Every task within a process in Nutrient Workflow Automation requires a starting point. This start rule defines the condition the workflow engine requires to start a task.

Start rules function as business rules that determine your process flow based on task completion, form data, or other specific conditions.

The Process Flow visually represents these relationships. Transition lines between tasks indicate defined start rules.

All processes in Nutrient Workflow Automation include default Start and End tasks in the Process Flow.

The Configure Rules area enables you to define the start rules for a task. These rules determine how and when a task starts during process execution.

Start rules typically depend on the status of a previous task, such as completion, or data associated with that task, such as a form question value or an approval option.

Configure rules editor

To view the start rules for any task, right-click the task, hover the pointer over Configuration, and click Configure Rules.

The Configure rules editor opens and displays the start rules for the selected task.

When you add a task to the process design canvas, the start rules are empty by default unless you’ve connected it to another task.

The Configure Rules editor consists of two areas:

• Rules — The list of all defined rules that determine how the task starts.
• Add, Edit, or Delete rules — The area where you manage rules. This area changes based on the Rule Source Data you select.

Adding a start rule

Configure the start rule for a task using one of two methods.

Method 1: Transition lines

Drag a transition line from one task to another. Click the perimeter of the source task until a pink line appears, then drag it to the target task.

In the example above, we drag the transition line from Start to Form, then from Form to Approval.

Release the mouse to save the layout. To view the start rule, right-click the task and select Configure Rules. Adding a transition line automatically creates a start rule.

To remove the start rules for a task, select the transition line entering the task and press the Delete key.

Method 2: Configure rules editor

Select a task’s Configure Rules option. If the task is new and unconnected, the editor displays empty rules. Click Add Rule.

The following options appear for adding a rule:

To add a new start rule, select an option from the Source list.

The following example adds a rule for the Approved milestone task to start when the approval choice is Approved.

The result displays as follows:

The Source list determines if the start rule depends on the Status of a task (such as Completed or Failed), the Data (such as a form question value or an approval task option), or an attribute associated with the process Requester (such as Division or Department).

The available Source options are as follows:

Selecting an option in the Source list populates additional options in the Rule Source Data area. The Field list changes dynamically based on the selected task.

For an Approval task, the available choices defined for that task appear, such as Approved, Denied, or Needs more information.

After you define the Rule Source Data configurations, select how to evaluate the status or data:

1. Select the Operator type, such as Is, Is Not, or Contains.
2. Apply the operator to the Value selected in the corresponding box.

In the example above, the Is operator matches a specific Value.

Select the data from the Value list for comparison. Depending on the data type, this field may function as a free-form text field for entering a custom Value.

In the Approved Milestone example, the task executes only when the user selects the Approved option defined for that Approval task.

After you define the rule, click Add Rule. The new rule appears in the rules list.

Editing a start rule

To edit an existing rule, click the Edit icon on the rule’s row:

The Rule Source Data area displays the original rule options. Modify the configurations as needed. Click Update Rule.

Grouping rules

In some scenarios, you must group start rules into a series of conditions. This typically occurs when a task has multiple trigger paths.

For example, the Rework Required milestone task in the following process starts from either the Manager Approval or the HR Approval task:

In the above scenario, add the status and data conditions for the start rules based on both the HR Approval and Manager Approval tasks. Then, group those rules for correct evaluation.

Start by adding conditions based on the HR Approval task being Completed and the user selecting the Rework option:

To reorder rules, drag and drop them or change the number in the Order column.

Group the rules after adding them. Without grouping, the system evaluates all four rules as a single condition.

1. Click the text box to the left of the Status label on row one.
2. Add an opening parenthesis.
3. Add a closing parenthesis at the end of the condition on row two.

Grouping rows one and two tells the Nutrient Workflow Automation engine to evaluate them as one condition. Repeat this grouping for rows three and four:

Change the bitwise (and/or) operator where applicable. In this example, change the operator at row three to indicate the task starts if rows one and two evaluate to true, OR if rows three and four evaluate to true.

To change the operator:

1. Click the and label to open the dropdown list.

   
   

2. Select OR.

3. Click Save to commit the changes.

Compare To option

The Compare To start rule option enables you to compare similar data from two different forms to evaluate if they match.

The following image shows a configured rule:

To configure the above rule, perform the steps below in the editor:

1. Select the Source and Field for the first data point.
2. Select the Operator.
3. Select Compare To as the value type.
4. Choose the target Source and Field for comparison.

More Options

The % Required field under More options enables you to implement a voting scheme within task rules. To use this feature:

1. Enter a number value in the field.
2. Select a numeric operator, such as Is Greater Than.

The following example shows a rule requiring more than 50% of responses:

Enable the Case Sensitive slider to compare character values based on capitalization. For example, “use” doesn’t equal “Use” when you enable this option.

Invalid rules detection

The system validates task rules each time the Process Flow canvas loads. If rules reference deleted transitions, removed tasks, or contain unbalanced grouping parentheses, a warning icon appears on the affected task.

When you delete a transition line or remove a task, any rules referencing those elements become invalid. Always check the Configure Rules editor for affected tasks after you make structural changes to your process flow.

Common causes of invalid rules include:

• Orphaned transition references — A rule references a transition line you deleted from the canvas instead of removing it through the Configure Rules editor.
• Orphaned task references — A rule references a task you removed from the process.
• Unbalanced grouping — Parentheses used for grouping rules don’t match. For example, an opening parenthesis lacks a corresponding closing parenthesis.

To fix invalid rules:

1. Right-click the affected task.
2. Select Configuration > Configure Rules.
3. Update or remove the rules referencing the missing transitions or tasks.