The Assignee Editor is used to configure the assignee of an assignment task. To open the assignment editor, select the assignment task and click the "+ Click to set the assignee" button from the settings window.
Assign task to specific users
You can select one or multiple users directly from your organization. Select the User tab, and choose Direct. Then, type in the name of user or click the icon of org to open the user picker dialog and select user. Next, click the "Add" button to add the selected user to the assignee list on the right.
This is the easiest way to assign task to certain users. You can do so if you need to assign the task to exactly the right user you know. However, from the aspect of flexibility, we do not recommend you assign task assignee with this way, as it's had to maintain and change assignee if your flow or user is changed. You have to go through the whole process and check actions one by one. You also need to re-publish your workflow by creating a new version to make your changes effective.
Alternatively, we recommend you assign assignee of your approval workflow in a role-based model. Yeeflow provides powerful capability to help you easily built the role-based workflow. You can assign assignee based on the organization hierarchy, like line manager, BU head, department manager etc. or with job positions, like finance manager, HR manager etc. or with pre-defined user groups. The benefit of creating the role-based workflow is that if anytime the users of those roles are changed, you don't have to make changes to your workflow definition. You can just change the settings of those roles by replacing the users.
Tips for Correctly Adding Assignees Using the Expression Editor
When using the expression editor to add agents, please note a key step. You can only select and add one type of agent at a time. First, select a type and click the 'Add' button to add it. Then, reopen the expression editor, select and add the next type of agent. It is crucial to follow this process, as attempting to add multiple different types of agents at once in the expression editor may result in the system being unable to correctly parse the agent information.
Assign task to line manager for approval.
Line managers are responsible for directly managing individual employees or teams. Having the ling manager approval are the most common requirement for internal approval processes.
To set the assignee as the line manager of the submitter/requester, from the assignee editor dialog, under the User tab, select the Expression radio button. Then, click the icon from the blow editor control to open the expression editor dialog.
From the Expression Editor dialog, click "Instance Context", then "Applicant or Submitter", and Line manager. Click the Insert button, and click "OK" button to close this dialog. Click "Add" button on the Assignee Editor dialog to add line manager into the right selected assignee list.
Pro tip:
In the Instance Context, the Applicant and Submitter are most likely to be the same person which is the user who submitted a new request. If you want to allow users (called submitter here) to submit new request on behalf of someone else (called applicant here), you can add the Applicant Info control on your submission form and toggle the "Delegation" option ON.
If the assign is set to the submitter's line manager, then once a user submitted the approval form, and the workflow goes to this assignment task action, then the system will automatically go check the user's table from behind, and look for the line manager field value of submitter and assign the task to this user.
As an example, if "Nuella Ugochi" submitted a new request, then "Breda Vargas" as the line manager of her will be the assignee of that assignment task.
If any user's line manager is changed, the system admin can change the settings from user management, and you do not need to modify the existing workflows definitions.
Assign task to BU / department head.
Another comment requirement of approval workflows is getting approval from the head of business unit or the department manager. From the organization hierarchy design, each employee belongs to one department, and each department or business unit has specific user and the leader.
Yeeflow provides multi-tier organizational structure management capabilities which allows the system administrators to manage the hierarchy and properties of your organization. The system admins can view or set manager of each department from the user management function:
In the left organization hierarchy tree, select any node, and click the "Modify" menu from the pop-up menu list. Then from the popup dialog, you can find the Manager field which is the place to manage the head of BU or department.
As an example, the manager of Marketing department is "Alex Jared" here.
To set the assignee as the dept head of the submitter/requester, from the assignee editor dialog, under the User tab, select the Expression radio button. Then, click the icon from the blow editor control to open the expression editor dialog.
From the Expression Editor dialog, click "Instance Context", then "Applicant or Submitter", Organization and select Manager. Click the Insert button, and click "OK" button to close this dialog. Click "Add" button on the Assignee Editor dialog to add organization manager into the right selected assignee list.
Pro Tip:
As the organization is a hierarchy tree with multi-tiers. For example, the first tier are business units, the second tier are regions, and the third tier are departments etc.
If the submitter is under a department (which is at the third tier), and the department's manager field is empty, then the system will go find the up-level (the parent region at the second tier) and check the user from the manager field.
Assign task to a job position.
Job position is not job title. The difference between job title and job position is that a job title is the label your company or place of employment gives you as a worker, while your job position references the responsibilities you have in that role.
Within an organization, there may be people holding the same job title but with different job positions. For instance, several human resources assistants may be working in the same department, but each is in charge of a different aspect of HR, such as payroll, benefits or training.
Here are some examples of job positions within a company across different functions:
Executive positions: chief executive officer (CEO), chief operations officer (COO), chief financial officer (CFO)
Administrative positions: receptionist, administrative officer, secretary
Human resources positions: human resources manager, benefits manager, payroll assistant
Marketing positions: marketing manager, social media specialist, copywriter
Sales positions: sales representative, account executive, regional sales manager
Finance positions: finance manager, internal auditor, accounts payable accountant
Within Yeeflow, the job title is a text field from the users list and is part of the user's profile info. Job position is a separate function which is managed in the admin center (you can find position settings from the home page of the admin center).
Job position is another dimension for you to define the role-based workflow. For example, a purchase requisition workflow might require the approval from finance manager. The finance manager is a pre-defined job position in Yeeflow.
To set the assignee of the assignment task as a Job Position, choose the Job Position tab from the Assignee Editor dialog, and find the job position from the dropdown list:
The dropdown list includes all the existing job positions which is managed from the admin center. You can find the position settings from admin center -> positions:
One you selected the proper job position, there are 3 types of job positions you can choose:
1. Direct: Use this option to get the user(s) from the "Assign To" column of the position. For the above example, the Finance Manager is taken by "Ross Kiger".
2. By Location: Use this option to choose the location-based job positions. For multi-national companies, there are multiple offices located in different countries and cities. Each job position might be taken by different users for each location. For example, the finance manager of London office is difference from the Seattle office. Then you can set proper users to take the finance manager position for London and Seattle office.
Example: Location-base job position: Finance manager for London, UK office is Joao Carvalho, while the Finance manager for Seattle, US office is Nuella Ugochi.
You can choose a specific location's job position as the assignee of this task by selecting Location radio button and choose the location from the following dropdown list:
Example: Set the assignee as the finance manager of London, UK office.
Or, select the location-based job position based on the submitter's location. To configure this setting, click the "Expression" radio button, and in the expression editor, select the submitter's location from instance context:
Example: The assignment task will be approved by the finance manager who's in charge of the submitter's office.
3. By Organization: Use this option to choose the org-based job positions. For large-size companies, there are multiple BU, subsidiaries, and branch offices. Each job position might be taken by different users for each BU, subsidiaries, or department etc. For example, the finance manager of Marketing department is difference from the New Business department. Then you can set proper users to take the finance manager position for each department.
Example: Org-base job position: Finance manager for Marketing department is Juan Arreguin, while the Finance manager for New Business department is Brenda Vargas.
You can choose a specific department's job position as the assignee of this task by selecting Organization radio button and choose the department from the following dropdown list:
Example: Set the assignee as the finance manager of New Business department.
Or, select the org-based job position based on the submitter's department. To configure this setting, click the "Expression" radio button, and in the expression editor, select the submitter's location from instance context:
Example: The assignment task will be approved by the finance manager who's in charge of the department that the submitter belongs to.
Assign task to a user group.
User groups are a collection of users who perform a similar task. For example, a group of customer service representatives might be put in a Customer Service Representative user group. With Yeeflow user group function, you can assign a workflow task to a specific user group.
To assign a task to a user group, from the assignee editor dialog, under the User tab, select the Expression radio button. Then, click the icon from the blow editor control to open the expression editor dialog.
From the Expression Editor dialog, click "User group" and select a group from the right list, then select "All users". Click the Insert button, and click "OK" button to close this dialog. Click "Add" button on the Assignee Editor dialog to add the group into the right selected assignee list.
Example: Select the project management office (PMO) user group as the assignee.
If you select a group as the assignee, then all users in that group will be assigned as the owner of this task. You can then set the properties of Appointed Order and Completion Condition to decide how would you like those users to produce this task.
Learn more about how to set the Appointed Order and Completion Condition, please refer: Assignment Task Action.
Assign task to a workflow variable.
You may also select the assignee from the existing workflow variables. Here are some case for this option:
Allow the submitter to select users as the owners of your assignment task. You can then add a user picker control on the submission form. then select the associated variable as the assignee.
Dynamic load or calculate out users as the owners of your assignment task. For example, add an action on your form and call this action when the form is loading, then set specific users into a variable based on your business logics. Or a dropdown list to call an action to set different users into a variable based on the selected item etc.
Use the calculation field to calculate out users as the owners of an assignment task. The calculation field includes function, variables and logics which you can use the generate the value dynamically. You can then select the associated variable as the assignee of an assignment task.
Get users from a data list: Imaging that you have a projects data list with columns of Project Name and Project Owner. You can add a lookup field on your form and allow users to select a project. You can then set an additional field to save the project owner based on the selected project. Then, from the workflow designer, you can add an assignment task, and select the variable associated with the project owner as the assignee of this task.
For any of the scenario above, you can use variables as the assignee.
To assign a task to a user group, from the assignee editor dialog, under the User tab, select the Expression radio button. Then, click the icon from the blow editor control to open the expression editor dialog.
From the Expression Editor dialog, click "Workflow Variables" and select the variable from the right lis". Click the Insert button, and click "OK" button to close this dialog. Click "Add" button on the Assignee Editor dialog to add the variable into the right selected assignee list.
Example: Set the project owner (which is a user field on the form) as the assignee.