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Workflows in BoxNCase Admin

Monitor and debug your BoxNCase store’s automated workflows with comprehensive execution tracking. View workflow performance, analyze execution details, and optimize automated processes for improved business operations.

Overview

Workflow management provides:
  • Comprehensive workflow execution monitoring
  • Detailed step-by-step execution analysis
  • Performance tracking and optimization insights
  • Debugging tools for workflow development
  • Audit trails for automated processes
Target Audience: This guide is essential for developers and technical teams building, debugging, and maintaining workflow customizations in BoxNCase applications.

What are Workflow Executions?

Workflow Fundamentals: Workflows enable powerful automation and custom business logic: Workflow Components:
  • Sequential step execution for complex tasks
  • Custom commerce flows and business processes
  • Error handling and compensation mechanisms
  • Conditional logic and branching capabilities
  • Integration with external services and systems
Execution Storage and Monitoring: When configured to store executions in the database (technical guide), workflows provide:
  • Complete execution history and audit trails
  • Step-by-step performance analysis
  • Error identification and debugging information
  • Business process compliance documentation
  • Performance optimization insights
Business Applications:
  • Order processing automation
  • Inventory management workflows
  • Customer communication sequences
  • Payment processing flows
  • Integration synchronization tasks
  • Compliance and audit processes

View Workflow Executions

To view workflow executions, go to Settings → Workflows. There, you’ll find the list of custom and BoxNCase Partners workflows that have been executed and are stored in the database. You can search through the list to find the one you’re looking for. Workflow executions list

Workflow Execution Status

In the list, you can view the status of each workflow execution. A workflow’s execution status can be:
StatusDescription
CompletedWorkflow executed successfully through all steps
FailedWorkflow encountered an error and stopped execution
RunningWorkflow is currently executing steps
PendingWorkflow is queued but not yet started
CancelledWorkflow execution was manually cancelled
CompensatingWorkflow is running compensation steps after failure
CompensatedWorkflow completed compensation after failure
TimeoutWorkflow exceeded maximum execution time
RetryingWorkflow is retrying failed steps according to policy

View Workflow Execution Details

To view a workflow execution’s details:
  1. Go to Settings → Workflows.
  2. Click on the workflow execution to view it.
On the workflow execution’s page, you’ll find multiple sections with the execution’s details. Workflow executions details

Summary Section

In the first section, you’ll find a summary of the workflow execution, including:
  • A badge at the top right indicating its status.
  • The workflow’s unique ID, which you specify when you create the workflow.
  • The transaction ID, which is a unique identifier for the workflow execution. This is useful for debugging, tracking, and changing step statuses of [long-running workflows](https://docs.BoxNCase Partnersjs.com/learn/fundamentals/workflows/long-running-workflow).
  • The workflow’s progress which shows a quick overview of the steps that have been executed.

Timeline

The timeline diagram shows you the step by step execution of the workflow. You can zoom in and out, and drag and move the mouse to view the entire diagram. You can also click on a step to view its execution details in the History section.

Step Status

Step Status Indicators: The timeline diagram uses color-coded status indicators for clear visual tracking:
ColorStatusDescription
OrangeExecutingThe step is currently being processed
GreenCompletedThe step executed successfully
RedFailedThe step encountered an error
GrayPending/SkippedStep awaiting execution or was skipped due to conditional logic
BlueCompensatingStep is running compensation logic after workflow failure
Visual Benefits:
  • Quick identification of workflow progress
  • Immediate error spotting for debugging
  • Clear understanding of execution flow
  • Easy identification of bottlenecks
  • Intuitive status comprehension

JSON

The JSON section allows you to view the execution’s details as a raw JSON object by clicking the ↗ icon. This is useful for advanced debugging to see all the details of the workflow execution.

History

The History section shows you the execution of the workflow’s steps by order of execution. You can see each step’s name with a dot reflecting its status as explained in the Step Status section. If you click on any executed step, you’ll see its details, including:
  • Definition: the step’s configurations which can be passed when you create the step. For example, the step’s name, whether it has a compensation function, whether it’s asynchronous, etc…
  • Output: the step’s output, which is the result of the step’s execution.
  • Compensation Input: if the workflow failed and the step has a compensation function, you can see the input that the compensation function received.
  • Error: if the step failed, you can see the error message.
Workflow executions history