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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2024-06-14
Concept: Shared Participation Step

Concept: Shared Participation Step

Shared participation steps enable specific participants to perform actions in a business process step without moving the business process to the next step. Only roles with access to the controller action in the business process security policy can move the business process to the next step. Shared participation steps also enable improved collaboration between participants for business process types that have this functionality enabled.
The role assigned to the shared participation step (the controller) in the business process definition performs the participant control event. Each participant performs a participant detail event.
When a shared participation step is launched, participants are notified of their involvement in the business process. Depending on each participant's role, they might be required to perform specified actions. Each of these actions is a participant detail event. But completing any or all of the participant detail events doesn’t move the business process forward to the next step. The controller must submit the participant control event to move the business process to the next step.
You can add a shared participation step to a business process definition only if Workday has configured at least 1 allowed action for that business process type to enable participant-based workflow. When you add a shared participation step to a business process definition:
  • You can only specify allowed actions for which participant-based workflow is enabled.
  • You can only add security groups configured for the controller action in the business process security policy.
After you save a business process definition that contains a shared participation step, click
Configure Participation
to select:
  • The
    Effective Date
    . The default effective date is the current date.
  • The
    Time Zone
    . The default time zone is the user's current time zone.
    You can only enter a time zone if you selected the
    Business Process Configuration Time Zone
    option on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - System
    task.
    • If you enter the current date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect immediately. Users in other time zones see the changes immediately.
    • If you enter a future date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect at midnight on the specified date in the specified time zone. Users in other time zones see the changes at the corresponding date and time in their time zones.
    • If you enter a past date in the specified time zone, the changes take effect at 23:59:59 on the specified date in the specified time zone. Users in other time zones see the changes at the corresponding date and time in their time zones.
  • The
    Organization Type to Use
    .
    This option isn't available if:
    • Workday hasn't specified an Organization type for shared participation steps.
    • Custom organizations aren't allowed.
  • The security
    Group
    of the participants who perform the participant detail events. The prompt displays only groups with Modify permissions on the domain security policy of the
    Participant Domain
    , configured by Workday for that business process type.
    This option isn't available if:
    • Workday hasn't specified an Organization type for shared participation steps.
    • Custom organizations aren't allowed.
You can also:
  • Specify that all participants who meet these criteria must complete the participant detail event.
  • Add a step label override that displays in My Tasks items of the participants.
Under
Participant Detail Step Delay
, you can select for participant detail events:
  • A report field that the
    Delay Is Based On
    .
  • An
    Additional Calculated Delay
    .
If you copy a business process definition that contains a shared participation step, Workday also copies the participant configuration for that step.
If you change a shared participation step to another step type (such as an
Action
step or an
Approval
step), Workday deletes the participant configuration for that step.
You can use the
Maintain System Notifications
task on the
Notifications
tab on the business process definition to disable system notifications on shared participation steps. This prevents Workday from sending system notifications to the controller or to participants. Workday displays notifications that are associated with a participant detail event on the Full Process Record of that participant detail event, not of the participant control event.
You can configure shared participation steps to have future effective dates, and apply condition rules to shared participation steps.
You can configure help text on a shared participation step. You can either:
  • Select
    Business Process
    Maintain Help Text
    as a related action on the business process definition.
  • Select
    Business Process
    Maintain Step-Help Text
    as a related action on the shared participation step.
You can specify if you want help text to display on the participant control event or the participant detail event, and define different help text for the controller and for participants.
The controller can use My Tasks delegation to delegate the participant control event to another user according to their tenant delegation settings. Access the
Manage Delegations
task to select a delegate and configure the delegation. Workday sends a system notification to the delegate to let them know they're acting on behalf of the delegator.
The controller can also:
  • Submit
    the step and move the business process forward even if all participant detail events aren’t submitted.
    The state of tasks that aren’t submitted is shown as Manually Advanced on the
    Details
    tab of the events, and each task is removed from the participant's My Tasks.
  • Cancel
    the step. All participant detail events are canceled including the tasks that are submitted.
    The state of each task is shown as canceled on the
    Details
    tab of the event, and each task is removed from My Tasks of the participant.
  • Pull Forward
    a participant detail event that isn’t submitted.
    The state of the task is shown as Manually Advanced on the
    Details
    tab of the event. And the task is removed from My Tasks of the participant.
Members of security groups with permission to
Reassign Tasks
in the business process security policy can reassign participant detail events for users they support. Business Process Administrators can also use
Reassign Tasks
to reassign participant detail events on behalf of other users.
Participants in a shared participation step can use the gear icon in the My Tasks item to:
  • Delegate a participant detail event to another user according to their tenant delegation settings. Workday sends a system notification to the delegate to let them know they’re acting on behalf of the delegator.
  • Reassign the task to other users in the configured security group for the shared participation step. Recipients of a reassigned task receive the task in their My Tasks. But they can only see other participants who they’re contextually secured to view.
After a participant in a shared participation step submits a participant detail event, the event displays on the
Archive
tab of the participant’s My Tasks. When selected, Workday displays a detail view of the participant detail event.
If the controller or another user pulls forward a participant detail event or submits the participant control event:
  • All participants can view the participant detail event on the
    Archive
    tab of their My Tasks.
  • The controller can't view the pulled forward participant detail event on the
    Archive
    tab of their My Tasks.
If a business process definition contains a shared participation step, and you enable the
Disable Comments
option on the business process security policy:
  • Workday suppresses comments in the business process toolbar when you submit the shared participation step or any participant detail events.
  • Workday doesn’t suppress Activity Stream comments for participant detail events.
When the
Disable Comments
setting is different on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task and the business process security policy, Workday will honor the most recent setting change that was made to either the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task or the business process security policy.
Example: On 2020-05-16, you access the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task and clear the
Disable Comments
check box. On 2020-06-15, you access the business process security policy and select the
Disable Comments
check box. Then, on 2020-06-20, you edit a field on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task. Workday will respect the
Disable Comments
setting on the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task because this task was most recently updated. This means disabling comments won't be enabled.
When you make changes to the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task, the business process security policy audit trail doesn’t display any changes made to the
Edit Tenant Setup – Business Processes
task. Similarly, when you make changes to the business process security policy, the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
audit trail doesn't display changes made to the business process security policy.
Workday recommends that you review both the
Edit Tenant Setup - Business Processes
task and business process security policy audit trails so you can see all changes made to these settings.