Documentation
    {{docApp.userSession.userId}}
    {{docApp.userSession.userName}}
    {{docApp.userSession.email}}
    Issuer : {{docApp.userSession.issuerInstance}}
    Expires : {{new Date(docApp.userSession.validUntil).toLocaleDateString()}}

{{docApp.title}}

{{docApp.description}}

INDEX

Documentation Library

Search for information on Hornbill Documentation.

{{docApp.searchError}}

{{docApp.searchResultFilteredItems.length}} results for "{{docApp.currentResultsSearchText}}" in {{docApp.searchFilterBySpecificBookTitle}}

Have questions about this site?

What is this site?

  • This website is Hornbill's new product documentation website and is currently under development.
  • It is intended that all existing and future public-facing documentation we produce will be available to search, browse and share.
  • Hornbill's current documentation is available at Hornbill Wiki but over time this content will be migrated to this documentation site.
  • Please feel free to have a look around at any time.

Why has Hornbill created this site?

  • Hornbill's products have moved on considerably since we introduced it almost 10 years ago. At the time, the MediaWiki tool was sufficient, but we have outgrown it.
  • Our customers are more enterprise focused and more self-sufficient than ever before, so for 2023 and beyond we have established a new documentation platform and team to drive our documentation initiative forwards.
  • We are aiming to deprecate the use of Hornbill Wiki for most Hornbill related documentation.
  • We want to enable our growing partner network with product resources and information, documentation beyond our Wiki approach is required.
  • We could definitely do with some help, and may even pay for some! If you have domain knowledge and would like to help, please check out our Hornbill Docs Contributor Guide and contact the Hornbill docs team at docs@hornbill.com.

What will this site be good for?

  • Community contribution will be facilitated, encouraged, and most welcome.
  • High quality documentation, will be kept up to date as rapidly as our products evolve.
  • Real-time content search and discovery.
  • Articles organized into books, books into libraries, creating a more natural and logical structure to our documentation.
  • Legacy API documentation and various other documentation sources will all be consolidated into a single unified documentation system.
  • Documentation available in browser as well as printable/viewable as PDF on demand.
  • Personalized documentation experience, allowing dark/light mode, article subscriptions, social media sharing and other useful features.
  • Almost all publicly available documentation on docs.hornbill.com will be open-source and available to fork on GitHub, allowing customers to derive their own custom documentation around Hornbill products should they wish to.

What is the timeline for this site?

  • We have taken the decision to publish and make available early, there is very little content at this time.
  • As and when we have completed/usable documentation, it will be published here.
  • We have a host of additional features we wish to add over time, so please watch this space.
  • We expect most of our existing documentation should be reviewed/migrated to docs.hornbill.com over the coming months.
  • The documentation project will be ongoing, will continue to expand, evolve and improve day-by-day.

{{docApp.libraryHomeViewProduct.title || docApp.libraryHomeViewProduct.id}}

{{docApp.libraryHomeViewProduct.description}}

  1. {{book.title}}

{{group.title || group.id}}

{{group.description}}

  1. {{book.title}}

{{group.title}}

{{book.title}}
More...

Human Task

When creating a human task it is possible to define this in one or multiple languages, by default this will be English, however it is possible to create copies of the human task in any other languages enabled on your instance. This is a consideration where those who maybe assigned tasks are working in different languages, and they will receive the human task either in the default language or in the language defined in their profile if the human task is configured in the different languages.

Options

  • Display
    This is simply the display name for the human task node in the business process designer, it will not appear on the human task.

  • Title
    This will appear as the title of the human task.

  • Category
    Set a category that will appear on the human task.

  • Priority
    Set a priority to indicate the priority of the task.

  • Owner
    The Owner is an important consideration, as they can be notified about the task in reminders, and will also have the ability to reassign the assignee if required. The Owner can be either a named user or a variable.

  • User
    Pick from a list of co-workers.

  • Variable
    In order to see a list of possible variables like request owner, you will need to precede the human task node with the Automated Task Node > Request Entity > Get Information > Request Details.

  • Assign To
    Choose who the human task will be assigned to, this can be a named user, group, role, or variable.

    • User
      Pick from a list of co-workers.
    • Variable
      In order to see a list of possible variables like request owner, you will need to precede the human task node with the Automated Task Node > Request Entity > Get Information > Request Details or any other node that outputs a user ID as a value.
    • Role
      This will be populated from the default roles and any custom roles defined on your instance. Any Users who are assigned the role will receive the human task, any notifications and will have the ability to complete the human task.
    • Group
      This will be populated from the defined groups on your instance. Any Users who are members of the group will receive the human task, any notifications and will have the ability to complete the human task.

  • Lifespan Settings
    It is possible to set a start date, due date and expiry date for the task based on either a predefined value, or based on a variable like respond by or fix by from the parent request.

    • Start After
      Set this to either X Days, X Hours and or X minutes after the creation of the Task, or base this on a variable like log date, resolve by, or fix by. If using the Variable option remember to precede the node with the Automated Task Node > Request Entity > Get Information > Request Details.
    • Due AfterSet this to either X Days, X Hours and or X minutes after the creation of the Task, or base this on a variable like log date, respond by, or fix by. If using the Variable option remember to precede the node with the Automated Task Node > Request Entity > Get Information > Request Details.
    • Expires After
      Expires is a valid outcome for a human task, and setting a value here will allow you to via a decision node following the task allow for branching based on an outcome not being selected but the task expiring. Set this to either X Days, X Hours and or X minutes after the creation of the Task, or base this on a variable like log date, respond by, or fix by. If using the Variable option remember to precede the node with the Automated Task Node > Request Entity > Get Information > Request Details.

    Tip

    When using variables for the Lifespan Settings these must be in the ISO Date/Time format, e.g. 2021-11-26T11:30:00.000Z. Values from a Date/Time picker will be in this format, but values from a Date Picker will not.

  • Task Details
    Define the details for the human task, this can be a combination of text and if required variables from the parent request which the task is related too, this could be the summary or description fields, custom fields, or even answers to progressive capture questions - see more about inserting request variables here.

  • Task Options

    • Hide the completion Reason when completing the task - decide if the reason field is not required when completing the task via an outcome.
    • Do not allow completion of the task unless it is 100% complete - this option becomes available if Checklists have been enabled on the task, and you do not want to allow the task to be completed whilst there are outstanding checklist items.
    • Decide if you want to display the Time Spent option to the user who is completing the human task

  • Outcomes
    Configure what possible options the user completing the human task can choose from when completing the human task. By default two are provided, Completed and Not Completed.

  • *Set Stage Checkpoints
    Optionally configure which stage checkpoints will be set on the completion of the task.

Outcomes

Configure what possible options the user completing the human task can choose from when completing the human task. By default two are provided, Completed and Not Completed.

Add Outcomes

Add a new Outcome using the Add New option:

  • Define the outcome value, a display name, and if the user completing the task is required to provide a reason when selecting this specific outcome.
  • Optional provide the outcome a display color and make the outcome available in multiple languages.
  • Apply Settings to save.

Optional Outcome Capture Fields

It is possible that you may have a need to record additional information against the chosen Outcome of a task. In order to do this you can enable Outcome Capture Fields, and use these to add additional fields to capture additional information when a specific Outcome is chosen on a task.

Enabling Outcome Capture Fields

in the admin console navigate to Home > System > Settings > Advanced and enable the following setting:

  • experimental.feature.bpm.allowcustomtaskfields

With this setting enabled it is now possible to configure both capture fields per outcome on a task, as well as at the task level.

Configuring Outcome Capture Fields

On the Outcome click on Add Field

Configure:

  • Field Properties
    Provide a title for the field, add a custom field id or leave as standard and add placeholder text if needed
  • Default Flags
    Configure if the field is mandatory, visible on the form, in read only view etc
  • Field Type Settings
    Configure the type of capture you wish to use - single, multi-line, static or dynamic drop down, check box, radio box, label etc and provide the context based attributes as required.

Click Apply Settings to add the capture field to this specific outcome

  • Use the Language option to define different language versions of the capture field, which will be displayed to a user based on the language set in their profile.
  • Repeat the process for any additional capture fields which are required for the task.

Considerations

  • Default Reason field
    You may decide that the Reason field on the task is no longer relevant if you have added your own capture fields, and this can be hidden from the task by ticking the Hide reason option under the Task Options settings.
  • Setting Capture Fields Per Outcome
    It is possible to configure capture fields which are tied to the selection of an outcome on a task, and will only be presented and visible once a specific outcome has been chosen. This is covered in detail in the Outcomes wiki page.

Tip

It is possible to use both task capture fields and outcome capture fields on the same task, but you are advised to check and ensure that none of the capture fields are using the same field id.

Manage Outcomes

  • Edit Outcomes
    To edit any of the above values for an existing outcome click the edit icon next to the outcome you wish to edit.
  • Delete an Outcome
    To remove an outcome option click the trash can icon next to the outcome you wish to delete.

Using Outcomes

  • It is not required to add a specific expiry outcome, this will be automatically enabled if you have configured an Expires After in the lifespan settings.
  • Using Outcomes and or outcome capture fields to branch in the business process - If you require different behavior in your business process depending on the outcome of the human task or based on answers to capture fields tied to a chosen outcome, use a Decision node directly after the human task and use the outcomes defined in the task as the decision branch options.

Capture Task Fields

Configuring Capture Task Fields

  • Field Properties
    Provide a title for the field, add a custom field id or leave as standard and add placeholder text if needed.
  • Default Flags
    Configure if the field is mandatory, visible on the form, in read only view etc.
  • Field Type Settings
    Configure the type of capture you wish to use - single, multi-line, static or dynamic drop down, check box, radio box, label etc and provide the context based attributes as required.

Click Apply Settings to add the capture field to the task

  • Use the Language option to define different language versions of the capture field, which will be displayed to a user based on the language set in their profile.
  • Repeat the process for any additional capture fields which are required for the task.

Considerations

  • Default Reason field
    You may decide that the Reason field on the task is no longer relevant if you have added your own capture fields, and this can be hidden from the task by ticking the Hide reason option under the Task Options settings.
  • Setting Capture Fields Per Outcome
    It is possible to configure capture fields which are tied to the selection of an outcome on a task, and will only be presented and visible once a specific outcome has been chosen. This is covered in detail in the Outcomes wiki page.

Tip

Information It is possible to use both task capture fields and outcome capture fields on the same task, but you are advised to check and ensure that none of the capture fields are using the same field id.

Using the Answers to Capture Task Fields

Once a task has been completed and any capture task fields completed, the answers from these fields are available to be used elsewhere in the lifecycle of the business process.

  • Branch and make decisions on the answers using the custom expression builder and selecting the relevant task and capture field to evaluate.
  • Inject the answers from capture task fields into request fields, or other tasks using the variable picker following the task but in the same stage of the process.
  • The task and capture field answers will be written to the timeline of the entity the task has been completed against.

Checklists

Add To Do checklists to a task

Click on Manage Checklists on a task and Add Group

  1. Give the Checklist Group a Name
  2. Click on the + button to add your first and subsequent checklist items
  3. Use the arrows to re-order the checklist items in the checklist group
  4. Use the trashcan to remove checklist items and or the checklist group
  5. Use the Add Group to add subsequent checklist groups to the same task
  6. Use the arrows to re-order the checklist groups on the task
  7. Click Apply to add the checklist group/s to the task

Managing Checklists

Click on Manage Checklists to edit or delete the checklists associated to the task.

Considerations

When a user ticks a checklist item as having been complete on the task, the % progression through the checklist items will be indicated on the task.

If you wish to prevent the completion of the task while there are any outstanding checklist items on the task, select the Do not allow completion unless it is 100% complete within the Task Details section when configuring the task.

  • Version {{docApp.book.version}}
  • Node {{docApp.node}} / {{docApp.build}}
In This Document