Workflow Module - User Guide

Overview

The Workflow module is the automation orchestration engine that connects and automates business processes across your entire platform. It transforms your AI-powered system from reactive to proactive by automatically executing intelligent tasks based on schedules, data changes, and business events.

This module represents the culmination of platform intelligence, combining AI reasoning with automated execution to create sophisticated business workflows that respond dynamically to your company's data and operations.

Note: This module requires the workflow module to be enabled for your company. Workflow execution depends on available AI agents and integrates with all other platform modules.

Intelligent Workflow Architecture

🔄 From Trigger to Action

Workflows transform events and schedules into automated intelligent actions:

Trigger Event → Condition Evaluation → AI Context Analysis → Action Execution → Result Integration → Platform Updates

Step 1: Trigger Detection

Time-Based Triggers: Scheduled execution using natural language or cron expressions
Data Event Triggers: Automatic activation when specific data is created, updated, or deleted
Collection Event Triggers: Batch processing when multiple data items change
Manual Triggers: On-demand execution for testing and immediate needs

Step 2: Intelligent Context Analysis

Business Data Integration: AI analyzes current business state and relevant information
Historical Pattern Recognition: Consideration of trends and historical data
Cross-Module Data Access: Integration with all platform modules and data sources
Dynamic Context Building: Real-time compilation of relevant business context

Step 3: AI-Powered Action Execution

reasonAndAct Engine: Full AI reasoning capabilities applied to workflow actions
Multi-Modal Responses: Generate text, tables, charts, and complex analyses
Business Intelligence: Create reports, insights, and recommendations
External Integrations: Trigger actions beyond the platform when needed

Step 4: Result Integration

Automatic Distribution: Results delivered via email, notifications, or system updates
Knowledge Base Updates: Important findings automatically captured in business knowledge
Cross-Module Propagation: Workflow results feed into dashboards, reminders, and other modules
Audit Trail: Complete execution history and performance tracking

🎯 Workflow Trigger Types

Time-Based Workflows (Cron Triggers):

Natural Language Scheduling: Define execution times using conversational language
Flexible Frequency: From every minute to yearly execution patterns
Business Hour Awareness: Automatic adaptation to business schedules
Multi-User Execution: Workflows can execute for all company users

Data Event Workflows (Specific Data Events):

Real-Time Response: Immediate execution when specific data changes
Precise Targeting: Filter by data type, content, or specific criteria
Event Type Specificity: Different actions for create, update, or delete events
Context-Rich Execution: Access to complete data context during execution

Collection Event Workflows (Batch Processing):

Smart Batching: Aggregate multiple related events to avoid spam execution
Configurable Delays: Set batch timing to optimize for business needs
Summary Analytics: Analyze patterns across multiple data changes
Efficient Processing: Reduce system load while maintaining responsiveness

Workflow Configuration

⏰ Time-Based Workflows

Natural Language Scheduling: Workflows support intuitive schedule definitions that are automatically converted to precise cron expressions:

Simple Patterns: "Every Monday at 9 AM", "Daily at noon", "First of every month"
Complex Schedules: "Every weekday at 8:30", "Last Friday of each month", "Every 15 minutes during business hours"
Business Context: "End of quarter", "Every Monday morning", "Twice weekly"

Schedule Examples:

"Every Monday at 9 AM" → 0 9 * * 1
"Daily at noon" → 0 12 * * *
"First day of each month" → 0 8 1 * *
"Every 15 minutes during business hours" → */15 9-17 * * 1-5
"Last day of each quarter" → 0 9 L */3 *

Advanced Time Configuration:

Timezone Awareness: Schedules respect company timezone settings
Holiday Handling: Optional business day calculations
Retry Logic: Configurable retry attempts for failed executions
Execution Windows: Restrict execution to specific time periods

📊 Data-Driven Workflows

Specific Data Event Triggers: Create workflows that respond to specific data changes:

{
  "event_types": ["create", "update"],
  "filters": [
    {
      "field": "type",
      "operator": "equals",
      "value": "Customer Order"
    },
    {
      "field": "data.amount",
      "operator": "greater_than",
      "value": 1000
    }
  ]
}

Collection Event Triggers: Process multiple related changes efficiently:

{
  "event_types": ["create", "update"],
  "batch_delay": 5,
  "filters": [
    {
      "field": "type",
      "operator": "equals", 
      "value": "Support Ticket"
    }
  ]
}

Advanced Filtering:

Field-Based Filtering: Filter by any data field or metadata
Complex Conditions: Multiple criteria with AND/OR logic
Dynamic Values: Reference current date, user context, or business metrics
Pattern Matching: Regular expressions and pattern-based filtering

🤖 AI Action Configuration

Workflow Actions: Actions are defined as natural language instructions that are processed by the platform's AI reasoning engine:

Business Analysis Actions:

"Analyze today's sales performance compared to the same day last week. 
Identify top-performing products and any concerning trends. 
Generate a summary with actionable insights for the sales team."

Automated Reporting:

"Generate a weekly customer satisfaction report based on support tickets and feedback. 
Include trends, issue categories, and recommendations for improvement. 
Highlight any urgent issues requiring immediate attention."

Intelligent Monitoring:

"Monitor inventory levels for products with less than 10 units remaining. 
Check sales velocity for each item and recommend reorder quantities. 
Alert if any critical items are approaching stockout."

Context-Aware Processing:

"When a high-value customer order is created, analyze their purchase history and preferences. 
Suggest complementary products and identify any special handling requirements. 
Prepare personalized recommendations for the sales team."

Main Interface

Workflow Manager Layout

When you access the Workflow module at /workflow, you'll see:

Workflow List: Comprehensive table of all automation workflows
Trigger Information: Visual indicators of workflow types and schedules
Execution Status: Real-time status and performance metrics
Management Controls: Create, edit, and execute workflows

Workflow Information Display

Table Columns:

ID: Unique workflow identifier
Title: Descriptive name for the automation workflow
Trigger Type: Visual badge indicating trigger method (Cron, Data Event, Collection)
Configuration: Summary of trigger settings and conditions
Status: Active/inactive state with execution indicators
Last Execution: Most recent execution time and result
Actions: Workflow management controls

Status Indicators:

🟢 Active: Workflow is enabled and executing according to schedule
🟡 Inactive: Workflow is disabled and will not execute
🔴 Error: Recent execution failures requiring attention
⏸️ Paused: Temporarily suspended due to repeated failures

Trigger Type Badges:

⏰ Cron: Time-based scheduled execution
📊 Data Event: Responds to specific data changes
📈 Collection: Batch processing of multiple events
👤 Manual: On-demand execution only

Workflow Operations

✅ What You Can Do

Workflow Management:

Create Workflows: Design automated business processes with AI actions
Configure Triggers: Set up time-based, event-driven, or manual execution
Define Actions: Specify AI tasks using natural language instructions
Test Execution: Manually execute workflows to validate functionality
Monitor Performance: Track execution history and success rates

Advanced Configuration:

Filter Conditions: Set precise criteria for when workflows should execute
Batch Processing: Configure collection events for efficient bulk processing
Retry Logic: Define retry behavior for failed executions
Context Integration: Access data from all platform modules in workflow actions

Execution Management:

Manual Execution: Trigger workflows on-demand for testing or immediate needs
Schedule Management: Enable/disable workflows and modify execution schedules
Performance Monitoring: View detailed execution logs and performance metrics
Error Handling: Review and resolve workflow execution issues

🔄 Workflow Execution Process

Scheduled Execution (Cron Workflows):

Schedule Activation: System scheduler triggers workflow at specified time
Multi-User Processing: Workflow executes for all company users (like reminders)
Context Compilation: AI gathers relevant business data and context
Action Execution: reasonAndAct engine processes workflow instructions
Result Distribution: Outputs delivered via configured channels (email, notifications)
Knowledge Integration: Important insights captured in Knowledge Base

Event-Driven Execution (Data Workflows):

Event Detection: System detects data creation, modification, or deletion
Filter Evaluation: Conditions checked to determine if workflow should execute
Context Enhancement: Event data and related business information compiled
Immediate Processing: Specific data workflows execute immediately
Batch Aggregation: Collection workflows aggregate events for efficient processing
Intelligent Response: AI analyzes event context and executes appropriate actions

Manual Execution:

User Initiation: Workflow triggered manually through interface
Context Preparation: Current business state and user context compiled
Action Processing: AI executes workflow instructions with current data
Real-Time Results: Immediate feedback and result display
Audit Recording: Manual execution logged for tracking and analysis

📊 Integration with Platform Intelligence

Cross-Module Data Access:

Knowledge Base: Full access to all structured business data and extracted information
Files: Integration with document analysis and file processing results
Ticketing: Customer support data and ticket analytics
Dashboard: Business metrics and performance indicators
Chat: Historical conversation data and AI interaction patterns

AI-Enhanced Execution:

Context-Aware Analysis: AI considers complete business context during execution
Pattern Recognition: Identification of trends and anomalies across data sources
Predictive Insights: Forecasting and recommendation generation
Intelligent Summarization: Automatic synthesis of complex business information

❌ What You Cannot Do

Access Restrictions:

Cannot view or manage workflows from other companies
Cannot access workflow execution results from other users (unless shared)
Cannot modify system-generated execution logs or audit trails
Cannot execute workflows for other companies or users

Configuration Limitations:

Cannot create workflows without proper module permissions
Cannot bypass security restrictions in workflow actions
Cannot access external systems without proper authentication
Cannot modify core AI reasoning algorithms

Execution Constraints:

Cannot force execution of inactive workflows
Cannot override system resource limits
Cannot execute workflows that would create infinite loops
Cannot bypass retry limits for failed executions

Advanced Features

🔧 Intelligent Trigger Configuration

Smart Event Filtering: The platform provides sophisticated filtering capabilities for data-driven workflows:

{
  "filters": [
    {
      "field": "data.customer_type",
      "operator": "equals",
      "value": "Premium"
    },
    {
      "field": "data.order_amount",
      "operator": "greater_than",
      "value": 500
    },
    {
      "field": "created_date",
      "operator": "within_last",
      "value": "24_hours"
    }
  ]
}

Collection Event Optimization:

Batch Delays: Configurable timing to optimize system performance
Event Aggregation: Smart grouping of related events for comprehensive analysis
Duplicate Prevention: Automatic detection and handling of redundant triggers
Load Balancing: Intelligent distribution of workflow execution across time

🎯 AI Action Intelligence

Context-Rich Execution: Every workflow action has access to comprehensive business context:

Current Data State: Real-time access to all business data
Historical Trends: Analysis of patterns and changes over time
User Context: Information about the user or company context
Cross-Module Integration: Data from all platform modules

Dynamic Response Generation:

Adaptive Content: Workflow outputs adapt based on current business conditions
Multi-Format Results: Generate text, tables, charts, or complex reports
Personalization: Results tailored to company-specific data and preferences
Quality Assurance: Automatic validation and improvement of generated content

📈 Performance Optimization

Execution Efficiency:

Smart Scheduling: Optimal distribution of workflow execution times
Resource Management: Intelligent allocation of system resources
Parallel Processing: Concurrent execution of independent workflows
Cache Optimization: Efficient data access and processing

Monitoring and Analytics:

Execution Metrics: Detailed performance tracking and analysis
Success Rate Monitoring: Automatic detection of workflow health issues
Resource Usage: Tracking of system resource consumption
Trend Analysis: Long-term performance pattern recognition

Auto-Optimization Features:

Retry Logic: Intelligent retry strategies for failed executions
Auto-Disable: Automatic deactivation of consistently failing workflows
Performance Alerts: Notifications for workflow performance issues
Optimization Suggestions: AI-powered recommendations for workflow improvement

Integration Benefits

🔗 Cross-Module Orchestration

Knowledge Base Integration:

Workflows automatically access and update business knowledge
Dynamic analysis of structured data from all sources
Intelligent synthesis of information across data types
Automatic capture of workflow insights in organizational knowledge

Dashboard Integration:

Workflow results automatically update dashboard widgets
Real-time metrics from workflow execution
Performance tracking and business intelligence
Custom visualizations based on workflow outputs

Communication Integration:

Email Notifications: Professional delivery of workflow results
Reminder Integration: Workflows can trigger reminder creation
Ticketing Integration: Automatic ticket creation or updates based on workflow results
Chat Enhancement: Workflow results inform AI assistant responses

Files and Data Processing:

Automatic File Analysis: Workflows trigger when files are processed
Document Intelligence: Access to extracted document information
Import Coordination: Workflows respond to data import events
Content Management: Automatic organization and processing of business content

🧠 AI Agent Coordination

Intelligence Scaling: Your workflow capabilities depend on available AI agents:

Analysis Agents: Enhanced data processing and insight generation
Visualization Agents: Rich charts and graphics in workflow results
Context Agents: Better integration with business-specific data
Prediction Agents: Forecasting and trend analysis capabilities
Communication Agents: Improved content generation and formatting

🌐 Business Process Automation

End-to-End Automation:

Customer Lifecycle: Automated responses to customer interactions and data changes
Sales Process: Intelligent analysis and recommendations throughout sales cycles
Support Optimization: Automated quality assurance and performance monitoring
Inventory Management: Dynamic monitoring and alerting for business operations

Competitive Advantages:

Proactive Intelligence: Stay ahead of issues before they become problems
Consistent Quality: Automated processes ensure consistent high-quality outputs
Scalable Operations: Handle growing business complexity without proportional resource increases
Data-Driven Decisions: Continuous analysis and insights support better business decisions

Maximizing Workflow Intelligence: Workflows transform your platform from a reactive tool to a proactive business intelligence system. By combining AI reasoning with automated execution, you create sophisticated business processes that continuously analyze, learn, and respond to your business environment. Start with simple scheduled reports and gradually build complex event-driven automations that handle your most critical business processes.