[Vinayak]

Hello everyone,

I am new in Netsuite, just want to know what is the advantage of using workflow rather than scripts and when to go for workflow and when scripts.

Thanks
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[k_dunc]

Hi Vinayak,

Due to their relative ease of use, Workflows are great and quite powerful. My recommendation would be that if you can do something via a Workflow, then do it. From a maintenance perspective, it’s easier for ‘normal staff’ in an organisation to learn how to use and modify a Workflow than it is to teach someone how to program.

Workflows are great if you want to set UI fields, or set rules about which fields in a UI form should be visible to whom and under what conditions. It’s great for simple error checking of forms, and even creating new related records and redirecting the user to different records. You can also quite easily block various users seeing particular records that they may ordinarily have access to under certain circumstances.

Ideally, use a Workflow for simple field / UI setting and manipulation. Further, use a Workflow when you physically want to implement a ‘work flow’ for a given process in your organisation. It’s great for directing a particular step-by-step process for a given record type. E.g., you may have a specific approval process that your organisation wants to implement including ‘approval’ button etc. – then use a Workflow!

With its relative ease of operation, Workflow’s ‘downfall’ (or perhaps more precisely, its ‘limitation’) is that it can’t do everything. You can’t really perform operations on Sublists and Subrecords, and you may not be able to use your exact conditional requirements. However, you can combine the power of both by using a Workflow Action Script (WAS) in specific circumstances.

Is there something specific you had in mind that you wanted to solve?

Cheers,

Kirk.

[Vinayak]

Hi k_dunc

Thanks for your response. It will be helpful for me.

[chanarbon]

Some good thing about use use of workflow is you can have the locking and subscribing to record easily. The disadvantage, like what Kirk mentioned, workflow does not have a capability perform sublist and subrecord apis. Another thing is that it can source from parent records and some child records through fields but cannot set values for them. which you should work with WAF. Also custom Save Record logic like checking values, unlike script, is not available on workflow whilst doing it on WAF would require the validation on server event

[Vinayak]

Hi chanarbon,

Could you please bit elaborate on your last two points.

Thanks

[chanarbon]

With the point:

“Another thing is that it can source from parent records and some child records through fields but cannot set values for them. which you should work with WAF.” What I mean is that linked records like Contact which a linked Customer, you still need workflow action script to get the Customer linked to Contact updated if you want to.

With the point:

“Also custom Save Record logic like checking values, unlike script, is not available on workflow whilst doing it on WAF would require the validation on server event”

Unlike client script’s Save Record functionality for checking, and validation, workflow does not that that option. If you want to throw an error before saving the record, you are to perform it on a Return Error function which is a server action instead of having it on client.

[Vinayak]

Thanks chanarbon.

[chanarbon]

I guess from my point of view, the most useful part of workflow is for the record locking. So far from the existing APIs, there is no lock record api.

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