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Understand core workflow components

Workflow uses a set of core components to define how a workflow starts, evaluates conditions, and performs actions. Every workflow begins with a trigger and can include conditions, actions, delays, branches, and escalations. Understanding these components helps you design workflows that align with your organization's business processes.

Before you begin

Before you create a workflow, take a few minutes to plan your process.

Ask yourself:

  • What business process do I want to automate?
    Example: Employee onboarding, mandatory training, manager changes, or offboarding.
  • What event should start the workflow?
    Example: A new employee is created, a course is completed, or a scheduled date is reached.
  • What actions should the workflow perform?
    Example: Send an email, assign training, create a task, or notify a manager.

Having a clear plan before building a workflow helps ensure your automation is efficient and easy to maintain.

Workflow components

Trigger

A trigger starts a workflow. When the trigger event occurs, the workflow starts and evaluates the configured logic. Every workflow must have a trigger. For more information on trigger types, refer to Understand workflow trigger types.

Workflow supports multiple trigger types, including:

  • User-related triggers
  • Learning-related triggers
  • Scheduled triggers
  • Manual triggers
  • Webhook trigger

Examples

  • A new employee joins the organization.
  • An employee's manager changes.
  • An employee completes a course.
  • A scheduled date is reached.
  • An external system sends information through a webhook.

Think of a trigger as the starting point of your workflow. Without a trigger, the workflow never runs.

Condition

A condition evaluates information and determines whether the workflow continues. Conditions help you target specific employees, events, or business scenarios. The workflow evaluates the condition before proceeding to the next step.

Examples

  • Check whether a completed course grants a certification.
  • Check whether a training assignment is overdue.
  • Check whether an employee's visa expires within a specific period.
  • Check whether a compensation band changes.

Using conditions helps avoid unnecessary actions and ensures workflows are relevant to each employee.

Action

An action is the activity performed by the workflow after the trigger occurs and any conditions are met. A workflow can contain one or multiple actions.

Available actions include:

  • Send Email
  • Create Task
  • Assign Course
  • Assign Learning Path
  • Create Goal
  • Create Individual Development Plan (IDP)
  • Assign Survey
  • Award Discretionary Badge
  • Award Discretionary Points
  • Publish Webhook

Examples

  • Send a welcome email to a new employee.
  • Create a task for a manager.
  • Assign a training course.
  • Award a recognition badge after a learning path is completed.

Actions are the outcome of your workflow, they are what deliver value to employees, managers, and admins.

Delay

A delay pauses a workflow for a specified period before the next step runs. Delays help you schedule reminders, follow-ups, and future actions without creating separate workflows.

Examples

  • Wait 7 days before sending a reminder to complete critical onboarding tasks such as policy acknowledgments and system access setup.

  • Wait 30 days before scheduling a manager check-in to review early performance, address challenges, and reinforce role expectations.

  • Wait 30 days before sending an onboarding feedback survey to capture employee experience insights and identify areas for improvement.

Branching

A branch allows a workflow to follow different paths based on a condition. Branching helps you manage multiple outcomes within a single workflow.

Examples

  • If a certification exists, continue with certification tracking. Otherwise, end the workflow.
  • If additional courses remain in a learning sequence, assign the next course. Otherwise, complete the workflow.
  • If a role qualifies for additional responsibilities, create a career progression task. Otherwise, end the workflow.

Branching makes workflows more flexible while reducing duplicate configurations.

Escalation

An escalation performs an additional action when an expected activity remains incomplete after a defined period. Escalations help ensure that important tasks and processes receive attention.

Examples

  • Remind an employee about overdue mandatory training.
  • Notify a manager about an incomplete task.
  • Escalate an unresolved issue to HR or department leaders.

Escalations improve accountability and help organizations stay compliant with important business processes.

How workflow components work together

The following example illustrates how multiple workflow components work together within a single business process.

  1. Trigger: Employee completes a course.
  2. Condition: Course is mandatory compliance training.
  3. Action: Send a completion notification to the manager.
  4. Delay: Wait 14 days.
  5. Condition: Employee has not started the next required course.
  6. Escalation: Send a reminder to the employee.
  7. Branch:
    • If the employee starts the course, end the workflow.
    • If the employee does not start the course, notify the manager.

This example illustrates how triggers, conditions, actions, delays, branches, and escalations work together to automate a complete HR process, from the initial event through reminders and manager follow-up, without requiring manual intervention.