Introduction
As your library of workflows and process maps grows, maintaining quality and consistency becomes critical. The Governance module in Flowingly helps your team enforce best practices and ensure compliance through two key features:
Key Features:
Publish Approvals – Ensure flow models go through an approval process before being published.
Processes Due for Review – Stay on top of flow models that require periodic review.
Prerequisites
To have publishing approvals take place there is a specific setup required, this includes:
Assigning users with the Flow Model Editor role as editors to a category
Assigning a Category Publisher to a category (Can only be users assigned the Business Administrator or Flow model Administrator roles)
Only Business Administrators are able to configure the assignments listed above and are managed in Setup > Categories
Instructions
Roles & Permissions Overview
With the Governance module is enabled, the following roles can access it:
1. Flow Model Editor
Can create and edit flow models
Cannot publish without approval
Must submit flow models for approval to a category with an assigned Category Publisher
Can be assigned as a 'Category Editor' to collaborate on editing flow models within a specific category
2. Category Editor
Assigned per category or subcategory
Can edit all Flow Models which have been assigned to the category they are noted as a Category Editor
Users must have the Flow Model Editor role to be a candidate, or an equivalent custom role
3. Category Publisher
Assigned per category or subcategory
Responsible for reviewing and publishing submitted flow models in their assigned category
Must have the Business Administrator or Flow Model Administrator role assigned to them to become a candidate, or an equivalent custom role
4. Business Administrator
Assigns category publishers and category editors as part of setting up the governance module
Can view all active publish requests across the business
Retains the ability to publish any Flow Model without approval
Can be assigned as a Category Publisher
Can monitor all models awaiting review
5. Flow Model Administrator
Can create and edit flow models
Retains the ability to publish any flow model without approval
Can be selected and select owners for flow models
Can be selected as a Category Publisher
Configuring Category Publishers and Editors
Navigate to Setup > Categories > Edit Category > Governance
In this section the following can be configured:
Category Publisher – The user responsible for reviewing and publishing flow models in a category. All flow models (Workflows, Process Maps & SOPs) submitted by Flow Model Editors to this category will be sent to the assigned publisher.
Note: Individual users can be assigned as a Category Publisher to multiple categories.
Category Editors – Users/Teams allowed to collaboratively edit flow models within this category.
Note: When using a Team to manage editors, only the users within the Team who have been assigned the Flow Model Editor role will be granted editing access.
Who Can Be a Category Editor?
To assign someone as a Category Editor:
They must hold a role with the permission:
Governance > Flow Model Category Editor > CandidateFlow Model Editor role has this permission by default.
Who Can Be a Category Publisher?
To assign someone as a Category Publisher:
They must hold a role with the permission:
Governance > Flow Model Category Publisher > CandidateFlow Model Administrators and Business Administrators roles include this permission by default.
Using Governance
When creating or editing a flow model, set the Category in the Create/Edit Details pop-up. This links the flow model to the specific category’s governance settings.
Once a category has been assigned, all Category Editors for that category will have edit access to the flow model. Editors can access and modify the flow model directly from the Library.
Submitting a Flow Model for Approval
When a Flow Model Editor submits a flow model for approval, they can include:
Notes to Category Publisher (Optional) – Comments to assist the reviewer, usually noting the changes made between versions. These notes are permanently recorded in the modeler’s Feedback section.
These comments are not visible from the end user Feedback section of a flow model.
This option is not available for SOPs.
Due Date (optional) – A target date for review and publishing.
Note: Flow Model Editors can only submit flow models for review to Categories which have a Category Publisher assigned.
Reviewing & Approving Requests
When a flow model is submitted the assigned Category Publisher will receive an email with request details.
The request can be opened via the "View Request" or can otherwise be found by navigating to the My approvals tab of the Governance section in Flowingly.
The flow model opens in read-only mode – publishers can review but not edit, preserving the version's integrity.
Review any comments or feedback provided by the requester. The comments can also be used to send feedback back to the editors if any further changes are required. We highly recommend tagging specific users or teams to send any required adjustments back to the editor so that the flow model can be resubmitted.
Use Compare Versions to assess changes between this version and the last published/submitted one.
The changes made will be listed on a step-by-step basis, alongside a calculation of the differences in time/cost if this is used.
If satisfied, proceed to Publish. All publish settings are pre-filled based on the original request, but they can be edited if needed.
Once published, the requester receives an email notification confirming approval and publication.
Governance Tabs
The Governance section within Flowingly has a few different tabs available which are depending on which role the logged in user has been granted.
Tab Name | Who Sees It? | Purpose |
My Publish Approvals | Category Publisher | Lists all approval requests assigned to the publisher |
Sent for Publish Approval | Flow Model Editor | Tracks all requests sent. If submitted by a category editor(collaborator), the request is visible to both the creator and the editor who sent it. |
All Publish Approvals | Business Administrator | View of all active publish requests across the business |
Processes Due for Review | Process Owner, Flow Model Owners & Creator | Lists models due for review in the next 10 business days (configurable) |
Processes Due for Review | Business Administrator | Lists all models awaiting review across the business |
Tips & Best Practice
We recommend using Teams as a way to manage the Category Editors rather than managing this through assigning with individual users. These Teams can be reused across multiple categories if needed and only the users within the Team that will gain editing access are those with the relevant role (Flow Model Editor).
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