Processes and activities
Process definitions
Section titled “Process definitions”A process definition is a template. It has a name, an optional description and an ordered list of activity definitions. It does not have dates: dates come from the trigger when a run is published.
Definitions can be edited at any time. Changes apply to runs published after the change; runs that are already in flight keep the plan they were generated with.
Activity definitions
Section titled “Activity definitions”Each activity definition describes one step.
| Kind | What happens at the scheduled time |
|---|---|
| Manual | The assignee receives an email with a link to mark the activity done. The activity stays open until they do. |
| Notification | A message is sent on the chosen channel. Email is available today; Slack, Teams, SMS and WhatsApp are on the roadmap. |
| Integration | An action runs in a connected system, for example creating a calendar event. |
Manual activities need an assignee, who must be a member of the workspace.
Offset
Section titled “Offset”The offset places the activity relative to the run’s due date. It has three parts:
- Unit and direction - a number of days, weeks or months, before or after the due date.
- Day within the unit - for weekly offsets, which weekday (the Monday two weeks before); for monthly offsets, which day of the month (the 5th of the month after).
- Time - either a fixed local time such as 09:00, or a number of minutes relative to the due date’s own time.
Examples:
| Intent | Offset |
|---|---|
| Reminder three days before, first thing in the morning | 3 days before, 09:00 |
| Kick-off on the Monday two weeks before | 2 weeks before, Monday, 10:00 |
| Invoice on the 5th of the following month | 1 month after, day 5, 08:00 |
| Same day, one hour before the deadline | 0 days before, 60 minutes before the due time |
Flowstate calculates times in the workspace’s timezone and stores them as UTC. When a local time does not exist because of a daylight-saving change, the next valid time is used; when it is ambiguous, the first occurrence is used.
Configuration
Section titled “Configuration”Notification and integration activities carry a small configuration object: the email subject and body for a notification, the target calendar for an integration. Manual activities can carry instructions that are shown to the assignee.