Getting Started with Workflow Management

Workflow Management lets every job carry a status that shows your whole team where it stands, and lets you move it forward with the press of a button. This guide picks up right after you turn Workflow Management on in Company Options, and walks you through trying it out in a safe sandbox before you turn it loose on real jobs."

What is this?

Workflow Management is the part of Katapult Pro that gives each job a status, telling everyone where the job is in its lifecycle (being set up, out for field collection, back in the office, ready to deliver, or finished), and a set of action buttons that move the job from one status to the next. The buttons you see change with the job's current status, so the next valid move is always the one in front of you.

Statuses and buttons are defined in your job model. Katapult ships ready-made default workflows you can use as they are, and you can tailor your own in the Model Editor.

When would I use it?

Reach for this guide when you are:

• Rolling out Workflow Management for your company for the first time.
• Deciding whether one of the default workflows fits your process, or whether you need a custom one.
• Looking for a safe place to experiment before touching your production models and live jobs.

How do I get started?

We recommend a simple order: turn it on, build a throwaway sandbox first, prove out a workflow there, then bring it into the models you use for real work. Here is the path we suggest.

Create a test model to use as a sandbox

Open the Model Editor from the App Tray, then click the blue "+" to create a new model. Give it an obvious throwaway name like "Workflow Sandbox" so no one mistakes it for a production model. This model is where you will experiment freely, so there is no wrong move here.

Import the catalog your workflow needs

A workflow runs on the building blocks behind it: the attributes, tools, and routines that its statuses and buttons act on. Bring those in before you try to run anything.

In your sandbox model, click Import in the top toolbar, then choose Import From Catalog. Open the catalog picker, select the catalog available to your account, then click Import Entire Catalog. That single move brings in the default workflows along with everything they depend on, which is exactly what you want in a sandbox.

You will see one catalog, not both, depending on your subscription:

• Data Collection carries what the Default Data Collection Workflow needs.
• Make Ready Engineering carries everything for both defaults, the Default Data Collection Workflow and the Default Engineering Design Workflow.

Add the default workflows to your test model

The fastest way to see a working workflow is to start with one of ours. In the left nav, open the Workflow Management section and select Workflows to see the workflows on this model. Add the Default Data Collection Workflow, the Default Engineering Design Workflow, or both, then read how each one runs:

• Default Data Collection Workflow
• Default Engineering Design Workflow

Starting from a default gives you a known-good workflow to compare against as you begin customizing.

Create a test job and advance it through the workflow

From the Overview page choose your sandbox model and its workflow, then click Create. Open the new job and use the action buttons in the job settings panel to walk it from status to status. Watch how the available buttons change at each step, and notice what shows up on the Overview page as you go. This is the whole point of the sandbox: push the buttons, see what happens, and learn what does and does not fit your process without any risk to real work.

Job owners can force-change the status of a job directly by selecting the 3-dot menu and clicking on Force Change Workflow Status. This will open up a dialog window to select the new status and confirm the change.
 

Configure your own workflow in the Model Editor

If a default workflow is close but not quite right, open your sandbox model in the Model Editor and go to the Workflow Management section in the left nav. There you will find Workflows, User Options, and Display Options to shape how the workflow behaves and how it appears to your team. Keep all of this experimentation in the sandbox so you can create fresh test jobs and try the changes end to end before committing to them. Building a workflow from scratch has a lot of moving parts, so lean on Setting Up Workflow Management and reach out to support@katapultengineering.com if you would like a hand.

Move your workflow into production

Once the workflow behaves the way you want in the sandbox, bring it to the models you use for real jobs. The Select a Catalog dropdown lists your existing models alongside the catalogs, so you can pull the finished workflow straight out of your sandbox. You have two paths:

• Add it to an existing model. Open your production model in the Model Editor, click Import in the top toolbar, and choose Import From Catalog. In the catalog picker, select your sandbox model (models appear in the same list as the catalogs), then pull the finished workflow straight out of your sandbox. You can import the whole thing or copy individual pieces. Whichever route you take, read the confirmation dialog, since items your model already has may be overwritten by the versions coming in.
• Build a brand-new model. Create a new model with Guided Setup or Create Blank Model, then import the workflow from your sandbox model the same way.

After the workflow is in place on a production model, create real jobs on that model from the Overview page and run them through the workflow with confidence.

Tips and troubleshooting

• Keep the sandbox around. A throwaway test model is handy every time you want to try a workflow change, so there is no need to delete it after your first pass.
• The buttons change with the status. You will only ever see the action buttons that are valid for a job's current status, so if a move you expected is missing, check the job's current status first.
• Turn on status emails. In your Account settings, enable Workflow Management Notifications to get emails about job status changes, critical statuses, and when field data is available.
• Changing a job's model can affect its data. Swapping the model on a live job may affect extraction, design work, and map styles, so make model choices in the sandbox, not on active jobs.
• Not seeing workflow options in the Model Editor? The setting is probably still off. Check Company Options on the Project Management page and turn on Workflow Management.