Execute workflow jobs

Alfabet supports your enterprise in defining and maintaining workflows in which you can track and coordinate the activities that should be performed by various persons in a particular sequence.

Sending reminder emails and setting the workflow step to Expired if a performance duration is configured for the workflow step: A workflow step can be configured so that reminder emails can be automatically sent to the user responsible for the workflow step as well as to the workflow owner if there is no action taken on the workflow step for a configured period of time. This is configured by means of the Performance Duration attribute for the relevant workflow step. After the time period configured via the Performance Duration attribute has elapsed, the workflow step will be set to Expired and reminder emails sent out. Reminder emails will only be sent if this attribute is defined and the relevant email templates are available.
The batch job must be executed regularly with the job type check in order to send reminder emails. It is recommended that you execute the workflow batch job on a daily basis as workflows may begin at any time which may require workflow reminder emails to be sent.
Automatic start of workflows for objects defined with a query: A workflow template can be configured to allow for the automatic initiation of a workflow for all objects found in an Alfabet query. A workflow will be automatically started for each object found as a result of the query. To configure the automatic start of workflows for found objects, the Automatic Start attribute must be defined True for the relevant workflow template and a query must be defined for the Base Objects via Query attribute. Alternatively, you can restrict the execution of the batch process to workflow templates specified in the command line when starting AlfaWorkflowCommandPromt.exe . Please note that workflows cannot be created via batch process for workflow templates that have the Workflow State attribute set to Plan or Retired.
If the Automatic Start attribute has been set to True , a workflow administrator can also execute the batch initiation of workflows via the Start Automatically button in the Workflow Administration functionality available via an administrative profile.
Automatic closure of workflow steps
A workflow step can be configured to be automatically closed and advance to the next workflow step if all post-conditions have been satisfied. Otherwise the workflow step must be manually closed by the responsible user in order to advance to the next workflow step. To configure the automatic closure of workflow steps, the Allow Automatic Closure attribute must be defined True for the relevant workflow step.
Automatic deletion of finished workflows
A workflow template can be configure to allow for the automatic deletion of all of its workflows that are in the state Finished. To configure the automatic deletion of finished workflows, the Auto Delete attribute must be defined True for the relevant workflow template.
Rescan and update of responsible users for current workflow steps in a workflow
If the roles and responsibilities in your enterprise have changed, it may be necessary to update the Alfabet users who are responsible for a workflow. The batch utility can reassess the current workflow step of a selected workflow and update the assignment of responsible users to these workflow steps. Any new users found by the queries defined for the responsibility definition of the relevant workflow steps since the query was last executed will be sent the notification configured for the OnEnterStep workflow step action and the workflow step will be displayed in the My Workflow Activities view for all users found by the associated query.
Rescan and update workflow responsibilities
If the roles and responsibilities in your enterprise have changed, it may be necessary to update the Alfabet users who are responsible for a workflow. The batch utility reassesses the current workflow step of a selected workflow and update the assignment of responsible users to these workflow steps.

The instructions associated with the responsibility definition of the workflow step as well as the query defined for the corresponding workflow step action of type Notification will be executed to find new responsible users.

Any new users found by the query since its last execution will be sent the notification configured for the OnEnterStep workflow step action and the workflow step will be displayed in the My Workflow Activities view for all users found by the associated query .

Call up the AlfaAdministratorConsole.exe with the following command line:

AlfaAdministratorConsole.exe -workflow -<type of batch job> *|<workflow name>{,<workflow name>} -msalias <alias name> -DbUser <user name> -DbPassword <user password>

The table below displays the command line options:

Command Line Option	Mandatory/Optional	Explanation
-workflow	Mandatory	To perform workflow releated jobs, start the console application with -workflow
<type> <workflow name(s)>	Mandatory	Select one of the following types of batch job: Auto to automatically start workflows Check to send reminder emails and set workflow steps to Expired. StepClosure to automatically close workflow steps DeleteFinished to automatically delete finished workflows RescanResponsibility to reassign workflow responsibilities The type of workflow is followed by the technical name of the workflow template(s) for which workflows are automatically generated (= Name attribute of the workflow template). If more than one workflow template is specified, the workflow template names must be specified in a comma-separated format without white spaces. If an asterisk () is specified, workflows are generated for all workflow templates for which the Automatic Start* attribute is defined True.
-RescanMode <selectable mode>	Optional	If the type of workflow is RescanResponsibility, three different rescan modes can be defined. Select ResetDelegation to update the responsible users of all workflows steps including the workflow steps that have been reassigned to a different user through the step delegation action. Reassignments are not taken into account. Select ReapplyStepDelegation to update the responsible users of all workflows steps and reapply any step delegation decisions users were previously performed through the step delegation action. In this case, responsible users may be added to or removed from a delegated workflow step. Select SkipDelegatedSteps to update the responsible users of all workflows steps except the steps that have been reassigned to a different user through the step delegation action.
-msalias <alias name>	Mandatory	Enter the alias name as specified in the AlfabetMS.xml configuration file. If a remote alias is specified, the corresponding Alfabet Server must be running. If a server alias is specified, all other Alfabet applications with access to the Alfabet database must be stopped.
-msaliasesfile < Alfabet configuration file path>	Optional	If the AlfabetMS.xml configuration file that contains the specification of the alias is not located in the same directory as the executable, the path to the AlfabetMS.xml file must be specified with this parameter.
-alfaLoginName	Mandatory	User name for access to the Alfabet database. A user can only execute a batch job if the Can Execute Batch Jobs checkbox is selected (=True) for the user. If the workflow is started via the batch tool AlfaWorkflowCommandPrompt.exe, then the workflow owner is based on the owner of the workflow template. If no workflow template owner is defined, then the current user executing the batch job is the workflow owner.
-alfaLoginPassword	Optional	Password for access to the Alfabet database.
-DbUser <user name>	Mandatory	User name for access to the Alfabet database on the database server. If the access mode to the Alfabet database is Windows Authentication, the command line option -DbUser must be defined without a value for the user name and -DbPassword is not required.
-DbPassword <user password>	Optional	Password for access to the Alfabet database on the database server.