Core Docs - Core Concepts - Workflow Activities

Rock Version: v19.0
Last Modified: 2026-02-17 12:21 PM

In the previous articles we took a tour of the workflow configuration screen, let's start talking turkey. Activities are groupings of actions that work together to complete a unit of work. If you think of your workflow as a flow chart on paper, activities would be the boxes (generally speaking) while the actions would be the logical steps needed to execute the task.

There really is no right answer regarding how many activities a workflow should have. Like a box of Lego® bricks, you can use different pieces in different ways and still end up with the same output. The best way to get a feel for activities is experience. Before we walk through building a sample workflow though, let’s look at some of the basic configuration options for activities.

Activation

Activities won't run until they are activated by the workflow engine. There are two ways that an activity is activated:

Simply defining an activity doesn't guarantee that it will ever be executed. If it is not activated with the start of a workflow and no action ever activates it, it will never run.

Activities Don't always Run
It's not uncommon for an activity to never run. In many workflows the flow control logic you define might only run certain activities based on the input provided.

Configure Activities

When you add a new activity to a workflow type, you'll see a new blank activity panel. The configuration options are shown below:

Use Activity Attributes

Like workflow attributes, activity attributes allow you to store the data needed to execute your workflow. Many workflows can get by with using just workflow attributes. But there will be times when a specific activity is run more than once. If you'd like to keep track of data for each execution, you'll need to define activity attributes. The data in these attributes is only available within the specific activity instance.

As an example, say you had an activity that seeks approval for a purchase order. As a part of the approval, you might want to allow the approver to enter notes about their decision. You'd also like your workflow to allow the approval step to be re-run until an approval is received (for instance the approver may deny it at first, it goes back to the requester who edits it and then re-submits it for approval). If the approval note was stored as a workflow attribute, it would be overwritten each time the approval activity is run. When defined as an activity attribute, each instance of the activity would have its own instance of the note attribute.

Accessing Activity Attributes using Lava
The proper Lava to use when you're working with activity attributes will start with "Activity" rather than "Workflow" as shown in the examples below:{{ Activity | Attribute:'ApprovalNote' }}{% assign approvalNote = Activity | Attribute:'ApprovalNote' %}

Assign Activities

Activities can be assigned to a specific person or group. While security determines who's allowed to view or edit an activity, the assignment describes who is responsible for completing it. Assignment only comes into play for activities that must interact with a person (mainly through entry forms). Assignments help workflows prompt the right people to enter the data that is needed. We'll touch more on assignments in the Working With Entry Forms article.