Managing Issue Workflows

You can use workflows to manage your issues by creating various stages. Workflows can help your organization to streamline work, improve efficiency, reduce errors, and track and manage issues effectively. You can also create dynamic approval stages that allow you to assign approvers and automatically launch email notifications when approval is required.

The OneTrust platform has a pre-configured Default Issue Workflow that includes the following stages. For more information, see About Issue Default Workflow.

  • Not Started

  • In Progress

  • Under Review

  • Completed

Important:

The ability to view the Issue Workflow tile is controlled by the Custom Issue Workflow View permission.

To create custom workflows

  1. On the IT & Security Risk Management menu, select Setup > Workflows.
    Note:

    Issues Access

    Currently, you can access Issues from IT & Security Risk Management, Policy Management, Compliance Automation, and Third-Party Risk Management.

    The Workflows screen appears.

  2. Click the View button on the Issue Workflows & Routing Rules tile.
  3. Click the Create Workflow button.
    The Create New Workflow modal appears.

  4. Enter a name for the workflow.
  5. Click the Create button.

    The Workflow Details screen appears.

To add workflow stages

You can add new stages to workflows in draft status. To add new stages to a published workflow, you must clone the workflow before making changes.

  1. On the Workflow Details screen, click the Add icon button.
    The Add New Stage modal appears.

    Field
    Description
    Stage Title

    Enter a name for the workflow stage.

    Badge Color

    Select a badge color for the stage. The badge colors help to identify different workflows stages and with managing individual stages to assist with reporting on items that are new, in-progress, under review, rejected, or completed.

    Description

    Enter a brief description that describes the workflow stage.

    Set as Approval Stage

    Enable this setting to add approvers to the workflow stage. For more information, see To configure workflow stage settings.

    Require Confirmation of Attributes to Advance Stage

    Enable this setting to choose the attributes required when entering the stage. For more information, see To configure workflow stage settings.

    Allow comments when moving to another stage

    Enable this setting to give users the ability to add comments to an issue before moving to the next stage. You can also make adding comments required.

  2. Configure the name, badge color, description, and settings of the workflow stage to build a detailed workflow that fits your organization's needs.
  3. Click the Add button. Your stage will be added in the sequence of the workflow.
    Note:

    If you want to update the status of a stage, click the Badge Color field and assign a new stage color.

    If you want to add more stages and change the sequence, click the Add icon button before or after the stage.

    If you want to delete the stage, click the Delete icon button on the stage you wish to delete.

To configure workflow stage settings

You can configure workflow settings when adding a new workflow stage or when editing workflow stages after the initial creation. Workflow stage settings can be configured to set approval stages and to confirm attributes before changing stages.

  1. On the Workflow Details screen, navigate to the Stage Details tab of the workflow stage in which you would like to configure settings.


    Setting Name & Description

    Setting Field

    Setting Field Description

    Select required attributes for this stage:

    Once enabled, the selected attributes are required prior to entering the current workflow stage. You must select the attributes that need to be confirmed before advancing the stage. You also have the option to customize the title and guidance that appears on the modal to confirm the attributes.

    Note:

    This setting can be enabled and configured after a workflow has been published. However, this setting is not available on the first stage of a workflow.

    Attributes

    Required

    Select the attributes that will need to be confirmed before advancing to the next stage.

    Title

    Enter the name of the title that will appear on the modal to confirm the attributes.

    If you do not enter a title, the OneTrust platform will generate a generic title.

    Guidance

    Enter custom guidance that will help users when confirming attributes. This text will appear on the modal to confirm the attributes.

    If you do not enter a title, the OneTrust platform will generate a generic guidance.

    Set as approval stage:

    Once enabled, all approvers added will receive an email notification and have limited access to the current workflow stage. Issue Owners are still able to edit the issue record.

    Auto Advance on Approval

    If enabled, the workflow will automatically move to the next stage once all approvers have approved. If the next workflow stage includes required attributes, the workflow will not advance automatically. Users must manually review and confirm the required information before proceeding.

    If disabled, the workflow will not automatically move to the next stage once all approvers have approved.

    Set Approval Requirements

    Select whether one or all approvers must give their approval.

    Approvers

    Required

    Select the active system users or user attributes that must approve the current workflow stage. You can add or remove approvers once a workflow is published.

    Allow comments when moving to another stage:

    Once enabled, you can add a comment to the workflow stage before moving to the next stage.

    Require comments to move to another stage

    If enabled, adding a comment is required before advancing to the next workflow stage.

    If disabled, comments are not required before advancing to the next workflow stage.
  2. Configure the workflow stage settings as needed.
  3. Click the Save button.

To publish workflows and close issues

You can publish workflows that are in draft status.

  1. On the IT & Security Risk Management menu, select Setup > Workflows.
    Note:

    Issues Access

    Currently, you can access Issues from IT & Security Risk Management, Policy Management, Compliance Automation, and Third-Party Risk Management.

    The Workflows screen appears.

  2. Click the View button on the Issues Workflows tile.

    The Issue Type Details screen appears.

  3. Hover over the row for the workflow you want to publish until the Context Menu icon appears.
  4. Click the Context Menu icon.
  5. On the Context menu, select Publish.
    Note:

    You can also publish an issue workflow directly from the Custom Workflow Details screen.

    The Activate Workflow modal appears.

    Setting Name

    Setting Field

    Description

    Close Record:

    Once enabled, the issue record will close once it reaches the stage selected in the Close Stage section. The date and time of the closure will be added to the record details.

    Close Stage

    Select the workflow stage in which the issue record will be closed. By default, the record is set to close in the last workflow stage.

    Disable details edits

    Enable this switch to disable the ability to make edits to the record's details.
  6. Click the Activate Workflow button to publish the workflow.

To edit the name of a workflow

Note:

If Disable details edits is enabled upon activating a workflow, it will disable the ability to make edits to a record's details. The switch is available in the Activate Workflow modal.

  1. On the Issue Type Details screen, hover over the row for the workflow you want to edit until the Context Menu icon appears.
  2. Click the Context Menu icon.
  3. On the Context menu, select Edit Workflow.
    The Edit Workflow modal appears.

  4. Rename the workflow.
  5. Click the Save button.

To clone a workflow

You can clone an existing draft or published workflow to copy all existing details.

  1. On the Issue Type Details screen, hover over the row for the workflow you want to clone until the Context Menu icon appears.
  2. Click the Context Menu icon.
  3. On the Context menu, select Clone.
    The Clone Workflow modal appears.
    Note:

    You can also clone an issue workflow directly from the Custom Workflow Details screen.

  4. Enter a new name for the cloned workflow.
  5. Click the Save button to clone the workflow.

To archive a workflow

You can archive custom, published workflows. Once a workflow is archived, you can follow these same steps to unarchive the workflow.

  1. On the Issue Type Details screen, hover over the row for the workflow you want to archive until the Context Menu icon appears.
  2. Click the Context Menu icon.
  3. On the Context menu, select Archive.

    The Archive Workflow modal appears.

  4. Click the Confirm button to archive the workflow.

To delete a workflow

You can delete workflows that are in Draft or Archived status.

  1. On the Issue Type Details screen, hover over the row for the workflow you want to delete until the Context Menu icon appears.
  2. Click the Context Menu icon.
  3. On the Context menu, select Delete.
    The Delete Workflow modal appears.
    Note:

    You can also delete an issue workflow directly from the Custom Workflow Details screen.

  4. Click the Confirm button to permanently delete the workflow.

To set a default workflow

You can set published workflows as the default workflow used to manage issues.

  1. On the Issue Type Details screen, hover over the row for the workflow you want to set as the default until the Context Menu icon appears.
  2. Click the Context Menu icon.
  3. On the Context menu, select Set as Default.

    The Set as Default modal appears.

  4. Click the Confirm button.