Tropic has two types of workflows: Tropic-Managed workflows and Organization-Managed workflows.
Key Differences Between Workflow Types
The distinction between Tropic-Managed and Organization-Managed workflows depends on request management rules. These rules evaluate three key criteria:
- Request type (e.g., new purchase, renewal, or cancellation)
- Budgeted amount
- Supplier
Workflow Types Explained
Tropic-Managed Workflows
Tropic-Managed workflows are used for requests where Tropic’s Assisted Purchasing team leads negotiations with SaaS suppliers. These workflows include tasks owned by Tropic staff and are designed to protect core assisted-purchasing steps while allowing limited self-service edits.
Editable Fields and Actions
You can make limited edits within Tropic-Managed workflows:
- Tasks assigned to your organization’s users: Add, delete, or update any task owned by your team. You can change assignees, task type, triggers, and descriptions as needed.
- Triggers for Tropic-assigned tasks: You can adjust when these tasks appear in the workflow, but their other details (like description or assignee) remain locked.
- Purchase category details: Update or clarify details about the purchase category assigned to the workflow.
- Descriptions in Tropic-managed request forms: Edit category descriptions and help text to make request forms clearer for your organization’s users
- Add and assign tasks: You can add new tasks to a Tropic-Managed workflow from Workflow Studio. Tasks can be assigned to your organization’s users or, for revision steps, to Tropic staff when applicable.
Locked Fields and Restrictions
Certain workflow elements remain protected to maintain Tropic’s assisted purchasing process:
- Tasks assigned to Tropic staff: These tasks are handled by Tropic’s Assisted Purchasing or Customer Experience teams and must remain unchanged to preserve your purchasing process.
- Internal tasks: Some tasks are marked Internal to indicate they’re used only by Tropic. These are hidden from your organization and cannot be edited or reassigned.
- Tropic-specific task types: Tasks such as Request Submission Approval, CE Review, Manager Savings Review, or CE Savings Logging are built into Tropic’s standard process and can’t be removed or modified.
- Tropic staff assignee types: Roles such as PS, CE, IC, or CEM are reserved for Tropic team members and can’t be assigned to your organization’s users.
- Workflow ownership type: You can’t switch a Tropic-Managed workflow into an Organization-Managed one. This protects the assisted purchasing model.
- Stage management actions: The Change Stage button remains unavailable for Tropic-Managed workflows. Contact Support if you need a stage adjusted.
Organization-Managed Workflows
Organization-Managed workflows are used for requests that do not involve Tropic’s Assisted Purchasing team, such as non-software purchases.
They may be created by Tropic staff during onboarding, but your organization maintains and updates these workflows independently.
Identifying Workflow Types for Requests
Check if a Request Is Tropic-Managed
- In Requests, select the request you want to verify
- Under the Management Details section, you'll see whether it is Tropic-Managed or Organization-Managed.
Changing a Request's Workflow
If you need to update a workflow for an existing request, follow the steps in Change a Request's Workflow.
You can also tag @tropicsupport within the request in the activity feed and ask for assistance.
Viewing Workflow Types in the Tropic Platform
Required Role: Owner
To view whether a workflow is Tropic-managed or organization-managed:
- In Tropic, navigate to Settings →Purchase Workflows
- Each workflow’s type is listed under the Managed By column.
Additional Resources
For more details on workflows and tasks, visit our Help Center.