When should I use business processes?

Consider using business processes when you need to automate a workflow that updates information for contacts or companies or to automate a workflow approval process for opportunities.

For examples of using a business process to open an account or to update company information, see NexJ Customer Relationship Management User Guide.

What are the main components of a business process template?

The main components are forms, flows, and steps. A form is a questionnaire that contains pages of questions for users to fill out with details about their client, a company, or opportunity. A flow specifies the order in which pages display for users. Steps define tasks that are assigned to other users, who review the completed form, then approve or reject it.

When you create a business process template, you add a form to the template and add pages to the form. Then, you specify the flow and add steps.

For more information on forms and steps, see Business process templates.

What else can I add to a business process template?

You can also optionally add actions, entry criteria, and attachments to the template. Actions are additional work items such as tasks and emails, which are assigned to users. Entry criteria are conditions that must be met before a user can start a business process or a step. Attachments are documents or images that can provide additional information or context related to the business process. You can add actions, entry criteria, and attachments to the template or to steps in the template.

For more information on adding actions, entry criteria, and attachments, see Creating business process templates.

Can I make a business process start automatically?

You can create a trigger event that starts a business process when the object associated with the business process is created or updated. For example, you can automatically start a business process when a contact is created or updated.

For more information, see Adding business process templates.

How can I make questions update fields in a record?

You can bind questions to fields in the object associated with the business process. For example, you can bind a question to a contact’s name to populate the contact’s name in the form. You can then specify whether changes that users make to the form synchronize back to the contact’s record.

For more information, see Binding and syncing questions. For examples of binding and syncing questions, see Examples of binding and syncing questions.

Can I display questions based on previous answers in my form?

You can use the Required field control to make a question required depending on the answer to another question in the form. Field controls are expressions that you add to questions to modify the properties of the questions.

For example, if you want to show a question only when a contact is married, you can create a field control formula that checks a contact’s marital status from a previous question.

For more information on field controls, see Form fields.

Can I create a summary of questions and answers for business process users?

You can create a review page for template users. A review page displays a read-only list of questions and answers from other pages in a form. You specify the questions and answers that the page contains and typically add it as the last page in the form.

For more information about review pages, see Adding review pages.

Can I create a reusable form for business process templates?

A library form is a form that you create in the form library and reuse in business process templates. You can create library forms in the Form Library tab on the Customize workspace.

For more information, see Configuring flow templates.