Readers and process instance visibility at the process/task level.
There are two types of readers (people who can see a process instance):
General Readers > The users and or/roles to whom you give this permission will be able to view related process instances at any stage (even finalized instances).
Readers when completed > The users and/or roles to whom you give this permission will be able to view finalized process instances.
The users that have the Administrator role will have access to all process instances at any stage (both ongoing and finalized instances).
To define the readers for a process you need to enter the ‘Process Settings’ tab while editing the process.
Roles (all users that belongs to that role).
Specific users.
Dynamic readers: To set up readers dynamically you must do it using a form field (combo, email type of field).
Previous participants: All those users that have interacted with the process instance (e.g. uploading a file, saving the process form, completing a task, approving a form, etc).
Warning: We strongly recommend to define readers by roles, not by specific users. If a specific user is defined as a reader, and this user is later deleted, then the process instances might become inaccessible
When opening a process instance, the users or roles that have reading permission over process instances, will see the fields that are shown in that task (Required, Editable or Read only) in Read only mode.
Important: Keep in mind that readers will be calculated each time an instance changes from one task to another.
Example: You have the PURCH-1 process instance in the task Review Purchase, and the reader is only the Sales role. Then, if you add the Management role as a reader, the users under this role will not be able to see the Review Purchase task, until the flow goes to the next task, e.g. Approve Purchase.
In case you want that the users that have interacted in a process instance be readers of an instance, you should select the Previous Participants special role in the Readers settings.
You can also define readers for a specific task. To do that, first you need to open the User Task in the workflow, then click on the three horizontal lines that show the remaining tabs and click on ‘Readers’. There you will be able to define specific users or roles that will have reading permission over the instances of that process in that particular task.
General Readers > The users and or/roles to whom you give this permission will be able to view related process instances at any stage (even finalized instances).
Readers when completed > The users and/or roles to whom you give this permission will be able to view finalized process instances.
The users that have the Administrator role will have access to all process instances at any stage (both ongoing and finalized instances).
To define the readers for a process you need to enter the ‘Process Settings’ tab while editing the process.
Who can be defined as readers?
Roles (all users that belongs to that role).
Specific users.
Dynamic readers: To set up readers dynamically you must do it using a form field (combo, email type of field).
Previous participants: All those users that have interacted with the process instance (e.g. uploading a file, saving the process form, completing a task, approving a form, etc).
Warning: We strongly recommend to define readers by roles, not by specific users. If a specific user is defined as a reader, and this user is later deleted, then the process instances might become inaccessible
What will readers see?
When opening a process instance, the users or roles that have reading permission over process instances, will see the fields that are shown in that task (Required, Editable or Read only) in Read only mode.
Important: Keep in mind that readers will be calculated each time an instance changes from one task to another.
Example: You have the PURCH-1 process instance in the task Review Purchase, and the reader is only the Sales role. Then, if you add the Management role as a reader, the users under this role will not be able to see the Review Purchase task, until the flow goes to the next task, e.g. Approve Purchase.
In case you want that the users that have interacted in a process instance be readers of an instance, you should select the Previous Participants special role in the Readers settings.
Readers in a task
You can also define readers for a specific task. To do that, first you need to open the User Task in the workflow, then click on the three horizontal lines that show the remaining tabs and click on ‘Readers’. There you will be able to define specific users or roles that will have reading permission over the instances of that process in that particular task.
Updated on: 02/09/2021
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