Workflow Error Reporting

Workflow Error Reporting

Configuring WF Conductor General Settings

sa08CPGeneralSettingsErrorReporting.jpgSelect the user who will receive an E-mail message when a workflow error occurs.

By default, Report errors to the workflow initiator is checked, so only the workflow initiator will be notified. You can choose to notify the workflow initiator, the workflow designer and/or any user, Active Directory group, or list of E-mail addresses.

Icon-Warning IMPORTANT:

  • Workflow Initiators are the users who start a workflow manually or create/modify an item that may trigger an automatic workflow to start.
  • If the workflow starts automatically, the Workflow Initiator may not be aware of the workflow and may be confused if they receive an email about a workflow error. You may decide to send workflow error emails to the Workflow Designer or specific users instead.

Icon-Tip Use the following syntax tips to enter lists of users:

  • Enter user accounts in the format DOMAINUser
  • Enter group names with square brackets (i.e., [Group Name])
  • Separate multiple entries with a comma.

See Also:

Workflow does not start automatically

Workflow does not start automatically

If you are logged in as the System Administrator and workflows configured to start automatically won’t start, try logging in as a different user.

Check the user who is starting the workflow.

The Sys Admin account should be able to start the workflow manually. The automatic start is a limitation.

NOTE: It doesn’t matter who creates the workflow, just who runs it. Also, this is an issue with all workflows, not just those created/deployed with Workflow Conductor.

Workflow Conductor Log Viewer

Workflow Conductor Log Viewer

sa08LogViewer.jpgThe Conductor Log Viewer displays log messages from the Conductor database. The Log Viewer can display messages generated from Conductor Studio (Design time log) or from workflows (Run time log), and can show messages for the current site, for all sites in the Web application, or for the entire Farm.

The level of detail for Conductor Studio design time logs is based on the Workflow Conductor Studio Logging setting in the Workflow Conductor General Settings page. The level of detail for workflow run time logs is based on the Logging Level selected for each widget in the workflow. See Widget Properties Tab for more information.

NOTE: If you leave the default Errors Logging Level setting for all widgets in your workflow and your workflow runs with no errors, you will not see anything in the Run time log view in Log Viewer. This is normal behavior.

The Conductor Log Viewer Web Part is available in the Web Part Gallery after Workflow Conductor is installed. Users with the Add and Customize Pages right can add the Web Part to a page. The Add and Customize Pages right is included by default in the Design and Full Control permissions.

Configure the Log Viewer Web Part

To use the Web Part:

Step Action Result
1. Select Run time log (the default) to view the workflow logs in the Conductor database related to issues that occur when a workflow executes. The level of detail for workflow run time logs is based on the Logging Level selected for each widget in the workflow. See Widget Properties for more information.
2. Select Design time log to view the Conductor Studio logs in the Conductor database related to issues that occur in the Workflow Conductor Studio. The level of detail for Conductor Studio design time logs is based on the Workflow Conductor Studio Logging setting in the Workflow Conductor General Settings page.
3. Select a scope for the log view: Current Site, Web Application, or Farm.
4. Use the paging links at the bottom of the window to view additional log entries.
5. Click the Export to Excel button to export the current view of log entries to Excel.
6. If sorting is allowed by the Web Part Properties: Click on a column name to sort log entries.
7. If filtering is allowed by the Web Part Properties: To filter log entries, enter a string in the filter box below the column name, click the filter icon, and select a filter criteria. You can apply one filter at a time. To remove a filter, click the filter icon and select No Filter. sa08LogViewerFilter.jpg
8. If grouping is allowed by the Web Part Properties: Drag a column name to the area above the columns to group log entries. You can group by multiple columns. To change grouping order, drag the column name to a different position. To remove a grouping, drag the column name away from the grouping area. sa08LogViewerGroupBy.jpg

See Also:

What happens if my workflow encounters an error when it runs?

What happens if my workflow encounters an error when it runs?What happens if my workflow encounters an error when it runs?

By default, Workflow Conductor will stop the workflow with a status of “Errored”. With Workflow Conductor Release 1.1 or higher, you can also choose to continue running the workflow by advancing to the next widget. This is a choice in the Workflow Conductor Studio Widget Properties tab for each widget.

workflow error in email.jpgWhen a workflow errors, an email containing the details of the error will be sent to the Workflow Initiator by default.

If you would rather the error email go to the Workflow Designer or some other person, configure the Workflow Error Reporting section of the Workflow Conductor Control Panel General Settings page in SharePoint Central Administration.

Troubleshooting Conditions for Columns of Type Number

Troubleshooting Conditions for Columns of Type Number

Issue:

You are using the Conditional Branch widget to check if a column called Favorite Number is blank. Favorite Number is a column of type Number.

You add a Conditional Branch widget to your workflow and configure it like this:

CB config.jpg

You find that regardless of whether a number is entered in the column or not, the workflow always travels down the False side of the branch. In other words, the workflow always thinks the column is not empty.

Resolution:

Number columns are actually never empty. A number column that appears to be empty actually has a value of 0 (zero). So instead of checking if that column is empty, check if it is equal to zero.

equal 0.jpg

When a Workflow Stops

When a Workflow Stops

Stop Workflow is the default error-handling option for all widgets. If an error occurs, the entire workflow will stop running, and its final status will be Canceled. A notification is sent to the list of people defined in the Workflow Error Reporting settings.

sa08_WF-Errored.jpg

Remember that Workflow Conductor lets you define who gets notified when a workflow error occurs. By default, the workflow initiator gets an e-mail with the details of the error. You can also notify the workflow designer or any user, Active Directory group, or e-mail address. For more information, see the Workflow Error Handling section.

SA08_2010CPGeneralSettingsErrorReporting.jpg

See Also:

Skip a Widget Step

Skip a Widget Step

Skip This Step skips the widget that caused the error in this workflow instance and continues with the next widget. A notification is sent to the list of people defined in the Workflow Error Reporting settings.

If the skipped step provides results or input to later steps in the workflow, additional errors may occur. Use Skip This Step only if the widget’s results are not critical to the rest of the workflow.

See Also:

Resolving Workflow Errors

Resolving Workflow Errors

sa08_2010_IfWidgetErrors.jpgIf there is an error in your workflow, Workflow Conductor provides several ways to handle it. You can define error handling options per widget when the workflow is designed using the If Widget Errors property.

The following options are available for the If Widget Errors property (click an option to learn more):

  • Stop Workflow (default): The workflow will stop running with a status of Canceled.

  • Skip This Step: The workflow will skip the step (widget) that errors and continue with the next step.

  • Pause Workflow: The workflow pauses on the step that errors.

    NOTE: Per-widget error handling options are available in Workflow Conductor 2.5 and higher. Previous versions of Workflow Conductor provide global error handling options in the General Settings page of the Workflow Conductor Control Panel.

See Also:

Pause Workflow

Pause Workflow

If you would like the opportunity to either select the error-handling option or resolve the error and continue the workflow, use the Pause Workflow option. The workflow is paused, although its status in the list remains In Progress.

sa08_WF-Paused.jpg

If you view the status using the Workflow Status option in the item drop-down menu, the status displayed is Paused.

sa08_2010_WF-Paused-WFStatusLink.jpg

sa08_2010_WF-Paused-email.jpg

Pause Workflow triggers the following actions:

  • A notification is sent to the list of people defined in the Workflow Error Reporting settings. The notification includes a link to an Error Handling Form, where you can select the error-handling option to use. You can also access this form by clicking the Paused link in the Workflow Status page.

  • The Error Handling Form includes the details of the error message and provides options to cancel the workflow, skip the step with the error, or repeat the step if the error is now resolved.

After you select an action in the Error Handling Form, the workflow will either continue or be canceled, according to the option you selected.

See Also:

How to View Workflow Status

How to View Workflow Status

sa08WorkflowStatusMenuItem.jpgThere are several ways to view the status of a workflow in Workflow Conductor. Go to each of the sections listed below for more details about each method.

View all workflows started on an item

Workflow Conductor adds an option to the list item menu called Workflow Status. This option displays a Workflow Status page (as shown below) that lists all instances of the workflow that have been started on that item, sorted by status.

The list also includes the name of the person who started the workflow instance, when it was started, and when there was last activity (useful for long-running workflows).

To view the detailed history of an individual workflow instance, click its name in the Workflow Name column. The Conductor Workflow History page displays a list of tasks assigned during the workflow and the workflow history logged for that workflow instance.
sa08ConductorWFStatus.jpg

View the most recent workflow started on an item

sa08WorkflowStatusCol.jpgWhen you start a workflow on a list or library item, SharePoint adds a column to the Default view of the list that matches the workflow name. This column contains the status of the most recent workflow instance started on that item with a link to the SharePoint Workflow Status page for that workflow instance.

NOTE: SharePoint will add a workflow status column for only the first 15 workflows associated to the list.

View all workflows started in the Web application

To view a consolidated workflow history of all workflows in the Web application, go to Central Administration > Workflow Conductor Control Panel > View Workflow Status. On the View Workflow Status page, select a Web application to view the workflow history for all workflows in that Web application.

sa08ViewWFStatus.jpg

The Workflow Status table has several features to help you organize and identify relevant workflow data:

  • To filter workflow history data, enter a string in the filter box below the column name, click the filter icon, and select a filter criteria. You can apply one filter at a time. To remove a filter, click the filter icon and select No Filter.
  • To sort a column, click on the column name.
  • To group workflow history data, drag a column name to the area above the columns. You can group by multiple columns. To change grouping order, drag the column name to a different position. To remove a grouping, drag the column name away from the grouping area.
  • To export the current view of workflow history data to Excel, click the Export to Excel button.

How to determine who published a workflow and when

How to determine who published a workflow and when

Overview of Workflow Conductor Templates

When multiple designers are working in the same SharePoint farm, you may have a need to figure out who published a workflow and when so you can more easily locate the template used to publish/deploy the associated workflow.

You can use the SharePoint Workflow Settings page to see the workflows associated with a list or library. Access Workflow Settings from the list/library ribbon, as shown below to open the Workflow Settings page.

wf setting icon on library ribbon.jpg

wf settings page.jpgThe Workflow Settings page shows active and disabled workflows for the selected content type.

In the example shown here, there is one active workflow called Review Document. There is also a disabled workflow called Review Document (Previous Version:6/15/2015 3:11:37 PM).

This page provides no information about when the active workflow was published or who published it. It also does not show workflows that may be associated with a particular content type on the list. More information is needed.

Icon-Tipassoc wfs icon.jpg If you are using Workflow Conductor, you can also access the Associated Workflows page from the list/library ribbon and learn more.

The Manage Associated Workflows page is a Workflow Conductor page that shows only the active associated workflows for the list, including those associated with only a specific content type.

It also shows when (Modified) and who (Modified By) published/deployed the active workflow. In the example below, we know that Julie published the workflow on June 29 at 1:44PM.

assoc wfs page2.jpg

Armed with information about who published the workflow and when, and knowing that the name of the associated workflow is also the name of the Workflow Conductor template used to publish it, you can access the Manage Templates tab of the Workflow Conductor Template Gallery to locate the template with the same name, created by that user, and last modified at the approximate date and time the associated workflow was published.

Icon-WarningIMPORTANT: The name of the associated workflow is also the name of the Workflow Conductor template used to publish it, if the workflow was published directly to the list. If the workflow was associated with the list from a workflow that was published to the site or site collection, the name of the workflow may not be the same as the template used.
To determine if the workflow was published directly to the list (rather than associated with the list later), click on the workflow name in the Workflow Settings page. If the workflow was published directly to the list, this message will appear.

wf cannot be customized.jpg

If it was associated with the list afterward, you will see the Change workflow… page when you click the link on the Workflow Settings page.

change a wf.jpg

If you see this page, the template used to publish the workflow to the site or site collection is highlighted in the Select a workflow template area of the page.

icon-video2 For more information, see a video example of how to determine who published a workflow.

How To Concatenate Two or More Fields

How To Concatenate Two or More Fields

Using Workflow Conductor and trying to setup so it will add a user to AD.

After creating a list with a field called ‘First Name’ and another field called ‘Last Name’, the goal is to concatenate these two fields in the workflow to form an AD Display Name and an AD Logon name as follows:

  • AD Display Name = ‘First Name’ & “ ” & ‘Last Name’
  • AD Logon Name = ‘First Name’ & “.” & ‘Last ‘Name’

Use the Calculate Widget to concatenate text strings.

For example, assuming First Name and Last Name are fields/columns in list item that triggered the workflow:

First Name = Tom
Last Name = Thumb

CONCATENATE("{CurrentItem:First Name}"," ","{CurrentItem:Last Name}")

Result: Tom Thumb

NOTE: If you do not include the double quotes, it returns #NAME?, so be sure to use the double quotes.

How do I stop users from running a workflow?

How do I stop users from running a workflow?How do I stop users from running a workflow?

To disable a workflow so that users are not able to start new instances but existing instance finish running, follow the instructions for Disabling a Workflow. To remove a workflow from the list or library, including terminating any existing instances, follow the instructions for Removing a Workflow Association on the same page. For more information, you can also see the Remove a workflow from a list or library and Remove a Workflow Solution From a Site Collection or Web Application.

Error Log files for Workflow Conductor

Error Log files for Workflow Conductor

ServerAdmin If you encounter any errors while installing or using KB Accelerator, refer to the error logs located on the SharePoint server in:

<drive>:WINDOWSTempBambooSolutionsbsc_bamboo_%processid.log
**

The error log contains details of any failures that may have occurred during the product installation. It can contain helpful information that allows you to selectively correct problems in order to later re-run the installation successfully.

Configured approvers not receiving emails when a task is assigned

Configured approvers not receiving emails when a task is assigned

After creating a workflow using the Request Approval widget, the approval tasks are created for the approvers, but they don’t get an email notification.

Even when completing the tasks in SharePoint, the status email that goes to the workflow initiator are not sent. What’s wrong with the approval task notification emails?

In order for these notification emails to be sent, make sure that the “Reply to” email is set in the System Settings page of the Workflow Conductor pages in Central Admin (see a screen shot below). If this value is blank, the task approval notifications will not be sent.

WF_SS.png