Travel Registry workflows enable admins to set specific criteria for determining which details travelers need to review or complete. Workflows also control notifications for trip registrations, specify which trips require approval, and designate who must grant that approval.

Note: Before configuring workflows, all admins will need to determine which workflow types best serve their process for the set of requirements, content, and approval chains they would like to deploy. To make this decision, first refer to our article entitled Travel Registry: Workflow Types and then return to this article to configure your workflows for the selected types. 

This article will discuss the following topics: 

• Access and Permissions
• Configuring Workflows and Workflow Type Options
  • Initial Setup
  • Locking Trips with Workflows
  • Step 1: "IF" Statements
  • Step 2: Require
  • Step 3: Then Deploy
  • Step 4: Approve By
    • Committee-based Approvals
  • Step 5: Then Notify
• Approver View
  • Administrative Approval View
• Organizing & Managing Workflows
• FAQ

Access and Permissions

The Workflows tab is accessed by navigating to Travel Admin>Workflows.

In order to access the Workflows tab, one must be in the following permissions group:

• Travel Admin

 

Configuring Workflows and Workflow Type Options

Each tab available on the Workflows page is a workflow type:

Workflow types represent opportunities for an admin's institution to shape trip registration at differing points in the travel process. Before configuring a workflow, select a workflow type. Once determined which workflow type best fits a certain process, continue to configure a workflow. Below is a table representing the steps required for each unique workflow type:

	If	Require	Then Deploy	Then approve by	Then notify
On Trip Save	x	x	x	x	x
Before First Trip	x	x	x
On Profile Save	x		x
On Impacted Travelers	x				x
On Trip Approval	x	x	x		x
On Trip Create	x	x	x	x	x
Pre-Departure	x		x		x
Prior to Return	x		x		x
On Trip Cancel	x		x		x

 

After clicking on the tab of the desired workflow type, click the "+" icon in the bottom right of the page to build a new workflow:

 

Clicking this icon opens the workflow configuration modal: 

 

Initial Setup

Prior to configuring steps 1-5 on the workflow modal, an admin should determine if they want the workflow to be active, meaning it will apply to all applicable trips as soon as it is saved, or if they would like to leave it inactive for the time being. They can activate/deactivate a workflow at any time. However, once a workflow has applied to a trip, it will apply permanently; deactivating the workflow has no impact on the trips that the workflow has already been applied to.

After determining if the workflow should be inactive or active, an admin should decide if they would like the workflow to lock trips that meet its conditions. 

 

Locking Trips with Workflows

If a workflow is an "On Trip Save" workflow, admins will be presented with the option to "lock" the trips that meet the conditions of the workflow. If a trip is locked, the trip's itinerary tab, description, and reason for travel will only be editable by Travel Registry administrators:

When a trip is locked, group trip leaders, group trip members, and solo travelers can complete their forms and essential content, but are restricted from entering/editing other trip details. 

This feature is useful for group trips that are created by admins, as this means that only the admin can enter/edit the: 

• Trip's itinerary
• Transportation
• Description
• Reason for travel
• Lodging information

Unlocking Trips:

Trips can be unlocked by administrators at any time by clicking Unlock Trip:

Once a trip is unlocked, it will be unlocked permanently, even if a new "lock trip" workflow is subsequently created/activated. If an admin would like only the group leader to have the ability to edit the trip details listed above, they can unlock the leader's trip, but leave the group member trips locked.

Note: The trip name and itinerary can be entered by the trip creator during trip creation, but these actions will not be available to them once the workflow applies and locks the trip during the initial trip save. After the trip is unlocked by an admin, it will be editable by the trip owner again. 

After making these determinations, proceed to Step 1. 

 

Step 1: "IF" Statements

Workflows are built using “if” and “then” statement logic; i.e. if ‘x’ action occurs, then ‘y’ action should occur next. The first step of the workflow is an “if” statement.

An "if" statement is a condition the trip or its associated traveler must meet in order to trigger the workflow. Once the workflow is triggered, its deployed content items, notification structure, and approval process will apply to the trip. Clicking "Add Condition" on the modal opens up a scrolling menu of the conditions one can set as a trigger for the workflow. This list will include: 

• Location 
• Custom Location Lists (See Travel Registry: Content Management for more on using this feature.)
• Risk Rating (choose Security Exchange/RiskLine (based on site), Department of State [Country & Regional]*, Center for Disease Control, or a combination)
• Role
• Solo Travel
• Group Travel
• Group Leader (must be a member of the group designated in the "Group Leader Access" setting)
• Campus (if enabled)
• Unit Param (if utilizing the "Unit Admin" setting of AlertTraveler®)
• Reason for Travel
• Question Response
• Trips Start is in <=# Days
• Trips End is in <=# Days
• Trip created # days before trip start
• Created By (trip import, delegate, email forwarding, traveler manually)
• All available profile parameters built-in Travel Admin>Settings>Profile Mappings, such as College, Department, and Major

 

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Note about DOS Regional Risk: Terra Dotta Travel Registry supports DOS regional risk ratings, However data quality from the DOS restricts Terra Dotta's ability to identify trip destinations that fall inside high-risk regions. Therefore, the workflow trigger logic for DOS Risk Ratings is if a country has any region within it that has a higher risk rating than the country itself, the workflow will be triggered.

 

Here is an example workflow:

In this example, we need all travelers who register a trip to a country with a DOS Risk Level of 3 or 4 to answer certain questions, read documents, and complete certain forms. 

 

Workflow conditions can be in the same condition group or split into separate condition groups. 

Multiple “if” statements (workflow conditions) can be added. To add a condition within an existing condition group click the plus icon within the condition group. To create a new condition group, select "+ Add Condition Group." To delete a condition, click the "X" icon.

The manner in which an admin's conditions are grouped does impact the logic and functionality of the workflow. As it is now, the workflow above applies to all travel to a destination with a DOS level of 3 or 4 registered by a solo traveler. It will also apply to trips taken by a solo traveler to a destination with a Riskline Rating of Extreme or High, even if the DOS level is not a 3 or 4.

Incorporating AND/OR logic

Admins can use AND/OR logic within the condition groups and between condition groups. Multi-select conditions use OR logic between the selected options. 

When it comes to AND logic, the more conditions added, the more specific the set of targeted travelers and trips is going to be. This is because with AND logic travelers must meet all of the compounded conditions.

In this workflow example AND logic is used within a condition group: 

This means that the trip and its associated traveler must meet all of the conditions in order to receive the workflow's content items and approval requirements. 

 

However, this workflow example uses OR logic between condition groups: 

 

In this case, the use of OR logic widens the set of targeted travelers and trips. If the traveler and their trip meet all of the conditions in the first condition group or all of the conditions in the second condition group, their trip will receive the configured content and approval requirement. 

 

Important Note: Workflows adhere to Boolean logic. Improperly combining
AND/OR conditions can lead to workflows being triggered either too frequently or not at all. The best practice is to always test your workflows directly after creating them.

 

Conditions that allow for multiple selections, such as Reason for Travel, locations, risk ratings, or multi-select parameters will employ OR logic when several of the options are chosen within a condition: 

 

If admins wish to prevent a workflow from being triggered for a particular subset of trips or travelers, "Equals" in the workflow condition can be changed to "Not". For example, if they wish to have a workflow for all international travel, the workflow condition would be all trips where the location does "not" only include the United States. With the following configuration, every time a traveler registers a trip for a location outside the U.S. this workflow would be triggered.

It's important to not forget to add a description of a workflow at the top of the page so one will remember what this workflow is used for.

If an admin does not add any conditions on the first step here, the workflow will trigger for every traveler once they reach the designated phase of the process. 

 

Step 2: Require

Step 2 (Require) involves admins selecting the specific profile and trip details that travelers associated with the trip must complete.

Click the plus icon on this tab to select the profile and trip items that are desired to require the traveler to complete. Some trip items include:

• Passport (this populates the "Passport" field in the profile)
• Transportation
• Lodging
• Transportation and lodging
• all available profile parameters configured in Travel Admin>Settings>Profile Mappings, such as College, Department, and Major

 

Step 3: Then Deploy

Step 3 is where admins select the content items (forms, essential content, file uploads, etc.) they want to prompt the eligible travelers to complete. 



Clicking the plus icon displays the various types of content available to deploy: 

• Form
• Useful Content
• Signature Form
• File Upload
• Country Intelligence
• DOS Regional Risk Intel

There are no limits to the number or type of items that can be deployed in a given workflow. Everything chosen to deploy can be viewed by the traveler, the delegate submitting the trip, and the approvers.

After selecting the type of content, administrators will see a search field where they can find specific content items. As they type, existing content items of the corresponding type will be filtered and displayed in a list below for their selection.

Admins can choose to make individual pieces of content required in this workflow by clicking the corresponding “Required” toggle. 

Note: The traveler is always required to complete Signature Forms. 

Forms show on their own tab to the travelers, while Signature Forms, Useful Content, and File Uploads show on another tab, in that order. The order in which items show is the order they have been added to the workflow.

Note: Items deployed in Step 3 are determined by the "IF" statement conditions (Step 1). If the details of a trip change, causing the original workflow to be irrelevant and triggering a new workflow, the items originally deployed will remain on the trip. Additionally, the new requirements will appear alongside the original content items.

 

Step 4: Then Approve By

Step 4 is where the approval process can be set. Bear in mind that the workflow must require the traveler to complete at least one content item for an approval process to be created. If no content is required when the workflow is triggered, the traveler will automatically be approved.



Admins can select between a simple or sequential approval process. New approval steps are added by clicking the plus icon and choosing one of these types.

Simple Approval 
A simple approval requires approval from only one individual, a single member from a designated group of individuals, or a committee. For example, one can say that any member of their "Departmental Approvers" staff group can approve this trip. To do this, they would choose a simple approval, choose “Group” and select “Departmental Approvers” group.


Sequential Approval 
If the approval process requires an approval chain, the "sequential" approval type comes in handy.
Sequential approvals can be used to designate specific people who are permitted to approve trips for specific travelers, based on the traveler’s profile information. Sequential approvals also allow one to set up a multi-step approval process.

For this example, let’s say that a trip meeting certain conditions needs to be approved by the traveler's departmental approver. It would look something like this:


This configuration says students in the Art department will need approval from an approver in the Art department, a Computer Science student will need approval from an approver in Computer Science, etc.

This can be set up with any custom parameters created in Travel Admin>Settings>Profile Mappings. Admins can also select any approver group for this. If a matching approver cannot be found, the approval will instead go to the alternate approver(s) set in Travel Admin>Settings>Other.

Now, let’s say that after being approved by their department leader, they need approval from a leader in their college. We can add a second step for that. Consequently, once the department leader signs off, the college approver will be notified via email and will need to approve.



As per the approval process, a user, or in some cases, multiple users may need to approve trips. One can set up a second approval process (simple or sequential) that will run in parallel in with the first. The two approval groups will operate with AND logic. In this example below, when the trip is first saved, the Department Approver who matches the traveler’s department will be sent a notification AND the Travel Admin group will be notified.



As the approvals are configured on separate approval chains, the travel admin's approval will have no bearing on the approval process for the department and college approvers. However, all three people must give approval before this trip is approved.

 

Committee-based Approvals

A third option for approvals is "Committee". After choosing the approval group, an "Approve Type" must be selected. Two approval types are available: "Apply Vote Outcome" and "Tally & Send to next step".

"Apply Vote Outcome" requires either a unanimous or a majority decision in order to approve the trip at this step and move it to the next of the approval chain (if there is one). If "Majority" is selected and it's a majority denial instead of approval, the trip will be denied and the traveler will be notified.

"Tally & Send to next step" will tally the votes from all users in that step and provide those results to the approver(s) in the next step. 

Note: "Tally & Send to next step" requires a next step; admins will receive an error message at the top of the screen letting them know that they cannot proceed without adding an additional approval step.

An approval process for a workflow can be as simple or as complex as needed. If at any point, someone in the approval process denies a trip, the traveler will be notified and upon a second submission, the approval process will begin again at the step in which it was denied initially. Approvers who have already approved the trip will not need to approve it again.

If an admin desires, they can set reminder emails for their approvers in this workflow by clicking the “Reminders” bell. 



These can be set to be delivered ‘x’ number of days or weeks before the trip is set to start or ‘x’ number of days or weeks after the approver was initially notified about this trip.

 

Step 5: Then Notify

The final option of the workflow configuration is to choose who should be notified about a trip. Once the criteria in the 'If' statement are met, the people/group(s) listed in 'Then notify' will be notified via email. Required items do not need to be completed nor does the trip need to be approved in order for those selected in 'Then notify' to receive an email. In this step, admins can choose an individual or a group and add as many as needed. An admin can also use the "Then Notify" section to send an email notification to Travelers.

If desired, admins can click "Add Custom Email Text" to create a custom message that will be sent to everyone selected to receive a notification email. The rich text editor allows for a variety of formatting options, including hyperlinks, bold, and italics.

 

Once the message and other configuration are done, ensure the workflow is set to “Active” (so it can be triggered by new/saved trips) and save it.

Note: If an admin needs to notify different populations (for example both an admin and the travelers), multiple workflows need to be created.

 

Approver's View

Approvers listed in an approval process are notified that a trip requires their attention via email.



The email will contain the traveler’s name and basic trip details. Clicking the “HERE” link will take the approver to a trip review page where they can complete the approval process. They do not need to log in to the site to access the approver screen using the email link.

The approver will be able to access and view the traveler’s full itinerary, their profile, the responses they submitted to any forms the traveler completed, any essential content submitted (including signature forms and uploads), and the status of any other approvals that were required. If this is an approval request for a group trip, the approver will also be able to see the roster of travelers.

To help the approver make a more informed decision, a link to country intelligence details has been added to the itinerary screen of the trip approval interface. Approvers can click on the flag for each destination to link to this critical information. From the country intelligence screen, approvers can also opt to view more information about the DOS and CDC risk ratings. In addition, the itinerary screen displays the AlertTraveler, DOS, and CDC risk ratings for all trip destinations.

Approvers will also see the number of outstanding approval requests in the upper right hand corner of the approval screen, as well as an option to download a PDF version of the approval request.

On the 'Approval' tab, the approver can

• approve or deny the trip
• leave a public note that the traveler, other approvers, and admins can see
• leave an internal note that the other approvers and admins can see

Notes can be submitted without also submitting a decision about the trip.

The traveler will be notified of the decision and see the message left for them. If another approver is next in line in a sequential approval and the trip is approved, that approver will receive the email requesting approval.

 

Administrative Approval View

The trip itself will show the approval decision(s) as well as any notes, including if it's internal.

If an approver is unable to submit a decision using the email sent (they lost the email or are out of office, for example), the administrator can submit a decision on behalf of the approver. Navigate to the "Approval History" tab of the trip and there will be an edit pencil to the right of the "Pending" status.

 

Clicking the edit pencil will open a modal where the admin will see the approver's name, have the ability to enter a note (public and private), as well as submit a decision. In the chance multiple people are able to approve as the approval request was sent to a group, the admin would be prompted to select the approver from a dropdown.

The approval log will also show who submitted the decision, as well as any notes (same as if the approver submitted a decision directly).

 

Organizing & Managing Workflows

Workflows can be organized and managed a variety of ways, depending on the needs of the office.

The "Search" option will search the workflow name (description), "IF" statement criteria, deployed items, and approval chains.

Collapse all workflows by clicking the carrot icon (^) to the right of the "Status" dropdown, or collapse an individual workflow by clicking the carrot to the right of the trash can icon within the workflow description.

Workflows can be organized to suit a certain office's needs by using the "Position: X" and arrows at the bottom of each workflow, or drag and drop as needed.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can a workflow be edited once it has been created?

A: Yes, just click anywhere on the workflow modal to open the edit screen and click "Save" once finished.

 

Q: Why did a certain workflow get triggered? Why does the trip have these requirements?

A: To get a full response to this question, visit our article: Travel Registry Troubleshooting: FAQ/Top 20 Most Common Issues.

 

Q: Travelers are required to enter profile information, but no workflow requires this. Why is this?

A: If you have checked every workflow type, and do not see any workflow requiring the profile parameter, the situation typically occurs due to one of the following scenarios:

The requirement was triggered by a workflow that is now inactive. It is possible that the traveler triggered the workflow and the workflow was later made inactive. Requirements deployed to a traveler's profile or trip by a workflow will remain present on the trip or profile after the workflow is made inactive.
The requirement was triggered by a workflow that has since been edited. It is possible the element was deployed to the trip by the workflow, but later removed from the workflow. The workflow's history log will show this.

The requirement was triggered by a workflow that has since been deleted. Check the Global History Log to see if any workflows have been deleted. It is possible the workflow that deployed these elements has since been deleted. Elements deployed to a trip by a workflow will remain present on the trip after the workflow has been deleted.

 

Q: A workflow was triggered for a certain DOS/Risk rating, but the trip is not to a destination with that rating. Why is this?

A: It is possible that the DOS rating has changed since the trip was created, or the trip was initially to a location that had the risk rating configured in the workflow, but the location of the trip was later changed. Remember, once a workflow has been applied to a trip, its content, requirements, and required approvals will remain on that trip permanently.

If the workflow has a regional DOS rating condition, it is important to remember the workflow logic for regional DOS Risk Ratings is as follows:

If a country has an area within it that has the risk rating selected in the workflow, the workflow will be triggered, regardless if the itinerary is to the specific location with that rating.