Preventing Inaccurate Article Counts

Last Updated：

2026-03-27

Error detection in the workflow notifies writers of spreadsheet errors, ensuring accurate article counts and reliable progress reporting.

1. Issue: Overlooking Automated Process Errors

A cloud SaaS vendor aims to publish 100 “how-to” articles on its product website to communicate product value to customers.

Our web production team is responsible for creating these articles, using a workflow app powered by BPMS. Once an article is complete, a notification is automatically sent to Collab Chat, our internal chat tool. This message includes the cumulative number of articles published, keeping everyone informed about our progress toward the 100-article goal.

The cumulative article count is calculated through an automated process: First, the workflow app adds article details (title and URL) to a Google Spreadsheet. Then, the Google Spreadsheet automatically calculates the number of rows (representing the number of published articles) using the COUNT function. Finally, the workflow app retrieves this count and embeds it into the Collab Chat message.

Our main issue lies in overlooking errors within this automated process. Although infrequent, errors can occur when article information (title and URL) is automatically added to the Google Spreadsheet. These rare but previously unaddressed errors led to inaccurate article counts being shared on Collab Chat. Such discrepancies can affect progress management and potentially undermine the web production department’s credibility.

2. Solution: Implementing Error Detection

The process owner configured the workflow to handle processing failures. Specifically, if an error occurs during the article information addition process, the token proceeds to an “error boundary event”. By assigning the next step of the error boundary event, writers are notified of the error.

In the next step (manual execution during error handling), the writer can then advance the token back to the article information addition process.

Adding an error detection feature ensures accurate published article counts by preventing inconsistencies during the article information process.

Before

View details of the workflow diagram

1-1. Create Article
2. Review
3. Publish
4x. Add Row to Spreadsheet
A new row is added to the specified Google Spreadsheet.
5x. Get Count
The number of published article rows calculated by the spreadsheet is retrieved.
6x. Publication Report (Share Count)
A message confirming the article’s publication, along with the retrieved count, is shared with the department via Collab Chat.

After

View details of the workflow diagram

1-1. Create Article
2. Review
3. Publish
4x. Add Row to Spreadsheet
A new row is added to the specified Google Spreadsheet.
4. Manual Execution on Error
If an error occurs in step 4x, processing this step will re-execute “4x. Add Row to Spreadsheet.”
5x. Get Count
The number of published article rows calculated by the spreadsheet is retrieved.
6x. Publication Report (Share Count)
A message confirming the article’s publication, along with the retrieved count, is shared with the department via Collab Chat.