Overview
This article explains the core components, architecture, and execution lifecycle of Workflows within Neostella. It provides technical stakeholders with the definitions required to understand workflow templates and routing logic. Additionally, it identifies the system constraints, convergence rules, and limitations required to configure and maintain automated workflows.
Key Components
| Hierarchy | Component | Description |
| Workflow Template | Workflow | A graph of elements connected by paths, drawn on a canvas in the template editor. A workflow template does not represent an actual running workflow. |
| Workflow Template | Context | The object type the workflow runs over. It is set at the template level. |
| Workflow Template | Execution | A single run of the template design on a specific record. |
| Node | Starting Rule | The entry element that initiates a workflow, listening for an event or manual trigger to evaluate conditions and create a new execution. |
| Node | Task | A reusable unit of work performed by a user or group. Tasks configured for user requests are displayed in the available view for every eligible candidate. Eligibility rules use Tags to narrow the candidate pool. |
| Node | Rule | The intermediate node that merges branches, listens for events, and branches on conditions. |
| Node | Delay | Pauses the execution until a set time or specific date. |
| Node | Nested Automation | Runs a published automation as a subprocess in the workflow and advances to the next step upon successful completion. |
| Node | Schedule | Repeats a set of elements on a cadence until an exit rule condition is met. |
| Node | Outcome Node | The finalization point of a workflow that ends the execution when the conditions are satisfied. |
| Routing | Connection | Defines the branch or routing logic that connects two nodes. |
| Routing | Path | Defines an output point a node can have to connect workflow nodes. |
| Routing | Resolution Code | Descriptors selected to categorize how tasks are completed, determining the subsequent workflow branch. |
| Routing | Completion Code | Descriptors used on an outcome node to categorize how the execution ended. |
Technical Considerations
- Path Exclusivity: Paths coming out of any task or any rule are always exclusive. Only one path fires on a given execution.
- Convergence Validation: Two outputs of the same element can never converge into a rule with ALL convergence. However, exclusive paths from the same element can converge into a rule configured with the ANY convergence type.
- Closing Policies: The closing policy is a template-wide setting that controls what happens to tasks that are still open when the execution ends. The policy dictates whether to close all remaining tasks or leave remaining tasks open.
- Versioning: Each execution runs the version it was created from for the through the execution lifecycle. Publishing a new version does not affect executions that are already running.
- Execution Statuses: An execution keeps an independent state and will display as Running, Paused, Blocked, Stopped, Completed, or Draft within the global list or the contextual view of the record.
- Rule Scope: When an execution is triggered by a related object, the scope of the rule determines whether the rule listens for events on any record of the object or only the triggering record.
Use Cases
- Automating intake processes, document collection, and case resolution by mapping actual workflows to trigger tasks based on events or data changes.
- Managing complex, multi-stage processes that can be templated and reused across different case types.
- Repeating follow-up tasks on a recurring cadence using the Schedule node until a response is received or a status changes.
Limitations
- Dead Ends: A path does not have to lead anywhere. A branch that reaches an unconnected path stops silently, leaving the execution in the Running status indefinitely unless an outcome node is reached elsewhere.
- Missing Outcome Nodes: A template with no outcome node produces executions that never end.
- Stalled Convergence: If exclusivity upstream allows only one branch to reach a rule with ALL convergence, that rule waits indefinitely and the execution stalls.
- Schedule Overlap: Iterations of a schedule run in parallel. A cadence shorter than the duration of the work inside the container produces overlapping iterations and stacked tasks.