The Contract Workflow functionality allows for all reviews and approval processes for contracts being executed for your institution. The contract workflow is based on the Contract Type selected when the contract is being created. Community administrators can assign the workflows to the contract types and configure tailored workflows for each contract type within their community. This allows contracts to follow a designated path or be routed to an ad hoc peer review with groups or individual users to review. Workflow members can approve and edit contracts before the contract is approved and finalized.
Setting up Contract Workflows
Designating the path for a Contract Workflow is done by identifying the steps and possible transitions the contract can take before being approved. This is described in three steps.
Tasks: Each task is an individual step of the workflow. A Task may be something like "Peer Review" or "Signature Required". These Tasks can be customized to whatever text is needed to best describe the task.
Transitions: The transition is the link between Tasks. A transition can move forward to a new task, return to a previous task, or sideways to a separate task. The flexibility of the transitions is a true power of the workflow.
Approvers: The approvers are the users who initiate the Transitions between Tasks. If the Task allows two Transitions (e.g. 'APPROVE' or 'RETURN FOR REVIEW') the approver chooses which of these Transitions to Initiate. approvers can consist of individual users, or of approval groups. Within the approvals groups, the workflow can be defined to require any or all approval to act on the task.
Because every Contract Workflow is customized for the different transitions based on your institutions needs then configured for which approvers initiate the tasks, please work with your Account Manager to build and implement your workflows.
Workflow Task Assignment
Based on the Workflow Set-Up, if a Task has no assigned approvers, users can assign a adhoc user. Example: Your organization requires peer review for all contracts, but the users performing this peer review may differ per contract. Leaving the Task open without any approvers in the workflow enables users to choose ad hoc which users or groups should approve the next Task.
Workflow Email Notification
When a contract completes its workflow, an email notification is sent to the Contract Initiator and the Contract Owner so they know the contract is ready to use. The email also includes a link to the applicable contract.