Workflow toggles (Custom Object / CAG)

Short Description Hive9 has top-level toggles that enable or disable Custom Object Workflows and Custom Attribute Group approval flows. This article explains what each toggle does.

What this article answers

The two top-level workflow toggles.
What turning them off actually disables.
When to use the toggles for cleanup.

The toggles

Under Settings → Organizational Setup → Workflow Options (or similar), you'll find toggles that control whether certain workflow categories are active for the instance:

Custom Object Workflows — enable CAG-style approval flows on customizable objects.
Custom Attribute Group Workflows — enable approval flows triggered by attribute group changes.

These toggles are the broadest off-switches available to customer admins. Use them with care.

What each toggle does

Custom Object Workflows toggle

When ON:

Custom objects (like PRs or other configured objects) can use their own approval workflows separate from tactic workflows.
Workflow definitions for these objects appear in Settings → Approval Workflows.
Objects route through approvals per their configured workflow.

When OFF:

Custom object workflow processing is disabled.
Existing object references to workflows remain but won't fire.
New objects don't enter approval automatically.

Custom Attribute Group Workflows toggle

When ON:

CAG-based workflows fire when attributes in defined CAG groups change.
See Custom Attribute Group approval flow.

When OFF:

CAG flows don't fire on attribute changes.
The standard tactic approval workflow is unaffected.

When to use the toggles

Turn ON when…

Your organization is rolling out approval governance for custom objects or specific attribute changes.
You've designed and configured the necessary workflows and want them to start firing.

Turn OFF when…

The workflows are causing more friction than value (rare but possible).
You're temporarily simplifying the instance during reconfiguration.
You're investigating an orphaned-workflow issue and want to disable the source temporarily.

Toggles and the orphan-workflow problem

A common pattern: workflows were configured at some point in the past, are no longer needed, but old tactics still reference them. Users hit "Selected Approval Workflow is either marked as inactive or deleted" on edits.

The toggles are the broadest off-switch for this. Turning off the relevant toggle stops the workflow from firing — but doesn't strip the orphaned references from old tactics.

If you turn the toggle off and still see workflow errors on individual tactics, you need to reassign or remove the workflow reference per tactic. See the troubleshooting article on inactive workflows.

Toggle changes and audit logging

Toggling these on or off is captured in the audit log. The change identifies:

Who toggled.
When.
The before and after state.

Common questions

Will turning off Custom Object Workflows undo my workflow configurations? No — configurations are preserved. The toggle just stops them from firing. Turn back on and they resume.

Can I scope the toggle to one type of object? The toggle is global per type (one for Custom Object Workflows, one for CAG). For finer-grained control, deactivate individual workflows rather than toggling the global switch.

Will users be notified when I change a toggle? Not automatically. Communicate widely before making changes — workflow behavior changes can affect many users at once.

What if I turn off CAG workflows but there are in-flight CAG approvals? In-flight approvals typically complete under the rules active when they started. Future attribute changes won't trigger new CAG cycles. Confirm with your CSM if in doubt about specific cases.