To receive meaningful data from a workflow, you first determine the data that you need to capture. Then, you devise an overall capture strategy by using the appropriate tagging strategies.

When you create a workflow, you assign the BEGIN and END tags associated with the workflow to the applications and screens that trigger the workflow. To determine which screens and applications to tag, consider the questions that you want to answer, and then select a tagging strategy that produces the results that you need.
NOTE: To create workflows and assign BEGIN and END tags, you need administrator privileges. If you do not have these privileges, then work with your administrator to implement the tagging strategies that you choose.

Typically, you assign each tag to a single screen or application, but you can also assign multiple triggers for each action. For example, a workflow can start from a single CRM screen but end on any of three different note-taking applications (Notepad, OneNote, or Toppad). In this scenario, you assign the BEGIN tag to the single start screen and the END tag to each of the note-taking applications.

The following examples describe tag placement and potential results for the most common tagging strategies:
Table 1. Tagging strategies
Strategy Tagging Purpose Pros/Cons
Equal application workflow You assign the BEGIN and END tags to the same application to capture basic process activity. This strategy returns the workflow steps from the point that an associate (also known as a data collector) leaves any screen in the tagged application until they return to any screen in the same application. These workflow results often reveal process loops where the associate leaves a primary application to retrieve data from or provide data to other applications. This strategy does not require you to know the specific screens that a process uses. While this strategy is the easiest to configure, this approach is the least effective if you want to capture complete, end-to-end workflows.
Unequal application workflow You assign the BEGIN and END tags to different applications. This strategy returns the workflow steps from the point that an associate leaves any screen in the BEGIN application until they encounter any screen in the END application. The workflow results provide useful insights but can return a significant number of steps. Analysts might have to perform additional research to isolate specific processes.
Equal screen workflow You assign the BEGIN and END tags to the same screen to use a single screen as the start and end of a workflow. This strategy returns the process steps within the same application (and also other applications) until the workflow encounters the original screen again. Clients typically apply this strategy when associates use a common screen to start a process. The results often reveal the steps from the start of one "get-work" process until the start of the next "get-work" process. To use this strategy, you need to understand screen usage so that you can identify a central control screen.
Unequal screen workflow You can assign the BEGIN and END tags to different screens. This strategy returns the workflow steps from the point that an associate leaves a specific BEGIN screen until they enounter a specific END screen. This configuration requires you to understand the different screens within a specific process. Because this workflow is highly targeted, the number of captured workflows is often significantly lower than the results from other strategies. This strategy provides the most focused workflow analysis.
NOTE: If you tag screens, an administrator might need to create screen rules to refine the screen names. For example, if the name of a screen includes a unique identifier, such as an account number or session number, then Workforce Intelligence views this screen as unique each time an associate launches or encounters it. To ensure that Workforce Intelligence recognizes this screen as the same screen despite the unique identifier, administrators can replace the unique identifier with a wildcard. If any of the screens that you select for tagging has unique identifiers, ensure that someone with administrator privileges creates the necessary screen rules.