Workflows example: Time Off / PTO Requests

Problem description

Lara

• F&B Team Leader in a large hotel
• Needs to ensure adequate staffing in advance for busy weeks
• Current PTO process is on paper

Lara gets frustrated because…

• She spends 2 hours every week processing PTO requests from her team on paper.
• Even when people submit their requests well in advance, it takes too long to approve the request and plan for the absence.
• Unplanned PTO causes problems with staffing.

Process:

Workflow:

Steps to create this workflow

1. Go to the “Dashboard” and click on “Toolbox”, then “Workflows”.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on “Create new Workflow” if this is the first workflow in your tenant or  “Add New” if there are already some workflows.
   
   
   
   
   
3. In the "Workflows settings" panel enter the workflow name and optionally add a description. 
   
   
   
   
4. Then click on the “Add a Trigger” placeholder to add a trigger.
   
   
   
   
5. Select “Form submitted” from the trigger list and click on “Add”.
   
   
   
   
6. Within the panel on the right side, in the field “Form name” select the Form which should trigger the workflow.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Then click on the “Add an Action”.
   
   
   
   
8. Select an Action: “Send a chat message” and click on “Add”.
   
   
   
   
9. Fill in the fields in the panel on the right side:
   1. Beekeeper user ID(s) - enter the ID of the person who should receive the chat message. To select the ID of the form submitter use the Magic Variables on the left.
   2. Message - type the chat message.
   3. File attachment(s) - using Magic Variables you can attach the submitted form in a PDF format. In order to do that you need to add a step “Convert form submission to a PDF” before this action.
      
      
      
10. Click on the “+” below the action to add the next step.
    
    
11. Select an Action: “Create a task and wait for completion” and click on “Add”.
    
    
    
    
12. Fill in the fields in the panel on the right side:
    1. Beekeeper user ID - you can enter a static user ID or use a variable. In this case we will enter Lara’s user ID to assign the task to her.
    2. Title/task description - Enter the title and the task description. You can enter a static text or use the Magic Variables to reference fields from preceding steps i.e. the form name, the time of submission...etc.
       
       
       
13. Click on the “+” below the action to add the next step.
    
    
14. Select an Action: “Send a chat message” and click on “Add”.
    1. Send to - you can select the user to send a chat message or use a variable to reference a user from the previous steps. In this case we want to send a chat message to the user who submitted the form and we will select him/her using a Magic Variable.
    2. Message - type the chat message.
    3. File attachment(s) - using Magic Variables you can attach the submitted form in a PDF format. In order to do that you need to add a step “Convert form submission to a PDF” before this action.
       
       
15. Click on the “+” below the action to add the next step.                                                                         
16. Select an Action: “Create a task and wait for completion” and click on “Add”.                                   
17. Fill in the fields in the panel on the right side:
    1. Assigned to - you can assign the task to a specific user by selecting them from the dropdown or use Magic Variable to select the user from the previous steps. In this case we will assign it to Laura.
    2. Title/task description - Enter the title and the task description. You can enter a static text or use the Magic Variables to reference fields from preceding steps i.e. the form name, the time of submission...etc.                                                                                                                               
18. Click on the “+” below the action to add the next step.
19. Select an Action: “Send a chat message” and click on “Add”.
    1. Send to - you can select the user to send a chat message or use a variable to reference a user from the previous steps. In this case we want to send a chat message to the user who submitted the form and we will select him/her using a Magic Variable.
    2. Message - type the chat message
    3. File attachment(s) - using Magic Variables you can attach the submitted form in a PDF format. In order to do that you need to add a step “Convert form submission to a PDF” before this action                                                                                                                                             
20. Validate and save your workflow.
    Now that your entire workflow is ready you can validate the trigger and each action and save if everything is correct. The system will not let you save the workflows in case something is missing or not correct.
    Correctly updated trigger and actions will have a green checkmark:
    
    
    
    Incorrectly updated trigger or actions will have a red cross and the field which is not updated will be highlighted in red:
    
    
    
    
21. When the trigger and all actions have a green checkmark, you can save the workflow.
    
    
    
22. Then you can flip the toggle to activate it.