Advanced• 60 minutes

Enterprise Workflow Patterns

Learn advanced patterns for complex enterprise automation scenarios with multi-step workflows, approvals, and error handling.

What You'll Build

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to:

Design multi-step enterprise workflows
Implement approval processes and gates
Handle errors and retries gracefully
Integrate with enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, etc.)
Ensure compliance and auditability
Scale workflows for high-volume operations

Prerequisites

Before You Start

✅ Enterprise Sematryx account
✅ Understanding of workflow design patterns
✅ Familiarity with enterprise system integration
✅ Access to enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, etc.)

Step 1: Multi-Step Workflow Design

Create complex workflows with multiple sequential steps:

Enterprise workflow example

curl -X POST https://api.sematryx.com/v1/automations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "enterprise-order-processing",
    "trigger": {
      "type": "webhook"
    },
    "actions": [
      {
        "type": "validate",
        "config": {
          "schema": "order_schema.json"
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "transform",
        "config": {
          "enrichment": {
            "customer_data": "fetch_from_crm",
            "inventory_check": "check_stock"
          }
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "approval",
        "config": {
          "required_approvers": ["manager", "finance"],
          "timeout": 3600
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "execute",
        "config": {
          "fulfillment": "process_order"
        }
      },
      {
        "type": "notify",
        "config": {
          "channels": ["email", "sms"],
          "template": "order_confirmation"
        }
      }
    ]
  }'

Workflow Steps

Validate: Ensure data meets requirements
Transform: Enrich and transform data
Approval: Require human approval for critical steps
Execute: Perform the main business operation
Notify: Send notifications to stakeholders

Step 2: Using the Python SDK

Build enterprise workflows programmatically:

Create enterprise workflow with Python

from sematryx import SematryxClient

client = SematryxClient(api_key='your-api-key')

# Create enterprise workflow
workflow = client.automations.create(
    name='enterprise-order-processing',
    trigger={'type': 'webhook'},
    actions=[
        {'type': 'validate', 'config': {'schema': 'order_schema.json'}},
        {'type': 'transform', 'config': {'enrichment': {...}}},
        {'type': 'approval', 'config': {'required_approvers': [...]}},
        {'type': 'execute', 'config': {'fulfillment': 'process_order'}},
        {'type': 'notify', 'config': {'channels': ['email', 'sms']}}
    ]
)

Step 3: Error Handling and Retries

Implement robust error handling for enterprise reliability:

Enterprise error handling

# Enterprise-grade error handling
try:
    result = client.automations.trigger(workflow_id, data)
except ValidationError as e:
    # Log and notify validation errors
    logger.error(f"Validation failed: {e}")
    notify_team("Validation error in workflow")
except ApprovalTimeoutError:
    # Handle approval timeouts
    escalate_to_manager()
except ExecutionError as e:
    # Retry with exponential backoff
    retry_with_backoff(workflow_id, data)

Enterprise Patterns

Approval Gates

Require human approval for critical business decisions or high-value transactions.

Multi-level approval workflows
Timeout handling for pending approvals
Escalation paths for overdue approvals

Data Enrichment

Enrich workflow data by fetching information from multiple enterprise systems.

CRM integration for customer data
ERP integration for inventory and pricing
External API calls for validation

Audit and Compliance

Ensure all workflow executions are logged and auditable for compliance.

Complete execution history
Change tracking and versioning
Compliance reporting

Best Practices

Enterprise Workflow Best Practices

Design workflows with clear separation of concerns
Implement comprehensive error handling and retries
Use approval gates for critical business decisions
Ensure all operations are auditable and traceable
Test workflows thoroughly in staging environments
Monitor workflow performance and optimize bottlenecks
Document workflow logic and business rules
Implement version control for workflow definitions

🎉 Next Steps

You've learned enterprise workflow patterns! Continue exploring:

→ Explore the full API documentation → Read best practices guide