Description:

The Create Calendar Event workflow step creates an iCal calendar file using the event information configured in the workflow.

The step supports:

• Specifying the event begin date and time.
• Specifying the event end date and time.
• Selecting a time zone.
• Providing an event description.
• Providing a summary of the event details.
• Specifying the event location.
• Selecting participant users.
• Providing participant email addresses.
• Using workflow-generated values for event information.
• Returning a True or False result for subsequent workflow processing.

Usage:

The Create Calendar Event step is typically placed after a workflow has determined the date, time, participants, and other information required for a calendar event.

A typical workflow pattern is:

Determine Schedule → Create Calendar Event → Continue Process

The workflow can supply event information from Variables, form values, database results, approval information, or other workflow activities.

The step can be used to:

• Create calendar events for scheduled business activities.
• Create meetings following an approval.
• Generate calendar events from form submissions.
• Schedule appointments based on workflow data.
• Include selected FlowWright users as participants.
• Supply participant email addresses.
• Create calendar events containing dynamic workflow information.
• Generate an iCal calendar file for downstream processing.

Typical Workflow Suggestions:

Create a Calendar Event After an Approval

Use the step when an approved request should result in a calendar event.

Example:

Submit Request → Approval → Create Calendar Event → Notify User

For example:

Description:
Customer meeting

Location:
Conference Room A

Participants:
Selected FlowWright users

This lets the workflow create the calendar event after the required approval is complete.

Create an Event from Form Information

Use form values to populate the calendar event.

Example:

Meeting Request Form → Create Calendar Event → Continue Process

Form values can provide:

• Meeting start date/time.
• Meeting end date/time.
• Meeting description.
• Meeting location.
• Participants.

This lets you reuse a workflow to create calendar events based on submitted information.

Schedule a Customer Meeting

Use the step to create a calendar event when a customer meeting needs to be scheduled.

Example:

Get Customer Information → Determine Meeting Time → Create Calendar Event

Example event:

Description:
Customer Review Meeting

Location:
Customer Office

Participants:
Account Manager, Customer Representative

Workflow Variables can be used to populate customer-specific information.

Create an Internal Meeting

Use the step to schedule an internal meeting for selected FlowWright users.

Example:

Identify Participants → Create Calendar Event

Configure the Select participant users property with the appropriate FlowWright users.

The event can include a subject or summary, date/time, and location.

Specify a Time Zone

Use Select time zone when the event needs an explicit time-zone setting.

Example:

Determine Meeting Time → Create Calendar Event

Configure:

Select time zone:
Appropriate event time zone

This can be particularly useful when workflow participants or business operations span different geographic locations.

The XML exposes the time zone as an optional property using the TimeZoneList data type.

Create a Dynamic Event Summary

Use workflow information to build the event summary.

Example:

Retrieve Request Data → Create Calendar Event

Summary:

Review meeting for Request {{RequestID}}

Description:

Customer: {{CustomerName}}

Request: {{RequestID}}

Status: {{Status}}

This allows the same workflow configuration to create context-specific calendar events.

Create Events with Dynamic Locations

Use workflow-generated values for the event location.

Example:

Determine Meeting Location → Create Calendar Event

Possible locations might include:

• Conference Room A
• Conference Room B
• Customer Office
• Remote Meeting
• Training Center

The location is a required property in the supplied XML.

Add Selected FlowWright Users as Participants

Use Select participant users when participants are FlowWright users.

Example:

Determine Approvers → Create Calendar Event

Participants:

• Request Owner
• Manager
• Project Manager

The participant-user property is required according to the XML definition.

Provide Participant Email Addresses

Use participant users' email addresses when you need to supply email addresses as part of the event configuration.

Example:

Retrieve Participant Information → Create Calendar Event

Email addresses:

manager@example.com
customer@example.com
projectmanager@example.com

Create a Training Event

Use the step to create calendar events for scheduled training.

Example:

Training Request → Approval → Create Calendar Event

Example:

Description:
FlowWright Administration Training

Location:
Training Room

Participants:
Selected trainees

The start and end date/time properties can be populated from the approved training schedule.

Create an Appointment from a Workflow

Use this step when a workflow manages appointments.

Example:

Appointment Request → Validate Availability → Create Calendar Event

The workflow can supply:

• Appointment start.
• Appointment end.
• Appointment location.
• Participant users.
• Event description.

Create a Follow-Up Meeting

Use the step when a completed workflow activity should result in a follow-up meeting.

Example:

Complete Review → Create Calendar Event → Send Notification

Example:

Description:
Follow-up Review

Location:
Meeting Room 2

Summary:
Follow-up discussion for {{RequestID}}

Create a Calendar Event for a Deadline

Use the step to create an event associated with an important workflow deadline.

Example:

Determine Deadline → Create Calendar Event

The event can communicate the deadline or scheduled activity to the relevant participants.

Handle Calendar Event Creation Failure

Use the True and False return paths to handle the operation result.

Example:

Create Calendar Event

→ True → Continue Process

→ False → Log Failure / Notify Administrator

This allows the workflow to handle unsuccessful event creation separately from normal processing.

Example:

Let’s build and execute the “createCalendarEventDef” example.          

• Create a new process definition named “createCalendarEventDef” and open it in designer mode.
• Drag a "createCalendarEvent" step to the canvas.
• Connect the dots between the “Start” and "createCalendarEvent" steps, as shown above. 
• Select the line between the steps to configure the “Connection Properties”. The default property values are “None, True, False, Error, and Evaluate”. Depending on the step’s purpose, you can configure additional values.
• Click the "createCalendarEvent" step to configure its "Required" properties. Provide a name for the step. Enter the event's start and end dates and times. Select the time zone from the dropdown list. Enter a description for the event. Enter the event location. Click the Save button. Note: Click the "AI Predict" button for the Copilot to add new process steps that match your process description. 

• Click the button to summarize the event details. After summarizing the event details, a Template popup will open. Fill out the template design to match your requirements, or select an existing template from the dropdown.

• Click the button to select participant users. 

• Click the "createCalendarEvent" step to configure its "Optional" properties. Enter the email addresses of external participants, separated by semicolons. 

• The “Logging” configuration is necessary for documentation and also measures workflow progress and percent complete. Configure the step state and percent fields individually, as shown below. Configure the “Logging” using the following properties.

• Save the process definition. Create a new process instance and execute it. Render the process instance and select the Create Calendar Event step to view its properties and execution information. When the workflow reaches the step, FlowWright uses the configured date/time, time zone, event information, location, and participant information to create the calendar event. If the operation succeeds, the workflow follows the True path. If the operation does not succeed, the workflow can follow the False path for alternate processing or error handling.

Tips:

• Always provide a valid Event begin date and time.
• Always provide a valid Event end date and time.
• Verify that the end date/time matches the event's intended duration.
• Select an appropriate time zone when the event requires explicit time-zone information.
• Provide a meaningful event description.
• Use the Summary property to clearly communicate the purpose and details of the event.
• Provide a meaningful event location.
• Select the intended participant users carefully.
• Verify participant information before executing the step.
• Use workflow Variables to populate dynamic event information.
• Use consistent date/time handling throughout the workflow.
• Test events across relevant time zones when the workflow operates across geographic regions.
• Test events with different start and end times.
• Test events that span different dates.
• Verify participant information before deploying the workflow.
• Use meaningful event descriptions so recipients can understand the purpose of the event.
• Keep sensitive information out of event descriptions and summaries when the event may be distributed outside FlowWright.
• Test the workflow after changing the participant configuration.
• Test the False return path and provide appropriate error handling.
• Verify the generated calendar event using the actual FlowWright runtime behavior.
• Do not assume a particular calendar application or external calendar service is automatically updated unless that behavior has been confirmed.
• Do not assume a specific email-address delimiter or parsing format for Email addresses of participant users without confirming the FlowWright implementation.
• Do not assume the output location or filename of the generated iCal file from the XML alone.
• Verify the behavior of the optional time-zone property in the target environment.

Definition Sample:

You may provide a sample CreateCalendarEventDef process definition for users to download and later import into their FlowWright Process Definition.

After importing the sample, verify and complete any missing configuration, including:

• Event begin date and time.
• Event end date and time.
• Time zone.
• Event description.
• Event summary.
• Event location.
• Participant users.
• Participant email addresses, if required.
• Workflow Variable references.
• Environment-specific calendar or email configuration.
• Downstream True and False workflow paths.

After verifying the configuration, save the Process Definition before execution.

Click here to download the sample file.