drafts, publish where permitted, and assign Process Owner or Process Expert roles to a process. can create a process outside a folder. Folder Owners can do so only if they also hold one of those roles.
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Process owner and process expert assignment: Platform Admins, folder Owners, Designers and Contributors can assign Process Owner or Process Expert within their editable scope. However, the selected user must already have visibility of the process and permission to edit it.