Sandbox refresh deactivating workflows

I have just found out that after the sandbox refresh all workflows were deactivated.  That is a new step this refresh and I'm wondering why TDX has decided to do this.  That is the majority of our testing in the sandbox. Is there an easy way of reactivating all of the workflows besides my having to touch all 100?

Asked by Danee Gunka Schwartz on Thu 7/20/23 2:19 PM Last edited Thu 7/20/23 3:35 PM
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Answers (2)

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Mark Sayers Thu 7/20/23 2:40 PM

Hello Danee,

This is a relatively new thing because we found that workflows were still being initiated and unintentionally affecting/creating tickets in Production. So it was best to just deactivate all workflows to ensure that only the desired workflows would end up getting triggered to run in Sandbox. We already deactivate web service methods/providers/auth accounts for workflows, so it wasn't a stretch to see that the workflows themselves should also be *initially* prevented from staying active if they were inflight during the time we collected the database data for the Sandbox refresh.

Unfortunately there is not a process to mass activate all workflows, however is it also expected that every workflow is always in use in Sandbox as a matter of routine? Or is the quantity of currently-used/tested workflows much less than the total number of existing workflows?

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I guess I don't understand how a workflow in the sandbox creates a ticket in production. That would be the web services that you deactivate wouldn't it? The users should be able to go into the sandbox and test anything they need, so yes we would need all workflows active at all times. I already go through all web services and activate and adjust them for the sandbox environment and I understand why they are deactivated. I don't understand why workflows are. The are initiated by a ticket/user and don't just run automatically. - Danee Gunka Schwartz Thu 7/20/23 2:53 PM
Deactivating web services only prevents you from adding them to a workflow if you were editing one in Sandbox. It doesn't prevent them from being used if a workflow is in-flight on a Sandbox ticket and has methods still pointing at Production URLs potentially. We deactivate them so tickets affected by automation rules or scheduled tickets do not get created with workflows that have methods pointing at Production and make changes to items in Production unintentionally. The idea is that you A) will ensure all needed web methods and their required parts are updated to point at SB URLs, B) they are then activated, and C) only the needed workflows are activated so results can be contained to only the desired actions. - Mark Sayers Thu 7/20/23 2:59 PM
Brittany Renn Thu 7/20/23 2:35 PM

Hi Danee, 

Deactivating workflows is a standard practice for refreshes and as far as I'm aware, it isn't new as of the last refresh date. A full list of impacted features can be found in this KB: https://solutions.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/1965/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=6357

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have further questions! 
 

Best,

Brittany Renn

TDX Support

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I'm sorry but that is incorrect. This is the first time all the workflows have been deactivate. Yes I found all the items that were turned off but I feel there should be more communication about new things added to this list. Maybe in the Sandbox refresh email that gets sent out? - Danee Gunka Schwartz Thu 7/20/23 2:55 PM