Workflow Templates Guide

Learn how to create and configure workflow templates to automate your review and approval processes in Workbench.

Last updated: January 2025•12 min read

Overview

Workflow templates define the sequence of steps and actions that happen during review cycles. They automate stage progression and approval processes, ensuring consistency and reducing manual work. When you create a review cycle, you can attach workflow templates to control how participants move through stages and how approvals are processed.

Key benefit: Workflow templates ensure that every review cycle follows the same process, reducing errors and ensuring nothing is missed. They also automate progression, so participants automatically move to the next stage when they complete their current one.

Workflow Types

Workbench supports two main types of workflow templates:

Review Workflows

Control the review process itself—which stages participants move through and in what order.

Define the sequence of review stages
Control when participants can access each stage
Automate progression between stages
Reference your organization's review stages

Approval Workflows

Control the approval process for compensation recommendations—who approves and in what order.

Define approval steps and approvers
Control the order of approvals
Enforce sequential approval requirements
Assign approvers by user, role, or dynamic assignment

Important: You'll typically create both a review workflow and an approval workflow for your organization. The review workflow controls the review stages, and the approval workflow controls compensation approvals. They work together to create a complete review process.

Creating Workflow Templates

To create a new workflow template:

Navigate to Settings: Go to Settings → Workflows
Click "Create Workflow": This opens the workflow template editor
Enter basic information:
- Workflow name (e.g., "Annual Review Workflow")
- Description (optional but recommended)
- Workflow type (Review or Approval)
Add workflow steps: Configure the steps that make up your workflow (see "Configuring Workflow Steps" below)
Set step order: Arrange steps in the order they should be executed
Save the template: Once complete, save your workflow template

Tip: Start with a simple workflow and add complexity as needed. You can always edit workflow templates later, but changes won't affect review cycles that are already in progress.

Configuring Workflow Steps

Each workflow template consists of one or more steps. Steps define what happens at each point in the workflow:

For Review Workflows

Review workflow steps typically reference review stages:

Step Name: A descriptive name for the step (e.g., "Self Review Stage")
Assignee Type: Set to "reviewStage" to reference a review stage
Assignee: Select the review stage this step represents
Step Type: Usually "review" for review workflows
Order: The sequence number (1, 2, 3, etc.)

For Approval Workflows

Approval workflow steps define who needs to approve:

Step Name: A descriptive name (e.g., "Manager Approval")
Assignee Type: Choose how to assign the approver (user, role, or dynamic)
Assignee: Select the specific user, role, or dynamic assignee
Step Type: Usually "approval" for approval workflows
Order: The sequence number (approvals happen in order)

Understanding Assignees

Assignees determine who is responsible for completing each workflow step. There are three assignee types:

Review Stage (Review Workflows)

For review workflows, steps reference review stages. Participants automatically move through stages in the order defined by the workflow.

Example: A step with assignee type "reviewStage" pointing to "Self Review" means participants will complete the Self Review stage at this point in the workflow.

User (Approval Workflows)

Assign a specific user as the approver. This is useful when you have a specific person who always needs to approve (e.g., the CEO).

Example: A step with assignee type "user" pointing to "John Smith" means John Smith must approve at this step.

Role (Approval Workflows)

Assign by role (e.g., "manager", "admin"). Any user with that role can approve. This is useful when multiple people could serve as approver.

Example: A step with assignee type "role" pointing to "manager" means any manager can approve at this step.

Dynamic (Approval Workflows)

Use dynamic assignment to automatically assign based on context (e.g., "manager" assigns to the employee's manager, "employee" assigns to the employee themselves).

Example: A step with assignee type "dynamic" and dynamicAssignee "manager" means each employee's manager will approve their recommendation.

Best Practices

Designing Review Workflows

Start with your organization's review stages—create those first before building workflows
Keep workflows simple—don't create unnecessary complexity
Test workflows with a small group before rolling out organization-wide
Ensure stages are in a logical order that makes sense for your process
Consider the participant experience—too many stages can be overwhelming

Designing Approval Workflows

Keep approval chains short—too many approvers can slow down the process
Use dynamic assignment when possible—it's more flexible than hardcoding users
Consider using roles for flexibility—allows different people to approve as needed
Test approval workflows to ensure they work as expected
Document your approval process so everyone understands the workflow