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What’s New in Willow360 v2.0: Conditional Actions for smarter workflows
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How to Create and Test a Workflow

Creating a workflow in Willow360 is a powerful way to automate and streamline your approach to document processing. However, before sharing your workflow with others, it’s crucial to ensure it functions correctly and respects privacy and permissions. This article will guide you through the best practices for creating, testing, and securing your workflow.

Step 1: Define Your Workflow Objectives

Before diving into the creation process, clearly define what you want your workflow to achieve. Identify the tasks that need automation, the sequence of actions, and the desired outcomes. This clarity will help you design a workflow that meets your specific needs.

Step 2: Create the Workflow

  1. Access Willow360: Log in to your Willow360 account and navigate to the workflow creation section.
  2. Start a New Workflow: Click on the option to create a new workflow. Give your workflow a descriptive name that reflects its purpose.
  3. Add Actions: Workflows in Willow360 are comprised of actions. Add the necessary actions to your workflow. These can include:
    • Approve: For manual approval of documents.
    • Custom Task: To assign specific tasks to users.
    • WillowSign: For legally binding e-signatures.
    • Convert to PDF: To convert documents to PDF format.
    • Upload to Cloud Services: To store documents in SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox.
    • Secure Email: To send documents via secure email links.

Step 3: Configure Each Action

For each action, configure the necessary settings. For example, if you’re using the Approve action, specify who the approvers are and any conditions for approval. If you’re using Upload to Cloud Services, select the destination folder and configure any metadata settings.

Step 4: Set Permissions and Privacy

  1. Define Permissions: Willow360 allows you to set permissions for who can use, see, and edit the workflow. This is crucial for maintaining control and privacy.
    • Can Use Workflow: Users can add files to the workflow.
    • Can See All Files: Users can view all files processed by the workflow.
    • Can Edit Workflow: Users can modify the workflow settings and actions.
  2. Assign Roles: Assign these permissions to individual users, teams, or everyone in your organization. Remember, individual permissions override team permissions, which override permissions for everyone.
  3. Privacy Considerations: Ensure that sensitive information is protected. Use actions like Digital Certificate to secure documents and Redact to obscure confidential information.

Step 5: Test the Workflow

Before granting access to others, thoroughly test your workflow to ensure it functions as expected.

  1. Add Test Files: Upload a few test files to the workflow and monitor how they progress through each action.
  2. Check Notifications: Ensure that notifications are sent correctly for actions like approvals and task assignments.
  3. Verify Outputs: Check the final outputs, such as converted PDFs, signed documents, and files uploaded to cloud services.
  4. Simulate Errors: Intentionally introduce errors (e.g., incorrect file formats) to see how the workflow handles them and ensure error notifications are clear.

Step 6: Review and Refine

Based on your testing, make any necessary adjustments to the workflow. This might include reconfiguring actions, changing permissions, or adding additional steps to handle edge cases.

Step 7: Grant Access

Once you’re confident that the workflow is functioning correctly and securely, you can grant access to others.

  1. Enable the Workflow: If the workflow was disabled during testing, enable it.
  2. Notify Users: Inform the relevant users or teams that the workflow is ready for use. Provide any necessary training or documentation to help them understand how to use it. Use the "Workflow Description" option to describe the workflow and why it would be used, you can find it in the Workflow Settings for each of your workflows.

Best Practices for Permissions and Privacy

  • Least Privilege Principle: Only grant the minimum permissions necessary for users to perform their tasks.
  • Regular Reviews: Periodically review permissions to ensure they are still appropriate.
  • Audit Trails: Use Willow360’s file history and audit trails to monitor who accessed and modified documents.
  • Data Protection: Use encryption and secure storage options to protect sensitive information.

Conclusion

Creating and testing a workflow in Willow360 before granting access to others ensures that your processes are efficient, secure, and reliable. By following these steps and best practices, you can confidently deploy workflows that enhance productivity while maintaining control over permissions and privacy.

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