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This workflow action will allow the assignment of a task to one or more users and request a specific outcome. The list of possible outcomes is determined by the person designing the workflow.
To use the workflow action:
Alternatively
To change the settings used by the action:
For more information on the other options in the drop-down, please refer to the Getting started with the Nintex Workflow designer.
The assignees list contains all users or groups that will be assigned the task when the workflow is run.
Users can be:
- Entered directly using their username, email address or full name and will be resolved where possible against the SharePoint user list or Active Directory.
- Searched for: click on the address book icon on the right.
Please note that users that are external to the SharePoint environment can be added as Assignees by specifying their email address. However, the only way that they can respond to the Task is through LazyApproval, as they will have no access to the SharePoint site.
To search for users, click on the address book icon on the right.
The configuration dialog allows the workflow designer to search for and/or add users to the Assignees list by one or more of the following methods:
- Internal Search: Entering a partial display name, email address or user account name and clicking on the magnifying glass will provide a list of matching users and groups from SharePoint as well as Active Directory.
- External email address: Enter an external email address manually. Where possible Nintex Workflow will resolve this to an actual user account.
- Lookup: Provides the option of adding a dynamic reference as an approver. e.g. Workflow variable, list field.
Click the title bar to expand or collapse each option.
Create individual tasks for all group members
In the case where a group is assigned the task and Create individual tasks for all group members checkbox is:
- Not selected - all users in that group will receive the task notification. However, the first respondent will represent the entire group.
- Selected - an individual task will be assigned to every member of the group.
Groups will only be expanded to one level. Groups within groups will not be expanded.
When this option is selected, the assignee at runtime can delegate the task to another user. For more information, please refer to Delegating Approval Tasks. Changing the 'Allow delegation' option on the 'Action' screen is the same as changing the 'Allow delegation' option for all assignees on the 'Task Notification' ribbon option. See the 'Task Notification' ribbon option section below for more information.
If LazyApproval has been enabled, the workflow can permit the assignees to use LazyApproval. Lazy Approval means that a task response can be registered when the assignee replies to a notification email or an automated OCS / Lync conversation with a recognized word or phrase. An administrator can edit or add to the list of acceptable terms. For more information, please refer to the Managing LazyApproval settings. Changing the allow LazyApproval option on the 'Action' ribbon option is the same as changing the 'Allow LazyApproval' option for all assignees on the 'Task Notification' ribbon option. See the 'Task Notification' ribbon option section below for more information.
Allows entry of dynamic text that will display on the task response form. This can be used to communicate additional information about the task to the responding user. References can also be inserted using the Inserting reference fields feature.
The Outcomes define all the possible responses to the task. When completing the task, assignees must choose from one of the listed outcomes.
New Outcomes can be added by clicking Add outcome or removing/editing existing outcomes using the icons.
Each outcome is configured with a name and an optional description, which is displayed on the task response form and can be used to provide instructions and more detail. Whether or not the assignee must provide comments for the outcome can be configured as optional, required or none.
There are five behavioural alternatives to instruct Nintex Workflow how to handle tasks with multiple assignees. These are:
- First response applies: The first response received will be used for the overall outcome. All other pending tasks will be set to 'not required'.
- Majority must choose a specific outcome: The majority of assignees must agree on the same outcome. If a majority is not reached, the 'outcome achieved' variable will be set to 'no' and the overall task outcome will be blank. As soon as Nintex Workflow determines that a majority cannot be reached, the action will complete and all pending tasks will be set to 'not required'.
- All must agree on a specific outcome: All assignees must select the outcome specified in the 'Outcome' drop down list. If any assignee chooses an alternative outcome, all pending tasks will be set to 'not required', the 'outcome achieved' variable will be set to 'no' and the overall task outcome will be blank.
- Majority decides: The outcome variable will be set to the most popular outcome. If Nintex Workflow can determine the most popular outcome before all assignees have completed the task, all pending tasks will be set to 'not required'. If two or more outcomes have the same number of responses after all tasks are completed, the 'outcome achieved' variable will be set to 'no' and the overall outcome will be blank.
- All must agree: All assignees must agree on the same outcome. If an assignee responds with an outcome which differs to a previous respondent, all pending tasks will be set to 'not required', the outcome achieved variable will be set to 'no' and the overall task outcome will be blank.
After an outcome is reached, this workflow variable will be populated with the chosen outcome. See the 'Behaviour' section above for more detail on how outcomes are determined.
In some circumstances, it is possible that an outcome is not reached. After this action is completed, this workflow variable will be populated to indicate whether or not an outcome has been reached. See the Behaviour section for more detail on how outcomes are determined.
Allows the title of the task to be defined. This is the title that appears in a SharePoint task list. If left blank, the action's title will be used by default.
References can also be inserted using the Inserting reference fields feature.
Allows a task content type other than the default to be used. This option will only display if an alternative content type is available on the site. Alternative content types are primarily used to enable custom task response forms.
Specifies the value that should be assigned to the priority flag for the task. References can also be inserted using the Inserting reference fields feature.
Set a date for the task to be completed by.
Choose which form type is presented to Assignees.
When the workflow runs, the ID given to each task that is created will be stored into an Integer, List Item ID or Collection workflow variable.
Set user permissions to: Sets the user permission on the item.
When task is complete, set user permissions to: Sets the user permission on the item after the task has been completed.
Note: Setting the item permissions could be useful when the task is delegated, this will give the delegated user the necessary permissions to view the item.
Sent when the task is assigned to a user, also used when the task is delegated by one user to another.
Edit settings for
Changing this setting from the default All Assignees allows the configuration of unique notification options for a particular Assignee in the list.
Unless specifically configured, assignees will use the All Assignees settings. To override settings for a specific Assignee, select their name from the drop down list.
Changes to All Assignees will not affect users who are given custom settings.
When this option is selected, the assignee at runtime can delegate the task to another user. For more information, please refer to Delegating Approval Tasks.
If LazyApproval has been enabled on the server, the workflow can permit the assignees to use About LazyApproval. Lazy Approval means that an approval or rejection task response can be registered when the assignee replies to a notification email or an automated OCS / Lync conversation with a recognized word or phrase. An administrator can edit or add to the list of acceptable terms. For more information, please refer to Managing LazyApproval settings.
Delivery type is the method of delivering the notification to the recipients.
Available delivery options; None, Email, User preference or Instant Message (if enabled on the server). For information on User preference, please refer to Configuring user preferences.
Please note: Nintex does not provide support for troubleshooting email, SMS or OCS / Lync systems.
If Allow LazyApproval is checked and Delivery type selected is IM. The option Send a conversation request to confirm if the user is available to respond will be available. Checking this option will ask the assignee if they are available to respond, if the assignee responds with "No", the Delivery type will be switched to Email and the assignee will receive a notification email instead.
If at anytime the assignee does not respond within 5 minutes to the automated OCS / Lync conversation, the conversation will end and a notification email to complete the tasks will be sent instead.
The CC field sets read-only users who will receive the notification. CC recipients are not able to respond to the tasks.
To set the CC field click on
to open the Select People and Groups configuration dialog.
The BCC field sets read only users who will receive the email. BCC recipitants are not able to respond to the tasks. Other users addressed in the email via the To, CC and BCC fields will not be able to see any addresses in the BCC field. To set the BCC field, enter the account name, or alternatively, select the address book icon for additional options.
The From field sets the user or domain group that will appear as the sender of the message. This setting applies to emails only. If no From user or domain group is specified, the From address configured in Global Settings will be used.
The priority of the notification. This is only applicable when using email notifications.
The Subject is the title of the notification being sent. If an Instant Message is being sent it will be pre-pended to the body of the notification.
It can be added manually or by clicking on
, to use Insert reference fields from within the runtime instance of the workflow.
Allows file attachments to be added to the notification. You can specify multiple URLs by separating each URL with a semicolon. You can also specify multiple URLs by referencing a collection variable.
Files will not be received by a user when SMS or IM is selected as the delivery method. For information on User preference, please refer to Configuring user preferences.
This sets the format of the email.
Selecting:
The body of the notification will adapt depending on whether the Rich Text or Plain Text format is selected. Within the space provided, enter the content for the notification as straight text. Also available are Insert reference fields from within the workflow.
Sent when the user no longer needs to respond to the task. This can occur when:
- A task is assigned to multiple users but only one is required to respond.
- The workflow is terminated prior to the task being processed.
- An error occurs in the workflow at runtime.
See Ribbon Option: Task Notification above for field descriptions.
Optional notification Reminders can be configured to be sent to each assignee who has not yet completed the task.
The number of reminders to be sent.
The delay before sending each reminder in days, hours and minutes.
The total time is calculated by summing all fields, regardless of the Time calculation option selected. For example, 4 days and 4 minutes will be calculated as 96 (24x4) hours and 4 minutes.
Specifies whether or not hours outside the work week should be included when counting down to send a reminder.
The During business days only option will specify that weekends or holidays are not included in the countdown, but after hours on a business day are.Example:
- The task is assigned Friday morning and is configured to wait 1 day before sending a reminder (the work week is defined as Monday to Friday).
- A reminder will be sent Monday morning: weekends are not included in the countdown.
The During business hours only option specifies that only business hours are used in the count down.Example:
- The task is assigned Wednesday at 4pm and is configured to wait 4 hours before sending a reminder (the work day is defined as Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm).
- A reminder will be sent at 11am on Thursday: after-business hours are not included in the countdown.
If neither option is selected, all hours will be included in the count down.
Examples:
- The task is assigned Friday morning and is configured to wait 1 day before sending a reminder.
- A reminder will be sent Saturday morning: weekends are included in the countdown.
- The task is assigned Wednesday at 4pm and is configured to wait 4 hours before sending a reminder.
- A reminder will be sent at 8pm on Wednesday: after-business hours are included in the countdown.
Public holidays and any other special occasions are set using the "Site Settings > Nintex Workflow > Manage Holidays" page.
See Ribbon Option: Task Notification above for additional field descriptions.
Escalation is optional, there are two possible escalation paths:
- Delegate task will re-assign all pending tasks to the nominated user after the specified time.
- Complete task will auto-respond to all pending tasks and set the overall outcome of the action to the indicated outcome after the specified time.
- The specified outcome does not have to be one of the configured possible Outcomes set in the Action.
Note: The user-entered outcome must match the case of the specified outcome. For example, if you specify “Information needed” as an outcome for your workflow to follow the referenced branch, the user-entered outcome must use the same case. If a user entered the outcome “information needed” (lower-case), then the user-entered outcome would not be considered a match to the example outcome, “Information needed”. When a user-entered outcome does not match any of the specified outcomes, all branches from those outcomes are skipped and the workflow proceeds to the next action.
Escalation occurs after all reminders have been sent and the specified "Time to escalation" has elapsed.
See Ribbon Option: Reminders above for additional field descriptions.
