Workflow visibility

Visibility hierarchy

The visibility settings are organized hierarchically in the following top-down structure: Folder > Workflow > Instance. This means, that public workflows in a private folder can only be viewed by those who can access the folder.

Additionally, the organization admin has the whole permission set.

Folder visibility

Folders are the best way for you to organize your workflows. By adjusting the visibility rules, you can make folders visible for teams or colleagues that you select. Folders can be either:

• Public: all colleagues and invited external collaborators can see this folder and the public workflows the folder contains
• Private: only the admins, the folder owner and the colleagues and teams who have access can see this folder and its public workflows

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Note: After selecting Private, you can then select the people you specifically want to share this workflow with. Other colleagues, who are involved with workflows within a private folder can only see the workflows which they involved in.

Description:For sensitive workflows (e.g., HR), "public process, private instance" still gives admins permission to see private instances - even though they are not involved.

1. Can we make this clearer in our help center?
2. Is it possible to create a category of stricter visibility settings, wherein instances are even hidden from admins if they are not involved?

Workflow visibility

Workflows can be one of the following:

• Public with public instances: all colleagues and invited external collaborators can start this workflow, see all its instances and the information in the workflow
• Public with private instances: all colleagues and invited external collaborators can start this workflow, but its instances are only visible to those who are involved in them
• Private: only admins, the process lead, and colleagues involved with this workflow (by being assigned to one of the steps) can start it and create and view its instances. If you create a private workflow, only you and the admin can edit and delete it.

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Tip: You can further restrict access, by managing which teams have access to the folder that the workflow is created in.

Workflow permissions

You and all your colleagues can view and create workflows, regardless of which team you belong to. However, only workflow leads can change or delete workflows. The workflow lead is also a point of contact for escalations and questions. However, if the lead is only a business owner, the tech lead can be assigned. In this case, the workflow lead will receive notifications when steps fail.

You can find the workflow lead when you open the workflow to view its details.

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Note: Only administrators can change workflow leads.

Instance visibility

Instances can be one of the following:

• Private
• Public

To further restrict access to instances, you can do one of the following:

• Leave the workflow public, but make instances private. This way, anyone with access to the workflow can start an instance, but only colleagues specifically involved in the instance (having a step actively assigned to them or their team) will be able to view it
• Set the workflow private. This way only the workflow lead and colleagues involved in the workflow will be able to start and view the instance.

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Note that when you have a public workflow and a private instance, the admin will still be able to see the instance even if they are not involved.

Instance permissions

Instances of a workflow can be started by any colleague that can view the workflow.

When an instance has been started it can be changed and deleted only by the process lead and workflow instance lead (the user that started the instance). Only the workflow lead can skip steps or delegate steps within the workflow.

Step visibility

For your team and colleagues to see a step you need to specifically give them permission to do so.

If you don't set the permissions, no one besides you will be able to see the step. Administrators won't have permission to see the step either.

If you have a step assigned to you, you become this step's owner. You will see an overview of steps that are assigned to you or your team in your Next Matter inbox. You can also receive email notifications reminding you about open steps.