tFLOW Documentation - 06. Workflow

 
Workflow
 
Overview
 
In tFLOW, workflow refers to the process jobs will follow between creation and the final step which is sending to production.  Depending on workflow selection jobs may be approved by one person, but two, or can even be received, processed, and sent to production with no manual intervention at all.  Workflow choice is defined at the Order level in the Advanced tab, and available options are:  No Approval, One-Step Approval, Two-Step Approval.  Note that Two-Step Approval is only available for Orders which are assigned to the non-site owning company.  Any order assigned to the site owner only has the choice between No Approval and One-Step Approval.
 
 
No Approval
 
This is the most automated workflow, permitting jobs which pass preflight to flow through tFLOW and into the production.  Incoming files are preflighted, fixed, and finishing is applied.  If no errors are found, the job will continue on to production.  If there are errors, then the job will go to On Hold state until addressed by any users assigned the responsibility of managing files with preflight errors (could be internal personnel and/or the customer).
 
 
 
 
One-Step Approval
 
This workflow adds one step of security in that it requires the job to approved by someone before being sent into production.  Just like the No Approval workflow, jobs which fail preflight are put On Hold, but in the One-Step Workflow, jobs that pass preflight are also put on a kind of hold in the Awaiting Approval state.  Jobs in the Awaiting Approval state will remain there until approved by the customer or internal personnel, such as a CSR.  The user may either reject the job, which will set it to “New Revision”, or Approve, which will allow it to be Sent to Production.  Normally email notifications are configured in tFLOW in order to alert users to these various state changes so that jobs can be approved in a timely manner, as well as new artwork uploaded for revisions.
 
 
 
 
 
Two-Step Approval
 
The Two-Step Approval workflow adds one more step of security by sending the first approval to internal personnel before sending the final or second approval to the customer for the final OK.  In this workflow, the file is preflighted, fixed and finished just as in the No Approval and One-Step workflows, but in this case, the proof and email notification (if turned on) will go to a CSR, Sales, Prepress, or anyone else from the site owning company configured to receive notifications for first approval.  Once at least one of these internal users approves the proof, it is then sent on to the customer for final approval just like in the One-Step workflow.  All other step beyond this point, such as revisions, sending to production, etc. are the same as in the One-Step workflow.