Workflow Engine - Automated Case Routing & Processing | Disclosurely

Intelligent workflow automation combining assignment rules, SLA policies, escalation, and case routing for efficient whistleblowing case management.

Workflow Engine

Automate case routing, assignment, escalation, and lifecycle management with Disclosurely's intelligent workflow engine.

Overview

The Workflow Engine is the orchestration layer that automates case handling from submission through resolution. By combining assignment rules, SLA policies, escalation triggers, and status workflows, the engine ensures consistent, timely, and efficient case processing.

Key Capabilities:

• Automatic case assignment based on rules
• SLA monitoring and enforcement
• Priority-based escalation
• Status workflow automation
• Deadline tracking and alerts
• Load balancing across team members
• Integration with analytics and audit trail
• Configurable business logic

Access: Dashboard > Workflows

How the Workflow Engine Works

Submission to Resolution Lifecycle

1. Case Submission

• Reporter submits case via reporting portal
• Case created with unique ID (DIS-XXXXXXXX)
• Initial status: "New/Unassigned"
• Workflow engine triggered

2. Automatic Assignment

• Engine evaluates assignment rules
• Matches case attributes (category, urgency, keywords, department)
• Identifies best-fit investigator or team
• Assigns case automatically
• Sends notification to assignee

3. SLA Clock Starts

• SLA policy determines timeline based on priority
• Response deadline calculated
• Investigation deadline set
• Countdown begins
• Notifications scheduled

4. Investigation Workflow

• Case progresses through statuses
• Status transitions trigger actions
• Investigators update case
• Evidence collected
• Communication with reporter

5. Escalation (if needed)

• SLA approaching or breached
• High-risk case flagged
• Complex case requires senior attention
• Escalation rules trigger
• Re-assignment or alerts sent

6. Resolution & Closure

• Investigation completed
• Findings documented
• Reporter notified (if applicable)
• Case closed
• Retention policy applied

Learn More: Case Workflow

Workflow Components

Assignment Rules:

• Condition-based case routing
• Category, urgency, keyword matching
• Department-specific rules
• Round-robin or skill-based assignment
• Manual override capability

SLA Policies:

• Priority-based timelines
• Response and resolution deadlines
• Escalation triggers
• Business hours configuration
• Holiday/weekend handling

Escalation Logic:

• Automatic escalation conditions
• Escalation paths (who to escalate to)
• Notification cascades
• De-escalation rules

Status Workflows:

• Allowed status transitions
• Required actions per status
• Approval workflows
• Auto-close conditions

Configuring Workflow Rules

Assignment Rules

Creating Assignment Rules:

1. Navigate to Workflows > Assignment Rules
2. Click Create Rule
3. Configure rule conditions:
   • Name: Descriptive rule name
   • Priority: Rule execution order (higher first)
   • Conditions: What cases match this rule
     • Category (e.g., Financial Misconduct)
     • Urgency (Low, Medium, High, Critical)
     • Keywords (e.g., "fraud", "embezzlement")
     • Department/Location
     • Reporter type (Anonymous vs. Confidential)
   • Assignment Target: Who gets assigned
     • Specific user
     • Team/department
     • Round-robin across team
     • Skill-based (least busy qualified investigator)
4. Set rule status (Active/Inactive)
5. Save rule

Rule Execution:

• Rules evaluated in priority order
• First matching rule wins
• If no rules match, default assignment (manual or queue)
• Rules can be temporarily disabled without deletion

Example Rules:

Rule 1: Critical Financial Cases

• Conditions: Category = Financial Misconduct AND Urgency = Critical
• Assign To: CFO or Financial Compliance Officer
• Priority: 1 (highest)

Rule 2: HR Department Cases

• Conditions: Department = Human Resources
• Assign To: HR Investigations Team (round-robin)
• Priority: 5

Rule 3: After-hours Cases

• Conditions: Submitted between 6pm-8am
• Assign To: On-call investigator (rotation)
• Priority: 3

Learn More: Assignment Rules Guide

SLA Policies

Defining SLA Policies:

1. Navigate to Workflows > SLA Policies
2. Click Create Policy
3. Configure policy:
   • Name: Policy name (e.g., "Critical Case SLA")
   • Priority Level: Which priority this applies to
   • Response Deadline: Time to first response
     • Hours or days
     • Business hours only or calendar hours
   • Resolution Deadline: Time to case closure
   • Escalation Trigger: When to escalate
     • % of deadline (e.g., 80% elapsed)
     • Absolute time (e.g., 2 hours before breach)
   • Escalation Action: What happens
     • Notify manager
     • Reassign to senior investigator
     • Alert audit committee
     • Change priority
4. Save policy

SLA Configuration Example:

Business Hours:

• Define organization business hours (e.g., 9am-5pm)
• Exclude weekends (optional)
• Add holiday calendar
• SLA clock pauses outside business hours

Learn More: SLA Management Guide

Escalation Rules

Automatic Escalation:

Escalation Triggers:

1. SLA-Based:

   • Approaching deadline (configurable %)
   • Deadline breached
   • Extended deadline breached

2. Risk-Based:

   • High-risk case detected (AI risk assessment)
   • Retaliation allegation
   • Executive involvement
   • Media attention risk

3. Status-Based:

   • Case stuck in status >X days
   • Repeated status changes
   • Multiple reassignments

4. Activity-Based:

   • No activity in X days
   • No communication with reporter
   • Evidence not reviewed

Escalation Actions:

Notification:

• Email to escalation contact
• SMS for critical cases
• In-app alert
• Multiple recipients

Reassignment:

• Escalate to manager
• Transfer to senior investigator
• Add second investigator (collaborative)

Status Change:

• Automatically change priority (Medium → High)
• Flag for review
• Require manager approval

Workflow Modification:

• Shorten remaining SLA
• Add to high-priority queue
• Trigger audit committee notification

Status Workflows

Define Status Progression:

Standard Status Flow:

New → Assigned → In Progress → Under Review → Resolved → Closed

Alternate Flows:

New → Pending Information → In Progress → Resolved → Closed

In Progress → Escalated → Resolved → Closed

Any Status → Archived (retention policy)

Status Transition Rules:

• Define allowed transitions (can't skip steps)
• Require reason for certain transitions
• Mandate fields completion before status change
• Approval required for some transitions (e.g., Resolved → Closed)

Auto-Status Changes:

• "Pending Information" → "In Progress" when reporter responds
• "Under Review" → "Resolved" when findings approved
• "Resolved" → "Closed" after X days (auto-close)

Workflow Monitoring

Workflow History

Track All Workflow Actions:

Access: Dashboard > Workflows > History

Logged Actions:

• Assignment rule matches
• SLA deadlines calculated
• Escalations triggered
• Status transitions
• Deadline extensions
• Manual overrides

History Details:

• Timestamp
• Case ID
• Rule/policy triggered
• Action taken
• Actor (system or user)
• Outcome (success/failure)
• Reason (if manual override)

Use Cases:

• Audit workflow effectiveness
• Troubleshoot assignment issues
• Verify SLA compliance
• Analyze escalation patterns
• Optimize rules

Learn More: Audit Trail

Workflow Analytics

Performance Metrics:

Assignment Efficiency:

• % cases auto-assigned vs. manual
• Average assignment time
• Assignment rule match rate
• Reassignment frequency

SLA Compliance:

• % cases meeting response SLA
• % cases meeting resolution SLA
• Average SLA buffer (how much time left)
• Escalation rate

Workload Distribution:

• Cases per investigator
• Active cases per team member
• Workload balance score
• Capacity utilization

Bottleneck Identification:

• Average time in each status
• Cases stuck >X days
• Most common status
• Status regression rate

Access: Dashboard > Analytics > Workflows

Learn More: Analytics Dashboard

Real-Time Monitoring

Workflow Dashboard:

Live View:

• Cases currently in workflow
• Pending assignments
• SLA countdowns
• Upcoming escalations
• Stalled cases

Alerts:

• New critical case awaiting assignment
• SLA breach imminent (< 1 hour)
• Escalation triggered
• Workflow error (rule failed)
• Manual intervention needed

Quick Actions:

• Manually assign case
• Override assignment rule
• Extend SLA deadline
• Trigger immediate escalation
• Pause workflow (hold)

Advanced Workflow Features

Conditional Workflows

Multi-Step Workflows:

Create complex workflows with conditional logic:

Example: Financial Misconduct Workflow

1. Case Submitted
   ↓
2. IF Amount > $100,000
   → Assign to CFO + External Auditor
   ELSE
   → Assign to Financial Compliance Team
   ↓
3. Investigation
   ↓
4. IF Substantiated
   → Escalate to Audit Committee
   → Notify Legal Department
   → Trigger forensic audit
   ELSE
   → Document findings
   → Close case
   ↓
5. Resolution

Conditional Operators:

• IF/THEN/ELSE logic
• AND/OR conditions
• Comparison operators (>, <, =, ≠)
• Contains, Starts with, Ends with
• Regular expressions

Parallel Workflows

Simultaneous Actions:

Trigger multiple workflows concurrently:

Example: High-Risk Case

• Workflow A: Assign to senior investigator
• Workflow B: Notify audit committee
• Workflow C: Alert legal department
• Workflow D: Trigger AI risk assessment
• Workflow E: Set 4-hour response SLA

Synchronization:

• All workflows must complete before next step
• OR any workflow completion triggers next step
• Timeout if workflows don't complete in X time

Approval Workflows

Multi-Level Approvals:

Require approvals before case progression:

Example: Case Closure Approval

Investigator marks case "Resolved"
   ↓
Manager reviews findings
   ↓ (Approve)          ↓ (Reject)
Change to "Closed"    Return to "In Progress"
   ↓
Notify reporter
   ↓
Archive after 90 days

Approval Configurations:

• Single approver
• Multiple approvers (all must approve)
• Hierarchical approvals (manager → director → VP)
• Timeout with default action

Integration Workflows

External System Integration:

Trigger actions in integrated systems:

Available Integrations:

• Send notification to Slack/Teams
• Create ticket in ServiceNow/Jira
• Update CRM (Salesforce)
• Log to SIEM
• Archive to cloud storage
• Email external stakeholders

Webhook Workflows:

• Trigger webhooks on specific events
• Pass case data to external API
• Receive response and act accordingly
• Retry logic for failed calls

Learn More: Integrations

Workflow Best Practices

Rule Design

✅ Keep Rules Simple:

• One clear condition per rule
• Avoid overly complex logic
• Document rule purpose
• Test rules before activation

✅ Prioritize Correctly:

• Most specific rules first (higher priority)
• General catch-all rules last
• Avoid overlapping conditions
• Review priority order quarterly

✅ Monitor and Refine:

• Check rule match rates monthly
• Identify unused rules (disable or delete)
• Update rules based on case volume changes
• Get investigator feedback

SLA Management

✅ Set Realistic Deadlines:

• Consider actual investigation time
• Account for evidence gathering delays
• Include time for approvals
• Build in buffer for complexity

✅ Use Business Hours:

• Don't count weekends/holidays unless 24/7 team
• Pause SLA when waiting on reporter
• Extend SLA for legitimate delays
• Document SLA extensions

✅ Escalate Appropriately:

• Escalation should be exception, not routine
• High escalation rate indicates unrealistic SLAs
• Escalate to right person (not always highest)
• Have clear escalation procedures

Performance Optimization

✅ Balance Workload:

• Use round-robin for even distribution
• Consider investigator capacity (active case count)
• Don't overload top performers
• Assign based on expertise, not just availability

✅ Reduce Manual Overrides:

• If frequently overriding, rules need adjustment
• Track override reasons
• Update rules to handle common cases
• Allow flexibility for truly exceptional cases

✅ Automate Where Possible:

• Auto-assignment for straightforward cases
• Auto-escalation for SLA breaches
• Auto-status changes for clear conditions
• Auto-notifications at key milestones

Continuous Improvement

✅ Regular Reviews:

• Quarterly workflow effectiveness analysis
• Annual comprehensive workflow audit
• Benchmark against industry standards
• Incorporate lessons learned from cases

✅ Team Feedback:

• Survey investigators on workflow efficiency
• Collect suggestions for improvements
• Test proposed changes in pilot mode
• Communicate workflow changes clearly

✅ Data-Driven Decisions:

• Use analytics to identify issues
• Track KPIs (assignment time, SLA compliance, escalation rate)
• Compare before/after workflow changes
• Make incremental improvements

Troubleshooting Workflows

Rule Not Triggering

Symptom: Expected assignment rule didn't fire

Possible Causes:

1. Rule inactive: Verify rule is enabled
2. Condition mismatch: Case doesn't meet all conditions
3. Priority: Higher priority rule matched first
4. Timing: Rule created after case submitted

Resolution:

1. Check rule status (Active/Inactive)
2. Review case attributes vs. rule conditions
3. Check rule execution order (priority)
4. View workflow history for rule evaluation
5. Test rule with sample cases

SLA Not Calculating

Symptom: SLA deadline missing or incorrect

Possible Causes:

1. No SLA policy: Priority level not configured
2. Business hours: Confusion about business vs. calendar hours
3. Timezone: Organization timezone mismatch
4. Manual override: SLA manually paused or extended

Resolution:

1. Verify SLA policy exists for case priority
2. Check business hours configuration
3. Confirm organization timezone setting
4. Review case history for manual SLA changes
5. Recalculate SLA if needed

Escalation Not Occurring

Symptom: Case should have escalated but didn't

Possible Causes:

1. Escalation disabled: Rule turned off
2. Threshold not reached: Not at escalation %yet
3. Already escalated: Can't escalate twice
4. Notification failed: Email bounced or blocked

Resolution:

1. Check escalation rule configuration
2. Verify SLA progress (is it at threshold?)
3. Review case history for prior escalations
4. Test email notifications
5. Manually escalate if needed

Workflow Conflicts

Symptom: Multiple rules trying to assign same case

Possible Causes:

1. Overlapping conditions: Rules match same cases
2. Priority confusion: Rules at same priority level
3. Concurrent execution: Race condition

Resolution:

1. Review all active rules for overlaps
2. Adjust rule conditions to be mutually exclusive
3. Set clear priority order
4. Use more specific conditions
5. Test rule combinations

Use Cases

Financial Services Firm

Workflow Setup:

Assignment Rules:

• Fraud >$1M → CFO + External Auditor
• Market manipulation → Compliance Officer
• Insider trading → Legal + Compliance
• General financial misconduct → Financial Risk Team

SLA Policies:

• All financial cases: 24-hour response
• Critical (>$1M): 48-hour resolution
• High: 7-day resolution
• Medium: 14-day resolution

Escalation:

• Any case >$500K escalates to audit committee
• SLA breach → CFO notification
• Retaliation allegation → CEO + Legal

Results:

• 95% auto-assignment rate
• 98% SLA compliance
• 40% reduction in manual routing time

Healthcare Organization

Workflow Setup:

Assignment Rules:

• Patient safety → Chief Medical Officer
• HIPAA violation → Privacy Officer
• Workplace safety → Safety Manager
• HR issues → HR Director

SLA Policies:

• Patient safety: 2-hour response (critical)
• All other: Standard tiered SLAs
• Pause SLA when awaiting medical records

Escalation:

• Patient harm → Immediate escalation to CMO
• Multiple safety violations → Quality Committee
• Data breach → Legal + IT Security

Results:

• Patient safety cases resolved 60% faster
• Zero SLA breaches on critical cases
• Improved patient safety outcomes

Manufacturing Company

Workflow Setup:

Assignment Rules:

• Safety hazards → EHS (Environmental, Health, Safety) Manager
• Quality issues → Quality Assurance
• Theft/fraud → Security Team
• Department-specific → Department supervisor

SLA Policies:

• Safety: 4-hour response, 24-hour resolution
• Quality: 8-hour response, 3-day resolution
• Other: Standard 48-hour/14-day

Escalation:

• Imminent danger → Plant Manager + EHS (immediate)
• Repeat violations → Site Director
• Product quality affecting customers → VP Operations

Results:

• Safety incident response time reduced 75%
• Clear accountability per department
• Better tracking of systemic issues

Related Pages

• Assignment Rules - Detailed assignment configuration
• SLA Management - SLA policy setup
• Case Workflow - Investigation lifecycle
• Analytics Dashboard - Workflow performance metrics
• Audit Trail - Workflow history logging
• AI Risk Assessment - AI-powered escalation
• Pattern Detection - Systemic issue identification

Support

Questions about workflow automation?

• Email: support@disclosurely.com
• Contact Support
• Schedule Demo
• Guides & Tutorials