Decision

Before you start

• Workflow steps

A Decision looks at the record, or at a list, and sends the run down Yes or No. Use it when a purchase order above 50,000 needs one route and everything else needs another.

When should I use a Decision?

Use it whenever two outcomes need different steps after it. If the only goal is to stop a bad record, a Decision followed by Terminate on one path does it. If you need to repeat work, use Loop.

Add a Decision

1. Click + where the Decision should go and choose Decision. It sits in the Logic group.
2. In Conditions, under Every one of these must be true, click Add a condition.
3. Choose the Field, then the Check, then the Value.
4. Add more conditions if you need them. Use the second group, At least one of these must be true, for alternatives.
5. Click + on the Yes line and on the No line to add the steps that follow each.

A new condition starts on the first field of the record, with the first check that field’s type offers. In plain words shows the whole rule as a sentence, so read it back before you save.

○ ○ ○Beezr

×

Every one of these must be true: all conditions here must hold.
At least one of these must be true: optional alternatives.
Where it goes names the first step on Yes and on No.

What can I check?

Setting	What it does
Field	A field of the record that started the workflow, a field of a list, or the list itself
Check	The test. The choices depend on the field type
Value	What to compare with: typed, picked from a lookup, or inserted data
Days	For a date check, the number of whole days from today

The checks by field type:

Field type	Checks offered
Text	is, is not, contains, is empty, is not empty
Number, money	is, is not, is greater than, is less than, is empty, is not empty
Date	is within N days of today, is more than N days from today, is, is not, is empty, is not empty
Lookup, Yes/No, User	is, is not, is empty, is not empty
File	is empty, is not empty
A list itself	has no records

Which path does a run take?

The run goes down Yes when all conditions in the first group are true and at least one condition in the second group is true. If the second group is empty, it counts as true. Otherwise the run goes down No.

1. Purchase order saved
2. Decision: amount over 50,000?
3. Yes: Approval task
4. No: Record manager

Worked example: route large purchase orders

Omar wants orders above 50,000 to go to a manager. In the first group he adds Total amount is greater than 50000. He adds Status is Submitted. The second group stays empty. Yes leads to an Approval task. No leads to a Record manager that sets the status to Approved.

What should I watch for?

Watch out

Every condition always runs. If a number field can be blank, test is not empty first, in its own Decision, then compare the number.

• Text compares exactly: VIP is not vip. Numbers compare as numbers.
• A condition on a list reads its first record. To test that a list is empty, pick the list itself and choose has no records. For “has records”, use the No path.
• Dates compare in whole days, before or after today. is within 7 days of today covers the week before and the week after.
• is greater than and is less than compare strictly: 50000 is not greater than 50000.