Table of Contents
What is a workflow builder?
Leapsome's workflow builder allows you to automate many actions, such as:
- Onboarding and preboarding
- Reboarding of employees after long-term leave
- Automate processes based on manager or level changes
- Relocation of employees
- and many other events and dates
Building custom workflows makes all of these actions possible. Steps include sending notifications and tasks to employees and different stakeholders, updating data, setting user attributes, and more.
To start setting up a workflow, navigate to 'Settings' > 'Automations' > 'Workflows' > 'New Workflow'.
You can decide whether to make the workflow from scratch or use one of the best-practice templates that are customizable as well.
Creating a new workflow
When you create a new workflow, you'll be prompted to configure essential settings before accessing the visual canvas. This ensures your workflow has the right foundation from the start.
To start building your Workflow, please enter the following information:
Title: Give your workflow a title that captures the type of automated process. For example: 'Birthday celebration'. Please note: The workflow title will be visible to users in any tasks created by the workflow.
Category: Assign your workflow to a category. All of your categories will show up in a classified order.
Trigger: Choose what will activate this workflow:
- Manual enrollment - Steps apply only to employees who are manually included in this workflow's dashboard. Please note: Manual enrollment is always possible in addition if the workflow is kicked off automatically by a different trigger.
- Self-service request - Enables employees and managers to initiate workflows directly without requiring admin involvement. Please note: This is only relevant to users who use Leapsome as their HRIS.
When selecting 'Self-service request', you can configure 'Who can submit requests' using dynamic filters to specify which users can initiate this workflow:
- Employee self enrolment
- Manager of the employee
- Indirect managers of the employee
- HRBP of the employee
Once configured, users can submit requests through:
- Their profile or team member profiles by clicking on the 3 vertical dots > select 'Submit self-service request' option
- Quick actions menu from the main navigation > select 'Submit self-service request'
- Event - Select the type of event this workflow will be triggered by. Some event categories are:
- Employee events
- Absence events
- Review events
- Feedback events
- Learning events
- Goal events
- Relative to a date - Set up any employee date attribute you have in Leapsome:
- Select a date attribute (start date, termination date, notice date, etc.)
- Choose whether this repeats on the anniversary of the date or does not repeat
- Webhook - When the web request is received, users with the provided email addresses who are also members of the target group will be enrolled in the workflow.
Enrollment (formerly target group) - Define whether this workflow will apply to all of your employee base or only a selected group. This determines who will be enrolled in the workflow.
Once you confirm these settings, the canvas loads with default time buckets appropriate for your selected trigger type:
- Date-based triggers generate time buckets for "before," "on," and "after" the trigger
- Event-based, webhook, manual and self-service enrollment triggers generate time buckets for "on" and "after" the trigger
Editing workflow settings
You can access and modify workflow settings at any time without leaving the canvas view. To edit settings for an existing workflow:
- Open the workflow
- Click on 'Edit'
- Click on 'Workflow settings' on the canvas ('Settings' gear icon)
-
Adjust any of the five configurable settings:
- Title
- Category
- Description
- Enrollment rules
- Trigger
- Click 'Save changes' to apply
Please note: If you update the trigger type, your time bucket options may need to be reviewed to align with the new trigger.
Building your workflow on the Timeline canvas
The Timeline canvas is the central workspace where you'll build, visualize and edit your entire workflow. It provides a visual representation of all your workflow steps organized by timing.
The canvas displays your workflow structure with these key elements:
Time buckets: Each column represents a specific timing relative to your trigger date (e.g., "7 days before start date," "On start date," "14 days after start date").
Step cards: Within each time bucket, you'll see individual step cards displaying the step type icon and step name.
Step sequences: When steps are configured to run sequentially (where one step must be completed before the next begins), they appear grouped together in a container with "then" indicators between them, to clarify the dependency relationship.
Navigating the canvas
Zoom controls - Use the zoom in (+) and zoom out (-) buttons to adjust your view of the workflow canvas. Your zoom level will be maintained as you explore different parts of the canvas.
Re-center button - Click the 'Re-center' button to automatically zoom out and frame all time buckets in your workflow, giving you a complete overview. This is especially helpful when you've zoomed in to examine specific details and want to return to the full view.
Drag to navigate - You can drag the canvas in all directions to explore your workflow.
Adding and editing steps
You can add and edit workflow steps directly on the Timeline canvas, keeping the full workflow context visible while you work.
To add a step to any time bucket:
- Click 'Add step' below existing steps in a time bucket
- Select a step type from the dropdown menu
- The step is added to the canvas
- Click on the step card to open the configurations of the step and adjust as you wish
Please note: Steps can be added without completing all configuration. A warning icon will display on any step with incomplete settings. You can save workflows as drafts with incomplete steps, but activation will be blocked until all steps are fully configured.
To edit a step:
- Click on any step card in the canvas
- A right-side drawer opens with all step configuration fields
- Make your changes and click 'Save'
You can also hover over a step card to reveal a "..." button with options to:
- Edit
- Duplicate
- Delete
Creating step sequences
Step sequences allow you to create dependencies between steps, ensuring they execute in the correct order.
To create a sequential step:
- Click 'New sequential step' within that step
- Select your step type
- Configure the step settings
Please note: Sequential steps only execute after the previous step is completed successfully.
You can manage your step sequences as well:
- Drag and drop entire step sequence blocks to another position
- Add delay steps within sequences by clicking 'Add step' > 'Delay'
- Edit sequence timing by clicking 'Edit' in the top right corner of the sequence
- Break sequences by dragging steps to parallel positions within the same or a different time bucket
If sequence timing changes and is saved (e.g., from 2 days before start date to on start date), all steps in the sequence move into the new timing.
Managing time buckets
Time buckets organize your workflow steps by timing. You can add, edit and delete time buckets as needed.
To add a new time bucket, click the "+" button next to any time bucket to create a new one.
For further editing, click into any time bucket label to edit the offset. For example, "4 days before start date" can become "10 days before start date". Time buckets automatically reposition in the timeline when timing changes (e.g., switching "before" to "after").
Please note: Time buckets cannot be dragged left / right to visually reorder them - only via the configuration drawer, and changing the time bucket timing will shift all attached steps to that new timing as well.
To delete a time bucket, click on the time bucket, and select 'Delete'. Important to note, deleting a time bucket deletes all steps within it.
Conditional workflow steps
You can choose if specific steps are conditional for specific groups of users to be included in or excluded.
To add conditions:
- Select 'Add conditions' on the relevant step
- Select the relevant users, team, etc. that should be included or excluded
- Save the step
If the enrolled users satisfy the inclusion criteria, they will be included in the step. Otherwise, that step will be skipped.
You can also use conditions to specify which trigger events should execute a workflow step:
Example 1: Date-based triggers If your workflow is triggered relative to a start date, you can configure a step to launch only on a specific anniversary of that date.
Example 2: Document update triggers If the trigger event is when an employee document is updated, you can specify the document category in the conditions.
Manually enroll user in a workflow
There are a few ways you can enroll users manually into a workflow:
Through workflow settings: Navigate to Settings > automation > Workflows > select a workflow > 'Enroll users'
In bulk through the employee list: Navigate to 'Company' > 'Employees' > select the user(s) > Enroll in workflow > select the workflow configuration and effective trigger date
Through a singular employee's profile: Click the '...' button on the user profile > enroll in workflow > select the workflow configuration and effective trigger date
Please note:
- Workflow status needs to be 'Active' in order to be used
- Enrollment determines who is enrolled in a workflow. Recipients / task owners selected within steps are the users who are notified of the steps / actions