Workflow State
A 'Workflow State' is a known state that a document (for instance, a Sales Order, Purchase Order, Leave Application, or any custom document) might be in during its life cycle.
In the newer workflow-enabled systems, Workflow States allow you to:
Specify clear approval stages for business documents.
Track the status of a document from beginning to completion.
Automate decision-making with rules tied to each state.
Ensure compliance by imposing role-based approvals.
Workflow states are important for handling multi-step approval workflows, providing proper checks and balances, keeping the operations moving, and giving real-time visibility into where a document is at the moment.
They are also linked to permissions, notifications, and automation triggers, thus speeding up the process and minimizing human intervention.
Different Workflow States may be reached before or after taking different Workflow Actions on them. For instance, if you are designing a Workflow with successive levels of approvals such as Manager → Senior Manager → General Manager, you can do this with the help of Workflow States.
Each state can now also:
Be set to define the users or roles. Send automatic emails, reminders, or assignments.
Be linked to conditional rules (e.g., if amount > 100,000 → Director approval required).
Restrict editing permissions at certain stages (e.g., document cannot be edited once it's "Approved").
Various states are represented in different colors depending on the Style applied to each stage. This visual feedback enables users to immediately view the status of any document.
Success (Green): Indicates approval, completion, or healthy status.
Danger (Red): To indicate rejection, cancellation, or failed stage.
Inverse (Black): For locked, inactive, or restricted states.
Primary (Dark Blue): To indicate the main or default state of the process.
Info (Light Blue): To indicate informational or pending review stages.
Warning (Orange): To signal caution, escalation, or impending final action.