Creating a New Workflow in Relay

Establishing the triggering event

To establish the triggering event

1. Under What starts this workflow? click the type of trigger event you want to begin the workflow.
   • To trigger the workflow when there’s a file action, such as a file upload, share, or deletion, or a watermark or security classification applied, click A File Event.
   • To trigger the workflow when there’s a folder action, such as folder creation or a folder move or share, click A Folder Event.
   • To trigger the workflow when there’s a change in file metadata, such as an attribute that’s been added, updated, or deleted, click File With Metadata.
   • To trigger the workflow in which someone must review or approve a document, click A Task Event.
   • To create an incomplete workflow for someone else to complete and trigger, click Manual Start. 
   • To trigger the workflow when someone uploads a file or discrete batch of files via the Box File Request feature, click A File Request.
   • To schedule a workflow to run periodically, such as daily, weekly, or even every month on the first or last day, click A Scheduled Event.
     • You can specify a start date but not a start time.
     • Workflows will run based on the Relay builder’s time zone at the time of creation. 
   • To schedule a workflow based on electronic signature actions in Box Sign, click A Sign Event.

2. Your next step depends on which choice you make, above. For example:

• If you selected a file event, now specify the file action that initiates the trigger.
• If you selected a folder event, now specify the folder action that initiates the trigger.
• If you selected a file with metadata, now choose from a list of metadata templates to apply. You also have the opportunity to modify metadata attributes.
  • Get more information on creating a metadata structure for your enterprise.
• If you selected a task event, now specify whether the trigger initiates with a completed, approved, or rejected task.
• If you selected a Manual Start, now specify the folder that will contain uploaded content.
• If you selected A File Request, now specify the folder that will store all the content uploaded via the File Request. 
• If you selected A Scheduled Event, you will now need to specify the start date, frequency, and end date.
  • Start date is when your workflow will run for the first time.  If you select today’s date, the workflow will run on activation.  Use the calendar icon to open the calendar.  Navigate between months by using the arrows on the left and right side of the month. 
  • Next, select how often the Relay should run.  Your options are: 
    • Day
    • Week
    • Month, on the first day
    • Month, on the last day
    • Year
      

      Note: if you select week, you will also have an option to select which days the relay runs during the week

  • Next, select the end for your workflow.  You can select from the following options: 
    • Never
      • Use this option if you do not have an end date in mind for this workflow.<
    • After Occurrence(s)
      • You must enter the number of occurrences.  Must be numerical and cannot exceed 999 occurrences.
    • On a day
      • Use the calendar to select a specific date
• If you selected A Sign Event, now specify the Sign action that initiates the trigger.

3. Under In what folder will this event occur? click the Select a folder box, and then click Select a folder from Box. The Select a Folder to act on window displays.

4. To the right of the folder you want, click the button.
   • To access any subfolders, click the corresponding parent folder.
5. Click Select. The workflow screen redisplays. 

• • If the selected folder has a classification label, the label will be displayed next to the folder name.

• • If any classification-based security policies apply to the folder, a short description will inform you about the restrictions. Click the icon next to the description to view the policy details.

Specifying an Outcome

After you specify a triggering event, now you specify an outcome -- what you want to happen as a result of the event. For example, you may want to assign someone to review a file when it is uploaded. Or you may want to share a folder that has just been created. Or you may return the workflow to an earlier completed step if someone rejects a task. To help clarify the purpose or intention of each outcome, you can also add a description immediately below each outcome header.

To specify an outcome

1. In the Outcome section, under What is the next action? click the action you want to result from the trigger.
   • File or folder actions give you a similar range of choices as you had when specifying the trigger. Complete the rest of the section in the same way you completed the Trigger event.
   • Metadata outcomes prompt you to designate and apply a metadata template to the file you specify. You can also apply specific metadata attribute value(s) as an outcome.
   • Task outcomes prompt you to identify the individual to whom you want to assign a task and, optionally, set a deadline. Relay notifies both the assignee and the assigner when a task is assigned.
     • If you assign more than one person to a single task, every assignee must complete the task before Relay advances the workflow. If instead you want the workflow to move forward when just one assignee has completed the task, check Only one assignee is required to complete this task.
     • You can assign a task to the person who first initiated this workflow. This person displays in the list of possible assignees as the Workflow Starter. This is useful when you create a workflow that could be initiated by any number of people -- for example, when any one person from a group of loan underwriters submits a loan application for review and approval.
     • Specify what you would like Relay to do if someone rejects the task assigned to them. You can redirect the workflow to a previous task outcome in the workflow; assign a general task (and then specify the outcome); or end the workflow.
   • Choices for manual start outcomes also are essentially the same as those for file or folder actions.  They're simply started on demand, rather than automatically, when someone selects one or more files from the trigger folder and manually starts the workflow.
   • To notify people automatically when an outcome has completed, click Send a Notification, then enter their email addresses, add a subject line, and provide a brief explanatory message.  This enables you, for example, to alert stakeholders when a process has ended, or when a file has been rejected, and so on.
     • Recipients receive both an automated email message and a notice in their Box notification Center. 
   • File Request uploads also provide a similar set of outcome choices as those for file or folder actions.
2. If you select copy, rename, or create (folder only) as the file/folder outcome, you can add dynamic variables to the outcome. Using dynamic variables can help with renaming files within the same Relay, without needing to manually hard code file or folder names. These variables include:
   • Current date. Example formats include: Month “DD” “YYYY”, “MM” “DD” “YYYY”, Month “YYYY”
   • Metadata attributes from file requests, workflow folder, and current outcome folders and files 
   • File/folder names used within a trigger or current workflow outcome
     
   • Additionally, you can have both static and dynamic variables when renaming, copying, or creating a folder or file.
     To add dynamic variables to your current workflow:
     1. From the outcome of either a folder or file section, select:
        • File Rename
        • File Copy
        • Folder Rename
        • Folder Copy
        • Folder Create
          
     2. Click on the text box under outcome selection, then click on variables, and select Trigger or Current Outcome.
        • Optionally, you can type / in the text box to see the variables.
          
     3. Select one or more of the following variables:
        • Name of workflow folder
        • Date of workflow trigger or outcome
          • Month “DD” “YYYY”
          • “MM” “DD” “YYYY”
          • Month “YYYY”, as well as more formats
        • Metadata attributes from file requests, workflow folder, and current outcome folders and files*
        • Name of the file copy
        • Original name of the file
        • Name of the folder copy
        • Original name of the folder
        • Name of the folder that triggered the workflow
          • This variable references the folder modified in the trigger
     4. Once done, add static text to the name if needed.
        When the workflow executes, the dynamic variables are updated with the new data while renaming the file/folder.
        
3. (OPTIONAL) For a workflow with multiple sequential steps – for example, document approval requiring three approvals -- you can string multiple outcomes together sequentially. To do this, click +Outcome to display and create a new Outcome.  Each time the first outcome completes – for example, when the first person approves – Relay automatically initiates the second outcome – in this case, forwarding the approved document to the second person in line.

*Metadata attributes from current outcome file or folders available for Enterprise plans and above.

More on triggers and outcomes.

More on rejection routing.

Saving and activating your workflow

When you have finished creating your workflow, you can save it and activate it (that is, turn it on) later, or you can activate it immediately. Regardless of which you choose, at any time you can return to this workflow and modify it.

To save or activate your workflow

1. Do one of the following:
   • To save this workflow without activating it, in the top-right portion of the screen, click Save Draft.
   • To save and activate the workflow, in the top-right portion of the screen, click Activate.
2. The Workflows page redisplays, listing your completed workflow.

Now, for any workflow you have activated the instant your triggering event occurs – for example, a file is uploaded to the folder you specified – Box Relay launches the workflow.

Activated workflows display with an orange box to the left of the workflow name. Relay lists their status as Active. Workflows that are saved but not yet activated display with a grey box to the left of the workflow name. Relay lists their status as Inactive.

To monitor and manage your workflows, use the Workflows screen.

Identifying whether a folder has an active workflow running

You may wish to know in advance whether a folder is part of an active workflow. To find this out, use the Box Web app to view details of the folder. These details include the workflows associated with that folder.

To see if a folder is part of a workflow

1. In Box, navigate to the folder you want, and open it.
2. In the right-hand navigation, click Details.
3. In the list of details that displays, scroll down to the Workflows section. All workflows with which this folder is associated display here.

To see the specific details any of these workflows (triggers, outcomes, and so on), click the workflow you want.