How to Build Common Workflow Patterns in Sintel Apps

Designer › Workflow

Five patterns cover most business processes. Each one lists the statuses and actions to create. To learn how to create them, see Workflow Statuses and Workflow Actions.

For every action in these patterns, set the Audience. A new action is Public: anyone who can edit the item can do it. Approve and Reject actions should go to Specific users.

To use a people field of the form, such as Created By, select the field button next to the audience box and pick the field. It shows with its internal name, for example Created By as {{Author}}.

1. Simple approval

One person or team approves or rejects. For example: leave requests, small purchases, access requests.

Status	Actions	Audience
Draft (initial)	Submit → Submitted	Created By (the person who created the item)
Submitted	Approve → Approved; Reject → Rejected	A group, for example Approvers
Approved, Rejected	none: the process ends

On Reject, turn on Show confirmation popup with Comment set to Required, so the approver gives a reason.

2. Approval in levels

Several people approve one after the other, for example the manager and then finance.

Status	Actions	Audience
Draft (initial)	Submit → Manager Review	Created By
Manager Review	Approve → Finance Review; Reject → Rejected	{{Manager}}
Finance Review	Approve → Approved; Reject → Rejected	The Finance group

There is no built-in "manager". Add a Person field Manager to the form, and pick it in the audience with the field button. It shows as {{Manager}}. The requester, or a default value, fills it in.

3. Approval by several people at once

A committee or board decides together.

Status	Actions	Audience	Quorum
Draft (initial)	Submit → Review	Created By
Review	Approve → Approved	The committee members or their group	Fixed number 2, or Everyone
Review	Reject → Rejected	The same	Fixed number 1

With Fixed number 2, any two members move the item. With Everyone, all of them must approve. Everyone works only with Specific users. See Quorum.

4. Approval that depends on a value

Large amounts need a director, small ones don't. For example: above £10,000, the director approves too. The form has a Number field Amount.

Status	Actions
Draft (initial)	Submit → Manager Review
Manager Review	Approve (High Value) → Director Review; Approve (Low Value) → Approved; Reject → Rejected
Director Review	Approve → Approved; Reject → Rejected

Then, in the Logic tab, show only the right approve action with two rules:

Rule	Condition	Steps
High value	Field Value Check: Amount is greater than 10000	Workflow Action Approve (Low Value): Hidden
Low value	Field Value Check: Amount is less than or equal to 10000	Workflow Action Approve (High Value): Hidden

Use is less than or equal to in the second rule. With is less than, an amount of exactly 10,000 matches neither rule, and both actions show.

In the form, at Manager Review:

• Amount £15,000: only Approve (High Value) shows, and the item goes to Director Review.
• Amount £5,000: only Approve (Low Value) shows, and the item goes straight to Approved.

Tip: to show both as just Approve, add a Buttons widget with two action buttons, one for each action. On each button, turn off Inherit properties from action and set the label to Approve. The Actions menu still lists the actions by their real names. To show only the buttons, set Actions menu behavior to Always hidden (see Actions Menu Behavior).

5. Send back for changes

The reviewer returns the item to the requester instead of rejecting it.

Status	Actions	Audience
Draft (initial)	Submit → Submitted	Created By
Submitted	Approve → Approved; Send back → Draft	Approvers

On Send back, require a comment, so the requester knows what to change. The comment shows in the Workflow History. The requester changes the item and selects Submit again.

Good to know

• Keep the number of statuses small. Each status should be a real stage someone waits for.
• Test each path with a test item. Do every action yourself, or use a test account in the audience.
• An email on a status tells people the item has arrived there. See Workflow Email Notifications.

Related: Workflow Tab (Overview), Workflow Actions, Workflow Statuses.