Proceed to the next step after execution step property not working

Question

In many of our Workflow Manager 10.2.2 workflows we have applied the step property "Proceeds to the next step after execution" and "Automatically executes when reached". However, I am finding that this does not always function as expected especially in some of our workflows that contain a loop. For instance, we have workflows where steps are executed multiple times (contain editing iterations).

Is there a known bug out there for this? Has anyone else experienced this? It is a nuisance to our users to have to click "Run current step" every time.

Thanks,

Heather

Anonymous User · Answer

Hi Alison,

There weren't any methodology changes to the behavior of automatic execution from 10.0 to 10.2.2 that I'm aware of, the only major difference would be the elimination of the two execution buttons but that wouldn't affect workflow authoring and the overall behavior.

Based on your 2nd workflow overview I may be misinterpreting your requirements however. In the first workflow overview you had listed that Launch Arcmap needed to be executed manually, but in the second it is set to auto-execute and since the step before it is also set to auto-execute then becomes part of the automatic chain and will no longer be triggered manually.

Overall it sounds like you have a workaround that works for you; if you would like to discuss any details further please feel free to reach out to be directly. My contact info is on my Geonet page.

Cheers,

Michael

AlisonGaiser1 · Answer

Thanks for the suggestion Michael. We have tested this within our workflow and it should meet our needs.

Here is a quick overview of our workflow

* Create Version 
* Procedural step (auto-execute, proceed to next)
* Launch ArcMap (auto-execute, proceed to next)
* Question step to see if more edits required (auto-execute, proceed to next)* If yes, go back to step #2 and wait to launch ArcMap
* If no, move on to Step #5

* Reconcile and Post changes (auto execute)
* Delete version (auto execute)

We did not have to insert this additional step in 10.0. Can we ask the reason for changing the methodology?

Thanks,

Alison

Anonymous User · Answer

Hi Alison,

Apologies for the delayed response. I missed the notification indicating you had replied.

Unfortunately with so few steps in the workflow and the loop back to Launch Arcmap which needs to be manual it is difficult to meet the Automatic Execution's needs appropriately. Here are a couple of workarounds for you.

The easiest way would be to add a dummy procedural step between Launch Arcmap and the Question step, that is set with Automatic execution, can't be skipped and proceed to next. The user responsible for step 2 would then just need to execute the step to preserve your workflow logic.

Another alternative would be to remove auto-execute when the job is created. Then you could check Automatic Execution on the Launch ArcMap step. To fix the loop you would need to insert a dummy step in the loop so that Launch Arcmap doesn't execute automatically. It doesn't need a special configuration it just cannot have Automatic execution checked.

Cheers,

Michael