Deadlines and Escalations

About Deadlines

• Deadlines act as a timer which triggers an exception transition to another activity when a specified duration has elapsed. Deadlines can be set for each activity.
• We set time limits on each activity, which will trigger an exception (in this case, a specific string variable). When a matching transition that has the condition set to 'exception' matches this string value, the transition will be invoked.

Types of Deadlines

• Deadline execution can be synchronous or asynchronous.
• For synchronous execution, the current activity will no longer be active when the deadline is triggered.  This is used in cases such as an approval escalation.
• For asynchronous execution, the next activity will be executed while the current activity is still waiting.  This is used in cases such as sending reminders.
• Multiple deadlines are supported for each activity.
  

Setting Deadlines - A Step-by-Step Guideline

Activating Deadline Checker

• The activity deadline checker is disabled by default. To allow activity deadline checking by Joget Workflow, you will have to set the Process Deadline Checker Interval to a non-zero value. Set it to a suitable value, depending on your need.
• To enable deadline checking, go to Settings > System Setup.
• Change the value for 'Process Deadline Checker Interval' to a non-zero value, i.e. 30 (seconds). The unit used is seconds.

Setting Deadlines in Activities

• Open the properties dialog of the activity you wish to set a deadline for, then click on the Create New Element button in the Deadlines area; a Deadline properties dialog box will pop up. Enter appropriate values for 'Execution', 'Duration Unit' and 'Deadline Limit'.
• Type the exception name in the Exception name field (e.g., TIMEOUT). Exception names are case sensitive. Make sure this matches the exception name given to the transition.
• Click on 'OK' to confirm the creation of this deadline. You can continue adding multiple deadlines.

Setting Transition as Exception Flow

• When a deadline is triggered, and where the exception name matches the one set for a transition, the flow will execute along that transition to the next element along the workflow.
• Add an Exception-type transition from the activity to the next (i.e., Send Reminder).
• Set the type of condition to 'Exception'.
• Enter an Exception name (e.g., TIMEOUT) in the Expression text area.
• Confirm and close the properties window for the transition.

Tips

• You can set multiple deadlines in an activity. They can include a first-level reminder (asynchronous) which is then followed by an escalation (synchronous) if the activity has not been completed within the time limit.
• Remember to match the exception names. If they do not match, nothing will happen.