15.4 - Workflow Matrix

Within Elfsquad, you can determine what a seller account is able to do. It differs per situation what a sellers can or cannot do in Elfsquad. In this lesson we’re going to look at the "Workflow matrix". With the Workflow matrix, you can determine the Allowed quotation workflow. This is the flow a quotation has to follow from beginning to end. We’re going to dive deeper into the Workflow matrix and how to create a workflow that suits your needs. 

Workflow Matrix set-up

To set-up a Workflow matrix that suits your needs, you first need to know how to configure the Workflow Matrix. To get to the Workflow Matrix, follow these steps:

1. Open the EMS

2. Go to the settings page. 

3. Click on the quotations tab. 

4. Scroll down to the Workflow Section of the page.

Quotations Status

You will see that it is possible set the allowed quotations actions for your environment. You can see the default actions, as they are set up automatically when creating your environment. In the top row you can see the different quotation actions like Concept, pending and accepted. These statuses can be seen as the different steps a quotation has to pass from beginning to end. 

When you hover over one of the steps, two symbols appear: a pencil and a cross. When you click on the pencil, a window pops up.

In this window you edit some properties of the step:

• Name: You can change the name to anything that suits your Workflow. 
• Translations: You can add different Translations for different speaking users. Note: the translations are connected to the localization page. 
• Display in flow: With this field, you can decide which status is visible for the users, and which status is not.

Order: This is the position of the status in your workflow. The value of this field is expressed in numbers where 0 is the first place in the order. 

Can expire: If a quotation has this status, in this case: concept, the quotation can expire. The length of this expire time is set at the Expire Time setting above workflow. When the can archive checkbox is checked, the quotation can be archived when it has this status.

Creating a new quotation status

You can also create a new status. You do this by clicking on the "Add new status button" in the upper right corner. You have to determine the name of the status and if the status has to be displayed in the flow. When you create a new Quotation Status, you will see that the status is placed at the beginning of the flow.

Quotations Actions

On the vertical axis you can see the different actions a user can use when the quotation is on a certain step in a workflow. The copy, delete, edit, print, revise and transfer actions are default and cannot be changed. 

With the checkboxes in the row of the statuses, you can determine if an action can be performed when the quotation has a certain status. When a checkbox is checked in the column of a status, it means the user can use the action.

For Example: If you look at the image below, you can see that the copy function is usable when the quotation is in the: Concept, Pending, Accepted, Declined, Archived and Revised status. On all the other statuses, it is not possible to use this function.

Adding a new quotation action

It is also possible to add a new Status change action. You do this by clicking on the “add status change action” button. When you create a new action, it is important to know that you have to specify what the action will lead to. For example:

You want to create a flow in which the quotation has to be send to the seller for review. So you want to add a button on the "concept" page that will let the user know, that the quotation is send to the seller. So you want to create a action called: "Send to seller".

That will lead to a previously made status called: "Waiting on seller".  In the quotation status field, you select "Waiting on seller". When you save this action and enable it on the "concept" status, a trigger is created that will send your quotation to the seller. But you have to give the user Permission first to use the action. 

Important: read the next paragraph first to learn about permissions

Permissions 

Both the Horizontal as the vertical axis make the workflow matrix. You can configure this to your own needs. Just create the flow that suits you process. But there is a catch. It is Important to know that if you create a new quotation, you may notice that the buttons I’ve just created won’t be visible. This has to do with the permissions. With every action that is created, the user needs to have permission to perform a allowed action.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the users page. 

2. Click on the permissions button behind the user you want to have the newly created action. 

3. Click the checkbox for the newly created quotation action. 

Note: For every quotation action you create, you have to give the user a specific permission to use it. This can also be done per sub-organization.