Resolving workflow problems

When you save changes to workflow states, events, transitions, or assignment rules, Helix ALM automatically evaluates the workflow to check for potential problems. You can also manually evaluate the workflow. See Evaluating workflows.

Helix ALM identifies the following problems as warnings when evaluating workflows and provides suggestions for correcting them. Workflows may work as intended even if a warning is displayed.

Warning	Occurs when:	To fix:
Open ended state	Items in a state with the Open attribute cannot transition to a Closed state.	Configure a transition between the open state and a closed state.
Orphaned event	A non-informational event is not included in the workflow.	If the event is used for informational purposes, make sure the Informational Event option is selected in the Edit Event dialog box. If the event is used to change the item state or assignment, make sure a state transition is configured to enable the event.
Orphaned portion of workflow tree	Items can leave a state, but no transitions are configured for items to enter the state.	Configure a transition to enter the state.
Orphaned state	No transitions are configured to enter or leave a state.	Configure transitions to move items in or out of the state.
State only allows assigned users to enter events but can be reached through non-assignment events	An assignment rule only allows assigned users to enter events on items in the state, but transitions are configured so items can enter the state without being assigned.	Edit the state so it is not a resulting state for an event that clears the item assignment.

Tip:  If the state or event in a warning is not currently used, you can inactivate or delete it. See Inactivating workflow states, Inactivating workflow events, Deleting workflow states, and Deleting workflow events.