In the last couple tip blogs, we’ve been learning about workflows in NetSuite. Last week, we actually created a simple, single-state workflow. Single-state workflows are beautiful in their simplicity, but what if you need a workflow to do more than a single state can accomplish? Don’t worry—NetSuite has you covered! It’s time to explore the intricacies of a multi-state workflow.
Prepping for the Multi-State Workflow
So, you’ve decided that you need a workflow to accomplish a certain series of tasks. Now what? Before you click on the “New Workflows” button in NetSuite, we would strongly recommend that you take some time to plan out your workflow. Hold a quick (or lengthy!) whiteboarding session and get all your ideas out. Ask yourself questions like, What is my end goal? Why is a workflow my best option? What are the key steps on the way toward accomplishing my goal? What is the simplest way to accomplish my goal? As you plot out possible routes your workflow could take, you may discover that some things need to be in place before you ever start the workflow. For example, you may need to create a custom field or a custom list that your workflow will reference. If that’s the case, you want to go ahead and make sure those elements are already in place before you start the workflow.
Powerful Tools to Consider
Workflows make use of some powerful tools, but it’s important to understand these tools so you can get the most out of them. Let’s take a look at some of the major ones.
States, Actions, and Transitions
These are at the very heart of workflows. As we mentioned in a previous post, states are the boxes that represent the different stages of your workflow. Actions take place within each state, and transitions move the workflow from state to state. It’s important to note that you can have multiple actions per state. So in one state, your workflow may create a button, change one of the record field values, and send an email to a particular user. For your own sanity, though, do your best to streamline exactly what actions take place in each state! In addition to having multiple actions per state, you could also have multiple transitions leading into and out of any one state. Transitions may even create a loop in the workflow so that it cycles through the same states more than once. It all depends on what you need to accomplish! For example, the following workflow is a sample purchase order approval flow. Notice that “Pending Approval” has three possible states it could transition to. Notice, also, the loop created by the “Initiation,” “Pending Approval,” and “Rejected” states. In this case, the transitions are especially key in directing which state your workflow should head to next.
Conditions
In the previous workflow example, how would you actually tell your workflow when it should transition to “Approved – 1st Level” instead of “Approved – 2nd Level” or “Rejected”? Conditions can accomplish this key task. You can set conditions in every stage of the workflow—when you initially create it, when you add actions, and when you add transitions. In addition, you can add multiple conditions to any one of these stages. Think of conditions as strategic bottlenecks throughout your workflow. NetSuite handles immense quantities of data for your company, and often conditions are needed to target the specific information your workflow needs to operate successfully.
Triggers
The three most common trigger types are Before Record Load, Before Record Submit, and After Record Submit. You will have the option to select these either when creating new actions (in which case they appear in a list under the field Trigger On) or when creating new transitions (in which case they appear in a list under the field Transition On). While the names of these triggers may seem self-explanatory, using them productively can take some finagling on your part. For action triggers, think about when it would make sense for that particular action to happen. Does it need to already have taken place by the time a record loads for the user? Then you want to use Before Record Load. Does the action take place while you’re on the record, before you submit it? Or does it happen after the record submits? You will need to apply the same reasoning to transition triggers. While these are the three primary triggers, you will see other trigger options as well while you create your multi-state workflow. If you get lost in all the options, take a step back and simply ask yourself once again, when does this need to happen in the process?
Getting Help
Workflows are an incredible tool with a vast amount of functionality—but increased functionality provides increased opportunity for confusion and error. If you ever get stuck while building a workflow, however, you do have several options available to you for help. First, you can always check out the NetSuite help center. You can also click on the names of different fields in the workflow builder to access the NetSuite field help. Other (perfectly valid) options are Google . . . and YouTube. But some problems may be so specific to your situation that none of these options give you quite the answer you need. If you find yourself beating your head against the wall, please reach out to SuiteRep for assistance! We have team members who are highly experienced in building workflows, and we would love to get in touch about how we can help you leverage workflows to their fullest advantage.
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
The three greatest rules in building a workflow are to simplify, simplify, simplify. The saying “less is more” may not necessarily apply to workflows—but if less in your multi-state workflow can still accomplish your goals then you will definitely come through the process with less of a headache! Tackle your workflow with the precision of a surgeon. Workflows have a way of perpetually growing, but just because you have many options for places you could take your workflows doesn’t mean you should take them there!
Conclusion
We know that a picture is worth a thousand words—so stay tuned for our next blog post, a workflow case study based on a multi-state workflow we are in the process of creating for one of our clients. If this post has been helpful, please check out the related posts below for more great workflow tips and tricks. And don’t forget to subscribe to our mailing list below so that you never miss any of our latest NetSuite blog posts!