Stage Management: Basics

The stages configured here represent a range of stages that entities can go through. There are four different types of stages;

• Start (This stage represents a starting stage for entities. This could e.g. be an “Idea” stage for a project)
• StartAndStandard (This stage represents a stage that can be both a starting stage or a standard stage. An example could be an “Analysis” stage on a project)
• Standard (this stage represents a standard stage. An example could be “Production” of a project)
• End (this stage represents the end stage of the stage model. An example could be an “Archived” stage.

Please be advised that there must always be at least one Start or StartAndStandard stage, and at least one End stage in a stage model.

To add a new stage, follow these steps:

1. From the “Stages”-section, click the “Add stage”-button.

2. Use the “Title”-field to provide a title for the new stage.

3. Select which stage type the new stage has. Available stage types are:
   • Start (the first stage)
   • StartAndStandard (A stage that can be either a first stage or a standard stage)
   • Standard (a standard stage)
   • End (the end stage)
4. Optionally provide a Stage Link. A Stage Link is a link that can provide additional information about the stage.
5. To finish creating the new stage, click the “Save”-button.

The stage is now displaying in the list of stages in the main Stage Settings page with additional button to edit, delete, and sort. Here is shown an example of a stage called “Idea” which has a type of “StartAndStandard”:

In this example, six stages have been created for demonstration purposes; Idea, Analysis, Planning, Active, Closed, and Archived. This configuration is displayed in the Stages-section:

Transitions allow stages to change from one stage to another. Please be advised that a stage model must always end with an End stage.

To add a new transition, follow these steps:

1. From the “Transitions”-section, click the “Add transition”-button.

2. Select which stage this transition switches from.
3. Select which stage this transition switches to.
4. Optionally select a Workflow for the transition. This allows WorkPoint to start a workflow when the transition occurs, given that a workflow is set up. If no Workflow is available, select the “None Workflow “-option
5. To finish creating the new transition, click the “Save”-button.

The new transition is displayed in the list of transitions in the main Stage Settings page:

A finished transition model based on the stages that were set up for this example would look something like this:

Constraints are used for settings up requirements for when one stage can transition to another. This is useful if e.g. a project can only transition to a specific stage if a quotation document is present on the case. This is done using a so-called CAML query. You can read about CAML queries and the language by visiting this link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/schema/collaborative-application-markup-language-caml-schemas.

In this example, such a constraint is created. For the example, projects cannot change to the “Analysis”-stage unless there is a document called “Quote” present in the “Documents” list:

1. From the “Constraints”-section, click the “Add constraint”-button.

2. Add a title for the constraint. In this example a name of “Check for Quotation” is chosen.
3. Select the stage to which this constraint should apply.
4. Set the constraint active.
5. Select whether a violation of the constraint should result in a warning or an error. Warnings can be ignored by the user. Errors cannot be bypassed. In this example, “Error” is selected.
6. Select the “Constraint source” to be used for this constraint. If “List” is selected, the constraint will apply to one of the lists on the entity site. If “Metadata” is selected, the constraint applies to a specific metadata field on the entity site, which can be selected from a list. In this example, “List” is selected.
7. Select the list for which the CAML query later specified will be run against. In this example, we want to see if a document named “Quotation” is filed in the “Documents”-library. Therefore, the “Documents” list is selected.
8. Select the “DefinitionType” for this constraint. A value of “Required” means that the constraint is violated if no result is returned by the CAML query. A value of “Prohibited” means that the constraint is violated if the CAML query returns any element(s). In this example, we want the constraint to be violated if no element is returned. Therefore, “Required” is selected.
9. The “Definition” holds the CAML query that is executed against the selected list in pt. 7. In this example, we want to make sure that a document called “Quotation” is filed, which is specified in the query. For more information on CAML queries and the language, visit this link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/schema/collaborative-application-markup-language-caml-schemas. Various tools for creating CAML queries exist but are not directly endorsed by WorkPoint.
10. Type in a message which the user will be presented with if violating the constraint. In this example, the message lets the user know that there was an error, and that there is no quotation document filed in the documents library. It is good practice to create informative error messages so that users know what to correct in order to successfully perform the operation they were trying to do.
11. Complete configuring the constraint by clicking the “Save”-button.

The constraint now shows in the list of constraints in the main Stage Settings page:

From the "Default 'Change Stage' Wizard" drop down menu, you can select which wizard to use for changing the stage of entities on the business module in question. Only wizards which contain a "Change Stage" step are available:

1. Click the "Default 'Change Stage' Wizard" drop down menu and select the wizard which should be used for changing entity stages by default.
2. Click the "Save" button to save the selection.

From the "Stage Rendering Mode" drop down menu, you can select which rendering mode should be used to display the stage model for the business module. Stage Rendering Modes differ in how they display the stage model in the following ways:

• Full: Using this mode, the entire stage model will always be displayed.
• History: Using this mode, only the current stage, as well as stages that the work item has gone through are shown. In case of a work item transitioning to a previous stage, this will also be visible in the History view. You can read more about this rendering mode in this article.
• Compact: Using the Compact rendering mode will display the stages the entity has been in previously, the current stage, and the next stage.

You can change the Stage Rendering Mode by using the drop down menu on the Stage Settings page:

1. Click the drop down and select the Rendering Mode which should be used.
2. Click the "Save" button to save the selection.