We could repeat this best practice for virtually every part of Vista. The Issue Detective exists, not because bad data originally got into the system, but because time and events can make data bad or suspect. Running the Issue Detective on a regular basis ensures that your Vista HCM system is running smoothly without hidden problems that might hurt you later.

From the perspective of workflows, the Issue Detective can alert you to flows that have been in progress for too long. For example, a manager might have unattended flows sitting in his queue because he hasn’t bothered or has been unable to handle them.

As an example of another check performed by the Issue Detective, consider what happens when someone is terminated or promoted. Vista Workflow allows you to design flow movement in any number of ways. You can specify a participant (e.g., approver) as a specific person, as a member of a team, as a specific organizational position, or in many other ways. But if someone’s situation in your organization changes and you neglected to address that during your offboarding process, the Issue Detective will alert you to the workflow templates where this might cause a problem.

PDS is always adding more features to the Issue Detective, including for Vista Workflow, so schedule it to run on a regular basis (e.g., every pay period) to keep Vista functioning properly and to reduce your stress.


Bonus Tip: Create your own Issue Detective Notifications

PDS delivers two Issue Detective Notifications related to Vista Workflow. Notifications 41 and 77 flag workflow steps with invalid step owners and workflows that have not been completed within three months, respectively. In addition to these, you can create your own notifications through SysAdmin.

For example, using Notification 77 as a guide, you could easily create your own notification for workflows not completed within one month (or any other time frame). Please note that the delivered Issue Detective Notifications are maintained by PDS and should not be modified.


This article is part of the Workflow Best Practices series. Catch up by reading our previous article on Workflow Proxies or skip ahead to Removing Terminated Employees from Workflows.

Marco Padovani
Senior Development Manager | PDS
mpadovani@pdssoftware.com