Multi-User Task

Introduction

Multi-user tasks are tasks that have to be executed by multiple users. Each user performs the same task. The outcomes from all individual tasks will be aggregated into a single multi-user task outcome based on the completion condition.

For example, you can assign a review task to multiple users:

Properties

Multi-user task properties consist of the following sections:

• General
• Due date
• Events
• Targeted users
• Completion condition
• Outcomes
• Task page
• Display information
• Events
• Boundary events
• Common

General Section

Caption defines a title of the multi-user task.

Due Date Section

Due date is stored in the System module on the UserTask entity as an attribute and its data can be dynamically displayed in the running app. For example, you can use it to set a deadline for the multi-user task and display it in your app. However, this is not an automatic reminder but rather a deadline you reference when keeping track of the multi-user task. If you are using the Workflow Commons module, Due date is used in page templates and preconfigured dashboards.

The Due date section properties are described in the table below:

Targeted Users Section

Target Users Using

Target users using allows you to manage what users will the task be assigned to. You can filter users using XPath, or implement more flexible logic and add several checks using a microflow.

Possible options of this property are described in the table below:

In case Target users using (an XPath or a microflow) results in an empty list of users (0 users), the workflow fails. For more information on how to handle this kind of issues, see the Operation section in Change Workflow State.

XPath Constraint

Specifies the expression used to assign the multi-user task. This option is displayed only when the Target users using is set to XPath. Click Edit to edit the XPath constraint.

Microflow

Specifies the microflow used to assign the multi-user task. This option is displayed only when the Target users using is set to Microflow.

Completion Condition Section

Completion condition defines all the criteria that must be fulfilled for the multi-user task to be marked as completed. It consists of the following settings:

• Participant input
• Decision method
• Completion moment

Participant Input

This property determines the maximum number of targeted users that are required to select an outcome to complete the multi-user task. The targeted users that are required to select an outcome for the multi-user task are participants of the multi-user task.

Possible options of participant input are described in the table below:

Decision Method

With this property, you specify how the outcomes of the individual participants are aggregated into a single multi-user task outcome. This aggregated outcome is used as the final outcome to complete the multi-user task.

The table below briefly describes the available decision methods:

For more details and examples of how each decision method works, see the sub-sections below.

Consensus

Select this decision method when all participants should be in agreement with the provided outcome. That is, they should all select the same outcome. There has to be consensus. When there is no consensus, the multi-user task will complete with the fallback outcome.

Fallback outcome: This outcome will be the final outcome of the multi-user task if any of the participants during consensus decision method selects a different outcome from the rest of the participants.

Example

The following example shows how it works when the decision method is Consensus:

Out of a group of two or more targeted users, two of them need to perform the same task: to approve or reject a request. Their decisions are represented by the task outcomes. When the Decision method is set to Consensus:

• If they both approve the request, the multi-user task is completed with the outcome Approve.
• If they both reject the request, the multi-user task is completed with the outcome Reject.
• If no consensus is reached between the two participants, the multi-user task will then be completed with a fallback outcome (in this example, NoConsensus )

You can refer to the following properties settings for this example:

• Targeted users: The users that can perform the task (they can be a team, a department, or two pre-selected users)
• Participant input: Absolute number = 2
• Decision method: Consensus
• Fallback outcome: An outcome users can select but it will be selected automatically when there is no consensus (in this example, NoConsensus)
• Completion moment: When outcome is known
• Outcomes: Approve, Reject, NoConsensus

Veto

Veto decision method requires two outcomes, one of which is the veto outcome. If anyone selects the veto outcome, then the multi-user task will be completed with the veto outcome.

For a multi-user task to complete with the non-veto outcome, all participants defined in property Participant input need to complete their task by selecting the non-veto outcome.

Veto outcome: This property defines the veto outcome.

Examples

Two examples are provided here to show how it works when the decision method is Veto.

One example is when a whole team needs to make a joint decision during a hiring process: Hire or DoNotHire. The candidate receives an offer if the whole team agrees that this person should be hired. When one team member decides the person should not be hired (veto), the outcome of the multi-user task will be DoNotHire.

You can refer to the following properties settings for the example above:

• Targeted users: The users that can perform the task (the whole team)
• Participant input: All target users
• Decision method: Veto
• Veto outcome: DoNotHire
• Completion moment: When outcome is known
• Outcomes: Hire, DoNotHire

Another example is from a group of experts, five of them need to decide whether a change request is Minor or Major. In this example, the outcome Major is the veto outcome. If any one of the five experts decides it is a major request, the change request will be Major. The input from the other four experts will not change the outcome anymore. If all five of them decide it is a minor change request, the final multi-user task outcome will be Minor.

You can refer to the following properties settings for the second example above:

• Targeted users: group of experts
• Participant input: Absolute number = 5
• Decision method: Veto
• Veto outcome: Major
• Completion moment: When outcome is known
• Outcomes: Minor, Major

Majority

Select this decision method when a task should result in an outcome based on an absolute or relative majority number of votes. The number of required votes is defined as the result of the participant input.

Majority type: This property determines the majority type that will be applied when using the majority decision method. Possible options of majority type are described in the table below:

Fallback outcome: This outcome will be the final outcome of the multi-user task if no majority was reached.

Example

The following example shows how it works when the decision method is Majority and when the majority type is More than half or Most chosen.

There are 50 targeted users and 10 of them are required to participate in the task. The possible outcomes are A, B and C. 5 participants have voted for outcome A, 4 participants have voted for outcome B, and 0 participants voted for outcome C. This means that the task has 9 completed votes, and 1 vote is left to determine the final outcome of the multi-user task.

• In case the majority type is More than half, there is no absolute majority yet, as this would require more than half (6 votes) of the participants to select the same outcome. In this example, if the next participant votes for outcome A, the task will be completed with outcome A, as this is the first outcome to receive the absolute majority of the available votes. In case the last participant selects outcome B or C, the task will be completed with the fallback outcome, as there is no absolute majority possible.
• In case the majority type is Most chosen, if the last participant selects outcome A or C, the task will be completed with outcome A, since it has most votes of all outcomes. If the participant selects outcome B, the task will complete with the fallback outcome because both A and B have 5 votes.

You can refer to the following properties settings for this example:

• Targeted users: The users that can perform the task
• Participant input: Absolute number = 10
• Decision method: Majority
• Majority type: More than half or Most chosen
• Fallback outcome: An outcome participants can select, but it will be selected automatically when there is no majority (in this example, C)
• Completion moment: When outcome is known
• Outcomes: A, B, C

Threshold

Select this decision method when a task should complete with an outcome when the number of votes for this outcome reaches the amount of votes set as the threshold value.

Threshold Type: This property determines the threshold type that is applied when using the threshold decision method. Possible options of threshold type are described in the table below:

Fallback Outcome: This outcome will be the final outcome of the multi-user task if no outcome reached the amount of votes set as the threshold value.

Example

The following example shows how it works when the decision method is Threshold and the threshold type is Percentage.

There are 50 targeted users and 10 of them are required to participate in the task. The possible outcomes are A, B and C. The threshold value is 60%. 3 participants voted for outcome A, 4 participants voted for outcome B, and 1 participant voted for outcome C. This means that in total, 8 participants have voted and there are a maximum of 2 votes to go to complete the task.

• In case the next participant votes outcome A or C, the remaining votes will never reach the threshold of 60%. As a result, the task will complete with the fallback outcome.
• In case the last two participants vote for outcome B, the task will be completed with outcome B, as it is the first outcome that reaches the threshold of 60%.
• In case the next participant votes for outcome B and the last participant votes for either outcome A or C, none of the outcomes reaches the threshold of 60%. As a result, the task will complete with the fallback outcome.

You can refer to the following properties settings for this example:

• Targeted users: The users that can perform the task
• Participant input: Absolute number = 10
• Decision method: Threshold
• Threshold type: Percentage
• Fallback outcome: An outcome participants can select, but it will be selected automatically when the specified threshold is not reached (in this example, C)
• Completion moment: When outcome is known
• Outcomes: A, B, C

Microflow

Select this decision method when none of the other decision methods does what you need, and you want to provide your own microflow to determine the final outcome of the multi-user task. This microflow is executed every time when a participant selects an outcome for the multi-user task, regardless of the Completion moment setting.

Through the Decision microflow setting, you can provide your own microflow. The provided microflow can have any or all of the following parameters, all of which are optional:

The provided microflow should return a value of type String, containing the final outcome of the multi-user task. If no decision can be taken yet based on the selected outcomes, the microflow should return empty (or an empty string). The multi-user task completes as soon as a non-empty outcome is returned, unless the Completion moment has been set to When all participants completed their task.

Example

As an example, consider the trivial case where the quickest participant decides, which basically means choosing the first outcome. This can be achieved using the following microflow:

Completion Moment

This property determines when the multi-user task is marked as completed. That can either be as soon as the outcome is known, meaning that sufficient participants have completed their task so that the final outcome is already determined, or after all participants have completed their task. This property has no influence on the final outcome of the multi-user task.

Possible options are described in the table below:

Example

The following example shows how Completion moment works.

The decision method is Majority and the majority type is More than half or Most chosen. There are 3 targeted users and all of them are required to participate in the task. The possible outcomes are A, B and C. Both the first and the second participant have selected option A.

• In case the completion moment is When outcome is known, the multi-user task is marked as completed as soon as the second participant selected outcome A because a majority was reached (2 out of 3).
• In case the completion moment is When all participants completed their task, the multi-user task is marked as completed only after the third participant also selected an outcome.

In both cases, the multi-user task will complete with outcome A, as this outcome has the majority of the votes. The final participant’s vote will not change the final outcome of the multi-user task.

Outcomes Section

The outcomes property allows you to create new outcomes for the multi-user task. Outcomes are translated into different outgoing paths of the multi-user task and can be referred to by other elements, such as a button. For example, you have a process when you need to approve or reject a request. One button on a task page can refer to the Approve outcome of the multi-user task, while another one can use the Reject outcome.

Task Page Section

Task page is the page that an assigned user will use to inspect their task and complete it. You can also allow users to add comments or attachments on this page.

If you generate the page using the templates in the Workflows Commons module, these templates contain necessary data containers and associated context entity.

Display Information Section

Task Name

Task name is stored in the System module on the UserTask entity as an attribute and its data can be dynamically displayed in the running app. If you are using the Workflow Commons module, the Task name is used in page templates and on preconfigured pages to identify the task.

For more information on using parameters, see the Parameters section below.

Task Description

Task Description is stored in the System module on the UserTask entity as an attribute and its data can be dynamically displayed in the running app. If you are using the Workflow Commons module, the Task description is used in page templates.

The Task description can contain parameters that are written between braces, for example, {1}.

Parameters

Parameters are attributes the value of which will be displayed. For example, you can display when the task is due using the DueDate parameter.

To view Parameters, click the ellipsis icon next to the Task name or Task description in properties depending on where you would like to display these parameters.

Parameters have the following settings:

• Index – an identification number of a parameter
• Expression – an attribute from the context that will be displayed

Adding New Parameters

To add a parameter to the Task name or the Task description, do the following:

1. Click the ellipsis icon next to the Task name or the Task description.

2. In the Edit task name/description dialog box > Parameters section, click the New button.

3. In the Template Parameter (String) dialog box, specify the expression, and confirm your choice:

   

   Make sure that the attribute you use in the expression is of the string type.

4. In the Template setting, write the text you would like to display and type Index of the parameter you would like to include. For example, you can add a template for the Task description specifying the name of the workflow and what the workflow due date is :

   

Performing Other Actions on Parameters

In addition to adding new parameters, you can perform the following actions on parameters:

• Delete – to delete a parameter click Delete or press Delete on your keyboard
• Edit – double-click a parameter to edit it or click Edit
• Move up – to move a parameter up in the list of parameters and also to change its index, click Move up
• Move down – to move a parameter down in the list of parameters and also to change its index, click Move down

Events Section

On Created event allows you to select a microflow that is executed immediately after users have been determined for a newly created task instance. You can use this setting for a microflow that will send an email notification about the multi-user task to the assigned users.

Boundary Events Section

For more information, see Boundary Events.

Common Section

Name is the internal name of the multi-user task. When referring to the multi-user task in the app you will use this name. It must be unique within the workflow, but you can have two multi-user tasks with the same name in different workflows.

Read More

• Workflows
• User Task