A Workflow is a way of automating actions; it's a defined series of steps (tasks and/or emails). You may be familiar with the older term "Playbook".

There are two main types of Workflows: Projects and Sequences. Here's quick overview:

*Email steps are emails that are automatically scheduled/sent. You can have a task step where the task instructions are to send a specific email, but that email would not be sent automatically.

Workflows can adjust in response to data while they are running - for example, you can have groups of steps representing goals or milestones, which activate or deactivate as an End User carries out different actions within your product. Various types of data can be used to automatically activate/deactivate a Workflow or its steps.

Workflows combine the efficiency and consistency possible with automation, together with the ability to provide a customised, bespoke service, rather than simply "one size fits all".

A Workflow Template is where you define which steps will happen and when, and who is responsible, etc. For example, you could create a Workflow Template for your Onboarding process, which is then applied to specific Companies at the appropriate time.

The Workflow Template will include rules on when steps occur in relation to each other and other data; the actual due/send dates will be applied in an individual Workflow once it's been applied to a customer. For example, you could have a Workflow Template that states that on day 1, a welcome email is sent; you apply this to Microsoft, and that specific Workflow schedules the email for 20th November 2024 (the date depending on when the Workflow Template is applied).

Workflow Templates can be automatically applied in response to data (via entry criteria), or you can also manually apply them if you choose.

In this article, we will give an overview of "Workflows", one of the Global Tools for admins in upgraded Planhat (ws.planhat.com). This is where you - as a Planhat builder/admin, such as CS Ops - can create and manage Workflow Templates in upgraded Planhat.

"Workflows" is one of the Global Tools for admins that you will find on the left-hand side of the top gray bar of your Planhat tenant.

If Workflows is not pinned, you will find it under the ellipsis symbol, as shown below:

If you would like to pin the Workflows Global Tool to your top gray bar, mouse over its name in the list, and then click on the open pin (shown above). You'll then see the Workflows symbol in the gray bar, as shown below.

When you are within "Workflows", you'll see "Workflows" stated in the gray bar, as in the screenshot below.

When you open up the "Workflows" Global Tool, you'll see something like this:

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Let's take a look at the different components here in further detail.

In the top left, you'll see some categories:

These are easy ways for you to quickly jump to particular groups of Workflow Templates.

Below these built-in categories, you'll see labels.

Labels work like filters, except you can apply multiple labels to a single Workflow Template. Think about which categories would be useful for you, such as "Onboarding" or "Advocacy" - you can create these as your labels.

Simply click "+ Add label" at the bottom of the list (shown above) to set up a new label, and choose its name and color.

Then, in the main table view (the right-hand panel), you'll see the "Label" column on the right.

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To apply a label to a Workflow Template, simply click in the label column for that row, and then use the checkboxes to select one or more labels. (You can see at the bottom that you can also create a new label here.)

As with many other parts of upgraded Planhat, there is a "Find in view..." search box within Workflows.

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This is another quick and easy way to find a specific Workflow Template within your list, and it's visible regardless of any filter/label you have selected on the left-hand side, so you can use these tools in combination.

Now let's take a look at the main table in the middle/right of the Workflows Global Tool.

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This table is a great overview of your Workflow Templates. As well as the pre-built filters and custom labels we discussed previously, you can click on a suitable column header to sort by that property. Click the same column header again to switch between ascending and descending order.

You can also view and edit the labels in the far right-hand column, as we previously discussed.

Finally, you can disable/activate your Workflow Templates using the toggle switch shown.

If you would like to add a new Workflow Template, click the orange "+ New Workflow Template" in the top-right corner of the "Workflows" Global Tool (shown below).

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You'll see this modal open up:

Simply:

This will then open up a blank Workflow Template to complete.

For more on how to design and use Workflow Templates, check out our series of articles here. (These referenced articles were written for the previous version of Planhat (app.planhat.com), so some elements may be slightly out of date for upgraded Planhat (ws.planhat.com), but the main principles of designing Workflow Templates remain the same.)