Who is this article for?

Administrators configuring Workflow definitions.

Workflow Administration permissions are required.

If you want to initiate a workflow and assign it to a specific colleague who becomes responsible for it from that point forward, you need to use a Personnel custom field rather than the All Users Responsible Party setting.

Understanding why All Users doesn't achieve per-instance assignment

Setting All Users as the Responsible Party on a step makes that step visible in every user's Inbox simultaneously — any of them can pick it up and process it. It is a broadcast setting, not an assignment mechanism. It does not let you route the workflow to one specific person per instance.

Example: You initiate a Non Conformance and want your colleague in the quality team to own it.

With All Users set, the step appears in every user's Inbox and the first person to open it can process it — your intended colleague may never see it, or someone else may act on it first.

Understanding how dynamic per-instance assignment works

The correct mechanism is a Personnel-type custom field, added to the initiating step of the workflow. When the workflow is started, the initiator selects a specific colleague in this field. Subsequent steps can then be configured to use that field as their Responsible Party source — meaning only the selected person receives the Inbox task for those steps, and the assignment can be different for every instance.

Configuring Personnel field assignment

Important: The workflow definition must be taken offline before it can be edited. It will not be available for processing while offline. Plan this change for a time when no instances are mid-process, or coordinate with your team accordingly.

Taking the workflow offline

To take the workflow offline:

1. Go to Administration → Workflows.
2. Open the relevant workflow definition.
3. Take it offline to enable editing.

Adding a Personnel field to the initiating step

To add the Personnel field:

1. Open the first step of the workflow (for example, Report Non Conformance).
2. Under New Fields for this Step, create a new field with the following settings:
   • Field Title: Assigned To (or a name meaningful to your process)
   • Field Type: Personnel
   • View: checked
   • Edit: checked
   • Required: checked (recommended, to ensure the initiator always selects a person)
3. Click Add Field.
4. Click Save Changes.

Setting the Responsible Party on the ownership step

To set the Responsible Party:

1. Open the step where your colleague should take ownership (for example, Investigation or Assigned).
2. Under Responsible Parties, click Open Options.
3. In the Adding Responsible Parties panel, remove All Users from the Personnel column if it is currently selected.
4. Under the Custom Fields column, check Assigned To.
5. Click Add Responsible Parties.
6. Click Save Changes.

Repeating for further steps

The assignment does not carry forward automatically. For each additional step where you want the same person to remain responsible, repeat the Responsible Party configuration — open that step's Responsible Parties settings and check the same Assigned To field in the Custom Fields column. Steps that are not configured this way will follow whatever Responsible Party setting they already have.

Bringing the workflow back online

To bring the workflow back online:

1. Return to the workflow definition.
2. Bring the workflow back online.
3. Test with a new instance to confirm the selected colleague receives the Inbox task and no one else does.

Reassigning mid-workflow

If the Assigned To field is set to editable on a later step, an authorised user can change the value to a different colleague. From that point forward, any step configured to use the same field as its Responsible Party source will assign to the newly selected person instead.

Note: Users with the Alter Workflow Instances permission can edit visible fields regardless of the Edit setting on the step. If you need to restrict who can reassign, ensure this permission is granted only to appropriate users.

Assigning to multiple people

If the Personnel field is configured to allow multi-select, the initiator can choose more than one person — for example, a department manager and members of their team. All selected users will be Responsible Parties on any step referencing that field. Whether one or all of them must process the step before it routes forward depends on the Route Requirement setting on the route leading into that step.

Tip: You can also restrict which users appear as selectable options in the Personnel field to specific groups — for example, only members of the quality team. This prevents the initiator from accidentally assigning the workflow to an unintended person. This is configured in Administration → Custom Fields on the field definition.

Understanding how assignment flows