Workflow settings

The workflow settings page holds the main settings of a workflow: its code and name, who is responsible for it, how its work orders behave, and how its jobs are financed. You also use it to create a workflow and to delete one.

The page heading depends on what you are doing: Create New Workflow, Modify Workflow or Confirm Delete Workflow. To open it:

to create a workflow, select Admin > Workflow Definitions, then Create;
to change a workflow, open it from Admin > Workflow Definitions, then select the pencil icon (Edit Workflow) below the workflow’s details;
to delete a workflow, open it the same way and select the bin icon (Delete Workflow).

The page has four sections: General, Operations, Finance and, for TrakIT Support only, Support. Everything else about the workflow, such as its events, data fields, default accounts, KPIs and forms, is set up on the workflow’s own page.

Create a workflow

Select Admin > Workflow Definitions, then Create.
Enter the Workflow Code and Workflow Name, and choose the Workflow Type. The type can’t be changed later.
Choose the Workflow Group and the Responsible Company.
Choose Geo Assigned 1 and Geo Assigned 2.
Enter the Default Free Days, and fill in the other settings you need. Set the Warehouse Operation and Enforce Chronological Order later, when you modify the workflow.
Select Create.

TrakIT opens the new workflow’s page. You are its Responsible Person.

A new workflow is inactive, so nobody can create jobs in it yet. Build up its events, data fields and other definitions first, then modify it and turn on Active. For the order that works, see Designing a workflow.

Some settings appear only once the workflow exists: Active and Archived, and the settings that refer to its events and data fields, Total Distance, AI Enabled Data Fields, Rev/Exp Recognition and Auto-Approve Estimates.

For the whole setup of a new company and its workflows, see Setting up a company.

Modify a workflow

Open the workflow from Admin > Workflow Definitions.
Select the pencil icon (Edit Workflow). The Modify Workflow page opens.
Change the settings.
Select Save.

TrakIT saves the changes and takes you back to the workflow’s page. Cancel goes back without saving. If something is wrong, a message tells you what to correct and nothing is saved.

Delete a workflow

Open the workflow from Admin > Workflow Definitions.
Select the bin icon (Delete Workflow). The Confirm Delete Workflow page shows the workflow’s settings.
Select Delete.

Deleting a workflow also deletes its events and data fields with their actions, its KPIs, default accounts, forms list, delay cost definitions, workflow reports and the users’ access to it.

You can delete a workflow only if it has no work orders, and nothing else still refers to it, such as quotations, rate cards, its document checklist, job types, warehouses or item types. Otherwise TrakIT says Cannot delete workflow in use and deletes nothing. To stop using a workflow, turn off Active instead, and archive it if you no longer want to see it.

General

Field	What to enter
Workflow Code	A unique code of up to 20 letters, digits or hyphens. TrakIT removes spaces and converts it to capitals. Required. A duplicated workflow gets the code `DUPL`, which you must change before you can save it.
Workflow Name	A unique name of up to 50 characters. Some special characters, such as `#` or `<`, are not accepted. Required.
Workflow Type	Import, Export, Round Trip or Non-Shipment. It can’t be changed once the workflow is created.
Workflow Group	The workflow group the workflow belongs to. Groups become tabs on pages such as Jobs. System administrators see all groups; other users see the groups of the workflows they have access to.
Responsible Company	The company responsible for the workflow: the companies linked to your user, and your own company. System administrators see all companies. Changing it refills Base Currency with that company’s currencies.
Responsible Person	The user who maintains the workflow. Type a name and choose from the list, which shows the active users who have access to the workflow, and system administrators. When you create a workflow, it is you and can’t be changed until the workflow exists.
Geo Assigned 1, Geo Assigned 2	The places in Geo Data the workflow belongs to, for example its origin and destination country. Neither can be Global. Required.
Active	On for a workflow in use. Only active workflows can be chosen when creating a job. Shown only when you modify a workflow.
Archived	Shown only for an inactive workflow. Archived workflows are left out of most workflow lists and filters across TrakIT, and the Workflow Definitions list shows them only with Show Archived. Only system administrators can change it.

Who gets access to the workflow

When you create a workflow, or change its Geo Assigned 1 or Geo Assigned 2, TrakIT resets who has access to it. Users whose workflows are assigned by Geo Data get access if they are assigned to either place, or to a place above it (for example the country of a city). Access given to other users by hand is removed, so give it again on their user page if they still need it.

If you are not a system administrator, at least one of the two places must be among the places you have access to.

Operations

Field	What it does
Auto-generate	How the job reference of a new job is filled in on Create a job. The label ends with your company’s short name for the job reference. None: users type it. Random Alphanumeric: 10 random letters and digits, starting with a letter. Auto Sequential: the reference of the workflow’s latest job, with the number at its end increased by one and the same number of digits, for example `ABC-0099` becomes `ABC-0100`. If that reference doesn’t end in a number, the field stays empty.
Abandoned After	The number of days after which an active work order of the workflow becomes Abandoned if it gets no new event, counted from the date of its latest event, or from its creation if it has none. At least 7. Leave it empty to use your installation’s default. TrakIT checks every six hours. See Work order.
Total Distance	The code of a Number data field of the workflow that applies to the work order, not to the job. TrakIT fills it with the total distance of the work order’s location list whenever the list changes. Shown only when you modify a workflow.
Default Free Days	The free days a container gets in Delay Tracking when none of the workflow’s delay cost definitions matches it. A whole number greater than 0. Required.
Default Time Zone	The time zone of the dates and times in the workflow’s automatic emails, such as event/data actions, status update emails, document reminders and workflow reports sent by email. A new workflow starts with your own time zone.
WO Responsible	Who becomes the responsible person of new work orders. WO Creator: the user who creates them, or the person they choose. WF Responsible: the workflow’s Responsible Person, unless that user is locked. Work orders created through the integration API do not use this setting: their responsible person is the user the request names, or else the API user (see `CreateJob`).
Status Email Template	The form used for the status update emails sent to a job’s customer when the latest event with External Access of its work orders changes, if the customer’s entity has Status Updates turned on (see Entity). The list shows the active forms on the For Jobs tab of Form Definitions. With [ No Template ], TrakIT sends its standard status summary.
Location Selection Type	Where the location list of a work order looks for locations first: Global (all locations), Company (the country of the responsible company), Workflow (the countries of Geo Assigned 1 and Geo Assigned 2) or Entities (the locations of the job’s and work order’s entities). Users can choose another type in the list.
Warehouse Operation	Whether the workflow’s work orders move stock: None, Inbound, Outbound or Both. It can’t be changed once a work order of the workflow has committed items that are not cancelled. See Setting up warehousing.
Commit Requirement	Shown when Warehouse Operation is not None. The event that must be recorded before items can be committed, or — for none.
Warehouse Commit Event	Shown when Warehouse Operation is not None. The code of the event TrakIT fills in when items are committed. It must be a Required Event that allows neither NA nor TBA, is not Information Only and is not limited to services.
WO Auto Reset	Job Type, Customer, or both: when a user changes the job type or customer on a work order, TrakIT resets its events and data, keeping the values already entered. This needs the Reset permission in the Work Orders section; without it, the work order is not reset.
AI Enabled Data Fields	The data fields that AI extraction may fill in. See AI-enabled data fields. Shown only when you modify a workflow.
Commodity List	The commodities allowed in the workflow, one per line. When you save, TrakIT removes duplicates and sorts the list. If the list is not empty, the commodity of a new job or a work order must be one of them (Commodity selection allowed from the available list only). Leave it empty to let users type any commodity.
Prevent Document Deletion	On: nobody can delete documents from the workflow’s work orders, for example on the Documents tab. Documents can still be cancelled.
Enable Assets	On: work orders of the workflow show the Assets box, with the trucks, trailers or equipment on the work order, to users whose role has View Assets. See Work order.
Service Mandatory	On: every work order of the workflow must have at least one service. No Services does not appear when creating a job, and the last service of a work order can’t be removed.
Ignore Event Sequence	On: events can be recorded in any order, and left empty. Without it, an event can’t be recorded while earlier events are empty (Out of sequence), or cleared while later events are filled in (Empty not accepted). Events that are Information Only are never checked. See When a value is not saved.
Enforce Chronological Order	On: each event must be after the work order was created, and not earlier than the events before it in the sequence (Chronological order). For an event that applies to the job, the events of all the job’s open work orders count. Events that are Information Only are not checked.

AI-enabled data fields

On Create a job, AI PDF Extraction… reads a bill of lading PDF and fills in the job header and the work orders. It can also fill in some of the workflow’s job data fields, but only those you enable here. If you enable none, it fills in no data fields.

Under AI Enabled Data Fields, select the link that shows how many fields are enabled, for example No fields selected or 2 fields selected.
In AI Enabled Data Fields, tick the data fields AI extraction may fill in, and clear the others.
Select Done. The link shows the new count.
Select Save.

The choice is saved only when you save the page: Done just closes the popup.

The popup lists the workflow’s active data fields that apply to the whole job (Apply To set to Job), except computed fields. If the workflow has none, it says No Data fields available. AI extraction looks for each enabled field by its name, so it works best for fields named like the labels on the document. A field is filled in only if the Job Data section of the job form shows it.

Finance

These settings apply to the finance of the workflow’s jobs. The workflow’s default accounts are on the Finance tab of the workflow’s page, and its jobs are listed on Workflow Finance. For setting up finance from the start, see Setting up a company.

Field	What it does
Base Currency	The currency of the workflow’s jobs: new jobs of the workflow get it. The list shows the currencies of the Responsible Company. It can’t be cleared once the workflow has default accounts.
Minimum Margin	The margin each job should make, shown as Req. Margin on the finance page of a job. Choose Fixed for an amount in the base currency, or % of Income, % of Expense or % of Disbursement, and enter a whole number. A percentage can’t be more than 50.
Serial Format	The format of the serial number each new job gets in the workflow, shown as Workflow Serial on the job’s finance page. TrakIT adds a four-digit number at the end. Use `YY` or `YYYY` for the current year, `MM` for the month (with `YY` or `YYYY`), and `[WF]` for the workflow code: for example `[WF]/YY/` gives `IMPSEA/26/0001`. Letters, digits and `- / [ ] ( )` are allowed. When the format has the year, the numbers start again at 1 with the first job of a new year. The number next to the box is the last one used. Leave it empty for no serial numbers.
Allowed Master Accounts	All Accounts: jobs and quotations of the workflow can use any account master. Selected Accounts Only: only the accounts on the workflow’s allowed list for the company, kept on the workflow’s Finance tab. When you save with Selected Accounts Only, TrakIT adds the workflow’s default accounts to the allowed list if they are not on it yet.
Rev/Exp Recognition	The code of the event that sets the job’s revenue and expense recognition date. When the event is recorded, TrakIT sets the date to the Earliest or Latest date of that event on the job’s work orders that are not cancelled. Open Jobs Only: the date is not changed once the job’s finance is closed. On All WO: the date is set only once every work order of the job has the event. The event must be an active Required Event that allows neither NA nor TBA. Shown only when you modify a workflow.
Auto-Approve Estimates	On: when a user initializes the accounts of a job, TrakIT approves the estimates straight away. Shown only when you modify a workflow.

Support

The Support section is shown only to TrakIT Support, who handle the settings in it.

Messages

Message	What to do
Workflow Code/Name is already in use, Workflow Code/Name specified is in use	Another workflow has this code or name. Choose another.
Workflow Code must be alphanumeric, Workflow Code is invalid	Use only letters, digits and hyphens. `DUPL` is not accepted.
Geo 1 must be specified and cannot be Global, Geo 2 must be specified and cannot be Global	Choose a place other than Global.
User must have access to at least one assigned Geo Data	Choose at least one place you have access to, or ask a system administrator.
Responsible Company is disabled	Choose an active company.
Cannot change responsible company as it is linked to service(s)/Job Type(s)	The workflow has services or job types set up for its current company. Remove them from the workflow first.
Default Free Days must be specified as a number, Default Free Days must be positive	Enter a whole number greater than 0.
Work Order Idle Limit must be at least 7 days	Enter 7 or more in Abandoned After, or leave it empty.
Minimum Margin cannot exceed 50%	Enter a percentage of 50 or less.
Responsible Person not found, Responsible Person matches more than one	Type the name and choose the user from the list.
Cannot find event code code, Cannot find Data code code	Enter the code of an event or data field of this workflow.
Rev/Exp trigger event can’t allow ‘NA’, Rev/Exp trigger event must be a ‘Required’ event	Change the event’s definition, or choose another event. The commit event gives similar messages.
Data Field code must be a Number Data Type, Apply to Job for code must be disabled	Total Distance needs a Number data field that applies to the work order.
Invalid characters in Serial Format	Use only letters, digits and `- / [ ] ( )`.
Cannot remove currency on a workflow with accounts	Keep a Base Currency.
Cannot archive active workflow.	Turn off Active and save first.
Cannot archive workflow with active work orders	Close or cancel the workflow’s active work orders first.
Cannot delete workflow in use	The workflow has work orders, or other records refer to it. Turn off Active instead.

Who can use this page

Your role needs these permissions in the WorkFlow Definitions section:

Permission	Allows you to
Create	Create workflows.
Update	Modify workflows (the pencil icon).
Delete	Delete workflows (the bin icon).

To modify or delete a workflow, you also need access to it, unless you are a system administrator. Only system administrators can change Archived, and only TrakIT Support sees the Support section.