Collaboration Workflow

In 14.0, this feature is available only as a preview and will be fully completed in 15.0 in July 2025. This means that some functionality (e.g., Groovy API methods) may change and you would need to adjust your configuration to keep it working. It is advisable to contact Pricefx and ask for assistance if you intend to use this feature.

The collaboration workflow feature streamlines the process of managing and reviewing the content of approvable documents (Quotes and Agreements/Promotions in version 14.0) by enabling efficient, structured teamwork. Designed for back-office managers and domain experts, this feature supports a seamless transition through multiple stages of document creation, review and approval.

The workflow begins with the back-office manager creating the document, filling in basic information, adding line items, and assigning them to specific groups for review. In the next phase, the review step, domain experts collaborate within a parallel (or sequential) workflow, where they provide input on the draft document. The system ensures that reviewers see only the line items relevant to their expertise through advanced filtering, offering a focused and efficient review process. Reviewers also receive automatic notifications (by email and in the notification center) that their input has been requested.

Line items for review are displayed on the Items for Review tab, with other items available on the Other Items tab in a read-only format. Reviewers can edit and approve items as needed, with the flexibility to involve multiple user groups at each review stage. Steps can be defined as parallel or sequential, and the system includes conflict resolution functionality via a pop-up window for handling concurrent edits. Once the review process is complete, the document is submitted to the next step in the document creation workflow.

Note: If there are no line items in the document, the review step is automatically skipped in the document creation workflow.

In the review step, only the Items for Review, Other Items and Messages tabs are visible by default. The available action buttons are Review Done, Recalculate and Comments on the tab level and Comment, Accept, Reject when an item is selected. The visibility of tabs and buttons can be changed by administrator via the JSON configuration.

On the Items for Review tab, users see only items relevant to them (filtered by user group in the creation workflow logic).

Line Item Comments

The line item commenting feature enables threaded discussions tied to specific line items. Threads can be assigned to one or more line items, with multiple threads allowed per item. Comments include metadata such as author, creation date, and last edited date. Threads can be marked as resolved/unresolved, and comments can be edited or deleted for flexibility and traceability.

Resolved comments disappear from the Comments panel but can be displayed again by clicking the 3 Dots icon and selecting the Show resolved option.

Concurrent Editing

In a situation, when two or more reviewers edit a line item at the same time, the following behavior applies:

If the users modify the same input of a line item to the same value, then there is no version conflict and the change is applied.
If the users modify the same input to a different value, then for the user who made the change later, the Resolve Conflict dialog is displayed showing the line item and input with his/her change and the change made by the other user. Then the user has to to decide whether to apply or discard the change.
If each user modifies a different input, all the changes are applied.

Logics

Configuration of a review step as part of the document creation logic:

if (api.isSyntaxCheck()) return

def reviewStep = api.newReviewStep()
      .withLabel("Review") 
      .withLineItemFilters([
        "BusinessUnitPrinting": Filter.like("inputs.BusinessUnit.value", "Printing"),
        "BusinessUnitResidential": Filter.like("inputs.BusinessUnit.value", "Residential and Small Business")
      ])
      .withReviewByUserGroupWithSubSteps(
        api.newReviewByUserGroups()
          .withParallelSubSteps(
            api.newReviewSubStep()
              .withUserGroup("SupplyCoordinator")
              .withLabel("Supply Coordinator"),
            api.newReviewSubStep()
                .withUserGroup("PricingAdvisor")
                .withLabel("Pricing Advisor")
          )
        )

api.newCreationWorkflow()
     .withSteps(
            reviewStep,
            api.newCreationWorkflowStep()
                        .withLabel("Final Approval")
                )

A variation of the previous with sequential instead of parallel review steps. Members of the “Pricing Advisor” group will be able to start their review only when the “Supply Coordinator” group has completed their review:

.withReviewByUserGroupWithSubSteps(
        api.newReviewByUserGroups()
          .withSequentialSubSteps(
            api.newReviewSubStep()
              .withUserGroup("SupplyCoordinator")
              .withLabel("Supply Coordinator"),
            api.newReviewSubStep()
              .withUserGroup("PricingAdvisor")
              .withLabel("Pricing Advisor")
          )
        )

Layout Customization

By default, only certain tabs are visible in the collaboration workflow review step. If there is tab definition for a header type, it is possible to hide tabs in the collaboration workflow review step by using the hiddenCheck parameter in the JSON configuration of the related Quote Type.

Example showing how to hide the Attachments tab:

{
"name": "attachments",
"type": "attachments",
"hiddenCheck": {
"criteria": [
{
"value": true,
"operator": "equals",
"fieldName": "creationWorkflowCurrentStepIsReview",
"_constructor": "AdvancedCriteria"
}
],
"operator": "and",
"_constructor": "AdvancedCriteria"
},
"translationKey": "sfdc_quotes_tabs_attachments"
}

You can download the default JSON configuration file and adjust it according to your needs: