Processes

Processes

The Processes task is typically used to start and stop processes on a global level and to study global process statistics. It can also be used to study process instance details in the same way as when working with the Instances – All Processes task as described in chapter 2.2.

The Processes task contains a number of different portlets with many different segments in quite a substantial depth (up to a five level depth).

Selecting the Processes task will take you to the Processes main portlet as below.

Figure 46 The Processes task main portlet

Table 28 Processes task main portlet button options

The Processes main portlet consists of two segments; the main segment and the admin segment.

Main segment

A process is, as mentioned, designed in Comflow developer studio. After the design phase has been finished, the process is deployed to the runtime environment. In the sitedef it is, on global level, possible to define weather the default process state of deployed processes should be running or paused.

When deployed, the process definition is saved on disk on the runtime server. When the server starts up all processes default process states (running or paused) are registered in the runtime database i.e. the database holds the persistent information about the process state (not the process definition itself).

The list of processes as seen in Figure 47 is, therefore, a list of process states for all processes that has been deployed to the runtime server.

Figure 47 Processes task – Main segment

Table 29 Processes task - Main segment fields

Figure 48 Processes task - Main segment right click options

A row click leads to process details as described further below.

When right clicking on a specific process it is possible to:

Run/Pause a process

View process details

Remove a process

To set a process in a running or paused state just right click the desired process and choose Run/Pause. When a process is in a paused state no new process instances will be created.

A Remove Row right click will immediately remove the selected process from the list of processes. Note that this operation only removes the process state from the list i.e. the process definition does still exist on the runtime server disk. No new instances of the process will be created as long as the process in not in the list. The process will be back in the list if the Reload Cache button is pressed (or after server restart) and the Processes task thereafter is reopened. The former of course only applies if the actual process definition has not been deleted from the runtime server.

Choosing Process Details… for a specific process will take you to the view below:

Figure 49 Process details - Main portlet

Table 30 Process details - Main portlet buttons

Figure 50 Example of different design time defined States

Figure State distribution

Process Instances segment

Figure 52 Process Details – Process Instances segment

The Process Instances segment shows all created process instances of the selected process. It has exactly the same functionality, as the portlets in the Instances – All Processes task that is explained in chapter 2.2.

Please see chapter 2.2 for detailed information about the Process Instances segment.

Duration segment

The duration segment shows statistical information about the selected process. Note that SVG viewer must be installed on the computer running the runtime browser client to be able to see the bar chart. Please see installation documentation for further details.

In Figure 53 we can see that a total of five process instances (x-axis), of the selected process, have been created. One process instance is completed and has had a duration (y axis) of three days (the green bar). Four process instances are still ongoing and they all have been running for one day (the blue bars). Each bar is named from the PID of the process instance (see PID explanation in Table 33).

Hovering with the mouse over a bar will result in a pop up displaying the duration of the process instance in the format of days with two decimals (see duration example in Table 33).

Figure 53 Process Details - Duration segment

By right clicking in the duration segment it is possible to zoom in/out the bar chart.

Process Configuration segment

In the process configuration segment it is possible to view, add, change and delete process variables.

Process variables are global process variables that can be used to store aggregated process instances information or control the behavior of created process instances etc.

Process variables are typically created from rules created in design time when modeling business processes. It is, however, also possible to create process variables in runtime. Creating process variables in runtime should be regarded as a very unusual operation only to be used if it, for some reason, not should be possible to create it in design time.

The workings of process variables will not be further elaborated here. Please see ComActivty COMFLOW Developer user manual for more information.

Figure 54 Process Details - Configuration segment

Figure 55 Process Details - Configuration segment fields

Figure 56 Process Details - Configuration segment right click options

A row click on a record will have no effect.

When right clicking the process configuration segment there are three different options;

Change…

New…

Delete

Choosing Delete will immediately remove a process variable while choosing Change… allows the possibility to change an already created process variable.

When choosing the Change… or New… right click option the view below will appear:

Figure 57 Creating a new process variable

The process variable is given an appropriate name and value. The process variable change/creation is confirmed when pressing OK.

Admin segment

Chapter 2.1.1 started with an explanation about process states and what actually populates the list of processes in the main segment of the processes task main portlet. Please read that explanation before proceeding with this chapter.

A typical development setup is that a developer has a full design and runtime environment on his or hers computer. When processes are ready to be sent to the real production environment the developer does a deploy action of the desired processes.

Should a developer not be careful when doing the deploy action, other, none wanted, processes might be sent to the production environment as well. This is a mistake that can easily happen.

From the Admin segment it is, to some extent, possible to control the behavior of what populates the list of processes in the main segment.

If the ProcessValue field, as described below, is set to 1 no new process states will populate the process list in the main segment even if there are new process definitions deployed on the runtime server (because we do not want “junk” processes in the list of process states).

The ProcessValue control mechanism in the Admin segment offers an extra opportunity to assure that only relevant process states are present in the main segment list. Should, anyhow, none wanted entries/records occur in the list it is possible to use the right click Remove Row action as described in chapter 2.1.1.

Figure 58 Processes task – Admin segment

Table 31 Processes task - Admin segment fields

Table 32 Processes task - Admin segment buttons

Instances – All Processes

Using the Instances – All Processes task it is possible to delete, or study detailed information about, process instances. The functionality of the Instances – All Processes task is also accessible from the Processes task (see reference in chapter 2.1.1.1)

The Instances – All Processes task is located in Process Administration -> Instances – All Processes in the Navigator tree as shown in Figure 59.

Figure 59 The Instances – All Processes task

Selecting the Instances – All Processes task will take you to the Processes instances main portlet as below.

Figure 60 Process Instances task main portlet

Table 33 Process Instances task main portlet fields

Figure 61 Process Instances task main portlet right click options

A row click will lead to the Process instance details of the selected process instance.

When right clicking on a specific process instance an administrator can choose to:

Delete the process instance

View process instance details.

Choosing Delete will delete the selected process instance. A delete process instance operation should be performed with great caution!

Choosing Process Instance Details… will take the user to the view as seen in Figure 62 below.

Process instance details

Figure 62 Process Instance Details – Gantt view segment

Table 34 Process Instance Details buttons

Pressing the MoreDetails… button will take the user to the view as seen in Figure 66 in chapter 2.2.2 further below.

Process instance details – Gantt View

For each process instance there is the possibility to study process instance activity time details in a Gantt view. All work items, in this context called activities, existing in a process definition will be visible as a bar in the Gantt view.

From Figure 63 below we can draw the conclusion that six (6) different activities exists in the process definition from which the process instance is created from; Solve Issue, Do Assignment, Verify Solution, Give More Info, No Issue and Registration Continue.

Figure 63 Process Instance Time – Gantt View

Other conclusions that we can draw from Figure 63 is that only two, of a total of six, activities has been started i.e. been sent to the work lists of the associated roles; Solve Issue and Do Assignment.

The green color of the Solve Issue work item bar tells us that this activities has been completed i.e. it has been handled by a user.

The blue color of the Do Assignment activity bar tells us that the activity is ongoing i.e. the activity has been sent to the associated role but has not yet been handled by any user.

Hovering an activity bar will present detailed time information for an activity (please see Figure 64).

Figure 64 Detailed time information for the Solve Issue activity bar

Figure 64 highlights a number of different concepts (named elements) when studying detailed time information for a work item. Table 35 explains those different elements (in relation to Figure 64).

Table 35 Explanation to the activity elements as seen in Figure 64

Figure 65 Detailed time information for the Do Assignment activity bar

The elements, of the activity bar time information in Figure 65, are on a conceptual level very much the same as the ones explained in Table 35. Here all the different elements are blue though. That is because the activity is still ongoing. In contrast to the activity from Figure 65, this activity is, not only in an ongoing state. The planned end time has been exceeded by 2 days so far. This is easily spotted in the graphical bar (where the thin orange vertical bar has been exceeded) and also from the Delay element which here says 2 days.

More process instance details

Pressing the More Details… button in the process details portlet (see Figure 62) will lead to the portlet in Figure 66.

Figure 66 More process instance details main portlet

Table 36 More process instance details main portlet buttons

More process instance details – Assignment segment

Almost all processes exchange information with different users acting in specified roles. In the Assignment segment it is possible to assign a user to act in the role for a specific process instance. Should a user already be assigned it is possible to assign a new user.

Reassignment only applies to already started process instances, as well as future created instances.

Figure 67 More process instance details – Assignment segment

Table 37 Assignment segment fields

Figure 68 Assign segment right click options

Choosing Re-Assign… will take the user to the view below:

Figure 69 Re-assign portlet

Table 38 Re-assign portlet buttons

Assignment is done by simply left clicking on the desired user!

More process instance details – Work Items and Notifications segment

Figure 70 More process instance details – Work Items and Notifications segment

Table 39 Work Items and Notifications segment fields

Figure 71 Work Items and Notifications segment buttons

A row click will show the work item details of the selected work item/notification.

When right clicking on a specific item or notification an administrator can choose:

Map Data

Work Item Details

Choosing right click Map Data… will result in the view below:

Figure 72 Map Data portlet

This is a detailed view of the MapData passed over from the work item to the process (see MapDataID explanation in Table 39).

Table 40 Map Data portlet buttons

Choosing right click Work Item Details… will result in the view below:

Figure 73 Work item details portlet

Table 41 Work item details portlet fields

The assignment history provides historical assignment information for a specific work item or notification.

Table 42 Work item details – Assignment history segment fields

Table 43 Work item details handled information segment fields

Table 44 Work item details portlet buttons

More process instance details – Control (Internal State) segment

A design time modeled process consist of a number of modeling objects in a sequential order (see Figure 74). At every point in time each running process instance will be in a specific state, at a specific modeling object. In Figure 74 the circle around the last “wait for event” object indicates that this specific process instance is in that place of the process.

Figure 74 Item registration in a Wait for event state

Figure 75 More process instance details - Control segment

Table 45 Control (Internal State) segment fields

Figure 76 More process instance details - Control segment right click options

Normally no alterations are done in the Control (Internal State) segment. Any changes should be done with great cautions!

The only time you do any changes in this segment is when you for some reason want to force the process instance to listen to a new event (or several events) i.e. redirect the process flow in some way.. In such case you have to delete the event(s) that the process instance is currently waiting for and add a new event(s) that should occur for the process instance to continue. This of course requires knowledge of the modeled process because you have to know the ActivityId, ActivityLabel and possibly ReceivedTransitionIds.

When right clicking on a specific activity an administrator can choose to:

Delete the activity job

Choose New…

When choosing New… the following view will be presented:

Figure 77 New activity portlet

Table 45 explains the different fields of the portlet in Figure 77. The only mandatory fields are the ActivityId- and ActivityLabel fields.

If the event (modeling object) that the process instance is redirected to has several transitions preceding it but you want to simulate that one or more of the transitions have happened the transition id of those transitions must be specified in the ReceivedTransitionIds field.

More process instance details – Process Instance ID Map segment

Every created process instance gets an auto generated process id (PID) that uniquely identifies the instance. A process instance typically handles a case, such as an item registration, which is built upon an item that is represented in an external database and that has a unique key e.g. the item number (here called Key).

For technical reasons it is sometimes necessary to associate the PID with the unique item number key. This is if we want a process to listen to events that are not handled using users work lists (with work lists the handling differs slightly).

The PID/Key association mapping definition is made in design time.

Figure 78 More process instance details - Process Instance ID Map segment

Table 46 More process instance details - Process Instance ID Map segment fields

Figure 79 More process instance details - Process Instance ID Map right click options

It is possible to change the behavior of a process instance by changing or adding Keys. This is an operation that should be performed rarely and with great caution!

Suppose that a process instance can accept non work list handled events that occur when someone generates an event by doing some kind of action to an item with item number “32-1128”. In that case the Key value would be “32-1128” by default.

In rare occasions it might be desirable to change this, so that the process instance listens to events that might occur on another item with item number “7884-235” instead. In that case the Key should be changed to “7884-235”.

Another scenario would be to add a new Key. This would result in the process instance waiting for an event that might occur on two different items.

A row click on a specific record will not have any effect.

When right clicking on a specific process instance an administrator has two options:

New…

Change…

When choosing right click New… or Change…the following sametime portlet will be presented:

Figure 80 Create/change key sametime portlet

Table 47 Create/change key sametime portlet fields

Table 48 Create/change key sametime portlet buttons

More process instance details – Process Instance Variables segment

In the process instance variable segment it is possible to view, add, change and delete process instance variables.

Process instance variables are variables that can be used to store relevant information on process instance level. In contrast to the process variables, described in 2.1.1.3, process instance variables are only available for a specific instance. The process instance variables can e.g. be used to control the flow of the business process instance.

Process instance variables are typically created from rules created in design time when modeling business processes. It is, however, also possible to create process instance variables in runtime. Creating process instance variables in runtime should be regarded as a very unusual operation only to be used if it, for some reason, not should be possible to create it in design time.

The workings of process instance variables will not be further elaborated here. Please see ComActivty COMFLOW Developer user manual for more information.

Figure 81 More process instance details - Process Instance Var. segment

Table 49 More process instance details - Process Instance Var. segment fields

Figure 82 More process instance details - Process Instance Var. segment right click options

A row click on a specific record will have no effect.

When right clicking on a specific process instance variable an administrator has three options:

New…

Change…

Delete

Choosing right click Delete will delete the selected process instance variable.

When choosing right click Change… or New… the portlet below will become visible:

Figure 83 New process instance variable portlet

The process instance variable is given an appropriate name and value. The process instance variable change/creation is confirmed when pressing OK.

Table 50 New process instance variable portlet fields

Table 51 New process instance variable portlet button options

Processes – All Enterprises

Using the Processes – All Enterprises task it is possible to associate a process to another enterprise than the default association.

All users and all processes belong to a specific enterprise and almost all query operations take the enterprise value as input parameter.

If an administrator opens the processes task, all processes that are part of the enterprise that the administrator belongs to will be listed. Using the Processes – All Enterprises task all processes, no matter which enterprise it is associated with, will be listed. Hence, it will be possible to change process/enterprise association.

The Processes – All Enterprises task is probably quite rarely used.

The Processes – All Enterprises task is located in Process Administration -> Processes – All Enterprises in the Navigator tree as shown in Figure 84.

Figure 84 The Processes – All Enterprises task

Selecting the Processes – All Enterprises task will take you to the Processes – All Enterprises main portlet as below.

Figure 85 Processes – All Enterprises task main portlet

Table 52 Processes – All Enterprises task main portlet fields

Table 53 Processes – All Enterprises task main portlet buttons

Figure 86 Processes – All Enterprises task main portlet right click options

A row click on a specific record will have no effect.

When right clicking on a specific process instance variable an administrator has three options:

Copy

Remove Row

A Remove Row right click will immediately remove the selected process from the list of processes. Note that this operation only removes the process state from the list i.e. the process definition does still exist on the runtime server disk. No new instances of the process will be created as long as the process in not in the list. The process will be back in the list after server a restart. The former of course only applies if the actual process definition has not been deleted from the runtime server.

When choosing a right click Copy operation the portlet below will become visible:

Figure 87 Copy process portlet

Table 54 Copy process portlet fields

Table 55 Copy process portlet buttons