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Workflow Automation

Overview

Flywheel provides multiple approaches to automate and streamline your data processing workflows. This section covers the different workflow automation methods available in Flywheel, from gear-based automation to tag-based workflows and task management.

Workflow Types

Tag-Based Workflows

Use data tags to organize, filter, and automate workflows across your projects. Tags provide a flexible way to annotate data and trigger specific processing pipelines.

Key Features:

  • Data Tags: Annotate sessions, subjects, and files
  • Tag-Based Filtering: Search and filter data by tags
  • Gear Job Tags: Organize gear runs and allocate compute resources
  • Automation Integration: Use tags to trigger gear rules and workflows

Learn more about tag-based workflows

Task-Based Workflows

Manage human review tasks for clinical trials and reader studies. Tasks enable structured data collection with forms, annotations, and electronic signatures.

Key Features:

  • Read Tasks: Assign structured review workflows to radiologists
  • Protocol Management: Define viewer configurations and validation rules
  • Task Assignment: Manage workload distribution and due dates
  • E-Signatures: Capture regulatory-compliant signatures

Learn more about task-based workflows

Gear-Based Workflows

Automate data processing using gears and gear rules. Gears are containerized analysis tools that can be triggered automatically based on rules you define.

Key Features:

  • Gear Rules: Automatically trigger gears when files match specific criteria
  • Batch Processing: Run gears on multiple datasets simultaneously
  • Job Prioritization: Control the execution order of gear runs
  • Jobs Log: Monitor and manage all gear executions

Learn more about gear-based workflows

Choosing the Right Workflow

  • Use tag-based workflows when you need flexible data organization and filtering capabilities
  • Use task-based workflows when you need human review and structured data capture for clinical studies
  • Use gear-based workflows when you need to automatically process files as they arrive in Flywheel