What are workflows?

A workflow is a rule you build: when a record is created or changes, check something about it, then do something. That might be creating a task, filling in a field or telling somebody.

Workflows live in Brain › Workflows. The page lists every workflow in your workspace with its status, its owner, when it last changed and an on/off switch.

Why would you build one?

Because the alternative is somebody remembering to pass things on.

At Fairgreen Golf Co., an urgent repair used to sit in the Repairs list until somebody happened to open it. Now a workflow notices the repair, creates a task for the warehouse lead and puts the customer's name in the title.

The pattern is the same each time: something changes, a condition is checked, and work appears or somebody is told.

What can a workflow do?

Fairgreen runs three, and they are a fair picture of the range.

• When a repair is logged and marked urgent, create a task for the warehouse lead, due in two days. The task carries the customer's name from the repair.
• When a fabric trial's lab result comes back Within tolerance, notify the production department. Nobody has to remember to pass it on.
• When a sample request is created, raise an outreach item, so somebody follows up with the store that asked.

Once a workflow is published and switched on, it runs every time a matching record appears or changes.

How is this different from an automation?

An automation is one of the jobs Tideswell ships with, such as the low-stock alert. You switch it on and choose who hears from it. See What are automations?.

A workflow is yours, and you build it on a canvas. Use an automation for what every brand needs watched, and a workflow for the rules that belong to how your business works.

The Create new (+) menu has an item called Automation. It starts a new workflow, so in that menu the word means one you build.

What are the building blocks?

A workflow is a chain of steps, built left to right from a step library.

• A trigger starts it, and every workflow has exactly one. It fires when a record is created or when it changes. See How to choose a trigger.
• A condition compares something on the record and sends the flow down a Yes or a No path. See How to add a yes/no decision.
• Actions create work: Create task, plus a create card for each kind of record a workflow can make, such as Create outreach, or Create repair for an Object of your own. See How to create tasks and records from a workflow.
• Notify someone sends a push notification to one person or a whole department. See How to notify someone from a workflow.
• Advanced holds the steps that take more setting up, such as Compare any field, Create any record and Update a field.

Values from the triggering record can go into a task title, a message or a field, which is what makes the output specific rather than generic. See How to use values from the triggering record.

Step names use the name of each kind of record, such as Repair or Purchase Order. Your workspace may use its own word for this; Settings › Terminology shows both.

What starts a workflow?

A record being created, or a record changing. Tasks, purchase orders, suppliers, Shopify orders, products and customers, wholesale orders, special orders and your own Objects can all start one.

A workflow reacts to something happening. For work that should happen on a rhythm, such as a weekly stock check, use a repeating task instead: see How to make a task repeat.

Whose access does a workflow use?

The owner's. The owner is the person who created the workflow, and their name shows on its row in the list.

Every action a workflow takes is carried out with the owner's permissions, and each run says so on screen. Have the person whose access suits the job create the workflow, because the owner stays the same for the life of the workflow.

Who can build and run them?

Three rows on Settings › Permissions decide it.

• View workflows lets someone open the list and read a workflow and its runs. Members have it by default, so anybody can find out why a task appeared.
• Build and edit workflows lets someone create, change, switch on and archive workflows. Admins have it by default.
• Publish workflows lets someone make a version live. Admins have it by default.

The Brain › Workflows row shows while the Automations module is on. See How to set who can do what and How to switch parts of Tideswell on and off.

What does a workflow need to run?

On the workflow itself, two things: it has to be published and switched on. Those are separate controls, and How to publish, switch on and read a run explains both.

Behind them, the Workflow engine runs every published workflow, checking for changes every five minutes or so. Workflows that start from Shopify orders, products or customers also need the Shopify change watcher. Both start switched on, and both are listed under Background jobs on Brain › Automations.

Which page should you read first?

How to build your first workflow. It walks the whole thing end to end, from an empty canvas to a workflow that runs.

Then each step in more depth: How to choose a trigger, How to add a yes/no decision, How to create tasks and records from a workflow, How to notify someone from a workflow and How to use values from the triggering record.

Finish with How to publish, switch on and read a run. A workflow does nothing until it is both published and switched on, and the Runs tab is where you see what it did.