Process Studio Cheat Sheet

  • Updated

Here you will find a quick guide to working in Process Studio. 

Process Models

A process model consists of three primary flow objects/symbols:

  • An Activity, an Event, and a Gateway
  • A Sequence flow connects them from start to stop and represents the process flow.
  • Right-click and hold to move on the canvas.
  • Right-click on a symbol to reconfigure it.
  • Left-click on a symbol and drag the gray
     arrows to connect sequence flows.

Roles in the process model.

Roles are used to assign tasks in the process. The name of the lane reflects the team or types of members who will complete the tasks in that lane/role.

Users & Groups

Are used to assign the correct performer. Create a group structure in the space and reuse it in several solutions if possible.

User rights

When you create a process model, it is only visible to you. Assign process rights to a group to make sure that the right people have access to the process model.

  • Share processes with the arrow or 
  • Set process rights via the cogwheel

User rights via the cogwheel 

 

User rights via Quick Share

The Process Automation best practice is to use groups and place users in them. The main advantage of groups is smoother administration in the event of changes.

The modeling notation being used in InRule Process Automation's Process Studio is BPMN 2.0, which is recognized as the world standard. There are many symbols within BPMN 2.0 and in this article, we present the most common ones.
Web sites for more info about the BPMN standard
Read more about BPMN here
Here you also can read more about BPM

Pools and Lanes

Pools (Participants) and Lanes (Roles) represent responsibilities for activities in a process.  A pool or a lane can be an organization or a role. Lanes subdivide pools or other lanes hierarchically.

Process Studio Modeling Symbols and Icons

Activity

  • Symbolizes when work or a task is performed by a process role.
  • Indicates a services task or integrations and predefined Script tasks. 
  • Shows Subprocesses to categorize activities performed within the same lane.

 

Activity
The standard symbol for user tasks in Process Automation

Subprocess
Subprocesses are a categorization of activities performed within the same lane

Call activity (Linked Subprocess)
A Subprocess is a compound Activity that is included within a Process. It is compound in that it can be broken down into a finer level of detail through a set of sub-Activities.

Activity Markers

The markers indicate the behavior and function of the activity: 

 

Subprocess -Additional levels of process details, condensed in one symbol. Clicking on the symbol will open the sub process and show all flow objects, connecting objects, and artifacts.

Loop Marker -A loop task repeats until a defined condition either applies or ceases to apply. 

Parallel multi-instance is non-sequential.  This means that the activity can be completed for each item in the collection in no particular order.

Sequential Multi-Instance Marker -  A sequential multi-instance activity.  This means that the activity must complete for each item in the order that they are received within the collection.

 

Task Types

Send Task-An alternative to using an intermediate event with a send trigger. This task can have a sender business component configured to send e-mail messages.

Receive Task- Receiving a message can be modeled as a separate task. This task type is an alternative to the catching message event, which is why the symbol for the event defined in BPMN 2.0 is an empty envelope.

User Tasks - The task performed by a user or a role.

Manual Task- Tasks executed by a physical user that do not affect the completion of a task assigned by the process engine. 

Service Task- The task is performed by a system via custom-written code

Script Task -Can be configured to run scripts. Read more in the article Script Components.

Event

  • The green symbol indicates the start of the process.
  • The yellow symbol indicates that an event occurs in the middle of the process somewhere between the start and the end.
  • The red symbol indicates the end of the process.
Definition Start
Standard
Intermediate End
Standard
Receiving(Catches)    Sending(Throwing)
No type: Simply indicates Start, End, and Intermediate events or manual action  
Messages: Receives or Sends messages if Process Automation receives a message from an API or Sends a predefined message either to an email address or to an API
Timer: Occurs at a specific date/time or is cyclically configured,
e.g., every Monday at 08:00
   
Link: Two link events become an interconnected stretched sequence flow from one place in the process to another.    
Error: Catching or throwing named errors.    
Cancel: Reacting to canceled transactions or triggering cancellation.      
Compensation: Handling or triggering compensation.  
Signals: The receiving signal awaits the linked sending signal. A sending signal can trigger several receiving signals used to dictate the process flow actively.
Termination: Triggers a direct end to the process flow, any open activities or events are stopped where they are.      

 

Gateway

  • Directs the process based on logic. 
  • Validates and directs the process flow on decisions or other input values.

Decisions or choices are configured on outgoing sequence flow, not on the gateway itself. The gateway is simply a visual representation of the process flow based on given logic.

Excluding gateway 

An Excluding gateway only directs the sequence flow one way based on given input and conditions. The backslash (\) indicates a default flow if no other route is true.

Parallel gateway

Splits all connected sequence flows simultaneously when activated. A parallel flow could be merged, in that case, it will wait on all activities to be performed, or each path needs to reach an end-event.

Parallel Event-based Gateway (instantiate)

The occurrence of all subsequent events starts a new process instance.

Inclusive gateway

Can split one or several ways when activated based on given inputs and conditions. It can also be merged, in that case, it will wait on all activities to be performed, or each path needs to reach an end-event.

Complex Gateway

Complex merging and branching behavior that is not captured by other gateways.

Event-based Gateway

An event-based gateway is always followed by catching events or receiving tasks. A sequence flow is routed to the subsequent event/task which happens first.

Exclusive Event-based Gateway (instantiate)

Each occurrence of a subsequent event starts a new process instance.

Flow Types 

Sequence Flow

A sequence flow defines the execution order of activities.

 

Default flow

The default flow is the default branch to be chosen if all other conditions evaluate to false.

Conditional flow

The conditional flow has a condition assigned that defines whether or not the flow is used.

Message Flow

A Message Flow symbolizes information flow across organizational boundaries. Message Flow can be attached to pools, activities, or message events.

Direct Flow

The direct flow symbolizes when a user is brought immediately from one user task to the next user task without being redirected to lists or a defined URL.

Data

Data Object

A Data Object represents information flowing through the process, such as business documents, e-mails or letters.

Data Association

A Data Association is used to associate data elements to Activities, Processes and Global Tasks.

Collection Data Object

A Collection Data Object represents a collection of information, e.g., a list of order items.

Data Store

A Data Store is a place where the process can read or write data, e.g., a database or a filing cabinet. It persists beyond the lifetime of the process instance.

Users & Groups - when deploying

The deployment of an application requires the assignment of users or groups. Each lane represents a role. The users and groups are handled by an administrator for the space and are accessible via the quick assign menu when deploying.

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