Workflows allow you to add automation to your VolunteerHub site.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction to Workflows

Workflows is a page within the Admin View of VolunteerHub which consolidates the creation of workflows.

Figure 1: From Workflows you can create new Workflows or browse existing ones.


Workflows are generally used for building an onboarding path for new volunteers or placing members of external groups (e.g. employees of a company) into their User Group.


Creating a Workflow

    1. Navigate to the Workflows page

    2. Click 'Create New Workflow'

    3. Give the Workflow a name

    4. Choose a Trigger

        a. Landing Page Visited puts users in a group simply by visiting that page

        b. New User Account Created puts users in a group if they are creating an account

    5. Choose a Landing Page

        a. If the workflow is meant to be global, leave the setting on 'Site Wide'

    6. Select an Action

        a. Add User to User Group

        b. Remove User From User Group

    7. Select the User Group or Groups

    8. Click 'Save'


Explanation of Triggers

  • Landing Page Visited
    • This trigger executes the action any time a user visits the specified landing page.  There is an option within the trigger to only apply the action if a user is also a member of a specific User Group.
    • This is used for placing users in groups for their external groups (e.g. a company or church - Example B), or for marking a volunteer as 'approved' following an onboarding process (see Example D).
  • New User Account Created
    • This trigger applies only if the user has created a new account from the specified landing page.  
    • This is primarily used for building onboarding paths.
NOTE: Only one trigger may be used per Workflow.  For example if you'd like a Landing Page to trigger both for a user visiting the page as well as a new user account being created--two workflows would be needed.


Explanation of Actions

  • Add User to User Group
    • This places the users into the specified user group when the trigger is active.
    • This is the most common action.
  • Remove User from User Group
    • This removes the user from the specified user group when the trigger is active.
    • This is primarily used within an onboarding process, to remove a user from an onboarding group and pairs well with an action adding the user to an approved User Group (see Example D).
NOTE: Multiple actions may be used within a single Workflow.


Workflow Examples

Example A:  Building a Site Wide Onboarding Workflow

This workflow establishes a Site Wide onboarding process to place all new users into User Groups for a phone screening and orientation.

Example B: Assigning External Volunteers to their User Group

This workflow places any user who accesses the page (new or existing) into the Bank of America user group.  The trigger 'Landing Page Visited' would be used in this instances because there may be existing volunteers who work at Bank of America.  They wouldn't be creating new accounts but should be placed in the BOA user group.

NOTE: Site Wide workflows would still be in effect for any landing page specific workflows.  If Examples A & B were from the same VolunteerHub site, users creating account via the Bank of America landing page would still be placed in the Phone Screening and Orientation user groups.


Example C: Building an Onboarding Workflow for the Default Landing Page 

This workflow places all new users created from the default landing page into an Orientation user group.  Utilizing Advanced Permissions, the Orientation group can be set set to allow users to only view and sign up for orientation events.

Attaching the onboarding workflow to the default landing page is often done when only individual volunteers (not external group members) need to go through onboarding.

Example D: Approving New Applicants

This workflow references an 'Approved Volunteers' landing page and would be the second step following the workflow from Example C.  This URL is provided to users after they have completed orientation.  The workflow is set to only trigger if the user is a member of the New Applicants - Orientation user group and visits the Approved Volunteers landing page.  It removes the user from that New Applicants user group and also adds them to the Approved Volunteers user group.  Utilizing Advanced Permissions, the user now has access to sign up for volunteer opportunities.

Because the 'Approved Volunteers' workflow (Example D) is set to only trigger if the user is a member of New Applicants - Orientation user group, a new user creating an account from the Approved Volunteers landing page would not trigger the workflow and the user would not be marked as 'approved'.


Workflows within Landing Pages

Though the Workflows page allows for creating Workflows associated with a Landing Page, the Landing Page edit dialogue also contains limited workflow functionality.

Figure 2: The Behavior area decides which events should be displayed on the page: either associated with an Event Group and/or with reservations for a User Group.  For more information about Landing Page behaviors, click here.


Figure 3: The Workflow section is an alternative way to create Workflows within the Landing Page.


This workflow (Figure 3) was created through the Workflows page, but display as the settings within the corresponding Landing Page.  This interchangeability allows for creating Workflows in either location and them being present in both.