Custom Automated Workflows
- All Apps
- Apr 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 12
We’re taking workflow management to the next level! You can create custom subtasks per service, giving you detailed work steps and flows tailored to each entity type and customised per client.
This post will cover:
These custom workflows will replace the Task detail checkboxes for users who activate the feature. Custom workflows will enable you to:
Set as many steps per task as you need
Automatically assign team members to the steps
Set budget hours for each task
Control workflow dependencies to determine when a task can be completed.
Customise due dates to ensure a seamless timeline
You can also customise the due dates of the subtasks to ensure they are completed before the main task.
This powerful new feature makes task management more structured, efficient, and effortless.
Once your setup is done all of the workflow-related checkboxes (task detail checkboxes) in the task tables will be replicated with your custom workflow steps. For example, on Accounting – Bank Recon, Journals, Income Statement – these checkboxes will not be visible on the accounting task anymore, but instead show as individual subtasks on the record.
*Please note that the checkboxes that might have been checked in any current task will not automatically be marked as a completed subtask.
All custom tasks that you set up will display in the new Subtasks due dashboard, so you can easily see what is needed across the system.
Here’s how to get started:
This feature is quite comprehensive, so please follow each step carefully:
Enable Advanced Workflows
Go to Setup > Global Settings and select Advanced under Workflow Preference to unlock custom workflows.
Adjusting the Workflow:
After you have activated the Advanced mode, we will take the current checkboxes in the system and translate them into records as a starting point. These can be found under Setup - Workflow Template.
Here you will see a record for each entity type. These are just a starting point. You can add more records here, for example, one for a small PTY, one for a medium and one unique to a specific client like BDC. If you click on any of the records and go to Workflow Setup, you will see the steps that have been populated. Use the Subtasks and Description fields to
Workflow Setup fields explained:
b) Task – these are our automated Services found on the Clients table.
Currently, tasks in the Adhoc department are not supported, but will likely be added in a future upgrade. The tasks you can create a custom workflow are,
Accounting, VAT Returns, CIPC Annual Returns, CIPC BO Declaration, Financials, Compensation Fund ROE, EMP201, EMP501, Payroll, UIF uFiling, Corporate Tax Returns, Income Tax Individuals, Provisional Tax Returns, Trust Tax Returns, Turnover Tax.
d) Subtask – this is the workflow step.
We encourage detail and as many individual steps as you would like, to make it easy for your team to follow and document their progress.
e) Description
You can add additional detail here per subtask.
f) Budget Hours
Indicate the number of hours or minutes as hh:mm that should be allotted per task, to measure team performance.
g) Workflow dependency – this is a number field.
Use it to tell DataGrows the order in which steps should be completed. For example, on Financials, the tax calc should not be done before the planning and other recons. So you could mark planning as 1, recons all as step 2 (as they can occur independently and at the same time), the tax calc as 3, and sending of drafts as step 4. These tasks will then only appear in the Subtasks Due Dashboard, as each previous step is marked as complete.
*The full list of tasks will appear in each task table regardless of dependency, so that you can review overall progress.
h) Working Days before Due
You can trigger these subtasks to have a due date long before the main task. Eg, the bank recon for accounting set 10 days before Due, would be due 05/05/2025, with the accounting task due 15/05/2025 – giving your team a staggered timeline of work to complete on time.
Assigning templates to clients
Once you are happy with the templates, you can assign them to a client via the Client table.
To do this:
Click on the client record
Scroll down to the Custom workflow section
Select the template you need from the list
This will add the workflow for that client.
From here, you can assign each step to a different team member through the Assigned to column.
You can then further exclude tasks if needed by unchecking the Applicable to client checkbox.
You can also find this table in the top bar once you have selected a client
Client Workflow fields explained:
a)Client – the linked client that will be affected by these changes.
b)Task – the service that will show the subtasks. If the Service is not on for the client, the subtasks will not be scheduled.
c)Subtask – this is not editable here, please edit in the Workflow setup.
d)Description – you can customise the description per client subtask
e)Budget Hours – you can customise the budgeted hours per client.
f)Workflow Dependency – you can customise the workflow dependency per client
g)Working Days before Due - you can customise the subtask due date per client
h)Applicable to client – this will determine whether the subtask triggers per client.
i) Assigned to – choose the team member who is responsible for the subtask. It does not need to be any of the main roles assigned to the client.
The changes made here will update your client’s subtasks in the individual tasks.
Working on tasks:
Each task will have its own subtasks. They will filter per period and per client. The subtasks are embedded in each task record, where the checkboxes used to be. We have not removed any checkboxes that relate to tracking the submission or payment of returns.
Click in any field to edit the subtasks. Click away or click enter to save.
Add notes as you work
Status – mark the subtasks as completed, as they are done. This will trigger the workflow dependency on the Subtasks due dashboard so the next task will appear.
Subtasks Due Dashboard:
This will show all the subtasks per task per team member due. Only current workflow dependencies will show here (ie, a task that can be completed in the flow will display, and the next dependent task will show once the previous task is completed).
You can log your time on this view as you work on subtasks, and they will show as subtasks on the Timelog tables. The billing for subtasks will still be linked to the main task rate. No additional billing changes need to be made.
Repopulating your custom list
If in future you change anything on the templates, you can reapply the workflow template by running the action under the Actions menu in the Workflow template table.
Please note: this action clears all customisation done in the client tables, we do not recommend running this action unless you want to start from scratch in the clients’ workflows.
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