Your organization’s setup may use different field or screen names. Check your configuration report to see how Xeo is set up for your organization.
How it works
A Workflow Template is a reusable outline of the work needed to deliver a Service. It’s made up of Work Steps; each Work Step describes one piece of work and names the staff role expected to complete it.
Optionally, it can also include:
| Service Stage | The stage the Service stays in until this step is complete. After that, the Service moves to the next step’s stage. If two steps share the same stage, the Service only moves to the next stage once both are complete. |
| Estimated Hours | How long the step is expected to take. |
| % Complete | How complete the Service is once this step is done. Each step moves the Service closer to 100%. |
| Start Gate | What must happen before the step can start, such as other Work Steps starting or finishing, or the project reaching a certain phase. |
| Completion Gate | What must happen before the step can be marked complete, such as other Work Steps starting or finishing. |
For example, a review step can be gated so it can’t start until the preparation step is complete and the project has reached its Testing phase. To learn more, see How step prerequisites work.
A Workflow Template is the plan. The work itself happens on each Service.
When a Service uses a Workflow Template, Xeo turns each Work Step into a Work Item for that Service. Your team works on Work Items in the Task section, not on the template itself.
| Work Step | Work Item | |
| Where it lives | In a Workflow Template | On a Service |
| What it is | The plan for one piece of work | The actual work your team does |
| Where you see it | The template’s Work Steps tab | The Task section |
For example, a review step can be gated so it can’t start until the preparation step is complete and the project has reached its Testing phase. To learn more, see How step prerequisites work.
Every Workflow Template has one or more versions, numbered in order: Version 1, Version 2 and so on. Changes are made in a draft version. When the draft is ready, it’s published, and Services can start using it.
Versions protect work already underway. You can update the workflow on a Service at any time, even after work has begun. Update a single Service from its context menu, or update every Service that uses the older template and move them all to the new version at once. Until you do, each Service keeps the version it’s using, so publishing a new version doesn’t change work already in progress.
A template has at most one Published version and one draft at a time.
A Workflow Template is the plan. The work itself happens on each Service.
When a Service uses a Workflow Template, Xeo turns each Work Step into a Work Item for that Service. Your team works on Work Items in the Task section, not on the template itself.
| Status | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | A version in progress. Services can’t use it yet. | Edit its steps and prerequisites, publish it, or delete it. |
| Published | The current version. New Services can use it. It can’t be edited. | Create a new draft from it to make changes, or copy it into a new template. |
| Unpublished | A version that’s been taken out of use. While a template has no Published version, new Services can’t use it, including Services from any Service Item that has it as its default. Services already using it keep their current workflow. | Publish it again, create a new draft from it, or copy it into a new template. |
A Workflow Template can be compatible with one or more Service Items, and each Service Item can have several compatible templates. A Service Item can also have a default template. When you create a Service and choose its Service Item, Xeo fills in the default automatically. If there’s no default, or the Service needs a different process, choose another compatible template.
| Only drafts can be edited | Published and Unpublished versions are locked so every Service using them keeps an accurate record of its process. To make a change, create a new draft. See Update a published Workflow Template. |
| One draft per template | If a template already has a draft, publish or delete it before starting another. |
| Unpublish or archive a template to take it out of use | Unpublishing stops new Services from using a template. To bring it back, publish a version again. Once a template has no Published version, you can also archive it. See Publish or unpublish a Workflow Template. |