Scenario: 5 Recipients, 5 Responses using a rework action when someone rejects the task
In this scenario, a task is sent to five recipients, namely Codi, Bob, Dennis, Holly, and Erica. They can either Approve or Reject the task, which completes when five recipients respond with Approve. The rework path is followed if one of the recipients responds with Reject. This is sometimes referred to as a Veto scenario because one person can cause the workflow to stop at this task until full agreement is reached. This means that the task is resent to the same recipients until all five respond with Approve.
If you want to know how to configure the task step for this scenario, skip ahead to How to configure the Task step.
Task list behavior for Recipients
The workflow starts and sends a task to all recipients. The task shows in the My Task section in K2 Workspace (Desktop) for each of them because, at this stage, nobody has opened the task and it is available for everyone to open. Codi opens the task and takes ownership of it. This means that Codi takes one of the five available responses for the task. The task is still available for all of the remaining four recipients and shows in their inbox.
Bob, Dennis and Holly open the task and take ownership of it. They take the second, third, and fourth tasks of the available responses. In this scenario, you specified that five responses are needed which means the task is still available for the remaining recipient and shows in her inbox.
Codi, Bob and Dennis approve the task. These are the first, second and third Approve responses. In this scenario, you configured the custom voting rule to wait for five approved actions which means the task stays available for the remaining recipients.
Holly rejects the task. This is the fourth response as well as the first Reject response. In this scenario, you configured the custom voting rule to follow the rejected (rework) path. The workflow continues because one person chose the Reject action which follows the rework path and sends the task to all the recipients again. The task is available for everyone to open.
The animation below illustrates the path from when the task is assigned to the recipients to when it completes.
To illustrate what happens in this scenario from an administrative perspective, you open the Task List in K2 Management. Here you're able to see how the task status changes as the recipients open and action the task. This is also a convenient way to track, test, and confirm the behavior of how you configured the scenario.For more information on how to access K2 Management see Accessing K2 Sites.
The workflow starts and sends a task to all the recipients. Nobody has opened the task and it is available to all. The Status for all tasks is Available.
Codi opens the task and takes one of the five available responses for the task. Notice the status for Codi is Open. The task is still available for the remaining four recipients.
Bob, Dennis and Holly open the task and take the second, third, and fourth available responses. Notice the status for Bob, Dennis and Holly is Open and, for the remaining recipient, it is Available. In this scenario, you specified that there are five possible responses, which means that the task is still available for the remaining recipient on their her list.
Codi, Bob and Dennis approves the task an their names no longer show on the Task List. These are the first, second, and third Approve responses. In this scenario, you configured the voting rule to wait for five approved actions. Notice that the task is still open for Holly and available for Erica.
To see the voting rule in action, open the Activity Instance Detail report. Select the Reports tab and scroll down to locate the All Instances section of the Process Overview report. Select the link for the Active task.
On the Process Instance Detail report, scroll down to locate the Activities section. Click the Task link.
In the Participants section of the Activities Instance Detail report, notice that Codi, Bob and Dennis approved the task and the workflow is waiting for the fourth and fifth Approve action.
Holly actions and rejects the task.
In this scenario, you configured the custom voting rule to follow the rejected (rework) path. The workflow continues and sends the task to all recipients again, so it shows as available for everyone.
The workflow can only continue when all five recipients approve the task.
Configure the Task step for this scenario by matching your task with the examples:
Task Tab | Configuration Details |
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Task
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On the Task tab add two actions: Approve and Reject. For additional information, see Task tab. |
On the Recipients tab add Codi, Bob, Dennis, Holly, and Erica as recipients. For additional information, see Recipient tab. |
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Task Result Rule
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On the Result/Voting tab configure the following:
For additional configuration information, see Task Result Rule tab. For more information and scenario on Custom Voting Rule, see Task Results Rule - Custom Voting Rule. |
Custom Voting Rule
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In the Rules Designer configure the following:
For additional configuration information, see Task Result Rule tab. For more information and scenario on Custom Voting Rule, see Task Results Rule - Custom Voting Rule.
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When working with this type of scenario keep in mind the following considerations:
- When you select a task from your task list in K2 Workspace (Desktop), the status for the task changes from Available to Open. You take ownership of the task and it stays open in your name until you release, share, redirect, or action it. For more information see the Redirect, and Release scenarios.
- If you don't action an open a task, remember to release it so it is available for other recipients. For more information on how to release a task, see Release in the Task Action Bar section of the My Tasks topic.
- All recipients can redirect the task. Five tasks can be completed because five responses are required to complete the task.
- When you redirect the task you no longer see it on your task list. The task shows on the other person's task list and they can action it..
- When you share a task, the task stays on your task list but also shows on the other person's task list. The first person to open the task can take action on it and the task is removed from the other person's task list.
- When you sleep a task, it pauses or suspends the task for a period of time. The task does not show on your task list until the time specified elapses. You have no option to release this task until the time has elapsed. The task is still open in your name as you are the owner of it.
- When you use the custom voting rule and also want to specify a number or responses, always remember to make sure you have enough responses to cover all your voting rule actions. In this scenario you specified five responses and your voting rule needs five approved actions. This means you have enough responses to cover the actions.