Workflows and the organization tree

Workflows can use one of the dynamic participant types that are determined at run time. Workflows can also explicitly map an object instance, such as a specific user, as a participant.

The workflow participant in a business unit is termed Supervisor. In a Person profile and also in an access control item, the workflow participant is termed Manager. For example, a Supervisor participant is based on the Manager relationship of a Person, or based on a Supervisor relationship of a business unit.

Participant resolution is based on a relationship to the entity, which has a dependency on the organization tree.

• Manager (approver) is defined on a Person object

  In this case, generic workflows can apply to all parts of the organization tree. Approval for a new account request might go to the line manager first and then to the owner of the service that has the account.

• Manager (approver) is defined on an organization unit, such as a team

  In this case, the leaf nodes of the organization tree need to be the teams to which each user belongs. Their line manager is specified as their supervisor/sponsor.

Parent topic: Workflows