Folder Workflows

VisualVault allows owners of a folder to create workflows when they have a formal release, review, or expiration processes for documents. These approval routes will be applied to every document placed in the folder.

Release Approval Workflows
The first possible workflow that can be configured to a folder is a Release Approval workflow. This workflow can be applied to every new document uploaded to the folder or checked in so that the document is approved by key business personnel before the document is released. The Release Approval workflow will also be initiated when the document status is manually changed to Released.

A document which is being processed under an approval workflow will remain in an Pending state, which has equivalent to being UnReleased, until the document is approved or rejected. When any approval step of the workflow remains as rejected when the workflow ends, then released state will be set to UnReleased. Refer to How Approval Workflows are Handled for more information. Visibility to the unreleased/pending revision of the document is limited to owners and editors until the Approval is granted. If a document is checked into the folder with an UnReleased state, the approval workflow will not initiate.

Review Approval Workflows
The second configurable workflow for a folder is the Review Approval workflow. Configuring this workflow allows for a multi-step task list to occur when documents need to be reviewed.  This workflow is initiated 10 days before the review date is reached for a document. If a review time frame is not configured in the retention rules of the folder, the workflow will not initiate. The Review Approval workflow is driven solely on the Document Review setting of the folder properties. Refer to the topic on Record Retention Rules for more information.  If a Review Approval workflow is not setup, the owners of the folder will get a single task to review the document 10 days before a document needs to be reviewed.

Expiration Approval
The third workflow for a folder is the Expiration Approval workflow. Configuring this workflow allows for a multi-step task list to occur when documents need to be reviewed.  This workflow is initiated 10 days before a document is to expire. If the approval sequence is accepted then the document expires as soon as all approval steps have an affirmative approval. If the approval sequence is rejected, the expiration date will be reset. For example if a document expires in 360 days (on 12/1/2013) after being placed in the folder, and if the approvers reject the expiration of the document then the expiration date will be reset to 360 days in the future(12/1/2014). We recommend that you do not configure a return sequence on the negative outcome of a Document Expired workflow.  If an Expiration Approval workflow is not configured but an expiration date is set for a document, owners will receive a single task workflow to determine if the document should expire or not.