Running Blueprints
A blueprint is a design. A process is that design actually running — with real tasks, real people and real deadlines.
This page shows you how to launch a blueprint, who the tasks go to, and how to follow a process from start to finish.
Before You Launch
A blueprint can only be launched when it is Published. While it is still a Draft, the Start button stays disabled and shows the tooltip "Publish first".
Launching is available to admins, executives and department managers. Team members don't launch blueprints from this screen — but they do receive the tasks a process creates, and they can start processes that have been opened to them. See Start a Process.
Not published yet? Open the blueprint in the editor and click Publish. See Creating Blueprints.
Ways to Launch
| Where | How |
|---|---|
| From the editor | Click the green Start button in the toolbar. It becomes clickable once the blueprint is published. |
| From a template card | On Blueprints → Templates, click the green play button on the card. Disabled on drafts ("Publish first"); on a published blueprint the tooltip reads "Start process". |
| From chat | Ask the AI assistant to start a process (for example, "Start the employee onboarding process"). Starting a process is an action that changes your workspace, so the assistant asks you to confirm before it runs. Only published blueprints can be started this way. |
The Launch Panel
Whichever way you launch, the same side panel opens. It is titled with the blueprint's name and version, and it has two tabs:
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| New Start | The form for starting a new process. |
| Running (N) | This blueprint's processes that are currently running or waiting to start. The number updates live. |
Filling In the New Start Tab
1. Name the process
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Process Title * | Required. This is how you'll recognise the process later in lists and searches. Placeholder: "e.g. ABC Tech Inc. Onboarding Process". |
| Description | Optional. Extra context for the people involved. |
Give each run a title that identifies the specific case — the customer, the new hire, the request — not just the blueprint name. You'll thank yourself when ten of them are running at once.
2. Check the summary
Under Blueprint Summary you see two numbers for this blueprint: how many steps it has in total, and how many of those are assignable (the steps that will create a task for someone).
3. Assign people to the steps
Assign Users to Steps lists one row per task-creating step. How you assign depends on the step type:
| Step type | What you do |
|---|---|
| Task | Pick one person from the Select user... dropdown. |
| Approval | Pick one person from the Select user... dropdown. |
| Race | Pick people from the name chips. The row hints "Select 2+ users" — a race needs at least two. |
| Approval Gate | Pick people from the name chips. The row hints "Select 1+ users". |
If the step has a department set in its settings, the picker only offers people from that department. This keeps you from accidentally assigning work outside the team that owns it.
4. Steps that assign themselves
Some steps were designed with a dynamic assignee, so there is nobody to pick. Instead of a dropdown, the row shows a blue Auto: tag, and the step already counts as assigned:
| Tag | Who gets the task |
|---|---|
| Auto: Starter | Whoever starts the process. |
| Auto: Dept. manager | The manager of the starter's department. |
| Auto: GM | The executive chosen in the step's settings. |
These are resolved to real people at the moment the process starts, which is what makes a single blueprint work for every team without editing it. They matter most for self-serve processes — see Start a Process.
5. System steps
Below the assignments, System Steps lists the steps that never create a task — each shown as "{step name} — auto". Timers, branches, splits and similar steps run on their own, so there is nothing for you to fill in.
6. Reuse your choices next time
Save assignments as template (pre-filled on next launches) is ticked by default. Leave it on and the same people are pre-selected the next time you launch this blueprint. Untick it for a one-off run with unusual assignments.
7. Start
Click Start Process (it reads Starting... while it works).
The button stays disabled until the Process Title is filled in and every task step has an assignee. If something is missing you'll see the hint "Assign all task steps before starting".
What Happens After Launch
- A process is created from the blueprint.
- The task or tasks for the first step are created and assigned.
- The assigned people are notified.
- Each time a step is completed, the next step starts automatically.
- The process keeps moving through the design until it reaches End.
The tasks a process creates are ordinary tasks — the assignees work on them in Tasks, with the completion conditions, form and attached files the step was designed with.
The step's Title becomes the task's title, and its Description becomes the task instructions. Clear step names make a much easier process to follow.
Opening a Process to Your Team (Self-Serve)
Also on the New Start tab, you can let other people start this process themselves, without going through the blueprint screens.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Default process title | Pre-fills the title for whoever starts it (up to 200 characters). |
| Visible to | Everyone (whole tenant) or Only {department} — one department. |
| Let members/managers start this from "Start a Process" | The checkbox that actually turns self-serve on. |
| Save for self-serve | Saves these settings (reads Saving... while it works). |
Every task step must be assigned before you can save this — otherwise you'll see "Assign all task steps before opening to the team." Steps with an Auto: tag count as assigned, and they are exactly what makes a self-serve process route correctly for each person who starts it.
Once saved, the process appears on Tasks → Start a Process for the people you chose. See Start a Process for what they see.
The Running Tab
Switch to Running (N) in the launch panel to see this blueprint's current processes. Each row shows:
- the process title
- a status badge
- the date it started
- a progress bar, with {done}/{total} steps and a percentage
- a Cancel link, on processes that are still running or pending
If there are none yet, the tab shows "No instances yet".
Click a row to open its timeline inside the panel: the status badge, the progress percentage, the counts Done / Active / Pending / Skip, the Elapsed time, and the full list of steps in order.
Tracking Progress on the Processes Tab
For a view across all your blueprints, go to Blueprints → Processes.
Filter and search
- Filter buttons: All, Running, Pending, Completed, Failed, Cancelled
- Search by title, reference ID, or blueprint name — the counter above the list reads {shown} / {total}
- If nothing matches, you'll see "No processes match the current filter."
What each row tells you
| On the row | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Reference ID | A short code for this process — handy for searching or referring to it. |
| Title | The Process Title given at launch. |
| Blueprint name | Which design it came from. |
| Status badge | Where the process stands overall. |
| Started by {name} | Who launched it, plus the date. |
| Active: {step} | The step the process is sitting on right now. |
| Progress | {done}/{total} steps and a percentage. |
| Cancel | Shown on running and pending processes. |
Open a process for the full story
Click the chevron on a row to expand it. You get:
- a stat bar: {n} Completed, Active, Pending, Skipped, and Elapsed time (shown as days, hours and minutes)
- a step-by-step timeline of the whole process
Each step in the timeline shows its status icon, its title, who it's assigned to, how long it took, and — for a step that is currently active — "Waiting: …" with how long it has been waiting. If a step failed, the error is shown there too.
Steps that created a task (Task, Approval, Race, Approval Gate) are clickable, so you can jump straight into the task. This works on completed and cancelled processes as well, which makes the timeline a full record of what happened, when, and by whom.
If you don't have permission to see a particular step's task, or the step hasn't created one yet, you'll get a short message instead of the task.
Race and Approval Gate Steps
These steps involve several people at once, so opening them shows a candidate picker rather than a single task.
The Race candidates window lists one row per person: their name, the task title and its status. When a race has been decided:
- the winner's row is marked with a trophy and the label Winner
- a Resolved badge appears
- the footer explains: "Race resolved — the trophy marks the winning candidate; others were cancelled."
Read more in Step Types.
Cancelling a Process
Use the Cancel link on a process row, or open the process and cancel from there. You'll be asked to confirm: "Cancel this instance? All running tasks will be cancelled."
- Only running and pending processes can be cancelled.
- Cancelling stops the pending and running steps.
- Tasks that were already completed stay as they are — the record isn't erased.
- Cancelling is available to admins, executives and department managers.
Cancelling can't be undone. If you only need to change who does something, it's usually better to reassign the task than to cancel the whole process.
Deadlines
Deadlines come from the blueprint design, not from the launch panel:
| Setting | Where it comes from | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Time Limit (hours) | Task, Approval, Race and Approval Gate steps | Gives the created task a deadline. |
| Timeout (hours) | Timer and Approval Gate steps | How long the process waits at that step. |
Assignees see the time limit on their task, so a process is far less likely to stall quietly.
Tips
- Check the assignments before you start. It's much easier than reassigning tasks afterwards.
- Use a specific process title. "Onboarding — A. Yılmaz" beats "Onboarding" when five are running.
- Watch the Active step. On the Processes tab it tells you instantly where a process is stuck.
- Sort out dynamic assignees first. If a step routes to a department manager, make sure that department actually has a manager set.
- Launch from chat when you're already in a conversation — just confirm the action when the assistant asks.