Overview
The Sign-Off Module is an approvals workflow framework that provides and supports the following features:
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Sign-off process and workflow including a configurable level of approval or sign-off (e.g. portfolio, book, etc)
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Extraction and reload of approved data to and from a persistence layer
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Dashboards to oversee the flows and the process
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Audit trail in which all workflow interactions (adjustments, etc.) are persisted
The default implementation provided in the Sign-Off Module has a defined workflow (i.e. task statuses) and defined user roles (i.e. manager, user). This documentation explains the default implementation, but both the state workflow and the user roles can be customized for specific business needs - see the Customizing sign-off workflow section.
Module architecture
Behind the scenes, the solution is packaged as a starter project built around components for Sign-Off that offer a generalised approvals use case with:
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A default data model:
Each cube is provided with an initial set of dimensions, hierarchies and levels suitable for an approvals project
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A framework of best practices for you to use as-is or customize to your requirements
View the overall architecture
| Component | Description | Database definition | Cube schema |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application | The Application database comprises the sign-off process definition and instance objects. This database may be shared with the application. |
Sign-Off ProcessDefinition Cube See Sign-off Process Definition datastore definitions in the Reference Guide |
A flexible set of attributes and dimensions (hierarchies, dimensions, levels of the cube structure) is supplied for each of the Sign-off cubes. See Sign-off dimensions in the Reference Guide |
| Sign-off Process Instance Cube See Sign-off Process Instance datastore definitions in the Sign-Off Module Reference Guide. |
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| Audit Log | The Audit-Log contains a record of all user actions within the Activiti workflows. The Audit-Log database comprises two tables * USERRECORD * PROCESSRECORD |
See [Audit-Log]#Audit-Lo. | |
| Activiti | The Activiti workflow state is maintained in the Activiti database. This includes copies of objects that are waiting for approval before being saved to the Application database. This database is managed by the Activiti process engine. See the Activiti documentation for more information about this database schema. https://www.activiti.org/documentation |
How do I get started as a developer?
To learn about how to set up your environment, work with the default implementation, and customize the Sign-Off Module, see Getting started with the Sign-Off Module.
Features at a glance
For details of the latest updates incorporated into this version of the Sign-Off Module, see What’s New.
Sign-off approval workflow
For more information, see Sign-off process and workflow
UI for workflow interactions
The default implementation of the Sign-Off Module comprises four separate widgets: Sign-Off Toolbox, Sign-Off Task Definitions, Sign-Off Task Instance Summary and Sign-Off Header. You can save each as a separate bookmark.
For more information on:
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Working with the Sign-off widgets, see Sign-off dashboards.
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Using and customizing the UI, see the ActiveUI documentation
Customizing the Module
The module is designed to be open and extendable. It is delivered as source code with documentation.
Clients may choose to use the Sign-Off Module “as is” by conforming to the default setup and workflow and data stores. Alternatively, clients may use the Module purely as a starting point for building a suitable system with additional functionality.
For details, see Customisation Options.