Nested Workflows

Real business processes are rarely flat. A project has phases. Each phase has tasks. Each task has sub-steps. An order has line items. Each line item goes through its own fulfillment process.

A single-level workflow is often not enough to capture this complexity faithfully.

Workflows Inside Workflows

Nested workflows in Swifty let you define processes within processes. A parent record — a project, an order, a contract — has its own high-level workflow. Each child record related to it has its own sub-workflow.

The parent's progress can be derived from the state of its children. A project advances to "In Review" when all its tasks are "Completed." An order advances to "Fulfilled" when all its line items are "Shipped."

Or the parent and children evolve independently, with the relationship providing context without tight coupling.

The Right Level of Detail

Nested workflows let you manage complexity at the right level. High-level progress is visible on the parent without needing to inspect every child record. Detail is available when you need it, without cluttering the top-level view.

A project dashboard shows which projects are in which phases. Drill into a project and see the individual tasks and their statuses. Everything visible at the right zoom level.

Trigger Rules Across Levels

Parent-level automation can look at child states. When all child records are in a terminal state, automatically advance the parent. When any child record enters a specific state, notify a team member at the parent level.

This cross-level logic handles common orchestration patterns without custom development.

For Complex Operations

Nested workflows are particularly valuable for:

• Manufacturing: Production orders containing individual production steps
• Project delivery: Projects containing phases containing tasks
• Procurement: Purchase orders containing line items with independent delivery tracking
• Service management: Service requests containing individual work items

Any process with meaningful sub-structure benefits from nested workflows rather than forcing everything into a flat, oversimplified model.