Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1

Release Notes

August 2019

Introduction

Workflow Manager helps enterprises efficiently manage the Application Readiness and Software License Optimization processes to streamline the procurement, preparation, deployment, and ongoing management of applications. Workflow Manager maximizes productivity of the IT team by automating change management, asset management, and other ITIL processes as part of the enterprise application lifecycle.

When IT-wide processes such as preparing application for deployment, migrations, and license optimization are managed poorly, expensive errors can occur, resulting in costly delays, lost productivity, and overspending. Workflow Manager standardizes, coordinates, and streamlines the management of applications through the entire enterprise lifecycle, reducing costs and maximizing productivity.

Workflow Manager supports both AdminStudio Suite and FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises. IT teams of every size use Workflow Manager to coordinate software asset management—from application packaging and deployment, though software licensing and optimization after deployment. Workflow Manager can manage desktop management processes, such as preparing for Windows migrations and application virtualization, as well as procurement, auditing, and retirement of software assets.

Issues Resolved in Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1

In Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1, various issues have been addressed. Please see Resolved Issues for the detailed list.

New Features in Workflow Manager 2019

In Workflow Manager 2019, the following new feature is included:

Editing a Template and Update the Changes to In-Progress workflows

Note • In addition to these new features, several additional customer issues were addressed. For more information, see Resolved Issues.

Editing a Template and Update the Changes to In-Progress workflows

In Workflow Manager 2019, you can now edit the Template which has been used to create a workflows and update the new changes to In-Progress workflows.

Note • For more information see Update-Template changes to In-Progress Workflows

In Workflow Manager 2019 the following changes can be made:

You can now edit an existing Template which has In-Progress workflows, see Editing a Template That is in Use.
In the Workflow Phases:
You can Add >> New Workflow Phases
You can Add >> New Workflow Steps
In the Data Groups:
You can Add >> New Data Groups
You can Add >> New Data Element
The new tab Validate is added, click F5 after updating a changes in the Template. Validate tab opens.
In the Validate Tab:
Validate Button - click this to validate the Template.
Update In-Progress Requests Button - Click this to update the changes to In-Progress workflows.

Note • You can update the changes to In-Progress workflows only after validating the Template.

When a new changes in the validated Template successfully updated to an In-Progress workflows, you will receive the notification message.

Upgrading Workflow Manager Older Version to Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1

To upgrade an installation of Workflow Manager 2018 Update 1 or older to Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1, you must first uninstall the older version of Workflow Manager.

To upgrade an older version of Workflow Manager to Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1, perform the following steps.

To upgrade an older version of Workflow Manager to Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1:

1. Download the installer for Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1 from the Flexera Product and License Center:

https://flexerasoftware.flexnetoperations.com 

2. If you have Workflow Manager 2018 or older is installed, open the Control Panel and uninstall it.
3. Launch the installer you downloaded in Step 1. Follow the instructions in the Installation Wizard until installation is completed.
4. After successful installation, AdminStudio Configuration Wizard will automatically launch.

5. On the Create or Update an AdminStudio database panel of the AdminStudio Configuration Wizard, provide the details and credentials of the SQL Server and database that was used in the older version of Workflow Manager.
6. Follow the instructions in the Configuration Wizard until it is completed. The wizard will upgrade the database and make it compliant with the new version of Workflow Manager.
7. Refresh/restart IIS on the Workflow Manager server.

After performing these steps, you can launch the updated version of Workflow Manager.

Resolved Issues

This section lists the customer issues that were resolved in the following versions of Workflow Manager:

Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1
Workflow Manager 2019

Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1

This section lists the customer issues that were resolved in Workflow Manager 2019 Update 1:

Issue

Description

IOJ-1990898

Workflow Manager url in FSG server should also support HTTPS protocol.

IOJ-1986751

Unable to Edit Templates After Upgrade To WFM 2018 Update 1

IOJ-1927509

Few visual issues are present on work assignment step after a search has been performed to assign the step to a user.

IOJ-1922444

The security token is invalid error message is returned when trying to call Create Workflow Request method when windows authentication is used.

IOJ-1920763

Write option should be renamed to Edit in Apply Permission to Templates drop down in Role Details page

IOJ-1920209

Days in Phase and Submitter Columns Not Populated Correctly

IOJ-1912054

Several references throughout the documentation in helpnet refers to Workflow manager 2016

IOJ-1912017

Help link on Dashboard page (possibly elsewhere) point to Workflow Manager 2017 documentation.

IOJ-1911913

Web page Formatting issues with 2018

IOJ-1908398

Unable to Save Approval Template Need to Add At Least One Approver

IOJ-1908027

Update Data Appends Symbols to Data if Submitted With no Change.

IOJ-1907414

Will Changing the AMS_Condition Table ItemName Column Affect Things?

IOJ-1907123

Subesquent Saves Fail If the Internal Name is Left Blank When Saving a Single Selection Data Element on First Attempt

IOJ-1905536

What Can Cause SetWorkAssignments Exception?

IOJ-1876823

Cannot associate package with Workflows

IOJ-1867187

Modifying a Template in Use Breaks Existing Completed Workflows.

IOJ-1819679

Text Area data element is causing auto rollback to not work

IOJ-1990409

Unable To Update Workflow Phase Branching Correctly

Workflow Manager 2019

This section lists the customer issues that were resolved in Workflow Manager 2019:

Issue

Description

IOJ-1806780

Rollback does not undo assignment step.

IOJ-1894635

Folder location has extra backslash.

IOJ-1895723

PackageUploadDirectory does not appear to be used for AdminStudio Package Upload.

IOJ-1887310

Export ability of Custom Stored Procedure Report shows blank screen.

IOJ-1860637

Renaming a Data Group should also rename conditions connected to Data Elements in the group.

IOJ-1922494

Not all users are shown when searching from the Assignment Step.

System Requirements

This section lists the system requirements for Workflow Manager.

Workflow Manager Web Server
Workflow Manager / AdminStudio Database Server
File Share Server
Workflow Manager End User Computers
Portal Web Server for Intranet Clients
Portal Web Server for Internet Clients
Workflow Manager System Account Requirements

Workflow Manager Web Server

The following table lists the system requirements for the Web server that hosts the Workflow Manager Data Web service and the actual Workflow Manager Web site.

Item

Description

Processor

32-bit or 64-bit processor at 2 GHz or greater.

Note • Workflow Manager runs in 32-bit mode on a 64-bit OS.

RAM

4 GB or greater (8 GB preferred)

Hard Disk Space

100 GB or greater

Operating System

Windows Server 2008 R2 or later / English base language (Windows Server 2012 preferred)

IIS

IIS 7.0 or later

.NET Framework

.NET Framework 4.6.1 or later

ASP.NET

ASP.NET 4.0.30319 or later

MSXML

MSXML 6.0

Note • MSXML is installed by the Workflow Manager installer.

Workflow Manager / AdminStudio Database Server

This following table lists the recommended system configuration for a Workflow Manager/AdminStudio Application Catalog database server:

Note • While minimum requirements are listed below, the recommended system configuration for a database server is dependent upon the number of users and the number of packages that will be imported into the Application Catalog database

Item

Description

Processor

32-bit or 64-bit processor at 2 GHz or greater

RAM

4 GB or greater (8 GB preferred)

Hard Disk Space

80 GB or greater

Operating System

Windows Server 2008 R2 or later (Windows Server 2012 preferred)

Database Software

SQL Server 2008 R2 or later databases, including SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014 (latest version preferred)

Dictionary sort order—SQL Server must be installed with case-insensitive dictionary sort order 52 on Code Page 1252 for non-Unicode data. For more information, use the sp_helpsort T-SQL command, which returns the following:

Latin1-General, case-insensitive, accent-sensitive, kanatype-insensitive, width-insensitive for Unicode Data, SQL Server Sort Order 52 on Code Page 1252 for non-Unicode data 

Collation settingSQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS is the required collation setting for AdminStudio database server. It is the only supported collation.

Note • Before attempting to connect to an existing Microsoft SQL Server, open SQL Server Configuration Manager and make sure that the following three protocols are enabled:

Shared Memory
Named Pipes
TCP/IP

File Share Server

This following table lists the system requirements for the machine that stores Workflow Manager’s uploaded source files and the repackaged output files:

Item

Description

Processor

2 GHz or greater

RAM

2 GB or greater

Hard Disk Space

1 TB or greater

Operating System

Windows Server 2008 R2 or later

Workflow Manager End User Computers

This following table lists the recommended system configuration for a Workflow Manager end user machine:

Item

Description

Browser

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 or later
Chrome for Windows 33.0 or later
Firefox for Windows 25.0 or later
Safari for Mac OS X and iOS

Monitor Resolution

1024 x 768 pixels or higher

Portal Web Server for Intranet Clients

A portal is not required to support Windows NT authentication. You can enable Windows NT authentication directly on the web site.

Single sign-on is only supported when the user that logs into IIS has been imported into the Workflow Manager database using Active Directory. The administrator can either import the complete group or only one user. If a complete group is imported, then all the members of the group can be logged into Workflow Manager using single sign-on.

The system requirements for this machine are the same as for the Workflow Manager Web Server.

Portal Web Server for Internet Clients

For better security and to manage access to the Workflow Manager Web Server, it is recommend to also set up a portal Web server for Internet clients.

If Workflow Manager needs to be accessed over the Internet, it is recommended to set up a portal Web server, residing in a demilitarized zone (DMZ). This Web server:

accepts the requests from the Internet clients,
forwards them to the Workflow Manager,
gets responses from the Workflow Manager, and
forwards them to the clients

You can configure the Workflow Manager to entertain the request only if it is coming from the Portal Web server, and otherwise reject the request. The Portal Web server manages access to Workflow Manager and ensures that clients are not able to access any data or documents without logging in.

The system requirements for this machine are the same as for Workflow Manager Web Server.

Workflow Manager System Account Requirements

The AMS_SYSTEM account on the Workflow Manager server requires the following privileges:

IIS_WPG group member—Must be a member of the local IIS_WPG group (or IIS_USRS) on the web server.
Modify permissions on file share—Must have “modify” permissions on the Workflow Manager file share.
Email permissions—Must have permission to send e-mail through the SMTP server.
Active Directory query permission—Must have permission to query Active Directory.
Local Administrators group member—If Workflow Manager will be calling any of the AdminStudio Platform APls in the iPlugin DLL, the AMS_SYSTEM account must be a member of the local Administrators group.

Legal Information

Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2019 Flexera. All Rights Reserved.

This publication contains proprietary and confidential information and creative works owned by Flexera and its licensors, if any. Any use, copying, publication, distribution, display, modification, or transmission of such publication in whole or in part in any form or by any means without the prior express written permission of Flexera is strictly prohibited. Except where expressly provided by Flexera in writing, possession of this publication shall not be construed to confer any license or rights under any Flexera intellectual property rights, whether by estoppel, implication, or otherwise.

All copies of the technology and related information, if allowed by Flexera, must display this notice of copyright and ownership in full.

Intellectual Property

For a list of trademarks and patents that are owned by Flexera, see http://www.flexerasoftware.com/intellectual-property. All other brand and product names mentioned in Flexera products, product documentation, and marketing materials are the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Restricted Rights Legend

The Software is commercial computer software. If the user or licensee of the Software is an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government, the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure, or transfer of the Software, or any related documentation of any kind, including technical data and manuals, is restricted by a license agreement or by the terms of this Agreement in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 12.212 for civilian purposes and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 227.7202 for military purposes. The Software was developed fully at private expense. All other use is prohibited.