Considerations for Life Sciences Workflows

Conflicting Workflow Paths for Parent and Child Objects

When two separate workflow paths control the record's permissions, the most restrictive permissions apply. Two workflow paths can control permissions to an object record at the same time when:

• A parent object's workflow path applies a child stage operation for the child object.
• The child object has its own workflow path and stage operation.

For example, you can have separate workflow paths for the Inquiry object and the child Inquiry Question object. The Inquiry Question workflow path includes a stage operation that grants users only the Delete permission when the response status is Responded. The Inquiry workflow path includes a child stage operation that grants users the Create, Edit, and Delete permissions on Inquiry Question records when the response status is Responded or Not Responded. Because the Inquiry Question workflow path is more restrictive, users can't create or edit Inquiry Question records with a Responded status.

Workflow Paths for Objects with Record Types

For objects with record types, the workflow paths that you configure determine users' ability to create, edit, and delete records.

• If the object has no workflow path configured, users can create, edit, and delete records of any record type.
• If a workflow path exists that was created before record types were added to the object, the workflow applies to all record types, because the path has no record type assigned.
• If at least one workflow path is configured for a specific record type, all other record types without a configured workflow path are locked. Users who try to create, edit, or delete records for object types without a configured workflow path receive an error message.

To determine the stages in the workflow path, select the picklist values to use for the workflow's controlling field on each record type.

Workflow Path Stages

Each workflow stage requires at least one stage operation. If a stage doesn't have a stage operation:

• Users can't create, update, or delete records when the record is at that stage.
• The stage doesn't appear in the progress bar at the top of the record detail page.

Workflow Path Field Lengths

Text fields in the workflow path support a maximum length of up to 255 characters. With this length limit, you can reference parent objects in the workflow path, for example, in stage operation conditions.

Stage Operation Priority

When a workflow stage has multiple operations, a record in that stage can meet the conditions for more than one operation. To make sure that the workflow applies the correct operation and grants users the correct permissions, assign each operation a priority.

For example, the New stage in the Inquiry workflow path has two operations:

• Inquiry New Stage Operation 1" has condition "City==San Francisco AND State==CA"
• Inquiry New Stage Operation 2" has condition "State==CA"

A new inquiry record in San Francisco, California, meets both conditions. Assign the higher priority to Operation 1 to grant users those permissions.

Workflow Record Update Actions

When a user runs a Record Update action, the action runs in this order.

1. The validation script runs.
2. The window opens where users can review, update, and save changes to other object fields. For example, a window opens where a user can enter additional information about why they're canceling an inquiry.
3. The primary record is updated.
4. The platform event fires.