Discussion

Wait for variable and time of day

Forms

Updated August 28, 2019

posted on August 26, 2019

So based on my post here , and the lack of responses I assume that Laserfiche does not allow the use of variables in Due Dates or Wait Timers in Forms. Before I build this out I wanted to run the process by another set of eyes. As it stands, because of this limitation I am going to have to add 60+ activities to the Forms process.

Client wants to be able to mark a task as Urgent. If that task is urgent they want to be able to specify the amount of time in hours to get a response. The user has 3 chances to approve before it goes back.

1. User gets the task with a timer on it with an email notification.

2. Timer expires, user gets the task again with a different email notification (second attempt).

3. Timer expires, user gets the task again with a different email notification (third attempt)

4. At any of those steps the user can approve/deny it.

5. If the third notice doesn't get responded to, lets say the process ends for this purpose.

They want to select hours (1-8) to do this. Because of no variables, I need to make a branch for each hour and build out the above process 8 times.

In addition, they do not want any email notification or processing between 5PM and 5AM. So if the timer expires, I have it go to a workflow first, If workflow determines to be non business hours, return the task to the user but with no email (again a separate user task). This can happen at any stage 1-3.

Before I go down the line of making this giant process, am I on the right track? Any shortcuts I could possibly take? Below is a mockup. I have not connected notifications 2 and 3 as they would be the same as 1.

Thanks,

Chris

0 0

Comments 2
Follow-Ups 0

replied on August 28, 2019

So I just bit the bullet on this and wrote out the process. This is essentially a process where the user wants to be able to choose the Timer activity. Since we cannot do it dynamically here is the result. Also, they only wanted the next notification if that timer expired during business hours. So I have 8 possible user tasks for 8 possible hours, checking to see if it expires during business hours. If not, send it back with no email. If so, move it on with email.

Here's to hoping the next release can use variables for Timer events.

0 0

replied on August 26, 2019

Hi Chris

You can put Multiple Timers on the same task to kick off at different intervals, ie: Timer 1 sends notification after 1 hour, Timer 2 sends notification after 1 day, etc. When using timers like this, set the Task to not Interrupt so that the timers run continuously and the notification point back tot he same task. In Forms, the timers start when the task is raised, so if you interrupt the task the timers start over.

In the last timer, where the user selects how many hours to wait, then that would spurn a new task and the user selection. To your point, it is unfortunate the you cannot set the Due Date timer as a variable, just the starting point variable. I have not tried this but wondering if you could use the (1 to 8) selection in a formula to work a starting time variable backwards and then set the Due Date to that 1 hour past that variable to create the time forward. You would need a variable with the current time which would be populated when the form opened (You may need a little JS to update this, but that would be determined in the testing), a drop down for the 1-8 choice (The choices 1 - 8 would have values of 7 to 0, ie: 1 = 7, 2 = 6, 3 = 5, 4 = 4, 5=3, 6=2, 7=1, and then a calculation fields to set the starting point (Current time less X hours from the selected choice). The Due Date time would always be set to 8 Hours after the starting time.

Hopefully this gives you an idea. If I have a chance to build and run some teat I'll let you know.

If you come up with a solution please do the same

Steve

0 0

You are not allowed to follow up in this post.

Discussion

Discussion

Wait for variable and time of day

Comments 2

Follow-Ups 0

Sign in to reply to this post.