When does a workflow instance get assigned to a new record?

[ian.p]

@jaco.theron

When a record is created through the UI, the API LB is triggered on Save, and the system automatically assigns a workflow state (znWorkflowInstance), for example New/Init.
However, when the same record is created via an API call executed externally, the znWorkflowInstance is null.

I need to know what is exact phase of the life of a record when the znwWorkflowInstance gets assigned to a record that is being created in the system.

What we’re seeing is, if an action block is called from another logic block and it is passed some values to create a new record, the record underlying the action block has a null znwWorkflowInstance while the action block runs. However if you create a record in the UI which then invokes an action block when you save it, the znwWorkflowInstance is not null.

Can someone please confirm?