Workflows can provide a summary of workflow progress by updating any field of the Workflow type. If the field is a workflow field, it displays an icon to indicate the workflow stage progress.

About this task

In a form, the workflow field displays the current stage as a choice list value.

In a list, the workflow field displays stage icons that represent the series of states, stages, phases, or tasks within a workflow. The stage icons are populated using the activity stages from the associated workflow. For more information, see Workflow stages.

To create a workflow stage field:

1. Navigate to Workflow > Default Stages (by table) .
2. Right-click near a column header and select Configure > List Layout .
3. Create a new field in lower right.
4. On the form view of the table used by the workflow, create a field with the Type set to Workflow.
   For detailed steps, see Add and customize a field in a table.
5. Click Save.
6. Right-click the field label and select Configure Dictionary.
7. Open a dictionary entry.
8. In the Choice List Specification section of the Dictionary Entries form, select Dropdown with --None-- from the Choice list.
9. Click Update.
10. To ensure that the workflow field properly displays stages on the form, define a choice for each workflow stage.
    • To create workflow stages using a choice list that already has choices, you can import the stages from the choice list. A stage is created for each choice defined for the Stage field selected in the workflow properties. For detailed steps about importing a choice list, see Import stages from a choice list.
    • The Value of each choice must match the Value of the corresponding workflow stage.
    • Do not use spaces in the Value field for either choices or stages. Use underscores in place of spaces.
    • Make the choice list read-only. If a user changes the stage value for a record from the choice list rather than allowing the workflow to control the value, the workflow-driven, legacy, and linear renders may not work as intended. You can also use business rules or events to ensure the workflow progresses accordingly.

    For detailed steps on defining choice lists, see Define an option for a choice list.

11. To see workflow stages as icons, add the field to the list layout of the workflow table.
    For detailed steps, see Configure the list layout.