Blueprints
A blueprint is a reusable design of a process your company repeats — onboarding a new employee, approving a vendor, reviewing a document. You draw the steps once on a visual canvas, publish it, and from then on you start the whole process with a single click.
Every time you start a blueprint, Arketic creates the tasks, assigns them to the right people, waits for each one to be completed, and then moves on to the next step by itself. Nobody has to remember what comes next.
What problem blueprints solve
Many processes repeat the same steps in the same order every time:
- Employee onboarding — IT setup → HR forms → manager introduction → training
- Vendor approval — request → finance review → legal check → final approval
- Document review — draft → review → feedback → sign-off
Without blueprints, somebody has to create each of those tasks by hand, chase the right person, and remember to hand the work over at every stage.
With blueprints you design the flow once and start it in one click — the hand-offs happen automatically.
Think of a blueprint as the recipe and a process as the meal. One recipe can be cooked as many times as you like, and each cooking is tracked separately.
Where to find Blueprints
Blueprints is in the left sidebar — inside the WorkSpace group if you are an Admin, directly in the list otherwise.
By default the menu item appears for Admins, Executives and managers of a top-level department. Your organization can also give it to other people through a custom role — see Roles & Permissions. If you don't see it, your role doesn't include process design — but you can still receive the tasks a process creates, and you may still be able to start processes from Start a Process.
The page header reads Blueprints — Process templates & running instances.
Blueprints exist only when your organization's package includes them. If it doesn't, the page shows "This module isn't in your package".
Opening the page and seeing its contents are separate permissions. If the page opens but shows "You don't have permission to view this data", your role can reach the page but can't list blueprints — ask your administrator. See Who can use blueprints.
Templates and Processes
The Blueprints page has two tabs:
| Tab | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Templates | The blueprint designs — the process recipes you build and maintain |
| Processes (n) | The live and finished runs of those designs; the number next to the label is how many you can see |
If you have no designs yet, the Templates tab shows "No workflow templates yet". If nothing has been started yet, the Processes tab shows "No running processes yet — Start a process from a published template".
The blueprint lifecycle
A blueprint moves through three states. The state decides whether it can be started.
| State | What it means | Can you start it? |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Still being designed. This is where every new blueprint begins. | No — the start button stays disabled with the hint "Publish first" |
| Published | Finished and approved for use. | Yes |
| Archived | Retired. Hidden from the main list, but nothing is deleted. | No — restore it first |
The Templates tab has filter buttons for All, Draft, Published and Archived. While All is selected, each button also shows how many templates it holds; the numbers follow your search and filters.
The All filter deliberately hides archived blueprints, so your day-to-day list stays clean. Switch to the Archived filter to see them.
Moving between states
| Move | How | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Draft → Published | Publish | Blueprint editor toolbar |
| Published → Draft | Unpublish | Blueprint editor toolbar |
| Draft or Published → Archived | Archive (archive icon on the card), then confirm | Template card |
| Archived → Draft or Published | Restore, then choose Restore as Draft or Restore as Published | Template card |
Archiving asks you to confirm: "Archive this blueprint? It will be hidden from the main list but can be restored later." A blueprint that still has processes running can't be archived — cancel those processes first.
Restoring opens a small window, Restore this blueprint, with the note "Choose the status to restore it to. Only published blueprints can be run." Pick Restore as Draft to review the design before it goes back into use, or Restore as Published to make it startable straight away. Restoring as published runs the same checks as publishing, so it can be refused if the design is incomplete — see Saving and Publishing.
Unpublishing a blueprint sends it back to Draft, and a Draft cannot be started. Unpublish when you want to take a process out of service while you rework it.
Deleting a blueprint
Click the red trash icon on a template card. You're asked to confirm under Delete blueprint?: "This will permanently delete “{name}”. This cannot be undone." Click Delete to go ahead.
- The icon is on archived cards too, next to Restore.
- A blueprint that still has processes running can't be deleted — cancel those processes first.
If you might need the design again, archive it instead. An archived blueprint can be restored; a deleted one cannot.
Searching, filtering and sorting templates
Next to the status buttons, the Templates tab has tools for narrowing down and reordering a long list of templates.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Owner department list | Starts on All departments. Pick one department to show only the templates it owns, or No department for templates that don't have one |
| Search box | Type to search templates by name, description or reference ID |
| Filter icon | Opens a panel with more filters and a sort order |
Every template can have an owner department — the department responsible for it (see the card table below). This is separate from which department a self-serve process is opened to, which is set under Visible to in Running Blueprints. You choose a template's owner department when you create it, and you can change it later from Edit details (see below).
Opening the filter icon reveals:
| Filter | Options |
|---|---|
| Steps | Any, 1–5, 6–10, 11+ — matches the step count shown on the card |
| Runs | Any, Never run, 1–5, 6+ — matches the run count shown on the card |
| Self-serve | Any, Enabled, Disabled — whether the template has been opened for your team to start on their own; see Start a Process |
| Last updated | Any time, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, or Custom |
| Sort by | Recently updated, Oldest updated, Name (A–Z), Most runs, Most steps |
Choosing Custom under Last updated reveals From and To date fields. The panel shows a live count of how many templates match your choices, a Clear all link that resets them, and an Apply button to use them.
While any of these filters is active, the filter icon shows a small number badge, and a short summary of what's applied — like 1–5 steps or Last 7 days — appears above the templates. If your search or filters narrow the list, or a workspace simply has more templates than fit on one screen, a note above the cards tells you how many are currently shown. If nothing matches, the tab shows "No blueprints match the current filter." instead of the usual empty message.
What a template card tells you
Each design on the Templates tab is shown as a card:
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name | The blueprint's name |
| Description | Optional short explanation, if one was written |
| Status badge | Draft, Published or Archived |
| Reference ID | A short code you can use when talking about this blueprint |
| v{number} | The version of the design — it goes up by one each time the blueprint is published |
| {number} steps | How many steps the design currently contains |
| {number} runs | How many times this blueprint has been started |
| Owner department | Who owns this template — shown as a badge reading Owner: {department}, or No owner if none is set |
The buttons on a card depend on what you are allowed to do with that particular blueprint:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Opens the blueprint in the editor |
| Edit details (pencil-and-note icon) | Changes the name, description or owner department without opening the canvas |
| Green start button | Opens the launch panel. Disabled until the blueprint is published |
| Archive (archive icon) | Archives the blueprint |
| Delete (trash icon) | Deletes the blueprint |
| Restore | On archived cards only — brings the blueprint back |
| View | Opens the blueprint in the editor in read-only mode. You see this instead of Edit when you aren't allowed to change the blueprint |
A button you aren't allowed to use is not shown. See Who can use blueprints.
:::info Who can change the owner Admins and Executives can set any owner department. A department manager can only set it to a department they manage — if the current owner is a department they don't manage, the field is locked, with the note "You can only change the owner of departments you manage." :::
From template to process
Starting a published blueprint creates a process — one live copy of the design that runs on its own:
- You start the blueprint and give the process a title.
- Arketic creates the task(s) for the first step and assigns them to the chosen people.
- Those people are notified and see the work in their task list.
- As each step is completed, the next one starts automatically.
- Branches, waits and parallel steps are handled for you.
- When the last step finishes, the process is complete.
Each process is tracked separately, so ten new hires means ten independent onboarding processes — all built from the same design.
Learn how to start and follow a process in Running Blueprints.
Process statuses
On the Processes tab you can filter by status:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | Created and about to begin |
| Running | In progress — someone has work to do right now |
| Completed | Reached the end of the flow |
| Failed | Stopped because a step could not be completed |
| Cancelled | Stopped on purpose; remaining steps were cancelled |
You can also search processes by title, reference ID or blueprint name.
Step statuses inside a process
Open a process to see its step-by-step timeline. Every step carries its own status:
| Step status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pending | Not reached yet |
| Active | Being worked on now |
| Waiting | Held until something else finishes |
| Completed | Done |
| Failed | Could not be completed |
| Skipped | Not needed on the path the process took |
| Cancelled | Stopped before it could be completed |
Blueprints and tasks
Blueprints and Tasks are two views of the same work:
- You design in Blueprints. Steps describe who does what, in what order.
- Your team works in Tasks. A step that needs a person creates a normal task — with a title, description, priority, deadline, completion conditions and file attachments, exactly like a task created by hand.
- Completing the task advances the process. When the assignee finishes their task, the process moves to the next step on its own.
This is why people who never open the Blueprints page still take part in blueprints every day: they simply receive tasks.
Not every step creates a task. Steps that organise the flow — waiting, branching, running things side by side — do their job in the background. See Step Types for which steps create work for a person.
Who can use blueprints
What you can do with a blueprint depends on its owner department. Admins and Executives can work on every blueprint. A department manager can change only the blueprints owned by a department they manage; every other blueprint opens read-only, and the editor says why.
The table shows what each group can do by default.
| Action | Members | Department managers | Executives and Admins |
|---|---|---|---|
| See the Blueprints menu | No | Managers of a top-level department | Yes |
| See the blueprints and processes on the page | No | With the view permission — see the note below | Yes |
| Create a blueprint | No | Yes — for a department they manage | Yes |
| Edit a blueprint or its details | No | Blueprints owned by a department they manage | Yes |
| Publish and unpublish | No | Blueprints owned by a department they manage | Yes |
| Archive, restore, delete | No | Blueprints owned by a department they manage | Yes |
| Upload files to a step | No | Blueprints owned by a department they manage | Yes |
| Start a process from a blueprint | No | Blueprints owned by a department they manage | Yes |
| Cancel a running process | No | Only processes they started | Yes |
| Receive tasks created by a process | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Start a process from Start a Process | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Creating, editing, publishing and unpublishing, archiving, restoring, deleting, starting a process and uploading files are each a separate permission. Your organization can give any of them to other people through a custom role — a person who holds one of these permissions can use it on every blueprint, whatever its owner department. See Roles & Permissions.
:::note Seeing the page contents Listing blueprints and processes is a permission of its own. By default it is open to Admins and Executives. A department manager who is not an Executive or an Admin needs it from a custom role; until then the page shows "You don't have permission to view this data". :::
Members don't see the Blueprints section, but they are still part of the picture: they receive the tasks processes create, and they can start any process that has been opened to the team from Start a Process.
A blueprint you aren't allowed to change opens in Read-only mode, and the toolbar tells you why — "Owned by a department you don’t manage" or "This blueprint has no owner department". A blueprint without an owner department can be changed only by Admins and Executives. See Creating Blueprints.
Before you start designing
:::caution Use a computer for the editor The blueprint editor needs precise mouse work and a large canvas, so it is available on desktop only. On a phone you'll see a Desktop Required screen instead of the canvas. Viewing your processes and working on the tasks they create works fine on any device. :::
A good first blueprint is short: pick a process your team already runs by hand, write down its four or five real steps, and design exactly those. You can always add branches, waiting periods and approvals later — an existing blueprint can be edited and republished at any time.