Workflow - Main Settings – Semine

See also: My First Workflow – Part 1 for guidance on creating your first workflow.

The Workflow Main Settings control how a workflow behaves when it is applied to an invoice.

The available options are described below:

Exclusive
Re-evaluate steps
Retain Existing Approvals
Don't create if no steps
Line flow
Don't execute automatically
Allow as manual workflow
Don't escalate to manager

Exclusive

Workflows are evaluated one at a time, in the order they appear in the list.

This setting helps limit how many workflows are applied to an invoice. When an exclusive workflow is executed, no subsequent workflows in the same folder are executed.

Workflow-Level Exclusivity

The first exclusive workflow executed within a folder prevents all subsequent workflows in the same folder from being executed.

Folder-Level Exclusivity

The first exclusive folder with one or more executed workflows prevents all subsequent folders from being executed.

Note: Folder-level exclusivity applies to workflows located inside the folder. Workflows inside subfolders are evaluated independently.

Re-evaluate steps

Every time an action is performed on an invoice (Approve, Reject, and so on), SEMINE checks which fields are used in the conditions of subsequent workflow steps and whether any of these fields have changed on the invoice.

Example

An invoice is received without account suggestions and is assigned to you in Step 1 of the workflow.

In Step 2, the invoice is forwarded to Haima Ambily if the account is set to 6400.
In Step 3, the invoice is forwarded to Jarl Arntzen if the account is set to 6300.

You then change the account field on the invoice and click Approve.

If Re-evaluate steps is enabled

The conditions in Steps 2 and 3 are re-evaluated when you click Approve.

If the account is 6400, the invoice is assigned to Haima Ambily in Step 2.
If the account is 6300, the invoice is assigned to Jarl Arntzen in Step 3.
If the account does not match any conditions in Steps 2 or 3 and there are no further steps, the workflow is completed as usual.

If Re-evaluate steps is disabled

The conditions in Steps 2 and 3 are not re-evaluated.
In this case, the workflow skips Steps 2 and 3 and continues without rechecking the updated values.

Retain Existing Approvals

This option is available only when Re-evaluate steps is enabled.

When activated, previously completed approvals are retained during re-evaluation. Only users who have not already approved or rejected will receive new approval requests.

This is useful in long approval chains where small changes should not restart the entire approval process.

Don't create if no steps

This setting applies when using the approval hierarchy.

When a workflow uses the approval hierarchy, SEMINE automatically looks for approvers based on the hierarchy configuration.

In some cases, the workflow may meet the “Add if…” conditions, but no approvers exist in the approval hierarchy for that invoice. If this happens, SEMINE cannot create any approval steps.

When Don't create if no steps is enabled, the workflow will not be applied if no approval steps can be created.

This prevents workflows from being created that would otherwise wait for approval from users who do not exist in the approval hierarchy.

Example:

Setup:
The workflow is configured to use the approval hierarchy, and the option Don't create if no steps is enabled.

SEMINE checks the approval hierarchy to assign users to the workflow steps.
No users are found for any of the steps in the approval hierarchy.
Because no approval steps can be created, the workflow is not applied to the invoice.

Line flow

When enabled, the workflow is applied at the invoice line level instead of the invoice header.

Only the relevant invoice lines are sent for approval. Other lines remain read-only. Line flow is typically used when different invoice lines require different approvers.

Controllers always have access to the full invoice, while approvers see only the lines assigned to them.

The workflow status and assigned approver are visible in the invoice line.

Don't execute automatically

This setting prevents the workflow from running automatically.

The workflow will not start when an invoice enters the system. If Allow as manual workflow is also enabled, the workflow can be started manually from the Alternatives menu on the invoice.

This option is mainly used when workflows should only be applied in special cases.

Allow as manual workflow

When enabled, the workflow becomes available in the Manual Workflow folder. This allows users to manually start the workflow. When Allow as manual workflow is selected under Alternatives, a list of available manual workflows is displayed.

A manual workflow can only be added to an invoice with the status "Missing workflow".

When Allow as manual workflow is used together with Don't execute automatically, the workflow does not start automatically and begins in a pending state.

These options, Allow as manual workflow and Don't execute automatically, are typically used together.

Don’t escalate to manager

The Don’t Escalate to Manager option is related to the Escalate to manager when single user involvement setting in the system settings.

Location:
Settings → SEMINE General → Escalate to manager when single user involvement

This workflow option can be enabled at any time. However, it only has an effect if Escalate to manager when single user involvement is enabled in the system settings.

When Don’t escalate to manager is enabled in a workflow, it overrides the system escalation behavior for that specific workflow, provided that Escalate to manager when single user involvement is enabled in the system settings.

This means that even if the same approver appears multiple times in the workflow, the approval will not be escalated to that user’s manager.

The escalation feature is normally used to prevent the same person from approving an invoice multiple times. If you want to allow repeated approvals by the same user within a specific workflow, you can override the system behavior by enabling Don’t escalate to manager for that workflow.