Deciding Which Tool to Use

Civic Platform provides two options for designing workflows: the Classic Workflow tool and Workflow Designer. You can view and edit workflows created in the Classic Workflow tool with Workflow Designer, and vice versa.

• Working with the Classic Workflow Tool

  This tool provides standard workflow configuration styles based on the Classic Administration user interface. When designing the task relationships with the Classic Workflow tool, you must determine the position of each task in the workflow, and use proper phase numbers as indicators to the positions.

• Working with Workflow Designer

  This tool is the next generation of workflow design. Workflow Designer provides a graphical user interface and is simpler and easier to use. Workflow Designer contains the same functionality as the Classic Workflow tool, but has the added benefit of letting you see a visual representation of your workflow while you design it.

The Classic Workflow tool enables you to save incomplete workflows, while Workflow Designer does not. When you attempt to open a partially designed workflow in Workflow Designer, an error message displays, and the workflow fails to load. In this case, you must open and edit the workflow in the Classic Workflow tool first.

Best practice is to create all your workflows in Workflow Designer, unless the features are unique to the Classic Workflow tool. See Workflow Configuration: Which Tool to Use for details.