EMC Documentum Process Builder

Transcription

1 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide P/N A01 EMC Corporation Corporate Headquarters: Hopkinton, MA

2 Copyright EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published December 2007 EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED AS IS. EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

3 Table of Contents Preface... 9 Chapter 1 Understanding Business Process Design Introducing workflows Process templates and associated workflow objects Understanding activities Understanding initiate activities Understanding wait for message activities Understanding fault handler activities Understanding process data Understanding packages Understanding process variables Understanding flows Planning workflow processes Choosing or creating activity templates Choosing activities Choosing performers Defining when the performer is determined Using aliases Enabling delegation and extension Defining task subjects Adding a signoff requirement Setting priority values Setting initial priority and aging of tasks How the system resolves the initial priority of a task How the system increases the priority of a task Setting static priority and aging logic for tasks Setting dynamic priority and aging logic for tasks Sample priority module Defining process data Defining packages Defining process variables Associating form templates with packages Setting trigger conditions Setting timers Setting up notifications Defining activity transitions Determining transition conditions Chapter 2 Using Process Builder Process Builder toolbar Activity Templates window Managing activity template folders Structured Data Types window Creating structured data type categories and groups Creating structured data types EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 3

4 Table of Contents Editing structured data types Creating a complex structured data type from an XML schema Process template editor pane Aligning activities Replacing an activity Snap to grid Zooming in or out Adding notes Viewing multiple processes using tabs Navigator Chapter 3 Working with Process Templates Opening existing process templates Creating process templates Setting process template properties Managing process data Configuring advanced options Setting Access Control List (ACL) options Selecting a calendar for the process Creating correlation sets Saving process templates Validating process templates Installing process templates Modifying process templates Checking in, checking out, and versioning process templates Deleting process templates Sharing process templates with Process Analyzer Setting process sharing folder locations Importing process templates Keeping shared processes in sync Exporting process templates Printing process templates Setting page setup options Previewing printed processes Chapter 4 Connecting Activities Creating flows Changing flow display settings Chapter 5 Working with Activity Templates Creating activity templates Managing activity templates within folders Configuring activity templates Validating and installing activity templates Chapter 6 Working with Activities Setting activity properties Selecting performers Associating a work queue priority module with an activity EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

5 Table of Contents Choosing manual performers Assign performer(s) now Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of this activity Define performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned when workflow is underway) Select performer based on conditions Select performer based on process data Mapping process data to a work queue skill set Choosing automatic performers Setting activity triggers Setting warning timers Sending a notification Starting a process Running a Java method Delegating a task Completing a task Setting activity transition rules Creating transition conditions Setting notifications Using the Notification Template Wizard Handling process data Changing display settings Using the data mapping tool Using the tree controls Showing additional package attributes Adding message properties Adding an XML schema to a message Adding a node based on a condition Mapping the data Using repeating attributes Input context Using data mapping functions Understanding message correlation Using correlation identifiers Using correlation sets Appendix A Delivered Activity Templates Content Services Create Folder Lifecycle Apply Lifecycle Demote Lifecycle Promote Link To Folder ECIS (Enterprise Content Integration Services) Flow Decision Split Join Post Event to Parent Process XSL Transformation Integration BOF Module Database Inbound Initiate and Step Database Read Database Stored Procedure EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 5

6 Table of Contents Example Search Patterns Database Write Dynamic Web Service Invoking non-secure Web Services Invoking secure Web Services Mapping Web Service parameters Configuring the HTTP proxy server Configuring HTTP proxy parameters in Windows Configuring HTTP proxy parameters in UNIX-based systems Invoking DFS (Documentum Foundation Services) services from Process Builder Inbound Initiate and Step Fax Outbound FTP Inbound Initiate and Step FTP Outbound HTTP Inbound Initiate and Step HTTP Outbound JMS Inbound Initiate and Step JMS Outbound Process Data Mapping SMTP Start Sub-Process Web Service Sample Sample Activity Template Set Queue Task Skill Queue Task Rework Decision BAM Observation Point Workflow Publish Events Job Deprecated activity templates Start Sub-Process SMTP Publish to JMS Topic FTP HTTP Post Send to JMS Queue Send to MQ JMS Appendix B Substitution Variables for Custom Activity Template Properties Appendix C Process Builder Con guration File EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

7 Table of Contents List of Figures Figure 1. Process templates capture business processes Figure 2. Components of a workflow Figure 3. Process Builder Figure 4. Notes add text to the visual layout Figure 5. Using the graphical data mapping tool to pass parameters to a web service Figure 6. Approval process without and with decision split activity Figure 7. Review process without and with join activity EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 7

8 Table of Contents List of Tables Table 1. Activity performer selection categories Table 2. Activity template states and related icons Table 3. Permission requirements for a process Table 4. Permission requirements for process variables Table 5. Process template states and related icons Table 6. Default sender and recipient based on event Table 7. Data Mapping Functions Table 8. Fields used to configure correlation ID Table 9. Supported Substitution Variables for Activity Configuration Fields Table 10. bpmconfig Parameters EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

9 Preface Purpose of the manual This manual is intended to help users design and build business process templates using EMC Documentum Process Builder. Process Builder is the design center of the Process Suite, which enables and supports all phases of the business process lifecycle. Process Builder enables developers to build and deploy executable processes starting from a process design created using the Process Analyzer. Intended audience This manual is intended for business users whose role is to design business processes. It assumes some familiarity with basic Documentum functionality, especially with the runtime workflow features available through Documentum Webtop or TaskSpace. Revision history This section contains a description of this document s revision history. Revision history Revision Date December 2007 Description Release 6.0 SP1 Support information EMC Documentums technical support services and policies are available at the EMC Powerlink website ( To download the Customer Guide to EMC Software Support Services from Powerlink, select Support > About EMC Customer Service > Software Customer Guide. To order printed documentation or access support information in Powerlink, select Support > About EMC Customer Service > Software Support Offerings. Note: You must register online at Powerlink before using it. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 9

10 Preface Related documentation Process Builder is a design tool for business process templates. Workflows are created from these templates at runtime; see the user documentation for Documentum Webtop or TaskSpace for information about running and participating in workflows. In addition to this manual, the documentation set for Process Builder includes: Documentum Process Builder Development Guide Documentum Process Builder Installation Guide Documentum Process Builder Release Notes Documentum Process Builder Localization Guide 10 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

11 Understanding Business Process Design Chapter 1 You use Process Builder to create process templates. A process template captures the definition of a business process, enabling users to repeatedly perform the process. Individual process instances generated from a process template are called workflows. This chapter introduces the basic concepts of Documentum workflow and business process design. The following topics are included: Introducing workflows, page 11 Process templates and associated workflow objects, page 14 Planning workflow processes, page 19 Process Builder extends the functionality of Documentum Workflow Manager. While you can use either tool to create process templates, Process Builder offers many enhanced options. Introducing work ows A workflow formalizes a business process such as an insurance claims process or an engineering development process. A workflow consists of the following elements: A process template is the business process represented as a formalized workflow definition. Users can use the template to repeatedly perform the business process. Because a process template is separate from its runtime instantiation, multiple workflows based on the same template can be run concurrently. A process template consists of multiple activities. Activities represent the tasks needed to complete the process, such as receiving an , reviewing a document, checking it into the repository, or approving it. Flows are the links between the activities, specifying the sequence of activities EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 11

12 Understanding Business Process Design Process data refers to the different types of data that flow through the process such as a document, a form, or process variables like part numbers or customer addresses. Process data is comprised of the process variables and packages that move through the workflow. Process variables are individual or grouped data types or execution data used during the life of the process. Different data elements that represent various types of customer information are an example of process variables. See Process templates and associated workflow objects, page 14 for further details about these workflow components. A package contains the object, generally a document or image file, passed between activities so that work can be performed on it. A loan application is an example of an object contained in a package. Figure 1. Process templates capture business processes Process templates can describe simple or complex business processes. You can create workflows that have both serial segments, in which activities follow one another in a specified sequence, and parallel segments, in which two or more activities happen concurrently. You can also create a cyclical workflow, in which the completion of an activity restarts a previously completed activity. The path that a document takes through the workflow can differ depending on what happens along the way; for example, a purchase order could be routed to different activities depending on whether the manager approves it or rejects it. You can create a process template that can be used in many contexts. This is done by including activities whose performers are identified by process data or aliases instead of actual usernames. When process data or aliases are used, the actual user is selected at runtime. For example, a typical business process for new documents has four steps: authoring the document, reviewing it, revising it, and publishing the document. The 12 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

13 Understanding Business Process Design actual authors and reviewers will be different people for different documents. Rather than creating a separate workflow for each document with the author and reviewer names assigned during the design process, you create one process template with activity definitions that use process data to define author and reviewer names. Depending on how you design the workflow, the author and reviewers can be chosen by the person who starts the workflow, by the person who performs the previous activity, automatically by the server when the activity is started, or based upon conditional logic defined in the workflow. You add activities to a process template by creating a blank activity or by selecting the appropriate activity template for the type of task represented by the activity. The activity template determines what configuration attributes are necessary for a particular type of task, including attributes common to all activities (such as a name and a list of performers) and custom attributes unique to a particular task. For example, the activity template for activities that post files to a website would include an attribute containing the URL to use for posting. Process Builder ships with predefined activity templates representing typical activity types, and you can create custom activity templates that exactly match your needs. Both packages and activities can have an associated form template. The form template defines the data entry fields that are displayed to the users performing the activity and specifies how the entered data is stored in the Documentum repository. You create forms using Documentum Forms Builder and associate them with processes using Process Builder. A workflow s process template is implemented by Documentum Content Server as a dm_process object. The definitions of individual activities in a process template are stored in dm_activity objects. When you design a workflow, you can include existing activity definitions in addition to creating any new activity definitions needed. When you start a workflow, the server uses the process template (the dm_process object) to create a runtime instance of the workflow (a dm_workflow object). When an activity starts, the server creates one or more work items (dmi_workitem), which are tasks that the server adds to the Inbox of the users who are the designated performers of the activity. The following graphic illustrates how the components of a process template and runtime instance work together. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 13

14 Understanding Business Process Design Figure 2. Components of a work ow Process templates and associated work ow objects The Process Builder workflow process data model consists of a process template, a set of activity definitions, a collection of data carried through the process, a set of flows connecting the activities, and process data, including one or more packages representing the documents being processed. 14 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

15 Understanding Business Process Design The process template defines the structure of a business process. It is composed of activity definitions and a set of attributes that define the flows connecting the activities. Understanding activities Activities represent the tasks that comprise the business process. Workflows can contain several kinds of activities: Initiate activities are the first activities in the workflow. Start activities are connected to initiate activities. The end activity is the last activity in the workflow. A process template can have only one end activity. Step activities are the intermediate activities between the start and the end. A process template can have any number of Step activities. Wait for message activities are receive activities that participate in asynchronous communication with external applications and are designed to wait for a response from the application. Fault handler activities enable you to specify an action to take if an automatic activity fails. An activity can be either manual or automatic. A manual activity is performed by a person or multiple people. An automatic activity is performed by the system on behalf of a user. The attributes of an activity definition describe the characteristics of the activity, including: The unique name of the activity How the activity is executed Who performs the work How the performer is assigned What starts the activity What triggers are necessary The transition behavior when the activity is completed Activities can also have characteristics that are specific to the type of task they represent. For example, an activity that sends documents to an external vendor would include an attribute containing the vendor s address. The set of custom attributes associated with an activity is configurable through the use of activity templates. When the server starts an activity, it creates work items and adds them to the Inboxes of the users identified as the performers of the activity. These work items contain the packages that the user needs to work on and instructions about the required task. The EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 15

16 Understanding Business Process Design server adds a queue item to the Inbox, linked to the work item. See the Documentum Content Server Object Reference for details. Understanding initiate activities Initiate activities specify the conditions that begin a process instance. Initiate activities can connect to any Start activities and can be manual or automatic activities. You can begin a workflow with one manual initiate activity, multiple automatic initiate activities, or a combination of one manual activity and several automatic initiate activities. If the initiate activity is an automatic activity, you must specify the channel configuration and mapping rules to copy data from the message to the process data carried through the process. If the initiate activity is manual, you can configure the activity to automatically launch a form created in Forms Builder that starts the process. For example, a loan application process flow can have multiple initiate activities. It can be started with a manual initiate activity that automatically launches a loan application form that a processor can complete during a phone-in application. The same process can also have an automatic initiate activity that receives a loan application through an message. You assign a form created in Forms Builder to the manual initiate activity on the Properties tab of the Activity Inspector. To include an automatic initiate activity, you could create an activity called Form Received, where the account is configured and details of the header and body are mapped to process data that has been defined for the process. A manual initiate activity has only the Properties, Data, and Display tabs available for configuring. Other initiate activities such as the Inbound Initiate activity template has all standard tabs as well as a tab to configure the server connection. Understanding wait for message activities A business process can participate in asynchronous communication with other external applications. One application can send the other a message and wait for a response. Process Builder uses correlation sets made up of data unique to the message to match the response to the original request. Any receive activity template can be configured as a Wait for Message activity. For example, in one activity of a purchasing process, a JMS message is sent to the supplier requesting information on whether an item from a purchase order has shipped. The message specifies both the vendor ID number and the item purchase order number. 16 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

17 Understanding Business Process Design Later, the vendor s system replies with a shipping status message for purchase order and the system uses the purchase order number and vendor ID carried within the message to match the request to the response. Understanding fault handler activities A fault handler activity is a secondary activity that is triggered when an associated automatic activity fails at runtime. A fault handling activity can be either a manual or automatic activity and can be linked from more than one automatic activity. A fault handler activity cannot have an outgoing flow it can only be used as a fault handler in the process. When a fault handler is assigned to an automatic activity, the fault handler runs every time the method associated with the activity fails. So if you have configured the system to retry the method at a specified interval and for a specified number of times, the fault handler will run after each method failure until the system has run through the specified number of retries. Once the system has cycled through the specified number of retries, it will take a final action based upon the settings in the performer tab and will either continue, stop, or terminate the workflow. Selecting performers, page 98 gives more specifics on how to set up the number of retries and the interval between retries for failed automatic activities. In the editor pane, you associate the fault handler activity with the automatic activity by using the Assign Fault Handler flow button in the tool bar. The system identifies the fault handler activity with a red lightening bolt icon on the activity template and uses a dashed, gray line to link the fault handler activity with its associated automatic activities. Understanding process data Process data refers to the different types of data that flow through the process such as a document, a form, or process variables like part numbers or customer addresses. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 17

18 Understanding Business Process Design Exposing and leveraging process data enables users to see meaningful business data when viewing their list of tasks such as the applicant s name, the approval status of a request, a loan amount, and so on. This information enables a task performer to work more efficiently on the tasks in their Inbox. Process data is made up of three types of data: Process variables that are defined in the context of the process. These variables can be assigned default values at design time as part of the process or can be initialized from a form that is associated with the process. Process variables can be simple variables such as Boolean or string values or they can be complex data types that are based on data types defined as Structured Data Types. See Understanding process variables, page 18 for more information on process variables. Data sourced from workflow collateral such as package data or incoming data from web services. See Understanding packages, page 18 for more information on package data. Execution data sourced from the current workflow and work items such as workflow creation date, workitem runtime state that is maintained by the process engine and are discarded when the workflow is finished. Understanding packages Packages are the objects on which activities perform their work. A package can be a document, a form, or other data that is associated with an activity. You list all of the packages handled by a process object as part of the process properties, then specify for each activity which of the packages it works with. An activity can handle multiple packages. Each package can have a form template associated with it, defining the user interface that the activity performers see when working on the package. Defining packages, page 32 provides specifics on adding packages to the process flow. Understanding process variables Process variables are instances of different types of data that flow through your business process. They can be simple data types (a string, Boolean, or date) or they can be complex data types groups of logically related data such as purchase orders or manufacturing items. Complex data types are defined in the Structured Data Type window where they are available to be reused in multiple process templates in a repository. Defining process variables, page 33 provides specifics on using variables in a process. 18 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

19 Understanding Business Process Design Understanding ows Flows connect activities together in the process. They enable the movement of packages, process variables, properties, and any dependencies that exist between the connected activities. There are three types of flows: forward flows, reject flows, and fault handler flows. Forward flows advance packages from an activity to the next activity in the normal workflow; for example, moving a package from the Edit activity to the Approve activity. Reject flows determine what happens when the performer of an activity rejects the task being routed. They direct packages in a backward loop; for example, sending a package from the Approve activity back to Edit. Fault handler flows determine what action to take if an associated automatic activity fails. Understanding fault handler activities, page 17 gives more specifics on this topic. All Step activities must have at least one flow coming in and one flow going out. An initiate activity has at least one outward flow, but no incoming flow. An end activity must have at least one incoming flow, but no outward flow. Planning work ow processes Each time you create a process template, there are design decisions to make. You must decide what types of process data are involved in the process, which activities to include, and how to structure the workflow. First, review the business process you want to automate and identify the sequence of activities required to complete it. Choosing activities, page 21 provides some guidance for the decisions about activities. For each activity in the workflow, you must make the following decisions: Is an appropriate activity template available? Choosing or creating activity templates, page 21 explains how to decide whether you need to create additional templates. Who performs the activity? Choosing performers, page 22 describes this choice. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 19

20 Understanding Business Process Design For manual activities: Can the user delegate or extend the activity? Enabling delegation and extension, page 25 describes these choices. What message should be displayed to the performers to provide information about the work item? Defining task subjects, page 26 describes this option. Must the user sign off to complete the activity? Adding a signoff requirement, page 27 describes this option. Should the user complete a custom form template in order to complete the activity? Associating form templates with packages, page 34 describes this option. For automatic activities, what is its priority? Setting priority values, page 27 discusses priority values for automatic activities. What process data does the process carry throughout the flow? Defining process data, page 32 describes a process for Defining packages, page 32 and Defining process variables, page 33 gives some guidelines on adding process variables to the process flow. If you will create reports based on the flow, what process data should be exposed for reporting? Creating structured data types, page 45 provides more information on making process data available for reporting. When does the activity start? Setting trigger conditions, page 34 provides information about this decision. What actions will the activity take if it has not been started or completed in a reasonable amount of time? Setting timers, page 35 outlines the available actions. For automatic activities, what actions should occur if a method fails? Understanding fault handler activities, page 17 provides more details on this topic. What notifications will this activity send out when system events occur? Setting up notifications, page 36 discusses notification options. What happens next in the workflow? Defining activity transitions, page 37 describes the transition options. 20 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

21 Understanding Business Process Design Choosing or creating activity templates As you identify the business tasks necessary at each step in the process, you need to determine whether there is an activity template that supports each activity you will add to the process. Many activity templates include one or more custom attributes that are unique to a particular task. For example, the activity template for activities that send includes an attribute containing the target address. The template may also provide default values for attributes common to all activities. Process Builder comes with predefined activity templates representing typical activity types. If your business process includes special-purpose activities to which none of the available templates apply, you need to create custom activities whose custom attributes reflect the tasks performed with the activities. You may also need to develop a custom workflow method to perform the required task. If you commonly use a particular type of custom activity, you can create a custom activity template based on a custom activity. Chapter 6, Working with Activities provides more details on creating activity templates. Choosing activities Each process template must have one or more initiate activities and a single end activity. The template can have any number of Step activities. The number of Step activities you include depends solely on the structure of the workflow, which will depend on its business purpose. Each activity in a workflow must have a name that is unique within the process template. The name is assigned when you add the activity to the process template. Choose activity names that are descriptive of the work performed by the activity. You can include any activity that you create or any activity for which you have at least Relate permission. You can use an activity definition more than once in a workflow. For example, suppose you want all documents to receive two rounds of review. You might design a workflow with the following activities: Write, Review1, Revise, Review2, and Publish. The Review1 and Review2 activities can use the same activity definition. However, if you use an activity multiple times in a workflow, you must structure the workflow so that only one instance of the activity is active at any time. A workflow cannot start an activity if a previous activity based on the same definition is still running. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 21

22 Understanding Business Process Design Choosing performers An activity definition includes the information that lets Process Builder determine who will perform the activity. Process Builder supports a wide range of choices for a manual activity s performer. For automatic activities, you must still identify a user whose permissions will be used when running the script or program. When a manual activity starts, the server adds a work item to the Inbox of the user or users designated as the performer of that activity. For high-volume document processing, you can add the work item to a work queue that many different users work from. The Documentum Webtop User Guide provides more information about work queue management and performers. The following table lists the categories from which you can choose a performer. Each category is represented by an integer value. Only the first four options (0 through 3) are available for automatic activities. Table 1. Activity performer selection categories User category How performers are selected 0 Workflow supervisor The server selects the user designated at the workflow supervisor when the activity starts. By default, the user who starts the workflow is the workflow supervisor. 1 Repository owner The server selects the user identified as the owner of the active Documentum repository. 2 Previous activity s performer The server selects the performer from the previous finished activity that satisfied the trigger condition of the current activity. (See Setting trigger conditions, page 34 for information about trigger conditions.) This can include multiple performers and can include users from other previous activities. 3 Specific user You select an actual username when you create the template. 4 All users in group You select a group name when you create the template. At runtime, the server assigns a separate work item to each group member. 22 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

23 Understanding Business Process Design User category 5 Single user from group (First to acquire the work item) 6 Single user from group (Least amount of unfinished work items) How performers are selected You select a group name when you create the template. At runtime, the server assigns a new work item to every group member. When one member of the group acquires the work item, the work items are removed from all other group member s Inboxes. You select a group name when you create the template. At runtime, the server determines which user in the selected group has the smallest workload and assigns a new work item to that user. Workload is measured as the number of dormant and active work items. 8 Some users from a group You select a list of multiple users or aliases as the performer of the activity. The server assigns a work item to each of the users who are chosen as performers. 9 Multiple sequential performers You select a list of multiple users or aliases as the performer of the activity. The server assigns the work item to the first user in the list of chosen users. When that user completes the work item, the server creates another work item for the next user in the list of chosen users. This continues until all chosen users have completed their work items. 10 Work queue The server assigns the work item to the work queue you select. Users assigned to work on that queue pull work items from the queue in priority order, or the queue manager assigns the item to a particular user. For more information about work queue processing, see the Documentum Webtop User Guide. Participants in a workflow have the option to mark themselves as unavailable for workflow tasks. When the workflow runs, if the user selected as the performer is unavailable, the workflow engine attempts to give the work item to the user s delegated user. See Enabling delegation and extension, page 25 for information about delegated users. For information about selecting performers for an activity in Process Builder, see Selecting performers, page 98. For details about creating activities whose performers are selected at runtime, see Defining when the performer is determined, page 24 and Using aliases, page 25. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 23

24 Understanding Business Process Design De ning when the performer is determined When you create the activity, you must define the performer type and the user category. You can also define the actual performer at that time or you can configure the activity so that the actual performer is selected at runtime: By the workflow initiator when the workflow is started By the server, when the activity is started By the performer of a previous activity, when the previous activity completes Based on conditional logic that you define in the activity. Defining the actual performer in an activity definition is the least flexible structure. Allowing the performer of a previous activity to choose an activity s performer is more flexible, since it lets decisions about performers be based on current circumstances and business rules. Configuring a performer based on conditions is the most flexible structure used to determine a performer. If you select category 0 (Workflow supervisor), 1 (Repository owner), or 2 (Previous activity s performer) as the user category, the actual user is defined by the category. For example, an executing workflow has only one workflow supervisor and the repository in which it runs has only one Repository owner. It isn t necessary to define the actual person when you create the activity. The server determines it when the activity is started. If you select category 3 (Specific user), you can choose the actual person when you create the activity. To have the actual person selected when the workflow runs, use an alias or define conditional logic to determine the user; see Using aliases, page 25 for information about aliases or Select performer based on conditions, page 107. When using an alias, the user can be resolved automatically by the server using an alias set or by the performer of a previous activity. The same options apply to categories 4, 5, 6, or 10, except that you provide the name of a group or work queue instead of an individual user. Provide a group or queue name if you are choosing it when you create the activity; use an alias if you want the actual group or queue selected at runtime. For categories 8 and 9, you provide the names or aliases for a list of multiple users. Just as with the other categories, you can choose the actual performers when you create the activity, have the performer of a previous activity choose the performer, or use aliases to have the performer chosen at runtime. With user categories work queue, specific user, all users in a group, single user from a group, some users from a group, or multiple sequential users, you can define conditional logic in the activity that resolves the performer based on process data and other logic that you define in a decision table. At runtime, the process engine evaluates the rules as they have been set up and assigns a performer for the activity. Select performer based on conditions, page 107 provides more information on this topic. 24 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

25 Understanding Business Process Design Using aliases An alias is a descriptive name for a category of user or group that you use in place of an actual user or group name. At runtime, the server replaces the alias with the name of the actual user or group who fits the category in that time and place. Using aliases in activity definitions creates a flexible process template that can be used in a variety of contexts. For example, suppose you are creating a workflow for vacation requests. Each department in your company has a different manager who must approve vacations. Rather than create a different process template for every department, you want to create one template for everyone to use. After all, the business process is the same for every department. In place of specific performer names for the activities, you use an alias, such as Manager. When the workflow runs, the server answers the question "Who is the Manager of the workflow initiator?" and sends a work item to that user. The server resolves aliases at runtime by searching one or more alias sets to find the alias and its associated actual value. An alias set is an object that defines a list of aliases and their corresponding actual values. You create alias sets in Documentum Administrator; see the Documentum Content Server Administration Guide for details. You can associate alias sets with particular users, and in Process Builder you can identify a default alias set for the workflow. When you include an alias as the performer for an activity, you can specify that the server resolve the alias at runtime by referring to the default alias set for the workflow, to the alias set associated with the user who starts the workflow, to the alias set for the performer of a previous activity, or to any other alias set you choose. You can also have the server require the workflow initiator to manually provide values for the aliases when the workflow starts; to require the workflow initiator to resolve the aliases, you define a default alias set for the process template that contains the aliases but not the names to which the aliases are mapped. See Choosing manual performers, page 100 for details. Enabling delegation and extension When you create a manual activity, you specify whether the user performing the activity is able to delegate the activity to another performer or extend the activity by identifying an additional performer. With delegation, the original performer does not complete the activity. With extension, both the original performer and the designated additional performer complete the activity. If delegation is allowed, it can occur automatically or manually. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 25

26 Understanding Business Process Design Automatic delegation occurs when the server checks the availability of an activity s performer or performers and determines that the person or persons is not available. When this happens, the server automatically delegates the work to the users that the original performer designated in the Workflow Availability dialog box. If there is no user identified or that user is not available, the work item is either reassigned to the workflow supervisor or returned to the original performer depending on a configuration option set when the activity is designed. Manual delegation occurs when the work item s performer, the workflow supervisor, or a superuser elects to delegate the work item. If extension is allowed, when the original performers complete an activity s work items, they can identify a second round of performers for the activity. The server generates new work items for the second round of performers. Only after the second round of performers completes the work does the server evaluate the activity s transition condition and move to the next activity. The second round of performers do not have the option to extend the activity any further. See Selecting performers, page 98 for information about setting these options. De ning task subjects The task subject is a message that provides a work item performer with information about the work item. The message is part of the activity definition. It can include references to one or more attributes whose values the server substitutes at runtime. For example, suppose the task subject is defined as: Please work on the {dmi_queue_item.task_name} task (from activity number {dmi_queue_item.r_act_seqno}) of the workflow {dmi_workflow.object_name}. The attached package is {dmi_package_r_package_name}. Assuming that task_name is "Review", r_act_seqno is 2, object_name is "Engr Proposal", and r_package_name is "First Draft", at runtime the user sees: Please work on the Review task (from activity number 2) of the workflow Engr Proposal. The attached package is First Draft. Task subjects can be up to 255 characters (before variable references are resolved) and can contain references to the following object types and attributes: Any attribute of the dm_workflow object Any attribute of the dmi_workitem object associated with the current task Any attribute of the dmi_queue_item object associated with the current task, except for task_subject. 26 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

27 Understanding Business Process Design Any attribute of a dmi_package object Note: The name of the document in a package is available only if you select the Store document name to the package at runtime option in the Process Template Properties dialog box (see Setting process template properties, page 58). The reference must be enclosed in curly brackets. The object type name and attribute name must be lowercase and must be separated by a period. The server uses the following rules when resolving the string: The server does not place quotes around resolved object type and attribute references. If the referenced attribute is a repeating attribute, the server substitutes all values, separating them with commas. If the constructed string (after variables are resolved) is longer than 512 characters, the server truncates the string. If an object type and attribute reference contain an error. For example, if the object type or attribute does not exist, the server does not resolve the reference. The unresolved reference error appears in the message. The resolved string is stored in the task_subject attribute of the task s associated queue item object. Once the server has created the work item, the value of the task_subject attribute in the queue item will not change, even if the values in any referenced attributes change. Adding a signoff requirement Many business processes require accountability. One way to provide accountability is to require performers to sign off the tasks that they perform. When you define a manual activity in Process Builder, you can specify that the performers must sign off in order to complete the activity. Signing off requires the performer to type his or her password to confirm that they performed the task. Note: Content Server also supports electronic signatures and digital signatures as ways to sign off tasks or the documents associated with a task. See the Content Server documentation for details about these advanced sign-off options. Setting priority values For automatic activities, you designate a priority value that determines the order in which the server runs the activity relative to other actions in its queue. You can set a priority value for manual activities as well, which is reflected in the list of tasks found in the performer s Inbox. An Inbox is a user-specific area that lists the tasks currently assigned to the performer. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 27

28 Understanding Business Process Design When an automatic activity is started, the activity is placed on the execution queue for a server facility that runs periodically. The server facility executes the activities in order of priority. By default, it executes all queued automatic activities each time it is invoked, but a system administrator can limit the number of activities handled each time the facility runs. If the server configuration setting max_wf_jobs is set to a low number and there are a large number of queued activities with high priority, a lower priority activity may have to wait several invocations for execution. See Setting activity properties, page 96 for information about setting the priority of an activity. Setting initial priority and aging of tasks For most queue processors, work items appear in the Inbox based on their priority the highest priority items are assigned to be worked on before lower priority work items. Priority and aging settings are essential elements in the processing of work queue tasks. When the system creates a new work item, the server identifies the task as a work queue item and checks for logic to enable it to assign an initial priority to the item. After the task is in the queue, an aging job increases the priority of the task based upon other logic, which moves the task higher in the Inbox until the task is worked on. Priority escalation may trigger the queue administrator to redistribute tasks or reallocate resources between work queues. The priority level at which a task first appears and the speed at which it increases in priority can be set either in the work queue policy or in the activity template for the task. Using a work queue policy, the queue administrator or queue manager can specify the initial priority of the task and the frequency and percentage at which it increments based on different values you set up in the policy. For more complex initialization and aging scenarios, you use Documentum Application Builder to create a priority module that contains logic to dynamically calculate and update the priority based on process data or other attributes belonging to the process. A priority module can be associated with a work queue policy or a Process Builder activity. How the system resolves the initial priority of a task When the system creates a work queue task, the Process Engine determines the initial priority of the task using the following criteria in this order: 1. Priority module associated with the activity definition: If there is a priority module associated with the activity definition, the system uses the getinitialpriority() method of the module and sets the return value as the initial priority. 28 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

29 Understanding Business Process Design 2. Priority module associated with the work queue policy: If there is a priority module associated with the queue s work queue policy, then the system uses the getinitialpriority() method of the module and sets the return value as the initial priority. 3. Work queue policy: If there is not a priority module associated with the task, the system uses the initial_priority setting of the work queue policy object to set its initial priority. How the system increases the priority of a task Each time that the dm_qmpriorityaging job runs, it increases the priority of all work queue tasks using the following criteria in this order: 1. Priority module associated with the activity definition: If there is a priority module associated with the activity definition, the system uses the getincrementpriority() method of the module and uses the return value as the increment priority. 2. Priority module associated with the work queue policy: If there is a priority module associated with the queue s work queue policy, then the system uses the getincrementpriority() method of the module and uses the return value as the increment priority. 3. Work queue policy: If there is not a priority module associated with the task, the system uses the increment_priority setting of the work queue policy object to set the increment priority. Setting static priority and aging logic for tasks Work queue policies enable queue administrators or managers to define the frequency at which the tasks in a work queue are aged and the priority to which they are set initially. When the system creates a work queue task, the task s initial priority is set based upon the initial priority setting from the work queue policy associated with that task. As long as the task remains in the queue, whenever the dm_qmpriorityaging job runs, it increases the priority of the task by the amount specified in the increment priority setting of the work queue policy associated with the task. "Managing Work Queues" in the Documentum Webtop User Guide provides more information on setting priority and aging logic for tasks based on work queue policies. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 29

30 Understanding Business Process Design Setting dynamic priority and aging logic for tasks There may be situations where both the initial priority and the amount that priority increments both need to be calculated dynamically. In these cases, you create a priority module that the system uses instead of the work queue policy to set priority and aging logic. A priority module can be selected when creating the work queue in Webtop or TaskSpace or can be selected when creating the activity in Process Builder. Associating a work queue priority module with an activity, page 100 provides more details on assigning a priority module to an activity. Process data can be used to set the initial priority and increase the priority based on values in the workflow. For example, if a loan application belonging to a preferred customer comes through a work queue, it can be immediately placed at a higher priority value than a loan application from other customers. In addition, if the loan request is for a greater amount or comes from a preferred loan broker, then the priority can be increased at a higher rate, ensuring that the queue supervisor is alerted if the task is not completed within a specified period of time. This kind of logic can be especially useful to increase the priority of a task as it nears a deadline or some other time restriction the priority is increased more rapidly as the deadline approaches, pushing the task up the queue at a higher rate. To set the priority and aging values: 1. Create a priority module. "Working with Modules" in Application Builder User Guide provides more details on building a module. a. Create a Java class for the IWQTaskPriority interface and the IDfModule interface. The IWQTaskPriority has two methods: int getinitialpriority(idfsession session, IDfWorkitemEx witem) throws DfException; int getincrementpriority(idfsession session, IDfWorkitemEx witem) throws DfException; The IDfModule interface does not have any method. 2. Using Documentum Application Builder, create a module that uses the class you created in step 1. Ensure that you include bpm_infra.jar and dfc.jar in the client classpath. 30 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

31 Understanding Business Process Design Sample priority module /* * Copyright EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. */ package com.documentum.bpm.priority.test; import com.documentum.bpm.idfworkitemex; import com.documentum.bpm.priority.iwqtaskpriority; import com.documentum.fc.client.idfmodule; import com.documentum.fc.client.idfsession; import com.documentum.fc.common.dfexception; public class SamplePriorityModule2 implements IWQTaskPriority, IDfModule { /** * This example calculates priority from Process Data Variables. * There are two Process Data Variables defined on the workflow template: * - is_vip (boolean) * - loan_info * -loan_amount (int) * - broker_class (String) */ public int getinitialpriority(idfsession session, IDfWorkitemEx witem) throws DfException { // // If is_vip == true // initial_priority = 10 // Else // initial_priority = loan_info.loan_amount / 1000 // Boolean is_vip = (Boolean) witem.getprimitivevariablevalue("is_vip"); if (is_vip.booleanvalue() ) return 10; else { Integer loan_amount = (Integer)witem.getStructuredDataTypeAttrValue ("loan_info", "loan_amount"); return (loan_amount.intvalue() / 1000); } } public int getincrementpriority(idfsession session, IDfWorkitemEx witem) throws DfException { // // If loan_info.broker_class = "A" // increment_priority = 10 // Elseif loan_info.broker_class = "B" // increment_priority = 5 // Else // increment_priority = 0 // EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 31

32 Understanding Business Process Design String broker_class = (String) witem.getstructureddatatypeattrvalue ("loan_info", "broker_class"); if (broker_class.equalsignorecase("a")) return 10; if (broker_class.equalsignorecase("b")) return 5; else return 0; } } De ning process data When you define a business process, the data that is managed in the flow needs to be represented in a meaningful way. The data in a flow can be either a workflow variable, a process variable, or a package that is associated with the flow. Process data refers to the different types of data that flow through the process such as a document, a form, or process variables like part numbers or customer addresses. There are two main types of process data that you can define in a process: package data and process variables. Both of these types of data must be defined at the process level to be used in an individual activity within that process. De ning packages When you define a business process, you need to identify what objects the workflow handles. An object, such as a document or an image, that is processed by a workflow is called a package. The package represents the content that the activities work on. An activity can work with one or more packages. To define a package, you identify the item to process with the workflow. You also have the option to choose a form that the performer of the activity working with the package uses to perform the task. There are four basic options for what an activity does with a package: The activity make no changes to the package. The activity can modify the package and save it as a new version in the repository. The activity can introduce a new package into the workflow, not forwarding the package it received. The activity can modify an attribute associated with the package. 32 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

33 Understanding Business Process Design In many workflows, all activities work on the same package or packages. For example, a workflow for reviewing and approving purchase orders will use the same purchase order document as a package for all the necessary activities. In other cases, the work performed by an activity results in a new version of a document from the incoming package. For example, a user might receive a document for review. He or she checks out the document, adds comments or revisions, and checks in the document. In this case, you want the activity to send the new version of the component when it sends the package to the next activity. In Process Builder, you accomplish this scenario by configuring the activity to forward the same packages it receives, but forward a different version. You can specify the version using an actual version number, such as 2.5, or a symbolic version label, such as Draft or CURRENT. The work performed in some activities requires the activity to send on a package that is entirely different from the package it received. For example, suppose an activity accepts a personnel action notice. The performer (an HR employee) must file the notice, then send a different form to the accounting department. In Process Builder, you can configure an activity to accept certain packages as inputs and pass along other packages as outputs. For information about configuring flows and packages in Process Builder, see Handling process data, page 127. De ning process variables Process variables are instances of different types of data that flow through your business process. These can be simple data types (a string, Boolean, or date) or they can be complex data types groups of logically related data such as purchase orders, manufacturing items, and so on. Complex data types are defined in the Structured Data Type window, where, as structured data types, they can be reused in multiple process templates in a repository. Default values can be set only in the simple data type complex data types have the default values in the type definition. The attributes of structured data types (process variables) can be identified to use in reporting. The process engine exposes the elements so that reporting tools can consume the data and create static reports and BAM reports. Process variables are defined for a process using the Process Template Properties component. Managing process data, page 61 provides more information about defining process variables for a workflows. Creating structured data types, page 45 provides more information on defining structured data types for your repository. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 33

34 Understanding Business Process Design Associating form templates with packages You can associate a form template with each package passed to a manual activity. A form template provides a custom user interface for the performer viewing and entering data. Depending on the configuration options, the performer may see the form when he or she opens the package from his or her Documentum Inbox, or may see the form when viewing the properties of the package. The performer fills in the form to complete the activity or to update the package properties. If the activity receives more than one package, the performer fills in the forms associated with each package. If a package does not have an associated form, the performer sees a default Task Manager dialog box. You can associate a form template with each package when you add it to the workflow, as described in Managing process data, page 61. You can also associate a form template with a package when you configure a manual activity. A package can have only one form associated with it at a time, but which form it is may change as the package moves through the workflow. For example, the form displayed to a manager who approves a purchase request may be different from the form completed by the person making the request. The data underlying the two forms is the same, but the user display is different. When configuring an activity, you can set the form template used for that activity to be different from the form template associated with the package at the business process level. To associate a form template with a package, the form template and the package must have the same underlying data model. Therefore, when you are choosing forms, Process Builder displays only those form templates whose data model matches the data type selected for the package. If you select the form template before setting the object type of the package, Process Builder sets the object type to match the selected form template s data model. For more information about form templates and forms, see the Documentum Forms Builder User Guide. Setting trigger conditions A trigger is a signal that the activity can begin. Trigger conditions define the starting criteria for an activity. At runtime, the server does not start an activity until the activity s trigger condition is met. The trigger condition can optionally include a trigger event that must occur before the activity starts. If the activity has more than one incoming flow, you can specify how many of the previous activities must complete before this activity starts. The trigger condition is the minimum number of flows that must have delivered packages to the activity before the activity starts. For example, if an activity has three incoming flows, you may decide that 34 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

35 Understanding Business Process Design the activity can start when two of the three have delivered their packages. The trigger condition must be a value between one and the total number of incoming flows. A trigger event is an event queued to the workflow. The event can be a system-defined event, such as dm_checkin, or you can make up an event name, such as promoted or released. However, because you cannot register a workflow to receive event notifications, the event must be explicitly queued to the workflow using the Documentum API. If you include a trigger event in the starting condition, the server must find the event you identify queued to the workflow before starting the activity. The same event can be used as a trigger for multiple activities, however, the application must queue the event once for each activity. See the Documentum Content Server Fundamentals for further details about defining and queuing events. For information about setting an activity s trigger conditions, see Setting activity triggers, page 111. Setting timers When you configure an activity, you can set timers that take action if work does not appear to be flowing as it should. For example, you might want the workflow supervisor to receive a warning if the activity is not started within 12 hours of when the workflow started, or you might send a message to the activity performer if the activity has not been completed 4 hours after its start. Process Builder supports two kinds of warning timers for activities: A pre-timer takes action if an activity has not started within a designated amount of time after the workflow starts A post-timer takes action if an activity has not completed within a designated amount of time after the activity starts Depending on the nature of the activity, an expired timer can take one of these actions: Notification Send a notification message to one or more people Start Process Launch a new workflow process using the current activity s packages Run Java Method Run an automated workflow method (available for users with superuser privileges only) Delegate the task to another performer Complete Task Automatically complete a manual task and move the workflow forward to the next activity The first two actions are available for any activity timer. Any timer can invoke a service as long as the activity performer has the necessary superuser privileges. The and Complete Task actions are available only as post-timer actions for manual activities that handle a single work item. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 35

36 Understanding Business Process Design When a timer completes a task, it can optionally set the value of an attribute on one of the process variables or packages in the workflow. The transition conditions for the activity can test for this value, and depending on the attributes of a package or process variables, the flow can be processed differently. An activity can have as many timers of both types as you like. You can also tell the server to repeatedly perform the final timer action at a specified interval until the activity is completed. By default, users receive warning notifications in the form of an item in their Inbox queue. However, you can configure the timer to send notification using a custom template. See Setting warning timers, page 113 for more information. The task of checking the warning timers and performing the requested actions is performed by the dm_wfmstimer job. The dm_wfmstimer job is installed with Content Server and is activated when you install the BPM DocApp. When it is active, the default setting is for the job to run once an hour. To change the frequency at which the job runs, use Documentum Administrator. See Documentum Administrator User Guide for further information about changing the configuration of jobs. Setting up noti cations Content Server has the ability to monitor for particular events and to notify interested users when the events occur. Events are specific actions applied to Documentum objects; in the context of Process Builder, the relevant events are actions related to the workflow, such as a user starting work on a work item or delegating a work item to another user. When you configure a process template or an activity, you can associate custom message templates with several key workflow-related events. An template is a specially formatted document stored in the Documentum repository that defines the subject and body of a notification message. The template can include variables whose values the server replaces at runtime, so that the delivered message includes contextual information such as the name of the current performer or the package being routed. If an event has an template associated with it, any user who has registered to receive notification of the event will get a message generated from the associated template. The Documentum Process Builder Development Guide gives more specifics on creating custom templates. Note: The server generates and sends notification messages only when one or more users has registered to receive notification of the event. See the chapter "Tasks, Events, and Inboxes" in Documentum Content Server Fundamentals for information about registering for event notifications. See Setting notifications, page 123 for information on how to set notification options. 36 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

37 Understanding Business Process Design De ning activity transitions When an activity has multiple outgoing flows, you may want packages sent to all of the following activities, or you may want packages sent to only some of the following activities depending on the outcome of the activity. For example, you might give a performer who reviews the design of a new form the choice of forwarding the design to the next reviewer or sending it back to the designer for revision. You set up this branching logic by creating flows from this activity to the two possible following activities, then allowing the performer to choose which path to follow. An activity s transition type defines how following activities are selected when the activity is complete. There are three types of transitions: Select all connected activities The flow continues to all following activities linked to this activity, including both forward flows and reject flows. Let performer select the next activities The performer of this activity chooses which following activities to send packages to at runtime. Select next activities based on conditions Which activities receive packages or process variables is determined at runtime by evaluating a set of transition conditions that are based on process data found in the activity. If the activity is a group activity that is, if the performer category is 4 (All users in group) or 8 (Some users from a group) you specify how many members of the group must complete the task before the server considers the overall activity complete and forwards packages to the following activities. For example, if five users receive a work item for an activity, you can specify that the activity is complete when any three of them are done. Alternatively, you can require that all five users complete the task. If you let performers select the next activities, you can limit the number of following activities the performer can select. For example, if an activity has three outgoing flows, you can let the performer send packages to all three, or you can require the performer to select just one or two of them. If you let a group of performers select the next activities that is, if the performer category is 4 or 8 and the transition option is Let performer select the next activity you also need to advise the server about how to combine the performers selections. When a group selects activities, it is possible that some performers might select forward activities while others select reject activities. Which activities should the workflow engine start in this case? All of the selected activities, just the reject activities, or just the forward activities? You can also decide to complete the activity immediately whenever any performer selects a reject activity or a forward activity. If you choose a conditional transition type, you must define at least one transition condition for that activity. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 37

38 Understanding Business Process Design Determining transition conditions Transition conditions enable you to define activities that route tasks differently depending on the results of the activity. A transition condition is a logical condition and one or more associated flows. When an activity is complete at runtime, the server evaluates the activity s transition conditions to determine which following activities to start as the next step in the workflow. It moves the workflow forward to the activities associated with the first transition condition that is TRUE. An activity can have multiple transition conditions, although the server always selects just one the first TRUE one at runtime. Transition conditions must be Boolean expressions. They are typically used to check attributes of the package s components, the containing workflow, or the last completed work item. When the workflow package is an XML document, you can create transition conditions that check the value of an XML element in the document. When you use transition conditions, you always include an Else option. The Else option is the action that the server takes if none of the transition conditions apply. The Else option does not have a condition associated with it. An activity can only have one Else case. For information about defining transition conditions for an activity, see Setting activity transition rules, page EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

39 Chapter 2 Using Process Builder Process Builder is a graphical tool for laying out and defining your business process. The Process Builder window is divided into two major panes: The left pane contains the Resource Navigator subsystem, which displays the activity templates and structured data types that you can add to the process template. The right pane is the process template editor, which displays a graphical representation of your process templates as you create them. You can control the size of the two panes by positioning the mouse over the border between them and dragging the border to a new position. A pair of arrows appears between the tops of the two panes. To expand one of the panes to fill the entire window, click the arrow pointing away from the pane you want to expand. To return Process Builder to its two-pane view, click the arrow facing the other direction, which now appears at the edge of the window. You can also open multiple processes from the same repository in the process template editor, enabling you to view and compare processes. Viewing multiple processes using tabs, page 53 gives more specifics on this topic. In the Resource Navigator, you can click the title bar buttons that display the name of each sub-window to minimize and maximize each of the windows. A configurable toolbar appears across the top of the window, providing quick access to common commands. If the workflow is too large to display on the screen, you can use the Navigator to view the complete process template and specify which portion appears. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 39

40 Using Process Builder Figure 3. Process Builder Process Builder toolbar Across the top of the window is a configurable toolbar that provides quick access to common commands. To access a command from the toolbar, click the icon corresponding to that command. To find out what command an icon corresponds to, hold the mouse pointer over the icon without clicking it. A small box pops up showing the name of the icon. You control which icons appear in the toolbar using options on the View menu. Process Builder offers three collections of toolbar icons: Standard toolbar icons provide access to commands from the File and Edit menus Workflow toolbar icons enable you to create activities or flows and to display the properties of workflow objects Display toolbar icons enable you to zoom in and out on the process template editor pane By default, the toolbar displays all three collections of icons. 40 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

41 Using Process Builder To select which icons appear in the Process Builder toolbar: 1. From the View menu, select Toolbars. A submenu appears with the name of each available group of toolbar icons. The groups currently appearing in the toolbar have a checkmark next to their names. 2. Select the group you want to add or remove from the toolbar. If you select an unchecked option, that group of icons is added to the toolbar. If you select a checked option, the checkmark is removed and that group of icons is removed from the toolbar. Activity Templates window The Activity Templates window, along the left side of the Process Builder window, displays predefined activity templates that you can add to the process template. Activity template folders provide a way of organizing activity templates into related groups. For example, the names of the folders might represent general categories of activities, such as Approvals and Integration. Each activity template represents a particular type of activity and may include special properties that are specific to that type of activity. For example, an activity template for sending to external partners includes a property for the address. See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for more information about activity templates. Each activity template folder corresponds to a system folder in the Documentum repository. The folders have the same name as the folders that reside in the system folder System/Workflow/Activity Templates. The folder contains the dm_activity objects corresponding to the activity templates in the folder. To add an activity to your process template, drag the appropriate activity template from the Activity Templates window to the intended location in the process template editor, then set the activity s properties. To view or edit the properties of the activity template, double-click its icon in the activity template folder. See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for details about setting the properties for activities and activity templates. Using the right-click menu, you can perform many of the same functions that reside on the File menu of the toolbar such as save, remove, and create new folders or activity templates. Activity templates appear in the window in one of three states: draft, validated, and installed. Each state is represented by an icon. Only installed activity templates can be added to a process template. You can validate, install, and uninstall an activity template in the Activity Templates window by using the functions in the right-click menu. Validating and installing activity templates, page 93 provides more details on this topic. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 41

42 Using Process Builder Table 2. Activity template states and related icons State Draft Icon Validated Installed Managing activity template folders You control which template folders display using the Process Builder Preferences dialog box. The preferences you set apply to your user ID only; so each user can set different preferences. For information about controlling which activity template folders appear in the Activity Templates window, see Managing activity templates within folders, page 91. The Preferences dialog also enables the configuration of process sharing folder locations if both Process Analyzer and Process Builder are installed on the same machine. Sharing process templates with Process Analyzer, page 76 provides more information on setting sharing folder locations. To add a new activity template folder to the Activity Templates window: 1. Select File > Preferences from the menu or right-click an existing folder and select New from the menu. The Preferences dialog box appears. The list box on the left displays the available folders, and the list box on the right displays the folders currently being displayed in Process Builder. Note: Preferences are saved separately for each user. The list of folders may differ if you log in as a different user. 2. To add a new folder to the list of available folders, click New and type a name for the folder in the dialog box that appears. The new folder appears in the right list box when you click OK in the dialog box. 3. Click OK in the Preferences dialog box to add the folders in the right list box to the Activity Templates window. To remove a folder from the Activity Templates window: 1. Select File > Preferences from the menu. 42 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

43 Using Process Builder The Preferences dialog box appears. The list box on the left displays the available folders, and the list box on the right displays the folders currently being displayed in Process Builder. Note: Preferences are saved separately for each user. The list of folders may differ if you log in as a different user. 2. To remove a folder from the Activity Templates window, highlight its name in the right list box and click << Remove. The name moves to the left list box and is removed from the Activity Templates window. 3. Click OK. To set process template preferences: 1. Select File > Preferences from the menu. The Preferences dialog box appears. Note: Preferences are saved separately for each user. 2. Specify whether Process Builder should ask whether to validate or install templates when you save them. Before you can use a process template to create a running workflow, it must be validated and installed. If you select the Always show validate and install prompts after save checkbox, Process Builder displays prompts whenever you save the template, asking whether you want to validate and install the template. If the checkbox is not selected, the prompts do not display. You will need to validate and install the template and its activities explicitly before creating workflows from it. 3. To resume showing the informational message, select Reset to show the warning messages. 4. Click OK. Structured Data Types window The Structured Data Types window shows all of the structured data types that have been defined in the repository. They are displayed in a hierarchical structure organized into categories that you define based on their use in your business. Use this window to add and delete structured data types using the Structured Data Types Wizard, to create or delete categories, and view the details of the structured data types. You can also use this window to launch a wizard that enables you to create a structured data type from an XML schema. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 43

44 Using Process Builder Creating structured data type categories and groups You can organize process data into hierarchical categories of data based on how your business is organized. Nested within these categories are groups and attributes that make up the structured data types. To add a category to the list of structured data types: 1. Right-click within the Structured Data Type window and select Add Category. You can also add a category by selecting Change Categories in the Add Structured Data Types Wizard. The Select Category dialog appears displaying the tree hierarchy and the available nodes. 2. Type the name of the category that you are adding. 3. Highlight the node or the category within the tree to which you will add the new category and type the name of the new category. 4. Click to add the new category to the tree. 5. Click OK. To delete a category: 1. In the Structured Data Types window, highlight the category you want to delete. 2. Right-click within the Structured Data Type window and select Delete Category. Note: If there are structured data types that exist within the category, the system will not delete the category. To create a group within a structured data type: 1. Click the Add Group icon. 2. Type the name of the group. Note: The group Name field only supports single-byte characters. To update the contents of the Structured Data Type window: 1. Right-click within the window. 2. Select Refresh from the menu. The window is updated with any new structured data types available within the repository. 44 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

45 Using Process Builder Creating structured data types A structured data type is a way to represent business data that pertains to the flow of your process and is generally comprised of the following data elements: Name, Type, [Default Value]. There are two kinds of structured data types: simple and complex. A simple data type is a single attribute such as a string or Boolean value. A complex data type is made up of several attributes. For example, elements of an appropriation request can be organized into the group Request with the attributes submitter_name, submitter_address, and equipment_type. Within each structured data type, you can also organize attributes into related groups that give visual structure to the data type. For example, within the customer structured data type, you can have an address group that contains the attributes for city and state. Note: You must have Create Type user privileges to create a structured data type. To create a structured data type: 1. In Process Builder, select File > New > Structured Data Type or click the Create New Structured Data Type icon in the Toolbar or right-click in the Structured Data Type window and select Add Structured Data Type from the menu. The Add Structured Data Type Wizard dialog box appears. 2. To change categories or to create a new category, click Change Categories and add a new category to the node that you have selected. Creating structured data type categories and groups, page 44 provides detailed procedures for creating categories. 3. Type a Name for the structured data type. Note: Names must be less than 70 characters in length and must use single-byte characters. 4. Type a Display Name for the structured data type. The text in the Display Name field appears in the tree view in the Structured Data Types window. Note: Display names must be less than 70 characters in length. The Display Name field does support double-byte characters. 5. You can create a group of attributes by selecting the Add Group icon. Note: You can create a group at any point in the process of creating structured data types. 6. Type the name of the group. Note: The group Name field only supports single-byte characters. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 45

46 Using Process Builder 7. Click the add icon to add an attribute to the structured data type. You can remove an attribute by clicking the remove icon. 8. Type a Name for the attribute. Note: Names must be less than 70 characters in length and must use single-byte characters. 9. Type a Display Name for the attribute. The text in the Display Name field appears in the tree view in the Structured Data Types window. Note: Display names must be less than 70 characters in length. The Display Name field does support double-byte characters. 10. Type an optional description for the attribute. 11. Select a data type for the attribute. Valid values are: string, integer, float, date, or Boolean. 12. Depending on the data type you have defined, type a default value, if necessary. Note: Process variables that will be used in correlation sets should not have default values. Process variables that have default values do not possess the unique attribute characteristics required to match an incoming message to a single instance of a process. Using correlation sets, page 142 provides more information on using correlation sets to map message content to process data. 13. Define other options for the attribute, as necessary. Select Repeatable to enable repeating attributes. Select Searchable to be able to search for this variable across the process. Note: This functionality will be enabled in a future release. Select Reportable to expose this type when creating BAM reports. 14. Click OK. To view the details of a structured data type: 1. Right-click the data type in the Structured Data Type window and select View Detail from the menu or double-click the structured data type. The Structured Data Type dialog box appears and displays the details of the structured data type. 46 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

47 Using Process Builder Editing structured data types After you have created a structured data type and before it is used in a process, you can change properties of the attributes, as well as add attributes and groups. After a structured data type is used in a process, minimal data can be changed in order to preserve the integrity of any currently running instances of the process. Structured data types that are used in a process have the text In Use... in the upper right-hand corner of the dialog box. If you click this text, the system launches the Process List dialog that shows the processes that are currently referencing the structured data types. Attributes cannot be altered or deleted while in use. You can change the display name and description of the structured data type. You can also add a new group or a new attribute. If you need to change an attribute of a structured data type that is in use, you must open each process that uses the data type, uninstall the process, and remove it as a process variable. At that point, you can edit the structured data type. Note: When you add a new attribute and save your changes, that attribute can no longer be altered. Creating a complex structured data type from an XML schema You can search for and retrieve an XML schema (as an.xsd file) and import it into the repository as a structured data type object, enabling you to use data from an external application or from another part of your business. Note: If the schema that you are using has many elements, it is best to import them one element at a time. To create a structured data type from an XML schema: 1. Right-click in the Structured Data Type window and select Create Structured Data Type from XML Schema from the menu. The Create SDT from XML Schema dialog box appears displaying the category to which you will be adding the structured data type. 2. To change categories or to create a new category, click Change Categories and add a new category to the node that you have selected. 3. Select an XML schema file to use: Click to select the schema from the local file system EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 47

48 Using Process Builder Click to select the schema from the current repository and navigate to the schema you want to import. Type a URL and click to fetch a schema name or get content from a website. 4. Select the type of data you want to import. Complex Type displays all of the complex data types including nested attributes. Element Type displays the container object along with the hierarchical information and attributes associated with the data type. 5. From the list box, select the data type that you want to use as a structured data type. The related information for the data type appears in the Structured Data Type group box. 6. You can edit some of the more generic fields of the attributes such as Display Name, Description. 7. Define other options for the attribute, as necessary. Select Repeatable to enable repeating attributes. Select Searchable to be able to search for this variable across the process. Note: This functionality will be enabled in a future release. Select Reportable to expose this type when creating BAM reports. 8. Click Apply to add the imported structured data types to the Structured Data Types window. Process template editor pane The process template editor pane is the area where you lay out the business process flow. To define a business process, drag predefined activity templates from the activity templates folders into the process template editor or create new manual or automatic activities, connect them with flows, and then define the properties of the activities and flows. See Creating process templates, page 56 for more information. You can also add text notes to label areas of the template. The procedures you follow to control the visual layout of a business process are similar to those in other graphical layout software. To add objects to the process template, drag an activity from the activity template folder and drop it in the process template editor pane. The object is added to the template at the location where you release the mouse button. The toolbar also provides buttons for adding (blank) activities and flows. 48 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

49 Using Process Builder To move objects within the process template, select and drag them to their new location. When you move an activity that has flows connecting it to other activities, the arrows representing the flows move along with the activity. Flows cannot be moved on their own. To remove objects from the process template, select them and click the Delete Selected Objects icon from the toolbar or select Delete from the Edit menu. To copy activities, select them and click the Copy icon from the toolbar or select Copy from the Edit menu. To add the new copy to the template, click the Paste icon from the toolbar or select Paste from the Edit menu. To see the actions that are available for a given object, select the object then right-click on it. A context menu appears at the location of the mouse cursor, showing the available actions. To select one or more objects in the process template editor pane: 1. Enter selection mode by selecting the Select Objects icon in the toolbar, by right-clicking in the editor page, or by pressing the Escape key. 2. Click the visual representation of the object in the process template editor pane, or click in an open area and drag the mouse to draw a rectangle around the object(s) you want to select. A set of black boxes appears around the selected object(s). Clicking the object a second time clears it and removes the black boxes. 3. To select additional objects, hold down the Shift key as you click each of the objects. If you do not hold down the Shift key, selecting one object automatically clears any previously selected objects. 4. To select all objects in the template, select Select All from the Edit menu. Aligning activities The Alignment options enable you to position workflow activities precisely. You can align activities vertically or horizontally by their left or right edges, top or bottom edges, or by their center points. To align activities: 1. Select the activities you want to align. You must have two or more activities selected to enable the Alignment options. See Process template editor pane, page 48 for information about how to select activities. 2. Select Alignment from the View menu, then select the desired alignment from submenu. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 49

50 Using Process Builder The available alignment options are: Left Align the left edges of the selected objects Vertical Align the centers of the selected objects vertically Right Align the right edges of the selected objects Top Align the top edges of the selected objects Horizontal Align the centers of the selected objects horizontally Bottom Align the top edges of the selected objects If you choose to align the top edges of your activities, the highest or topmost activity determines the placement of the other activities; that is, the selected activities will move up to be in alignment with the topmost activity. Similarly, if you choose to align the bottom edges of your activities, the lowest or bottommost activity determines the placement of the other activities. This is also true for left and right alignment. Replacing an activity You can replace an activity in a process template with another activity template by dragging the new activity template from the activity templates folder and dropping it onto the existing activity. For example, after a process developer imports a Process Analyzer process into Process Builder, the process developer may need to replace the imported generic activities with some existing activity templates. The developer simply drags a new activity to the correct location in the process and drops it into place, which deletes the former activity and replaces it with the new activity. Replacing an activity in this manner preserves the links between the activities but does not preserve configuration information such as timers, transitions, mapping rules, and so on. Use Activity Inspector to reconfigure the activity. Snap to grid The snap to grid option provides added precision for aligning workflow activities and flows. When the snap to grid option is turned on, a grid appears in the background of the process template editor. When you move activities or flows in the editor, they will automatically align themselves with the grid, making it easier to align objects with each other. Turning on snap to grid does not affect the layout of existing objects in the template. 50 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

51 Using Process Builder When the snap to grid option is turned off, the grid does not appear and objects are placed exactly where you drop them. Turn the option off when you want to have fine control over the position of the objects. To turn on or off snap to grid: 1. Select Snap To Grid from the View menu. Zooming in or out If the Display toolbar buttons are active, the current level of zooming appears in a box between the Zoom In icon and the Zoom Out icon. Each time you click the Zoom In or Zoom Out icon, Process Builder zooms in or out by one magnification level. To zoom in or zoom out on a process template: 1. Expand the list box next to the Zoom In icon, or select Zoom from the View menu. 2. Select one of the zoom levels: 200% (Highest magnification) 150% 100% (Normal viewing - default) 75% 50% Last Toggles between the current zoom option and your previous zoom setting Width Sizes the process template so that its full width fits within the visual dimensions of the process template editor pane Fit Magnifies or shrinks the appearance of your process template so that it fits within the visible dimensions of the process template editor pane Adding notes You can add text to the visual layout of the process template through the use of notes. Notes have no effect on the how the business process actually runs, but can help to clarify the process for people looking at the template. You can place a note anywhere in the template layout. By default, the note appears with a yellow rectangle surrounding the text, but you have a variety of display options. The example below shows notes in a variety of formats. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 51

52 Using Process Builder Figure 4. Notes add text to the visual layout Process Builder gives you the option to suppress the display of any notes. From the Tools menu, select Notes then Show. This menu item is a toggle option. Each time you select it, it turns the note display on or off. To add a note to a process template: 1. Click the Note icon in the toolbar. When you drag the mouse cursor across the process template editing area, a small version of the icon appears next to the mouse arrow. 2. Double-click on the process layout at the location where you want to add the note. The first click creates a yellow rectangle on the page, and the second click opens the Note Inspector dialog box. 3. Enter the text for the note on the Note Content tab. 4. Click the Display tab. As you make changes to the display settings, the Preview box at the bottom of the dialog box shows the current selections. 5. Set the font and style used for the note text. a. Select a font from the Font list. b. Select a point size from the Point size drop-down list. c. To set the font style of the label, check or de-select Bold and Italic. 52 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

53 Using Process Builder 6. Set the alignment and color of the note text. a. Select one of the radio buttons Left, Center, or Right to specify how each line of the note text is justified. b. Select the text color from the Text Color drop-down list. c. Select the background color for the note from the Background Color drop-down list. The outer edges of the note remain yellow regardless of the background color you select. 7. Specify how transparent the note is. Using the Transparency slider control, set how transparent or opaque the note is. If the transparency level is set to 100 percent, the note is opaque and completely obscures any objects behind it in the process template. If the transparency level is 0 percent, the note is completely transparent. 8. Specify the appearance of the border of the note. a. Select the Border checkbox to display a yellow border around the edge of the note. b. Select the BPMN style checkbox to display the note in the Business Process Modeling Notation format for text annotations: a heavy border along the left side of the note. 9. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Note Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Note Inspector. The note appears in the process layout. 10. Resize the note box if necessary. To resize the note, select the note object and drag one of the black handles that appears along its edges. Viewing multiple processes using tabs When you are creating a process template, you may need to view another existing process or view the details of a sub-process that is part of the flow. Process Builder enables you to open and view multiple processes on different tabs. As you open a process, it appears in a new tab, leaving any other open processes in separate tabs in the Process Editor window. You can double-click a tab to expand the display of the process to fit the entire window and then double-click it again to minimize the process window and once again show the Resource Navigator. The current state of the open template appears in the title bar EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 53

54 Using Process Builder of the Process Builder window. If there is unsaved data on the tab, the name of the process is preceded by an asterisk (*). Note: Multiple tab view is available only for processes that exist within the same repository. You cannot open or view processes from more than one repository. Using multiple tabs can be useful when viewing or creating a process that includes a Start Sub-Process activity. When you right-click the subprocess activity, the popup menu has an option to open the subprocess in a new tab. To close the tab that you are currently viewing, right-click the tab and select Close, select File > Close or click on the tab itself. Navigator When you are defining a process template, the graphical representation can easily grow beyond a size that can be displayed on the screen all at one time. The process template editor automatically scrolls as you add objects and create a larger layout. The Navigator enables you to control which portion of a large template appears on the screen. To navigate to the portion of a template to display on screen: 1. Select Navigator from the View menu, or click the Navigator icon in the toolbar. The Navigator window appears in the right pane of the Process Builder window. It displays a reduced representation of the current process template with a gray box around the section currently displayed on the screen. 2. To change which area of the process template appears on screen, drag the gray box in the Navigator window so that it is over the area you want to appear in the editor. The editor pane scrolls to the selected location when you release the mouse button. 54 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

55 Working with Process Templates Chapter 3 Process templates represent the business process through which a given object or set of objects flows. They define the overall workflow from beginning to end. You create process templates in Process Builder, then make them available for users to create individual workflow instances from. There are three possible states for process templates: draft, validated, and installed. The current state of the open template appears in the title bar of the Process Builder window. The title bar also shows if the template is checked out and the username of the lock owner if the template is checked out by another user. A template in the draft state has not been validated since it was created or last modified. A template in the validated state has passed the server s validation checks, which ensure that the template is correctly defined. A template in the installed state is ready for use in an active workflow. This chapter explains how to create templates, validate them, and install them. The topics are: Opening existing process templates, page 56 Creating process templates, page 56 Setting process template properties, page 58 Managing process data, page 61 Configuring advanced options, page 65 Saving process templates, page 69 Validating process templates, page 71 Installing process templates, page 72 Modifying process templates, page 73 Checking in, checking out, and versioning process templates, page 73 Deleting process templates, page 76 Importing process templates, page 78 Keeping shared processes in sync, page 79 Exporting process templates, page 80 Printing process templates, page 81 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 55

56 Working with Process Templates Opening existing process templates You can open an existing template in order to review it, revise it, or save it under a new name as a starting point for a new workflow. To open a process template: 1. From the File menu, select Open. The Open Process Template dialog box appears. 2. Navigate to the process template by double-clicking on cabinet and folder names until the template name appears in the list box. 3. From the View list, select Show Current Versions to see only the current version of the templates in the window or select Show ALL versions to see a listing of all versions of the templates. 4. Highlight the template name and select the checkbox to Check out process on Open to edit the process. View is only available when another user has the template checked out and opens a read-only copy of the template. Note: If the template is checked out by another user, a lock icon appears by the template name, and View will be the only available option for the template. The mouse-over text displays the name of the user who owns the lock on the template. 5. Double-click the template name, or highlight it and click Open. Creating process templates The procedure below provides an overview of creating templates. Several of the steps provide links to other topics where you can find more detail about the task described by that step. To create a process template: 1. Design the business process and the workflow that implements it. For details about designing business processes, see Planning workflow processes, page From the File menu, select New > Process. The blank template will open in its new tab with the default initiate and end tasks, with any other open templates displaying in background tabs. Note: To create a template based on an existing template, open the existing template and save it with a new name. 56 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

57 Working with Process Templates 3. Set the template properties. See Setting process template properties, page 58 for details. 4. Identify the process data that is associated with or created as part of the business process. See Managing process data, page 61 for details. 5. Add activities to the process template until you have one activity for each task in your workflow. To add an activity, click the manual activity icon or the automatic activity icon from the toolbar, then click in the process template editor pane where you want the activity to appear. You can also drag and drop an activity template from the Activity Templates window on to the process template editor pane. If the Activity Templates window does not include a template representing the type of activity you need, you can create a blank activity by clicking the manual or automatic activity buttons in the toolbar, or you can create a new template. Chapter 6, Working with Activities provides more specifics on creating a new activity. 6. Connect each activity to the activity that precedes it in the logical flow. The first activity in the workflow must be connected to an initiate activity (it can be any type of initiate activity), and the last activity must be connected to the end activity. To connect two activities, select one of the flow icons described below, move your mouse over the first activity until you see its selection box, then drag the mouse to the second activity. Release the mouse button when you see the selection box for the second activity. Process Builder draws a line between the activities. You connect activities using one of four Create Flow icons in the Process Builder toolbar: To connect activities in a forward movement of data, click either the Create Single Segment Flow icon or the Create Multi-Segment Flow icon. The difference between the two is visual: one draws a straight line to represent the flow between activities, the other draws a line consisting of multiple segments. To connect activities in a backward movement of data, click the Create Reject Flow icon. Reject flows represent the path taken when the user of an activity rejects the object being processed. To connect a Fault Handler activity to the flow, click Understanding fault handler activities, page 17 provides more details on this topic. Note: It is best to connect all activities into the flow before configuring the individual activities, because some configuration steps are based on the activity s position in the business process. 7. Configure each activity. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 57

58 Working with Process Templates See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for details about configuring activities. Typically, the best practice is to configure the activities in the order they appear in the business process, starting with the initiate activity. Remember to configure all of the necessary tabs for each activity; for example, the Trigger tab for Join activities and the Transition tab for Decision Split activities. (For the initiate activity, only the Properties, Data, and Display tabs are available.) 8. Adjust the visual layout as necessary. For information about the options available for laying out the process template display, see Process template editor pane, page Save the process template. See Saving process templates, page Validate the process template. See Validating process templates, page Install the process template. See Installing process templates, page 72. Once you have installed the template, it is available to users. Setting process template properties You use the Process Template Properties dialog box to provide basic information about the process template that you are creating. The original creator and current state of the process template, including lock status, lock owner, and version, appear at the top of the dialog box in display-only fields. Note: To edit an existing template, you must uninstall the process. Modifying process templates, page 73 gives more information on modifying an existing property. To set process template properties: 1. From the Tools menu, select Process Properties, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar. 2. Select the General tab. Basic template information appears as read-only text at the top of the dialog box. 3. To change the owner of the process template, click the Change button that appears next to the owner name and select a user from the dialog box that appears. You are the default owner of any templates you create. You can only change the owner if you are a superuser. If you are not a superuser, the Change button is not available. 58 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

59 Working with Process Templates 4. Enter a description of the process template in the Description text box. 5. To change the default alias set for this process template, click the Change button that appears next to the current alias set. For more information about alias sets and how they are used in workflow, see Using aliases, page 25. To choose an existing alias set, check Choose from existing alias sets, select the name of the alias set from the drop-down list, and click OK. To create a new alias set, check Create new alias set, type the name and description of the new alias set, and click OK. To remove the currently assigned default alias set, check Remove alias set. 6. Enter instructions for the performer in the Workflow instructions box. For example, you can give performers of all activities specific instructions relating to tasks they are expected to perform. 7. Turn on or off the template Audit Trail Settings by clicking the appropriate option. When auditing is on, audit trail information is saved for each workflow created from this template. For more information about auditing in Documentum software, see the Documentum Content Server API Reference Manual. Note: Auditing must be turned on to enable Observation Point activity templates to publish reporting data to the BAM database. 8. Specify whether to make the names of routed documents available for display to users. By default, the package routed through a workflow does not include the names of the documents in the package for security reasons. If you want to store the document names as part of the package, so that the names can be used in the instructions passed to workflow participants, select the Store document name to the package at runtime checkbox. 9. To send an message when a timer expires or another event occurs, click Add in the Select template for event notification group box. You can also delete a template and event from the group box by selecting the row and clicking Remove. 10. Select the Event that will trigger the notification from the drop-down list. 11. Select the Template that will be used by server to send notifications for the event. An template is a document in the Documentum repository that defines the structure of the notification message. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for information about the structure of a document that serves as an template. a. To open an existing template, navigate through the file structure and select it. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 59

60 Working with Process Templates b. To Create a new template, select the option and click OK. c. The Notification Template Wizard appears, enabling you to create a new template dynamically. Using the Notification Template Wizard, page 124 provides instructions on using the wizard to create an template. 12. To associate custom messages with specific workflow events, select the events and templates in the box at the bottom of the dialog box. You can set the messages that the server sends in response to process-related events. Users registered to receive notification of the event will receive a message constructed using the template associated with the event; see Setting up notifications, page 36 for details. Note: You can also associate templates with events as part of an activity definition. If you associate the template with a process template, the template is used whenever the event occurs in workflows created from that process template. If you associate the template with an activity definition, the template is used whenever the event occurs during an instance of the activity. If a particular workflow instance and an activity in that workflow both have an associated template for the same event, the template associated with the activity is used. a. Click the Add button to add a row to the event notification box. b. Click in the Event column of the new row and select a workflow event from the drop-down list that appears. The available events are: dm_changedactivityinstancestate An automatic activity changes state because the error handling flag is set to zero and the work item returned a non-zero value. dm_startedworkitem A work item is generated as part of the workflow. dm_delegatedworkitem A user delegates a work item. Pre Timer Expires An activity has not started within a designated number of hours after the workflow starts. Post Timer Expires An activity has not completed within a designated number of hours after the activity starts. c. Click in the Template column of the row and select the template to use for the event you selected at step b. An template is a document in the Documentum repository that defines the structure of the notification message. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for information about the structure of a document that serves as an template. 13. Click OK to close the dialog box or click the Data tab to add process data to the template. 60 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

61 Working with Process Templates Managing process data The Data tab of the Process Template Properties dialog box displays a list of the packages and process variables involved in workflows created from this process template. Process data can be either a workflow variable, a process variable, or a package that is associated with the flow. Process variables represent different types of data that flow through your business process. These can be simple data types (such as string, Boolean, or date) or they can be complex data types groups of logically related data such as purchase orders, manufacturing items, and so on. Process variables can be grouped into collections of logically related attributes of data types that can be reused in the repository. These process variables, or structured data types, are available in the Structured Data Types window and can be used in multiple process templates in a repository. For example, you can create a process variable approved, which is a Boolean value, and associate it with the process flow. You can then design a Form with radio buttons that signify the value for the approved field and associate it with the process flow. In many workflows, the same package passes through all activities. For example, a workflow for reviewing and approving purchase orders will pass the same purchase order document as a package to all the necessary activities. In other cases, the work performed by some activities may result in the creation of a new document. For example, suppose an activity accepts a personnel action notice. The performer (an HR employee) must file the notice, then send a different form to the accounting department. The list of packages in the Process Template Properties dialog box must include all packages involved in the workflow, including packages created or discarded in the course of the process. When you configure the activities, you will specify which packages each activity deals with; see Handling process data, page 127. To set the packages for a business process: 1. If the Process Template Properties dialog box is not already open, select Process Properties from the Tools menu, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar. 2. Click the Data tab. 3. To add a package to the business process, select the Packages node in the tree view window and click the + button above the window. The new package appears under the Packages node in the tree and in the Package Definition list box along with the controls for defining the package. 4. Enter the name of the package in the Name text box. Choose a name that will enable you to identify the package when you configure the activities in the business process. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 61

62 Working with Process Templates Note: Package names are restricted to 16 characters. 5. From the Version drop-down list, select or type the default version of the content you want to use. Note: Process Builder can be configured to not display the Version list; see Appendix C, Process Builder Configuration File. When the list does not appear, the workflow always uses the CURRENT version. The version you specify here appears as the default version used for each activity that handles the package; you can override the version when you configure the activity. To specify the version, you can select or type: <Any>, which means that any version of the package can be used. A specific version number, for example, 2.5 or 3.0. If you type a specific version number, the package will always contain that version of the document. A symbolic version label, for example, Draft. The symbolic version label is case-sensitive, so be sure the version you type matches the version of the object in the repository. CURRENT, which is the default selection. If you select CURRENT, the package will always contain the version labeled CURRENT, which is typically the most current version of the object in the repository. 6. Choose the object type of the object included in the package by selecting it from the Type drop-down list. Note: Process Builder can be configured to not display the Type list; see Appendix C, Process Builder Configuration File. If the Type list does not appear, or if you want Process Builder to select the object type based on the form template you select (at step 7), skip to the next step. Most commonly, the object type of a package is Document or a custom document type you have created. Refer to Documentum Content Server Reference for a description of object types. 7. To associate a form template with the package, select the template from the Form drop-down list. A form template defines a custom user interface for users who handle this package during the workflow. See Associating form templates with packages, page 34 for more information about using forms and form templates. To appear in the list, the form must be in an installed state. The form template you specify here appears as the default template used for each activity that handles the package; you can override the form template when you configure the activity. Note: If you select a form template before setting the object type of the package, Process Builder displays all available form templates in the drop-down list and sets the package object type based on the form template you select. 62 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

63 Working with Process Templates a. Select an existing form from the Form drop-down list shows only those form templates whose data model matches the object type you selected at step 5. If the form template you want does not appear, make sure you selected the correct object type at step 5. b. To create a new form template or edit the selected form template, click the button with the Forms Builder icon to launch Forms Builder. The Documentum Forms Builder User Guide provides more information on creating custom forms for your workflow. 8. To use the form you selected at step 7 to display the properties of the package, select the Use Form for Properties checkbox. When the Use Form for Properties checkbox is not selected, the form from step 7 appears when the performer of an activity selects the package from his or her Inbox; the form is used to save the content of the package. When the checkbox is selected, the form appears when the performer views the package properties; the form is used to set the package s properties in the repository, not the content of the package. Note: The Use Form for Properties option is available only for form templates whose storage mapping option is set to Store in Repository attributes. See the Documentum Forms Builder User Guide for information about this storage mapping option. 9. To prevent Process Builder from making this package visible to all activities by default, deselect the Visible across entire process checkbox. By default, Process Builder makes the package visible to every activity in the business process, on the assumption that the package will flow through the entire process. When you deselect this option, the package will be visible only in activities to which you explicitly add it. Note: If you select an existing package that has been set to be visible in some activities and not visible in others, the checkbox is grayed out. To reset all activities to the same value, click the Change activity-level settings link, then click Yes in the dialog box that appears. 10. To require that the package have an associated document or other content, click the This is a mandatory package checkbox. Note: If you select an existing package that has been set to be mandatory in some activities and optional in others, the checkbox is grayed out. To reset all activities to the same value, click the Change activity-level settings link, then click Yes in the dialog box that appears. 11. Click Apply to add the package to the list box. 12. To add another package to the flow, repeat steps 3 through Click OK to save your updates and close the dialog box. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 63

64 Working with Process Templates 14. Configure each activity to specify which packages it handles, starting with the initiate activity and moving forward through the business process. See Handling process data, page 127. To set the process variables for a business process: 1. If the Process Template Properties dialog box is not already open, select Process Properties from the Tools menu, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar. 2. Click the Data tab. 3. To add a process variable to the business process, select the Process Variables node in the tree view window and click the + button above the window. The new variable appears under the Process Variables node in the tree and in the Variable Definition list box along with the controls for defining the package. 4. Type the name of the variable in the Name text box. Choose a name that will enable you to identify the variable when you configure the activities in the business process. Note: If you change the name of a variable that is already defined in the repository, this change is only to the variable within the process it is not made to the structured data type name in the repository. It will retain its original name. 5. Select a data type in the Type field. Valid values are string, integer, float, date, or Boolean. You can also select a structured data type from the Structured Data Types by selecting More Values and navigating through the tree of structured data types in the Choose Type dialog box. 6. Depending on the data type you have defined, type a default Value, if necessary. 7. To associate this variable with an ACL, click Browse and select an ACL from the list. Note: An ACL assigned to an individual process variable overrides the process-level ACL, if one is assigned to the process on the Advanced tab. Setting Access Control List (ACL) options, page 65 provides more information on Access Control Lists. 8. To prevent Process Builder from making this variable visible to all activities by default, clear the This variable is visible across the process checkbox. By default, Process Builder makes the variable visible to every activity in the business process, on the assumption that the variable will flow through the entire process. When you deselect this option, the variable will be visible only in activities to which you explicitly add it. 64 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

65 Working with Process Templates Note: If you select an existing variable that has been set to be visible in some activities and not visible in others, the checkbox is grayed out. To reset all activities to the same value, click the Change activity-level settings link, then click Yes in the dialog box that appears. 9. To prevent Process Builder from making this variable available for reporting, clear the checkbox This type can be used to generate reports. 10. Click Apply to save the definition of the new variable. 11. To add another variable to the flow, repeat steps 3 through Click OK to save your updates and close the dialog box. 13. Configure each activity to specify which variables it handles, starting with the initiate activity and moving forward through the business process. Handling process data, page 127 provides more information on configuring process data within an activity. Con guring advanced options The Advanced tab of the of the Process Template Properties dialog box enables you to set permissions on the entire process or individual variables associated with the process flow. You can also select a pre-defined business calendar for the process and create the correlation sets that match attributes from an inbound message from a external source to the process data in the activity. Setting Access Control List (ACL) options A permission set (also known as an access control list or ACL), defines the object-level permissions applied to objects to which the permission sets are assigned. Permission sets specify what access each user has to a particular item in the repository, such as a file or folder. Each item in the repository is assigned a permission set by the item s owner. The permission set defines the object-level permissions applied to the object. When you create a new template, the new process as well as the activity objects rely on either the user s default ACL or the parent folder s default ACL, depending on the configuration of the repository. To ensure that each user has the correct access to elements of the workflow, you can configure the ACL for the process and the activity from within Process Builder. If a task performer does not have at least Read permission for the process, they will receive the task in their Inbox and can open it, but they will be unable to complete the task. If a task performer does not have at least Read permission on the process variables, EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 65

66 Working with Process Templates they will be unable to view them in TaskSpace or their Inbox. If a task performer does not have Write permission, they are unable to modify the process variables The Documentum Content Server Administration Guide provides information about using ACLs. Table 3. Permission requirements for a process User Process creator Workflow creator Workflow supervisor Task performers Minimum permission level Write Relate, Execute_procedure Relate Read Table 4. Permission requirements for process variables User Process creator Workflow creator Workflow supervisor Task performers Minimum permission level Write Write Write Write To select ACLs: 1. If the Process Template Properties dialog box is not already open, select Process Properties from the Tools menu, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar. 2. Click the Advanced tab. 3. To add security to all process variables, click Browse. The ACL Chooser Dialog appears. a. Select an ACL that is owned either by the System or by a User. The list of ACLs will change based upon your selection. System ACLs are available for use by any user in the repository and are managed by the repository owner. Other ACLs can be managed by their owners or a user with Sysadmin or Superuser privileges. b. Highlight the ACL that you want to use for all process variables. The associated permissions and description of the ACL appear in the dialog box. c. Click OK. 66 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

67 Working with Process Templates Note: An ACL assigned to an individual process variable on the Data tab of the Process Template overrides the process-level ACL. 4. To add security to the process, click Browse and select an ACL. a. Select an ACL that is owned by the System or by a User. The list of ACLs will change based upon your selection. System ACLs are available for use by any user in the repository and are managed by the repository owner. Other ACLs can be managed by their owners or a user with Sysadmin or Superuser privileges. b. Highlight the ACL that you want to use for the process. The associated permissions and description of the ACL appear in the dialog box. c. Click OK. Selecting a calendar for the process Process designers may be required to implement business processes that are based on different time periods or working hours than found in the standard system calendar. In Documentum Webtop or TaskSpace, designers can create calendars based on regional work schedules, country-specific holidays, or other unique time constraints. In this way, timers and notifications for a process are calculated based on a specific calendar rather than the system calendar. Note: When a task first arrives in the user s Inbox, the due date for the task may be calculated based on the system calendar. The next time the timer job runs, the job updates the due date according to the business calendar. To select a calendar for a process 1. If the Process Template Properties dialog box is not already open, select Process Properties from the Tools menu, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar. 2. Click the Advanced tab. 3. Select a calendar from the list-box. The list of calendars reflects all calendars located in the System/Workflow/Calendars folder. Note: If different calendars are selected for both a process and an activity within that process, then the system uses the activity s calendar. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 67

68 Working with Process Templates Creating correlation sets Process Builder must be able to match an inbound message to a unique instance of a workflow in order to process the incoming data. Correlation sets are collections of process variables that you define for an activity that enable the system to match a message to a process instance. You create correlation sets at the process level based on the type of information you will be receiving from inbound message activity templates. This includes using structured data types that have been defined with the repository. You can create multiple correlation sets for a process, although an activity can only be associated with one correlation set. Understanding message correlation, page 140 gives more details on using correlation sets to match messages from external sources to process data. To create a new correlation set: 1. If the Process Template Properties dialog box is not already open, select Process Properties from the Tools menu, or click the Template Properties icon on the toolbar. 2. Click the Advanced tab. 3. In the Correlation Set group box, select the Correlation Sets root node and click to create a new correlation set in the tree. 4. To create a name for the correlation set, right-click the new node and select Edit set name. The Edit Label dialog box appears. 5. Type the new name of the correlation set and click OK. Correlation set names are limited to 128 characters. 6. To add an attribute to the correlation set, highlight the correlation set name, and click. The new, undefined property is added to the tree. 7. Right-click the attribute, and select Edit correlation model The Correlation Dialog appears showing process variables that are associated with the process. 8. Select a process variable from variables tree and click OK. Note: Only saved process data appears in the tree. If you add a variable to the Data tab, it will not appear in the tree until after it has been saved. 9. Repeat these steps adding different correlation sets and their related variables. 10. Click OK. 68 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

69 Working with Process Templates Saving process templates When you have completed a process template, you must save it before you can validate and install it. Saving the template copies your changes to the repository. The process of saving differs depending on whether you are saving changes to an existing template, saving a new template, or saving a template with a new name. To save changes to an existing template as the same version, you must have at least Write permission on the template, and you must be working with a draft or validated template. A template that is installed must first be uninstalled in order to save it as the same version. (If the Save options are grayed out on the File menu, it may mean that the template has been installed.) The current state of the template appears in the Process Builder title bar. The title bar also shows if the template is checked out and the username of the lock owner if the template is checked out by another user. Process Builder can be configured to enforce unique names or specific folder locations for process templates; see Appendix C, Process Builder Configuration File. By default, however, process templates can be saved to any location in the repository, and their names need to be unique only within their folder. To save a new process template or save an existing template with a new name: 1. From File menu, select Save As. The Save Process Template As dialog box appears. Note: If the current process template is new has not been saved previously, selecting Save also displays the Save Process Template As dialog box. 2. Type a name for the process template. Note: Process template names must be less than 80 characters in length. Longer names are not allowed in Business Activity Monitor and will interfere with process monitoring. 3. To create a folder in which to store the template and its associated objects, make sure the Create new folder for associated items checkbox is selected. The checkbox is selected by default. Process Builder saves the template and its activities in a folder with the same name as the template, located under the folder you select in the next step. If the checkbox is not selected, navigate to the folder where you want to save the template by double-clicking on cabinets and directories in the Save in box until you have highlighted the folder name. The complete path to the folder appears in the gray text box at the bottom of the dialog box. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 69

70 Working with Process Templates 4. Click OK. If you have sufficient permissions on the selected folder, Process Builder saves the template and its activities. If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to validate the template. (Installation and validation prompts are set on or off in the Preferences dialog box; see Setting process template properties, page 58.) 5. Choose whether to validate the process template. See Validating process templates, page 71 for more information about validating templates. If you choose to validate the template, Process Builder attempts the validation. If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click the Details button to see the error that prevented validation. If the validation is successful, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to install the template, making it available for use. 6. Choose whether to install the process template. See Installing process templates, page 72 for more information about installing templates. To save an updated process template that is checked out: 1. From File menu, select Save. If the current process template has been previously saved and is checked out, Process Builder updates the saved file. Checking in, checking out, and versioning process templates, page 73 provides more specifics on checking in a template. 2. If you have sufficient permissions on the selected folder, Process Builder saves the template and its activities. If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to validate the template. See Validating process templates, page 71 for more information on validating the template. To save an updated process template that is not checked out: 1. Select File > Save or click the Save button to save changes to the current version. 2. Click OK. If you have sufficient permissions on the selected folder, Process Builder saves the template and its activities. If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to validate the template. 3. Choose whether to validate the process template. See Validating process templates, page 71 for more information about validating templates. If you choose to validate the template, Process Builder attempts the 70 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

71 Working with Process Templates validation. If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click the Details button to see the error that prevented validation. If the validation is successful, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to install the template, making it available for use. 4. Choose whether to install the process template. See Installing process templates, page 72 for more information about installing templates. Validating process templates Validating a template verifies that the process defined in the template meets system requirements. You can validate a template at any time by selecting Process Template > Validate from the Tools menu. Additionally, if installation and validation prompts are set to display, any time you save a template a dialog box appears asking whether you want to validate the template. Installation and validation prompts are set on or off in the Template Properties dialog box; see Setting process template properties, page 58. If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click the Details button to see the error that prevented validation. If the validation is successful, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to install the template, making it available for use. Please note that any errors that occur will refer to activities by their names. If you label activities with the performer name, you might want to temporarily change the display setting to Name in order to locate the activity. See Changing display settings, page 129 for information about this display setting. You can only validate if your open template is in the draft state and you have Write permission. Validating a process template verifies that: The referenced activities have unique names within the template. There is at least one initiate activity and only one end activity. There is a path through the workflow from each activity to the end activity. All referenced objects exist as local objects. Automatic activities have a method selected EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 71

72 Working with Process Templates Installing process templates A process template must be installed before it is available for use in an active workflow. You can install a template only if it is in the validated state and you have Write permission. The current state of the open template appears in the title bar of the Process Builder window. If it is not validated, select Process Template > Validate from the Tools menu. See Validating process templates, page 71 for more information. If you need to make changes to an installed template, you must uninstall it first. Any active workflows based on the template are halted. After making the changes, validate and install the template again. When you reinstall, you can choose how you want to handle any workflows that were halted when you uninstalled the template. You can choose to resume the halted workflows at the point from which they were halted. Or, you can choose to abort the workflows. The options you choose depends on the changes you made to the workflow. Perhaps you deleted an activity, or added an activity that you want to perform on all objects in the workflow, or you modified transition conditions. In any of these instances, you abort the workflows and then start each again. To delete a running workflow, you must abort the workflow and choose the option to destroy the runtime objects in Webtop. The default behavior is to resume all halted workflows that reference that template. To install a process template: 1. From the Tools menu, select Process Template > Install. If the Install option is grayed out, it means the template is currently installed or has not been saved or has not been validated. If there are any halted workflows based on this process template, you are given the option to resume or halt them. Click one of the following: Click Yes to resume the halted workflows. If you resume a halted workflow that is based on a process template to which you have made significant changes, incompatibilities between the old process template and the changed process template may result in the workflow being placed in an undefined state. Click No to abort the halted workflows. To uninstall a process template: 1. From the Tools menu, select Process Template > Uninstall. You can uninstall only if the template is in the installed state and you have Write permission. 72 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

73 Working with Process Templates If any users are running workflows based on this template, a warning message appears telling you there are active workflow instances. 2. If you see the warning message, click Yes to halt the workflows or No to cancel the uninstall process. 3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to uninstall this process template and all of its activities. 4. Click OK to clear the message box telling you that the process is complete. Modifying process templates You can change a process template by changing its process flow or activity definitions. When you change a process template, you can either overwrite the existing template with the changes or create a new version of the template. Any changes you make are governed by object-level permissions. To make changes to a process template and save the changes without versioning, you must uninstall the template. To uninstall a template requires Relate permission on the template or sysadmin or superuser privileges. To save your changes requires Write permission. To create a new version of a process template, you must check out the template before you begin modifying it. You must have at least Version permission on the template. You can create a new version of a template without uninstalling the current version. Versioning a process template has no impact on the running workflows based on the previous version of the template. When you save or check in your changes, the server sets the new version to the draft state. The new version must be validated and installed before you can start a workflow based on it. See also Saving process templates, page 69. Checking in, checking out, and versioning process templates To lock and edit an existing process template, you check it out using Process Builder. As the process opens for editing, the system locks the file so that no one else can make changes to it. When you complete your edits and check in a changed process template, you can modify the version label and keep a running history of all changes to the process template. Checking in also unlocks the template so that other users can modify it. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 73

74 Working with Process Templates When a process template is checked out, the icon in the Open Process Template dialog box reflects that it is locked by another user. To view the username for the lock owner, mouse over the icon. Table 5. Process template states and related icons State Checked out (locked) Icon Checked in (unlocked) A template always receives version number 1.0 when it is first created. When you check a template in after having modified it, you can decide whether to check the file in as a new version or the same version. When checking a template into the repository, the system prompts you to select whether to increase the version number by a whole number or by a decimal point (by a tenth). Increasing the version number by a whole number is considered a major revision; increasing by a decimal point is a minor revision. The system marks the most recently checked-in file as CURRENT. If you decide to check the file back in without increasing the version number, the template keeps the same version number as the original template and the system overwrites the original template with the changes that you have just made and labels it as CURRENT. When checking a template out, you can choose to view only the current version or all versions. Checking processes in and out of the repository using Process Builder is very similar to checking documents in and out in other Documentum applications. One very important difference is that a process template can be installed and in use when you check it out. To modify an existing template and save it as the same version (CURRENT), you must first uninstall the template (which stops all instances of the template in the runtime environment). This prevents you from making changes to a template when it is in use in the runtime environment. After uninstalling the process, you are free to make changes to it, check it in as the same version, and then validate and install the template. Note: During the time that the template is uninstalled, the system stops all running instances of the workflow and prevents any new instances from starting. Once the template is installed again, you can either cancel or resume the halted instances, depending on the complexity of changes made to the template. Modifications to existing templates should be limited to minor changes of activity properties that are not currently used by the instance or changes related to future activities of the instance. To delete a running workflow, you must abort the workflow and choose the option to destroy the runtime objects in Webtop. If you check out an installed template without first uninstalling it, any running instances of the process continue to run using the existing version of the template (labeled CURRENT). The version of the template that you are editing is opened as a draft and 74 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

75 Working with Process Templates you are only allowed to save and check in the template as a new minor or major version. After it has been checked in, validated, and installed the new version of the template can be used in the runtime environment. All process instances created using the previous version will continue to run until they have completed. Documentum Administrator User Guide gives more specific information on using versions. Canceling a check-out unlocks the process template and discards all changes that have been made to the process template during the time it was checked out. The repository retains the last version of the template as the current version. To check out a process template: 1. Select File > Open to display the Open Process Template dialog box Note: To check out a process that is already open the editor pane, click File > Check out from the menu. or select 2. In the View box, select the option to Show ALL Versions to display all existing versions or Show Current Version to show only those versions of the template that are labeled as CURRENT. 3. In the Select a Process Template box, navigate to and select the template you want to open. If the template is checked out by another user, a lock icon appears next to the template name and you can only View a read-only version of the template until it is checked in by the lock owner. 4. To check out the template as it opens, select Check out process on Open. Note: If the template is installed, the system displays a message giving you the option to uninstall the template first or continue with the check-out without uninstalling the template. An installed template only opens as a draft template and can be saved only as a new major or minor version. To make changes to an existing version of a template, you must uninstall it before checking it out. 5. Click Open to open a locked version of the template in the editor pane. The status of the template in the Process Builder title bar changes to Checked-out. To check in a process template: 1. Click the icon or select File > Checkin to display the Check-in Process Template dialog box. 2. Select the option to save the new process as the Same Version, a Minor Version, or a Major Version. Checking in the template as the same version makes changes to the CURRENT version. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 75

76 Working with Process Templates Note: If you have made changes to an installed template, you can save only the template as a minor version or a major version. The option to check in as the same version is not available as overwriting the current version will affect running instances of the process. 3. Type an optional descriptive label for the new version. 4. Click OK. To cancel a check-out in a process template: Use this procedure when you want to check the template back into the repository without keeping any changes that were made to it. The existing version that is labeled CURRENT in the repository will not be changed. 1. Click the icon or select File > Cancel Check out to display the Cancel Check out dialog box. The system displays a message warning that all changes to the template will be lost. Note: Superusers can cancel the check out of templates that are locked by other users. 2. Click Yes to cancel the check-out. Deleting process templates The option to delete a process template is only available if the process template is open in Process Builder. To delete a process template: 1. From the Tools menu, select Process Template > Delete Process. If a template is currently in an installed state, the system prompts you to uninstall it before deleting it. Additionally, if any users are running workflows based on this template, a warning message appears telling you there are active workflow instances. 2. Click Yes to uninstall and delete the process template and related activities. Sharing process templates with Process Analyzer Once a business process has been defined or altered in either Process Analyzer or Process Builder, the process can be shared with the other application as an XML file (in XPDL format) that is saved to a shared folder. Either application can then access the XML file 76 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

77 Working with Process Templates from the shared folder, open it, and begin working with the process. Setting process sharing folder locations, page 78 provides details on setting up shared folders. Note: Process sharing is enabled when both Process Analyzer and Process Builder are installed on the same machine. To share processes when the applications are not installed on the same machine, use the import and export options. Importing process templates, page 78 and Exporting process templates, page 80 provide more information on those options. Use Get process from Analyst to open a process in Process Builder that was created or modified using Process Analyzer. Use Share process with Analyst to make a Process Builder process available to an analyst using Process Analyzer. Automatic and manual activity types are preserved during the sharing process, although definitions such as methods and timers must be added by the developer in Process Builder. Packages are not included in the shared processes. Additionally, if you share a process from Process Analyzer that has multiple end activities, Process Builder adds an extra empty activity to which all the end activities connect. (This is because Process Builder supports only a single end activity, whereas processes exported from Process Analyzer may contain multiple end activities.) To share a process with Process Analyzer: 1. From the File menu, select Share process with Analyst. The system places the XPDL file in the Process Builder shared folder where Process Analyzer can access the process. 2. Click OK. To get a process from Process Analyzer: 1. From the File menu, select Get process from Analyst. The Get Process from Analyst dialog box appears showing all files that are in the Process Analyzer shared folder. 2. Select the XPDL file that you want to open 3. Click OK. Process Builder creates a new draft process template based on the Process Analyzer process. If activity layout location information is available, it is applied to the shared process template; otherwise, the system will use default layout and graphical display settings. Since user interface information such as graphics or images is not included in shared processes, you must recreate them in Process Builder. Next, you must define execution information for the process using the Activity Inspector. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 77

78 Working with Process Templates See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for more information on defining execution details for activities. Setting process sharing folder locations When processes are shared between Process Builder and Process Analyzer, the location of the folders in which the processes are saved can be configured from either application. Note: The process sharing folder locations are saved locally as preferences for the Process Builder instance. To set process sharing folder locations: 1. Select File > Preferences from the menu. The Preferences dialog box appears. 2. To set the shared folder location for Process Analyzer, click Select. The Open dialog box appears. 3. Navigate to the directory in which Documentum is installed. Generally, this is C:\Documentum and create a folder for the Process Analyzer XPDL files (for example, PA_Shared). 4. Click OK. 5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to set the shared folder for the Process Builder XPDL files. Importing process templates The import process takes an exported XPDL file and makes it available for you to work with in either Process Builder or Process Analyzer. Automatic and manual activity types are preserved during the import, although definitions such as methods and timers must be added by the developer in Process Builder. Packages are not included in the import process. Additionally, if you import (or re-import) a process from Process Analyzer that has multiple end activities, Process Builder adds an extra empty activity to which all the end activities connect. (This is because Process Builder supports only a single end activity, whereas processes exported from Process Analyzer may contain multiple end activities.) To import a process template into Process Builder: 1. From the File menu, select Import > XPDL. The Import Process dialog box appears. 78 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

79 Working with Process Templates 2. Navigate to the file that you want to import by double-clicking on the directories listed in the Import Process dialog box until you have highlighted the file name. 3. Click Open. Process Builder creates a new draft process template based on the Process Analyzer process. If activity location information is available, it is applied to the imported process template; otherwise, the system will use default layout and graphical display settings. Since user interface information such as graphics or images is not exported with the process, you must recreate them in Process Builder. Next, you must define execution information for the process using the Activity Inspector. See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for more information on defining execution details for activities. Keeping shared processes in sync Business processes can be shared and modified in either Process Builder or Process Analyzer. To keep the process synchronized between the two applications, you must re-import the changed process into its native application. A Process Analyzer process can be exported and then imported into Process Builder and modified. For example, you can use Process Builder to define execution details, add a new activity, or change the order of activities. As a result of these changes, the business analyst might want to check the process once again in Process Analyzer or run a simulation of the changed business process. Re-importing the process that was changed in Process Builder updates the original process in Process Analyzer, keeping the process in sync between both applications. An existing Process Builder process can be exported out of its native application, imported into Process Analyzer, and modified. For example, the business analyst can change the order of activities, add an activity, or delete an activity. To keep the executable model of the process in sync with the newly changed process, it must be re-imported back into Process Builder. During the re-import operation, the system leverages versioning to give you the option to save the process as the same version, a minor version, or a major version. To re-import a changed business process into Process Builder: 1. Export the process from Process Analyzer. 2. Select the exported process and import it into Process Builder. See Importing process templates, page 78 for the procedure to import a process into Process Builder. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 79

80 Working with Process Templates 3. From the File menu, select Save. The Checkin Process Template dialog box appears, informing you that the system has detected an existing version of the process in the repository. 4. Select the option to save the new process as the Same Version, a Minor Version, or a Major Version. The new process becomes the current version of the process and the system retains the older versions for historical purposes. All process instances created using the previous version will continue to run using the previous version s process template. Additionally, once a process is checked in as a major or minor version, Process Builder will not allow saving an older version of the process if a newer version exists in the repository. For example, the system will prevent saving an imported of version 1.0 of a process if version 1.1 already exists in the repository. The older version can be renamed and saved as a different process. A business process can only be saved as the same version if that version of the process has not yet been installed. If an existing version of the business process has been installed, the system will not allow you to save it as the same version. You must save it as a changed version. 5. Click OK. If you have sufficient permissions on the selected folder, Process Builder saves the template and its activities. If installation and validation prompts are set to display, a dialog box appears asking whether you want to validate the template. See Validating process templates, page 71 for more information on validating the template. 6. Choose whether to install the process template. See Installing process templates, page 72 for more information about installing templates. Exporting process templates The export process from either Process Builder or Process Analyzer creates an XPDL (XML Process Definition Language) file that is saved to a location you specify in a file system. This file is then available to import into either Process Analyzer or Process Builder. Templates exported from Process Builder contain the type definitions that Process Analyzer uses to create the corresponding business objects. The exported XPDL also contains information on which activities are associated with an Observation Point activity template and have been identified for monitoring. To export a process out of Process Builder: 1. From the File menu, select Export > XPDL. 80 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

81 Working with Process Templates The Export Process dialog box appears. 2. Navigate to the folder that will receive the exported file by double-clicking on the directories listed in Export Process dialog box until you have highlighted the folder. 3. Click Save. Printing process templates You can print a copy of the process template at any time. To print a process template: 1. Open the process template you want to print. 2. Verify that the page setup options are as you want them. See Setting page setup options, page 82 and Previewing printed processes, page 82 for information about these options. 3. Click the Print Template Layout icon in the toolbar, or select Print from the File menu. The Print dialog box appears. 4. From the Name list, choose the name of the printer to which you want to print. 5. To change the properties of your printer, click Properties and update the settings. Refer to the documentation for your printer for information about the printer properties. 6. To print your process template to a file rather than to the printer, select the Print to file checkbox. 7. To print more than one copy of the process template, type the number of copies you want from the Number of copies box. Note: The controls in the Print range box are grayed out except for the All radio button. You cannot print portions of the template, only the complete template. 8. Click OK. If you elected to print to a file, the Print to File dialog box appears. Otherwise, the process template is sent to the printer you selected. 9. In the Print to File dialog box, type the name of the file to create, including the full path. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 81

82 Working with Process Templates Setting page setup options The page setup options determine how the process template is printed. To change page setup options: 1. From the File menu, choose Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box appears. 2. Choose the paper size for printed versions of the process template. The Paper Format box offers six standard sizes. The dimensions for each format display either in inches or in centimeters, depending on the unit of measurement selected in the Margins field. The paper format options are: US Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) US Legal (8.5 x 14 inches) US Executive (7.25 x 10.5 inches) A3 (29.69 x centimeters) A4 (21 x 29.7 centimeters) A5 (14.8 x 21 centimeters) 3. Specify whether to print pages in landscape or portrait orientation. 4. Enter the margins for the printed pages. You can type the measurement in inches or centimeters with up to two decimal places, such as 1.25 inches or 4.44 centimeters. 5. Click OK to save the page setup options and exit from this dialog box, or click Print to print the current template with these settings. Previewing printed processes The Print Preview option gives a graphical representation of the image that will be printed. To view the printing format: 1. From the File menu, choose Print Preview. The Print Preview dialog box appears. The box on the right displays a preview image of the process template as it will appear on the printed page(s). The layout is based on the page setup options and on the Printout Size option. 2. Set the size of the process template printout. The Printout Size options are: 82 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

83 Working with Process Templates Actual size The printout will be the same size as the process template display in Process Builder. Same as paper size The size of the process template will be adjusted so that it fits on a single page of the size and orientation you specified in steps 2 and 3. Fit to The size of the process template will be adjusted so that it fits on a specified number of pages across and down. If you select this option, you must type a number in each of the two adjacent text boxes. 3. Click OK to save the Printout Size option and exit from this dialog box, or click Print to print the current template with these settings. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 83

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85 Chapter 4 Connecting Activities The flow lines that connect the activities in a workflow represent the flow of the document or object that the workflow routes. Flows enable the movement of packages, their properties, and dependencies between the connected activities. See Process templates and associated workflow objects, page 14 for a description of flows. Once you have added a flow to the template, you configure it using the Flow Inspector. You access the Flow Inspector by double-clicking on a flow in the process template editor pane, or by selecting one or more flows and choosing Flow Inspector from the Tools menu. The Flow Inspector enables you to control how the flow appears in the visual display of the process template; see Changing flow display settings, page 86. The name of the flow you are configuring appears in the text box at the top of the Flow Inspector. If more than one flow is selected, arrow buttons appear on either side of the text box, enabling you to scroll through the selected flows. The settings you make apply to the flow whose name appears in the box, unless you select the Apply to all selected option. When multiple flows are selected, each tab in the Flow Inspector displays one or more checkboxes labeled Apply to all selected. When this checkbox is selected, Process Builder applies the associated settings that is, those settings that appear to the right of the checkbox to all selected flows, not just the one whose name appears in the text box at the top. Any settings for which the checkbox is not selected apply only to the current flow. Creating ows You connect activities using one of four Create Flow icons in the Process Builder toolbar: To connect activities in a forward movement of data, click either the Create Single Segment Flow icon or the Create Multi-Segment Flow icon. The difference between the two is visual: one draws a straight line to represent the flow between activities, the other draws a line consisting of multiple segments. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 85

86 Connecting Activities To connect activities in a backward movement of data, click the Create Reject Flow icon. Reject flows represent the path taken when the user of an activity rejects the object being processed. To connect an automatic activity to a fault handler activity, click the Assign Fault Handlers icon. Fault handlers enable you to assign a secondary error handling activity to an automatic activity in the event that the automatic activity fails. A fault handler activity has a dashed line representing the flow between the automatic activity and its related fault handler. Understanding fault handler activities, page 17 provides more details on this topic. See Process templates and associated workflow objects, page 14 for a description of the types of flows. Changing ow display settings The options on the Display tab control how the flow appears in the visual display of the process template. Note: The options on the Display tab do not control whether the flow line begins with a BPMN-style diamond. Flows have a diamond when the originating activity selects the next activity using conditional logic; see Setting activity transition rules, page 119 for more information. To change the display settings for a ow: 1. In the Flow Inspector, select the Display tab. 2. Determine whether the flow line appears as a Single line straight between the connected activities or as Multi-segment lines with each segment running horizontally or vertically. Multi-segmented lines in a flow are generally easier for users to follow. 3. Set the font and style used to display the flow labels or the names of the packages routed over the flow. These settings are relevant only if you elect to display the package names in the next step or if you type in custom labels for that flow segment. a. Select a font from the Label Font list. b. Select a point size from the Point Size drop-down list. c. To set the font style of the label, check or de-select Bold and Italic. 4. Specify how to label the flow in the process template editor display. 86 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

87 Connecting Activities a. Select the Show Label checkbox to display a label for the flow, or deselect it to display the flow without a label. The two radio buttons below the checkbox are grayed out when the checkbox is not selected. b. Select Show visible activities at destination activity to label the flow with the names of the packages that the following activity handles; or select Custom label and type the label text in the adjacent text box. 5. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Flow Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Flow Inspector. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 87

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89 Working with Activity Templates Chapter 5 An activity template represents a particular type of task that you can add to a business process. The template identifies any underlying workflow method required to complete the task and determines what configuration attributes must be set in order to accomplish the task. The template may also set default values for some common attributes. To add an activity to a business process template, you select the appropriate installed activity template from one of the folders in the Activity Template window and drag it into the Process Template Editor window. Process Builder includes templates for common integration activity types as well as a sample activity template. See Appendix A, Delivered Activity Templates for a list of the activity templates provided with Process Builder. The Documentum Process Builder Development Guide gives more information on how to create custom activity templates. There are three possible states for activity templates: draft, validated, and installed. An activity template in the draft state has not been validated since it was created or last modified. A template in the validated state has passed the server s validation checks, which ensure that the template is correctly defined. A template in the installed state is ready to be used to create an activity in the process flow. The current state of an activity template is indicated on the template icon in the Activity Template window. This chapter explains how to create activity templates, configure them, validate and install them. The topics are: Creating activity templates, page 90 Managing activity templates within folders, page 91 Configuring activity templates, page 91 Validating and installing activity templates, page 93 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 89

90 Working with Activity Templates Creating activity templates If your business process contains activities for which Process Builder does not include an appropriate activity template, you can create a new template. You can either copy an existing template and then modify it, or you can create a brand new template. To create a new activity template: 1. Select the folder to which you will add the new template. 2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > New or right-click the folder and select New from the menu. A new activity template with the name Untitled appears in the currently active folder of activity templates. 3. Double-click the new activity template to display the Activity Template Inspector. 4. Configure the activity template. See Configuring activity templates, page 91 for information about configuring activity templates. To create a new activity template based on an existing template: 1. On an activity template node, select the activity template you want to copy. 2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Save As. A Save dialog box appears. The Save in box lists the folders under System/Workflow/Activity Templates, which represent the available activity templates. 3. In the Save in box, select the activity template node to which you want to add the new template. 4. Enter a name for the new activity template in the Name text box. 5. Click OK. The activity template appears on the selected node. The new template has the same characteristics as the template you selected at step 1. However, the original template and the new template are independent of each other; future changes to one do not affect the other. 6. Make any necessary changes to the new activity template. See Configuring activity templates, page 91 for information about configuring activity templates. 90 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

91 Working with Activity Templates Managing activity templates within folders There are many delivered activity templates that are organized by function under folders (or nodes) in the Activity Template window. You can browse through the delivered activity templates by opening and closing the folders to which they belong. Appendix A, Delivered Activity Templates gives details on which node the activity template belongs to and instructions on configuring each activity template. Managing activity template folders, page 42 provides more details on creating, adding, or removing folders from the Activity Templates window. When you create a custom activity template, you specify which folder it appears in. Since an activity template may be relevant in more than one type of situation or business process, a single template can appear in more than one folder. To add (copy) an activity template to another activity template folder: 1. Select the activity folder to which you want to add the activity template. 2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Add or right-click in the Activity Templates window and select Add. The Open dialog box appears. 3. In the Select from box, navigate to the activity template you want to add and select it. 4. Click OK. The selected activity template appears on the current activity template folder. The template is now linked to this folder as well as its original folder. Any changes made to the template will be reflected on both folders. To remove an activity template from an activity template folder: 1. Select the activity template you want to remove. 2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Remove or right-click in the Activity Templates window and select Remove. The activity template is removed from the current folder. If the template is linked to another folder, it still appears in that folder. Con guring activity templates You configure an activity template using the Activity Template Inspector. The Activity Template Inspector shares several tabs with the Activity Inspector, which you use to configure individual activities. For these shared tabs, the values you set for the activity template become the default values for activities created from the template. The Activity Template Inspector does not enable you to set information about priority, packages, EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 91

92 Working with Activity Templates input and output flows, or transition options. These configuration attributes relate to how an individual activity fits into a specific process flow, and so are not relevant for activity templates. The Activity Template Inspector also includes an additional tab, labeled Definition, which you use to define custom attributes for activities created with the template. The attributes are defined using XML. The XML defines the names, data types, and display characteristics of the custom attributes, as well as any assistance for users entering values for the attributes. When an activity is created from the template, the Activity Inspector includes one or more extra tabs for the user to use when entering values for the custom attributes. The names of the extra tabs are specified in the XML file. In addition to defining extra tabs, the activity template definition file can suppress the display of one or more of the standard Activity Inspector tabs. When an activity is created from the template, the Activity Inspector does not display any of the suppressed tabs, thereby preventing the user from changing any of the values on that tab. The values set in the Activity Template Inspector remain unchanged. The structure of an activity template XML file is defined by the schema file activity.xsd, which is located on the local file system in the directory Program Files\Documentum\bpm\classes. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for further details about the file structure. For a sample activity template XML file, see the Sample Activity Template installed in the Sample activity template folder. To set attributes for an activity template: 1. Double-click the activity template in the folder, or select it and choose Activity Template Inspector from the Tools menu. The Activity Template Inspector appears. 2. Set default values for any of the available configuration attributes on the other tabs. The values you set in the activity template become default values for any activities created from the template. See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for details about setting the attributes. Commonly, you will want to link the template to a custom workflow method on the Performer tab. 3. Select the Definition tab. A large text box appears showing the XML elements that define the custom attributes for this activity template. If this is a new activity template, or a template with no custom attributes, the only elements are the top-level <xml> element and the <activity> element that identifies the XML schema for activity templates. 4. Edit the XML to define custom attributes and the user interface for editing them. The XML you enter must conform to the activity.xsd schema. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for further details about the file structure. 5. To suppress the display of one or more tabs in the Activity Inspector, enter a <tab> element for each suppressed tab. 92 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

93 Working with Activity Templates The <tab> element must be a subelement of the <tabs> element, which also specifies the custom tabs to display in the Activity Inspector. For each tab you want to suppress, enter an element in this format: <tab id="tab_name" showinactinspector="false" /> The valid values for TAB_NAME are PROPERTIES, PERFORMER, TRIGGER, NOTIFICATION, TRANSITION, PACKAGE, and DISPLAY. See Chapter 6, Working with Activities for information about the options on each of these tabs. The showinactinspector parameter is ignored for custom tabs. 6. Click OK to close the Activity Template Inspector. Validating and installing activity templates There are three possible states for activity templates: draft, validated, and installed. An activity template in the draft state has not been validated since it was created or last modified. A template in the validated state has passed the server s validation checks, which ensure that the template is correctly defined. The following list details some of the validation checks that the system performs: Every activity is connected to the END activity by way of a path Pre-timers and post-timers are configured correctly User selection is valid for manual activities Every Step activity is directly or indirectly connected to an initiate activity. (A fault handler activity is an exception, since it is only connected to an automatic activity and cannot have outflows.) A template in the installed state is ready to use for creating activities. The current state of an activity template is indicated on the template icon in the Activity Templates window. A valid template has a red checkmark on the template icon, and an installed template has an arrow on the template icon. Validating an activity template verifies that the template meets system requirements. You can only validate if your open template is in the draft state and you have Write permission. You can validate a template at any time by selecting Activity Template > Validate from the Tools menu or by right-clicking the template in the Resource Navigator and selecting Validate from the menu. An activity template must be installed before it is available for creating activities. You can only install an activity template if it is in the validated state and you have Write permission. If you need to make changes to an installed activity template, you must uninstall it first. After making the changes, validate and install the template again. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 93

94 Working with Activity Templates To validate an activity template: 1. Select the activity template that you want to validate. 2. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Validate. If the Validate option is grayed out, it means the template is currently validated or installed or you don t have permission to validate. If validation fails, a dialog box appears telling you so. Click the Details button to see the error that prevented validation. If the validation is successful, a red check mark appears next to the activity template icon in the Activity Templates window. To install an activity template: 1. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Install. If the Install option is grayed out, it means the template is currently installed or you don t have permission to install. If the installation is successful, an arrow appears next to the activity template icon in the Activity Templates window. To uninstall an activity template: 1. From the Tools menu, select Activity Template > Uninstall. You can only uninstall if the template is in the installed state and you have Write permission. If the template is successfully uninstalled, the arrow next to the template icon (representing installed state) is replaced with a red check mark (representing validated state). 94 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

95 Chapter 6 Working with Activities Activities are the tasks that comprise the workflow. Most of the configuration of the workflow relates to configuring its activities. For information about planning the configuration of workflow activities, see Planning workflow processes, page 19. You configure activities using the Activity Inspector. You access the Activity Inspector by double-clicking on an activity in the process template editor pane, or by selecting one or more activities and choosing Activity Inspector from the Tools menu. The Activity Inspector has several tabs, each corresponding to one aspect of activity configuration: The Properties tab sets the priority for automatic activities, lets you provide instructions for manual performers, and enables you to provide a form for the activity; see Setting activity properties, page 96. The Performer tab enables you to select who performs the activity and what actions the performers have available to them; see Selecting performers, page 98 for details. The Trigger tab settings determine when the activity starts; see Setting activity triggers, page 111. The Timers tab sets timers to take action if work bogs down; see Setting warning timers, page 113. The Transition tab settings determine which activities come next in the workflow; see Setting activity transition rules, page 119. The Notification tab specifies whether to notify the workflow supervisor when certain system events occur; see Setting notifications, page 123. The Data tab controls the process data the activity handles including packages and process variables; see Handling process data, page 127. The Display tab controls how the activity appears in the visual display of the process template; see Changing display settings, page 129. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 95

96 Working with Activities Many activities include one or more additional tabs containing properties specific to that type of activity. The name of the tab and the properties contained on it are set in the activity template. Configuring activity templates, page 91 provides more specifics on configuring custom activity templates. When typing values into the fields on a custom tab, you can include variables that are replaced at runtime with values from the current environment, such as the name of the dm_workflow object. To include a variable, type the XML element <dmp:param>supported_parameter</dmp:param>, where supported_parameter is one of the variables Process Builder supports for variable substitution. See Appendix B, Substitution Variables for Custom Activity Template Properties for a list of the supported variables. Note: Depending on the nature of the activity, some of the tabs may not appear in the Activity Inspector. For example, an activity created from the Decision Split activity template displays only the Timers, Display, and Definition tabs. The settings on these tabs are the only ones relevant for Decision Split activities. The set of displayed tabs is defined by the activity template; see Configuring activity templates, page 91. The name of the activity you are configuring appears in the text box at the top of the Activity Inspector. Each activity must have a unique name within the template. To change the activity name, type the new name in the text box, replacing the previous name. If more than one activity is selected, arrow buttons appear on either side of the text box, enabling you to scroll through the selected activities. The settings you make apply to the activity whose name appears in the box, unless you select the Apply to all selected option. When multiple activities are selected, each tab in the Activity Inspector displays one or more checkboxes labeled Apply to all selected. When this checkbox is selected, Process Builder applies the associated settings that is, those settings that appear to the right of the checkbox to all selected activities, not just the one whose name appears in the text box at the top. For example, you can select multiple activities and choose the same performer for all of them at once. Any settings for which the checkbox is not selected apply only to the current activity. Setting activity properties The Activity Inspector s Properties tab enables you to set the priority of automatic activities, provide instructions for the performers of manual activities, or associate a form with an activity. When you create an activity that uses a form, at runtime the performer of the task sees that form instead of the standard Task Manager interface when they open the task. To set activity properties: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Properties tab. The system displays the repository object ID and the status of the activity in the Activity ID field as a read-only value. 96 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

97 Working with Activities 2. Select a priority level from the Priority drop-down list. The priority value designates the execution priority of an automatic activity. The value is ignored for manual activities. For more information, see Setting priority values, page 27. Dynamic priority is when the priority of the activity is set using custom code as the workflow runs rather than being set as part of the process template. You should assign Dynamic priority only when your system includes custom code to set the priority at runtime. 3. Enter a description of the activity in the Description text box. 4. Enter text for the message that appears in a manual performer s Inbox in the Task Name box. The default message appears in the box by default. In addition to normal text, the message can include the values of workflow attributes that the system determines at runtime. For example, the message can include the name of the workflow or of the document being routed. You can type up to 255 characters; the message that the user sees, with any variables evaluated, is truncated after 512 characters. To include a runtime attribute in the task subject, you add a variable to the message by following these steps: a. In the Task Name box, put the cursor at the location in the text where you want to place the variable. b. Click Insert. The Insert Task Name dialog box appears from which you can select the runtime attribute you want to include. c. From the Parameter type drop-down list, select the object that contains the attribute you want to include in the subject message. The available attributes for the selected object appear in the Attribute box. d. Select the attribute from the Attribute box. e. Click OK to close the dialog box. See Defining task subjects, page 26 for information about the available variables. You can include multiple variables in the task name. 5. Enter any instructions you want to include for the performer of this activity in the Task Instructions box. 6. From the Form drop-down list, select the form template (if any) to use for displaying this task to the activity performer. Note: Only Forms that are associated with the process appear in the list. To create a new form for the activity, follow these steps: a. Click the button to launch Forms Builder. b. Use Forms Builder to create a form for the activity. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 97

98 Working with Activities See Documentum Forms Builder User Guide for information on creating forms. c. Click the Refresh button to retrieve all available forms from the repository. 7. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. Selecting performers When defining an activity, you need to specify who performs the activity. Activities can be performed manually by an individual, group, work queue, or alias that you identify, or automatically by a workflow method. For manual tasks, you can select specific performers or allow the workflow participants to choose performers. For automatic tasks you must specify a user whose permissions the automatic task takes on. To select performers for an activity: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Performer tab. 2. In the box labeled The activity s work is performed, select manual or automatic performers. To choose a manual performer, select By one or more manual performers. To choose an automatic performer, select Automatically on behalf of a performer. 3. Click the Select Performer button to display the wizard for selecting the performer for this activity. To choose one or more manual performers, see Choosing manual performers, page 100. To choose the user whose permissions are used for an automatic activity, see Choosing automatic performers, page If you selected one or more manual performers, choose what actions the performer can or must perform. To enable the performer to pass the task to another user or group, select Delegate the activity s work to someone else. When you select this option, you must also specify where the task is sent if the user to whom the performer delegates it is also unavailable. The task can be forwarded to the workflow supervisor or returned to the original performer if auto-delegation fails. To enable the performer to choose another user or group to also perform this task, select Have someone else repeat the activity s work. To require that the performer sign off when the activity is complete, select Performer s sign-off required when finished. 98 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

99 Working with Activities For details about the delegation and extension options, see Enabling delegation and extension, page If you selected an automatic activity, set the execution parameters. a. Choose the action to automatically perform from the Execute this method automatically drop-down list. The actions in the drop-down list are workflow methods. Note: To make a custom method available here, the attribute a_special_app must be set. a_special_app is a dm_sysobject attribute reserved for use by Documentum products. This attribute must have the value Workflow. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for details about developing custom workflow methods. b. To save an execution log when the automatic method runs, select Yes for Save Execution Results. c. Specify how long the process engine tries to run this method before quitting. Enter a number of seconds in the Method times out in box. 6. Configure options for the system to use in the event that the method fails. a. If you want the system to retry the method when it fails, select Retry and type a Retry Interval to specify a time interval between retries. Use the Maximum tries field to enter maximum number of times the system should retry before performing one of the actions you specify in step 6c. b. If you have assigned a fault handler to this activity, the system displays the name of the fault handler activity in the Proceed to the fault handler field. The fault handler runs each time the method fails. Understanding fault handler activities, page 17 provides more details on this topic. c. Decide whether the workflow will stop or continue if the workflow method encounters problems. Selecting Stop Execution causes the task to be placed in a paused state and be reassigned to the workflow supervisor. Selecting Continue Execution causes the task to be placed in an acquired state and forces the completion of the task. Terminate Execution stops the workflow without the option of restarting it. 7. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 99

100 Working with Activities Associating a work queue priority module with an activity You can associate a priority module with an activity from the Performer tab of the Activity Inspector. Setting dynamic priority and aging logic for tasks, page 30 provides more details on setting dynamic priority and aging logic for a process. To associate a work queue priority module with an activity: 1. Open the Activity Inspector and select the Performer tab. 2. Select Work queue as the performer. 3. From the Select Task Priority module list box, select the priority module. Setting initial priority and aging of tasks, page 28 provides more details on priority modules. Note: If two different modules were selected for a workflow (one from the activity definition and one from the work queue policy), the system uses the module that was selected from within the activity to calibrate aging and priorities. Choosing manual performers The steps required to choose manual performers for an activity depends on two key factors: Whether there is a single performer for the activity or multiple performers Whether you identify the actual users now, as part of the template, or use aliases For details about the options for choosing manual performers, see Choosing performers, page 22. To choose one or more manual performers for an activity: 1. On the Activity Inspector s Performer tab, select By one or more manual performers and click the Select Performer button. The Select Performer dialog box appears. 2. From the drop-down list, choose the user or group that will perform this activity. You can choose a specific user or group, or you can choose an option that determines the specific user when the workflow runs. The options are: 100 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

101 Working with Activities Work queue The activity will be performed by a member of the selected work queue. For more information on mapping work queue skill sets to tasks in a queue, see Mapping process data to a work queue skill set, page 110. Workflow supervisor The activity will be performed by the workflow supervisor, which by default is the user who starts the workflow. Repository owner The activity will be performed by the user who owns the repository. Previous activity s performer The activity will be performed by the same user or users who completed the previous activity in the workflow. This option can include multiple users. You select the activity name that has the performer or group of performers that you want to complete this activity. You can then select one of two options for selecting a performer: Assign to the last performer of previous activity means that the person who triggered the completion of the previous activity is the assigned performer. Assign to all performers of previous activity means that all performers of the identified activity are the assigned performers. Specific user The activity will be performed by a user specifically chosen. All users in group The activity will be performed by all of the members of a specific group. Single user from group The activity will be performed by a single member of a specific group. Some users from a group The activity will be performed by some members of a specific group, but not all. Multiple sequential performers The activity will be performed by multiple users one after the other. The rest of the procedure differs depending on the option you choose. If you select Workflow Supervisor or Repository owner, the specific user will be determined when the workflow runs. Click Finish and ignore the rest of this procedure. If you chose any options other than the first two, a box labeled Define Performer(s) appears on the screen. You select an option in this box to specify how the specific performers of this activity will be selected. 3. If you chose Previous activity s performer, select the activity name that has the performer or group of performers that you want to complete this activity. You can then select one of two options for selecting a performer: Assign to the last performer of previous activity means that the person who triggered the completion of the previous activity is the assigned performer. Assign to all performers of previous activity means that all performers of the identified activity are the assigned performers. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 101

102 Working with Activities 4. If you chose Multiple sequential performers, specify whether each performer of this activity has the right to reject the package they receive and return it to the performer who preceded them in the sequence. Sequential performers do not have this option by default. To grant them the option, click the checkbox immediately below the Select Performer(s) box. 5. Specify whether you will choose the performers for this activity now or have them determined dynamically when the workflow is underway. Choose an option from the Define Performer(s) box: Assign performer(s) now You will select the specific user or group as part of the process template. Have performer(s) of activity <activity name> determine the performer for this activity <activity name> The performer(s) of the preceding activity will select the performer(s) of this activity when the workflow is run. If this activity has multiple preceding activities, select from the drop-down list which activity s performer selects the performer for this activity. Define performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned when workflow is underway) The performer of this activity will be determined by an alias set. You will specify which alias set is used in the next steps. This option is not available if you selected Some users from a group or Multiple sequential performers. Select performer based on conditions The performer of the activity will be determined by conditional logic that you define, including package data and process variables. Select performer based on process data The performer of the activity is determined by process data that you define including package data, process variables, and execution data. 6. If you chose Single user from group, specify which user in the selected group will perform the activity. You will select the group in the next step. To specify which single user from that group will perform the activity, choose one of the options from the Select User From Group By box: First to acquire the work item When the preceding activity completes, a work item is added to the Inbox of every user in the group. The first user who acquires the work item from their Inbox is the performer; the work items are removed from the other user s Inboxes. Least amount of unfinished work items When the preceding activity completes, a work item is added to the Inbox of the user who has the smallest number of unfinished tasks in his or her Inbox. 7. Click Next to continue. The steps required to complete this procedure depend on the option you chose. Assign performer(s) now, page EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

103 Working with Activities Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of this activity, page 103 Define performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned when workflow is underway), page 105 Select performer based on conditions, page 107 Assign performer(s) now If you selected Work queue, highlight the name of the work queue, then click Next to display the data mapping screen where you can assign process data to skill sets that have been defined for the queue. For more information on mapping process data to skill sets, see Mapping process data to a work queue skill set, page 110. If you selected Specific user on the previous screen, highlight the name of a group or <All users> in the Groups list box, then select the performer of this activity from the users in the selected group from the Users in Group list box. After selecting a user, click Finish. If you selected All users in group or Single user from group on the previous screen, select a group from the Groups list box, then click Finish. If you selected Some users from a group or Multiple sequential performers, you can designate multiple users, groups, or alias names to perform the activity. See the procedure in the topic Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of this activity, page 103 for details about the options that appear when you click Next. Note: Because you chose Assign users now, the server will select all users in the list you build as performers, not use the list to provide a selection list to the performer of a previous activity as described in the topic Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of this activity, page 103. Have performer(s) of <activity> determine performer(s) of this activity This feature is also known as dynamic performer selection. This option gives the performer of one activity the ability to choose which users will perform a future activity in the workflow. At runtime, the performer of the activity can choose one or more users from the group you specify. If you selected Some users from a group or Multiple sequential performers, you can designate a combination of multiple users, groups, or alias names from which the performer of the previous activity can choose at runtime. If you selected any of the EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 103

104 Working with Activities other performer types, no further definition of the performer is necessary. This page does not appear. For more information about aliases and alias sets, see Using aliases, page 25. To select users and groups: 1. Select one or more of the options for selecting users. If you select more than one option, the dialog pages for each option appear in sequential order. The options are: Specific users and/or groups You will select the user and group names now. Performer alias(es) which will be resolved by the workflow initiator You will select alias sets and aliases for which the workflow initiator will provide specific user and group names when starting the workflow. Performer alias(es) which will be resolved at run-time from the alias set You will select the alias sets and aliases that the server will use at runtime to determine the actual users and groups. 2. Click Next. 3. If you chose Specific users and/or groups, select the names of the groups or users who can perform this activity. a. Highlight the user or group name in the list on the left and click Add to add it to the Selection List on the right. b. Repeat step a for each user or group you want to add. c. When the Selection List includes all the users and groups you want, click Next or Finish (depending on whether you chose other options at step 1). 4. If you chose Performer alias(es) which will be resolved by the workflow initiator and have not yet defined a default alias set for this workflow, choose one. To choose an existing alias set, click Choose from existing alias sets and select an alias set from the drop-down list. The list includes alias sets in the repository to which you are currently connected and on which you have Write permission. To choose a new alias set, click Create new alias set and type a name and description for the alias set. The server will create a new alias set using the information you type on this page and the next. Click Next when you have identified the alias set. 5. If you chose Performer alias(es) which will be resolved by the workflow initiator, identify one or more aliases for which the workflow initiator needs to type values for when starting the workflow. a. Specify whether you will Create a new performer alias or Use an existing, undefined performer alias. An existing, undefined alias is an alias that appears in the alias set but does not have a specific username assigned to it in the alias set. 104 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

105 Working with Activities b. To create a new performer alias, type a name and description for the alias, then click Add to add it to the Selection List. c. To use an existing performer alias, select the appropriate alias from the Existing performer alias drop-down list, then click Add to add it to the Selection List. Optionally, you can modify the description of the alias so that its purpose is clear to the workflow initiator. d. When the Selection List includes all the aliases you want, click Next or Finish (depending on whether you chose the final option at step 1). 6. If you chose Performer alias(es) which will be resolved at run-time from the alias set, select the aliases that the server will resolve from selected alias sets. a. Select an alias set from the Alias Set list, then a specific alias from the list below it. b. Click Add to add the alias to the Selection List. c. Repeat steps a and b for each alias you want to include. You can also change the position of the alias sets in the list by using the up and down arrows after you select the alias you want to move. 7. Click Finish. De ne performer alias (performer(s) will be assigned when work ow is underway) When you select this option, you need to specify which alias set and alias the process engine will use at runtime to determine the actual person to perform this activity. First you choose an alias set, then identify a specific alias within that set. For more information about aliases and alias sets, see Using aliases, page 25. To identify the alias set and alias for the performer: 1. Select which alias set to use to resolve the alias. The options are: Default alias set (workflow initiator will resolve when workflow is started) The server refers to the alias set defined as the default for this workflow. The default alias set is defined on the Template Properties dialog box; if no alias set has been selected, you will have a chance to set it on the next page. Specific alias set The server refers to the alias set whose name you select from the adjacent drop-down list. The list includes alias sets in the repository to which you are currently connected and on which you have Write permission. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 105

106 Working with Activities Alias set of document in package The server refers to the alias set assigned to a document in a package that this activity receives. Select which package s alias set to use from the adjacent drop-down list. If you choose <Any>, the server will scan through the alias sets of all packages until it finds the first match to the specific alias you will identify at step 4. Alias set of previous performer The server refers to the alias set assigned to the performer of the previous activity. Use this option, for example, if this activity needs to be performed by the Manager of the previous activity s performer. If, at runtime, the previous performer does not have an associated alias set, the server will use the alias set belonging to the previous performer s group. If the group does not have an alias either, the failed activity task is sent to the workflow supervisor. 2. Click Next. If you chose Default alias set but have not yet selected a default alias set for this workflow, you need to choose an alias set. If you chose one of the other options or have already set the workflow s default alias set, clicking Next takes you to a page where you can choose the specific alias within that set. Skip step If you have not yet defined a default alias set for this workflow, choose one. To choose an existing alias set, click Choose from existing alias sets and select an alias set from the drop-down list. The list includes alias sets in the repository to which you are currently connected and on which you have Write permission. To choose a new alias set, click Create new alias set and type a name and description for the alias set. The server will create a new alias set using the information you type on this page and the next. Click Next when you have identified the alias set. 4. Identify the specific alias within the selected alias set. If you chose a specific alias set at step 2, the Performer Alias drop-down list includes the aliases defined in that alias set. If you chose an alias set that will be selected at runtime, such as the previous performer s alias set, the Performer Alias drop-down list is empty. Type the name of the alias in the box, making sure that the name exactly matches the name in the alias set that the server will find. If at runtime the server does not find a match between the performer alias and the available aliases in the alias set, the activity task is returned to the workflow supervisor along with a notification. 5. Click Finish. 106 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

107 Working with Activities Select performer based on conditions You can resolve the performer of a task dynamically based on conditional logic that you have set up in the activity. The performer is resolved based on process data and on logic that you define in the decision table. The left side of the expression defines the conditions based on data from the process attributes. The right side of the expression enables you to specify the work queue name, username, or group name that performs the task once the logic has been resolved. At runtime, the process engine evaluates the rules as they have been set up and assigns a performer for the activity. To assign a performer based on conditional logic: 1. Select a performer type that meets the criteria for setting conditional logic. Valid values are: Work queue Specific user All users in a group Single user from a group Some users from a group Multiple sequential performers 2. In the Define Performer(s) group box, select Select performer based on conditions. 3. Click Next to display a dialog that you use to define the query. 4. Highlight the row in the Query table that begins with the word IF. 5. From the Query on drop-down list, choose the object to which you want this condition to apply: The running workflow The condition will check attributes of the dm_workflow object. Process data The condition will check attributes of the process package or process variable that you select from the drop-down list. 6. If you are querying on process data, use the Process Data list box to select either a package or a process variable associated with the process. 7. Based on the selections you ve made in step 5, choose the attribute whose value you want to use in the condition. The drop-down list includes the attributes for the object type you selected at step If the attribute you choose has one or more repeating values, indicate which index value to use in this condition by selecting one of the four options in the list, or by typing a valid index value. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 107

108 Working with Activities 9. Choose a logical comparison operator from the Condition drop-down list and type a comparison value in the Value text box. 10. Click the row in the Query table that begins with the word SELECT. 11. In the Conditional Performer Selection box, you have the choice of selecting a performer from a list, typing a query using DQL (Documentum Query Language), or using process data to assign the performer. If you choose to Select from a list of performers, select the performer from the list. If you are able to select multiple performers, select a performer name and click Add to move the performer to the selection list. If you choose to Type a DQL Query, type the query into the text box and click Validate Query to ensure that the query is valid. If you choose to Select from Process Data, you can select process data to assign a performer. Select performer based on process data, page 109 provides more details on using process data to assign a performer. 12. Click OK. You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the performer selection. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree Note: The option to select the performer using process data is only valid for the following performer types: specific user, work queue, single user from a group, and multiple sequential users. 13. To add an additional clause to this condition, click the AND or OR button and repeat the preceding steps. When a condition includes multiple clauses, the server uses the rules of natural precedence to evaluate the expression. That is, clauses connected by AND are evaluated before clauses connected by OR. For example, suppose the condition has this form, where the letters represent conditional clauses: IF A AND B AND C OR D AND E OR F SELECT Performer Name The server evaluates this condition as follows: IF (A AND B AND C) OR (D AND E ) OR F SELECT Performer Name 108 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

109 Working with Activities 14. When all of the specific conditions are defined, select the performer to which the task is assigned if none of the conditions are met. When you have defined all of the conditions, highlight the row in the Query table that begins with the word ELSE and select the performer to be used if none of the other conditions apply. Select performer based on process data You can resolve the performer of an activity dynamically based on process data found in the activity. The performer can be the name of a user, group, or work queue. In general, only STRING-based attributes can be used to select a performer. To assign a performer based on process data 1. Select a performer type that meets the criteria for assigning the performer based on process data. Valid values are: Work queue Specific user Single user from group All users in a group 2. In the Define Performer(s) group box, select Select performer based on process data. 3. Click Next to display the process data tree. 4. Expand the nodes of the process data tree and select the attribute used to assign the performer to the task. You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the performer selection. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree Note: Only one attribute can be selected from the process data tree. 5. Click Finish. The attribute appears in the Expression text box. Placeholders are prefixed with a dollar sign $ (for example, Work queue: $Var0.name$). EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 109

110 Working with Activities Mapping process data to a work queue skill set When you create an activity that is performed by a specific work queue, you select the work queue name and set the required skills for the activity on the Performer tab in the Activity Inspector. You can use process data mapper to relate process data from packages or variables to the skills you defined in the work queue. When you map process data to a skill, the system uses this information to qualify a processor for the task at runtime. Mapping process data to work queue skills is an optional step. If the skill is not mapped, the task will not show this skill as required and the skill will not be used in qualifying a processor. Note: Before you can set skills for a particular activity, the work queue must be defined along with the set of skills that are associated with the queue. Additionally, the Java Method Server must be running in order for the system to use these mappings to assign a processor at runtime. To map process data to a work queue skill set: 1. On the Performer tab, select One or more manual performers. 2. Click Select performer. 3. In the Select Performer dialog box, select Work queue from the drop-down list. 4. Select Assign performer(s) now. 5. Click Next. 6. Highlight the name of the work queue that will work on the task. 7. Click Next to display the mapping tool with the list of process data in the left column and the work queue and related skills in the right column. 8. Use the data mapping tool to associate attributes from the package data to the predefined work queue skills in the work queue. See Using the data mapping tool, page 130 for details about using the data mapping tool. 9. Click Finish. 10. Click OK or Apply to save the configuration settings. Choosing automatic performers The performer for automatic activities must resolve to a single user. This requirement limits your choices for automatic activities to the following user categories: Workflow supervisor (the workflow initiator by default) 110 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

111 Working with Activities Repository owner Performer of the previous activity Particular user If you select any of the first three, the server determines the actual user at runtime. To choose the user whose security access is used for an automatic activity: 1. On the Activity Inspector s Performer tab, select Automatically on behalf of a performer and click Select Performer. The Select Performer dialog box appears. 2. Choose which user s security access will be used by the automatic activity: Workflow supervisor The automatic activity will use the permissions of the workflow supervisor, which by default are the permissions of the user who starts the workflow. Repository owner The automatic activity will use the permissions of the repository owner. Previous activity s performer The automatic activity will use the permissions of the user or users who performed the previous activity in the workflow. Specific user The automatic activity will use the permissions of a user you choose in the next step. 3. If you chose Specific user, select the user whose permissions will be used. a. Click Choose to display the Select User dialog box. b. In the Groups list box, highlight the name of a group or <All users>. The users in the selected group appear in the Users in Group list box. c. Select the user from the Users in Group list box. The username appears in the Selection text box. d. Click OK. The selected username appears in the User text box. 4. Click Finish. The selected username appears in the text box next to the Select Performer button. Setting activity triggers A trigger is a signal that the activity can begin. Use the Trigger tab to describe the conditions that trigger the activity and send the package to the performer s Inbox. If the activity has more than one incoming flow, you can specify how many of the previous activities must complete before this activity starts. The trigger condition is the EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 111

112 Working with Activities minimum number of input flows that must have accepted packages for this activity to begin. For example, if an activity has three input flows, you may decide that the activity can start when two of the three have accepted packages. Tip: When an activity has more than one incoming flow, it represents a join activity in the overall business process; that is, packages following different paths through the process come together. To display the join action clearly in the business process template, insert an explicit Join activity template into the flow. The Join activity sets the trigger conditions for the next activity, which has only one incoming flow the one from the Join activity. See Join, page 152. For more information about activity triggers, see Setting trigger conditions, page 34. To set when an activity is triggered: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Trigger tab. 2. Specify how many of the activities input flows must have been completed before this activity starts. To start this activity only when all immediately preceding activities are complete, select All input flows are selected. To start this activity when some number of its preceding activities are complete, select This number of input flows selected and type the number of preceding activities that must be complete before the activity runs. The total number of input flows for this activity is shown next to the text box. When an activity has only one input flow, these options are not different. 3. To ensure a specific action occurs before the selected activity is run, check the And when this event arrives checkbox and type an event name in the adjacent text box. The event can be a system-defined event, such as dm_checkin, or you can make up an event name, such as promoted or released. If you include a trigger event in the starting condition, the server must find the event you identify queued to the workflow before starting the activity. See Documentum Content Server Fundamentals for further details about defining and queuing events using the Documentum API. 4. To enable the activity to be run more than once in the same workflow, select the This activity can run more than once in a workflow checkbox. A repeatable activity is an activity that can be used more than once in a particular workflow. By default, activities are defined as repeatable activities. Activities with multiple performers performing sequentially cannot be repeatable. (Choosing performers, page 22 describes the user categories for performers.) If you use an activity multiple times in a workflow, you must structure the workflow so that only one instance of the activity will be active at any time. The server cannot start an activity if a previous activity based on the same definition is still running. 112 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

113 Working with Activities 5. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. Setting warning timers Process Builder supports two kinds of warning timers for activities: A pre-timer takes action if an activity has not been triggered within a designated amount of time after the workflow starts. The activity is considered triggered once it is created by the workflow, but not necessarily acquired by a user. Pre-timers are not activated on the first activity of a workflow as they are automatically triggered during the workflow s start. A post-timer takes action if an activity has not completed within a designated amount of time after the activity starts. For more information about workflow timers, see Setting timers, page 35. When an activity has one or more timer actions set for it, a small clock icon appears in the lower right corner of the activity s icon in the process template editor pane. To set timer actions: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Timers tab. 2. To select a calendar for the timer actions, choose a calendar from the Select Calendar list box. The list contains all calendars found in the System/Workflow/Calendar folder. Select a business calendar to use a custom calendar for timer calculations. Select Use Process Calendar to continue using the calendar that has been specified for the entire process. Select No Calendar to use the system calendar for the activity. Note: If different calendars are selected for both a process and an activity within that process, the system uses the activity s calendar for the activity s timers. Selecting a calendar for the process, page 67 provides more information on calendars. Note: When a task first arrives in the user s Inbox, the due date for the task may be calculated based on the system calendar. The next time the timer job runs, the job updates the due date according to the business calendar. 3. Click the + button above the list box to add a new timer, or highlight an existing timer from the list box. 4. From the Event drop-down list, select which type of timer action to create, either Pre-Timer expiration or Post-Timer expiration. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 113

114 Working with Activities 5. Specify when the timer should expire by typing the number of elapsed hours and minutes in the Expire in text boxes. If this action is the first timer of a given type (pre-timer or post-timer), the timer expires when the specified number of hours and minutes have elapsed since the start of the workflow or activity, respectively. Subsequent timers expire when the specified number of hours and minutes have elapsed since the previous timer expired. 6. To send an message to a third-party program when a timer expires (rather than using their Webtop or Task Space Inbox), select the Use template checkbox, then click Select and choose the custom template to use for notification. After you select it, the name of the template appears next to the Use template checkbox. The server uses the selected template for all notifications of the same event type (pre-timer or post-timer). If you do not select the Use template checkbox, the server notifies users by sending a default notification to their Documentum Inbox. An template is a document in the Documentum repository that defines the structure of the notification message. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for information about the structure of a document that serves as an template. a. To open an existing template, navigate to the template it in the file structure and select it. b. To Create a new template, select the option and click OK. c. The Notification Template Wizard appears, enabling you to create a new template dynamically. Using the Notification Template Wizard, page 124 provides instructions on using the wizard to create an template. 7. To have the server continue to repeat the final pre-timer or post-timer action until the activity is completed, select the Repeat last action checkbox. You set the value of the Repeat last action option separately for pre-timer and post-timer actions. When it is selected, the server will perform the last timer action at the specified time interval until the activity is completed. 8. From the Action drop-down list, select the type of action to take when the timer expires. The available options depend on whether you are defining a pre-timer or post-timer and on the nature of the current activity: Notification Enables Sending a notification, page 115 message to one or more people. Start Process Enables Starting a process, page 116 using the current activity s packages. Run JAVA Method Enables Running a Java method, page 116 (available for users with superuser privileges only). 114 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

115 Working with Activities Enables Delegating a task, page 117 to another performer (available for manual activity post-timers only). A task can also be delegated to a performer based on process data. Complete Task Enables Completing a task, page 118 and forwarding it to the next activity in the workflow (available for manual post-timers only). 9. Repeat steps 2 to 7 for each timer you want to add to this activity. 10. To change the order of a timer in the list box, highlight the timer action and click the up or down arrow buttons at the top of the list box. The order is important because the expiration time for a timer is expressed as a certain interval after the preceding timer expires. 11. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. Sending a noti cation Use this option to send an notification to a person when the timer expires To send a noti cation: 1. Click the Select button that appears next to the Send notification to text box to identify the people to notify when the timer expires. You can send notifications based on Groups & Users, an Alias, or Process Data. 2. To send the notification to Groups & Users, select the radio button. a. Highlight the user or group name in the left half of the dialog box. The Users in Group box shows the members of the group selected in the Groups box, enabling you to select individual members of the group. b. Click Add >> to move your selections to the selection list. c. Click OK. 3. To send the notification to users who fill a particular Alias, select the radio button. a. Select the alias set in the left half of the dialog box. The Performer Alias box displays the aliases associated with the alias set. When you select any of these aliases, the system displays the name the alias set is assigned to as well as the description for the performer alias. b. Click Add >> to move the selection to the list box on the right. c. Click OK. 4. To send a notification based on Process Data, click the radio button. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 115

116 Working with Activities The system displays the process data tree. a. Expand the nodes of the process data tree and select the attributes you wish to select for notification. You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the performer selection. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree b. Click Add >> to move the selection to the list box on the right. c. Click OK.. Starting a process Use this option to start a workflow when the timer expires. To start a process: 1. Click the Select button that appears next to the Start Process text box. 2. Select the process template for the process to start. The selected template must accept the same number and type of packages as the current activity. 3. Select the users to be notified. Sending a notification, page 115 provides more details on selecting users for notifications. 4. Click OK. Running a Java method Use this option to run a Java method when the timer expires. To start a Java method: 1. Click the Select button that appears next to the Method text box. 116 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

117 Working with Activities 2. Select the workflow method for the expired timer to run and click OK. Note: To make a custom method available here, the attribute a_special_app must be set. a_special_app is a dm_sysobject attribute reserved for use by Documentum products. This attribute must have the value Workflow. See the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for details about developing custom workflow methods. 3. Select the Yes, save the execution results checkbox to save an execution log when the method runs. 4. Select the users to be notified. Sending a notification, page 115 provides more details on selecting users for notifications. Delegating a task Use this option to delegate a task when the timer expires. To delegate a task: 1. Click the Select button that appears next to the To Performers text box. The Select Performer dialog box appears. You can assign performers based on Groups & Users, an Alias, or Process Data. 2. To select a performer based on Groups & Users, select the radio button. a. Highlight the user or group name in the left half of the dialog box. The Users in Group box shows the members of the group selected in the Groups box, enabling you to select individual members of the group. b. Click Add >> to move you selections to the selection list. c. Click OK. 3. To select a performer from a particular Alias, select the radio button. a. Select the alias set in the left half of the dialog box. The Performer Alias box displays the aliases associated with the alias set. When you select any of these aliases, the system displays the name the alias set is assigned to as well as the description for the performer alias. b. Click Add >> to move the selection to the list box on the right. c. Click OK. 4. To select a performer based on Process Data, click the radio button. The system displays the process data tree. a. Expand the nodes of the process data tree and select the performer attribute. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 117

118 Working with Activities You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the performer selection. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree b. Click Add >> to move the selection to the list box on the right. c. Click OK. Completing a task Use this option to complete a task when the timer expires. When completing a task automatically, you may want to set an attribute to a particular value, so that an activity transition condition can route it differently based on that attribute value. To complete a task: 1. To have the timer set an attribute value when completing the task, select the Change process data attributes checkbox. If you do not select this checkbox, skip to step From the Process Data drop-down list, select the process variable or package whose attribute the timer will set a value for. 3. From the Attribute drop-down list, select the attribute whose value the timer will set. 4. If the attribute you chose can have more than one value, indicate which index value(s) to use in this condition by selecting one of the four options in Index list box or by typing a valid index value. 5. In the Value text box, type the value to which the timer will set the selected attribute. 6. Select the users to be notified. Sending a notification, page 115 provides more details on selecting users for notifications. 118 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

119 Working with Activities Setting activity transition rules Transition rules determine which activities are next in the workflow. The flow is changed based on the transition logic that is defined using process data. When an activity has multiple outgoing flows, you may want packages sent to all of the following activities, or you may want packages sent to only some of the following activities depending on the outcome of the activity. For example, you might give a performer who reviews the design of a new form the choice of forwarding the design to the next reviewer or to send it back to the designer for revision. You set up this branching logic by creating flows from this activity to the two possible following activities, then allowing the performer to choose which path to follow. Tip: When an activity has multiple outgoing flows with branching logic, it represents a decision point in the overall business process. To display the decision point clearly in the business process template, insert an explicit Decision Split activity template into the flow. Instead of setting the branching logic in the current activity, connect the current activity to a single Decision Split activity and set the branching logic in the Decision Split activity. See Decision Split, page 152. If an activity has only one outgoing flow, there is no need to set a transition condition. The Transition tab is grayed out with the Select all connected activities option selected. For automatic activities, you generally should not choose the Let the activity s performer choose option, unless the automatic workflow method for the activity uses the setoutput method to choose the next activities; see the Documentum Process Builder Development Guide for more information. For more information about transitions, see Defining activity transitions, page 37. To de ne the transition action: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Transition tab. 2. Determine how the activity chooses which following activities to send packages to: To send the task to all following activities connected to this one (including any reject flows), choose Select all connected activities. To let the performer decide which activities are selected when the current activity completes, choose Let the performer select the next activities. To route packages to different activities based on a set of conditions, choose Select next activities based on these conditions. If you select to route packages based on a set of conditions, skip to step If the activity is performed by multiple performers that is, if on the Performer tab you selected All users in group or Some users from a group specify how many performers must complete the task: EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 119

120 Working with Activities To require that all performers complete the task, select the All performers complete the task radio button. To complete the activity when a certain number of performers complete the task, select the [ ] performers complete the task radio button and type the required number of performers in the text box. If the number you type is greater than the number of performers who receive work items for this activity at runtime, the server completes the activity when all performers complete the task. If you chose Select all connected activities at step 2, skip to step If you let the performer select the next activities, specify the maximum number of activities the performer can select using the Select up to [ ] activities drop-down list box. The list box displays the total number of available next activities by default. You can select any number between 1 and this maximum. At runtime, the server will not allow the performer to select more than the specified number of activities. 5. If you let a group of performers select the next activities that is, if the performer category is All users in group or Some users from a group and the transition option is Let performer select the next activity specify when to forward packages to the selected next activities. To start selected reject activities immediately, select the Any performer rejects radio button. If any performer selects reject activities, the activities are started without waiting for other responses; all other performers selections are ignored. To start selected forward activities immediately, select the Any performer forwards radio button. If any performer selects forward activities, the activities are started without waiting for other responses; all other performers selections are ignored. To start the selected next activities only after the number of performers identified in step 3 have completed the task, select the All performers complete the task radio button. With this option, the server combines the selections of all performers. If some users select forward activities and others select reject activities, the server determines which activities to start based on the final set of radio buttons on this tab. To start all of the activities selected by performers, both forward activities and reject activities, select Start all selected activities. To start only the selected reject activities (if there are any), click Start only reject activities. Forward activities are started only if all performers select forward activities. To start only the selected forward activities (if there are any), click Start only forward activities. Reject activities are started only if all performers select reject activities. 120 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

121 Working with Activities 6. Specify the conditions that the server uses to determine which activities receive packages. See Creating transition conditions, page 121 for information about creating transition conditions. 7. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. Creating transition conditions When you choose the Select next activities based on these conditions option, a table appears showing the defined transition conditions. When you first define an activity, the table is blank. Follow this procedure to add transition conditions for automatically choosing the next activities in the workflow. For more information about transition conditions, see Defining activity transitions, page 37. Note: When an activity uses transition conditions, the flows that lead to the next activities have a diamond at the start of the flow line. This format follows the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) standard. To create a transition condition: 1. Highlight the row in the Query table that begins with the word IF. 2. From the Query on drop-down list, choose the object to which you want this condition to apply: The running workflow The condition will check attributes of the dm_workflow object. The last completed work item for the activity The condition will check attributes of the dmi_workitem object. Process Data The condition will check attributes of the process package or process variable that you select from the drop-down list. 3. If you are querying on Process Data, use the list box to select either a package or a process variable associated with the process. 4. If you select an input package that is an XML document and you want this condition to check a value of an internal XML element, select the XPath Expr checkbox and identify the XML element whose value you want to use in the condition. a. In the Schema text box, type the fully qualified name of the XML schema to which the document in the package conforms. You can type the name into the text box, click Local to choose the schema from the local file system, or click Repository to choose the schema from the Documentum repository. This step is optional. If the schema is not available, leave the text box blank. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 121

122 Working with Activities b. In the XPath expression text box, create the XPath expression to the element you want to use in the condition. If you selected a schema at step a, you can click the Select button to choose from a list of valid XPath expressions. If you did not select a schema at step a, click the Write-in Expression link and type the full XPath expression in the dialog box that appears. After typing the expression, select the XML data type of the identified element and click OK. 5. If you did not select the XPath Expr checkbox, choose the Documentum repository attribute whose value you want to use in the condition. The drop-down list includes the attributes for the object type you selected at step 2. If you have chosen a simple data type as a process variable (string, Boolean, integer, double, or date), the list will be unavailable. Structured data types do appear in the box for selection. If a drop-down list labeled Repeating attribute, choose or type an index appears, it means that the attribute you chose can have more than one value. Indicate which index value(s) to use in this condition by selecting one of the four options in the list, or by typing a valid index value. If the transition condition includes a reference to a repeating attribute, the attribute must have at least one value or the condition generates an error when evaluated. 6. Specify the test you want to perform on the selected attribute. Choose a logical comparison operator from the Condition drop-down list and type a comparison value in the Value text box. The data type for the selected attribute is shown below the box. 7. Select the activities to perform next when this condition is true by highlighting the activity names in the list box at the bottom of the page. The list displays the names of the activities connected to this activity by flows. To select more than one activity, hold down the Ctrl or Shift key when clicking the activity names. Note: You must select an activity now even if you plan to add additional clauses to the condition. 8. To add an additional clause to this transition condition, click the AND or OR button next to the Add another clause label and repeat steps 2 through 6. When a condition includes multiple clauses, the server uses the rules of natural precedence to evaluate the expression. That is, clauses connected by AND are evaluated before clauses connected by OR. For example, suppose the condition has this form, where the letters represent conditional clauses: IF A AND B AND C OR D AND E OR F SELECT Activity 1 The server evaluates this condition as follows: IF (A AND B AND C) OR (D AND E )OR F SELECT Activity EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

123 Working with Activities 9. To add another transition condition, click the + button above the query box (which adds a row starting ELSE IF), then repeat steps 2 to When all of the specific transition conditions are defined, select the activities to which packages are routed if none of the conditions are met. When you have defined all of the transition conditions, highlight the row in the Query table that begins with the word ELSE and select the activities to perform if none of the other conditions apply. Setting noti cations On the Notification tab, you can set the messages that the server sends in response to workflow-related events such as activity state changes, a method failure during an automatic event, and so on. Users registered to receive notification of the event will receive a message constructed using the template associated with the event; see Setting up notifications, page 36 for details. You can also send notifications in response to workflow timers; see Setting warning timers, page 113. Note: The server does not send a notification At the start of a work item for automatic activities. To specify the messages used for noti cations: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Notification tab. The tab displays the names of the events for which notifications are sent. The name of the template used for the notification appears below the event name. 2. To use a custom template in place of the default notification message for any of the events, select the Change template check box next to the event name. The Select button becomes active when the check box is selected. a. Select the option to Create a new template or you can Open an existing template from within the repository to use for that event. Using the Notification Template Wizard, page 124 provides instructions on how to create a new template. b. The name of the template appears below the event name. 3. Repeat step 2 for each of the events for which the system sends an notification, as necessary. 4. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 123

124 Working with Activities Using the Noti cation Template Wizard Use the Notification Template Wizard to create templates dynamically from within an activity. The notification templates can be based on process data, enabling you to Templates are saved to /System/Workflow/ Templates folder. Templates can be shared among processes, although it is not recommended since templates are based on mappings and process data specific to a process. Note: Editing the mappings in the notification template changes the template throughout the system. All activities using the template will be immediately updated to reflect any changes you make. The list of default notification senders and recipients is based upon the type of event. The system sends the notification to the default recipient in addition to any recipients that are specified by the mappings. If the From field is mapped to a value, the mapped value overrides the default sender and the system uses only the mapped sender value. Table 6. Default sender and recipient based on event Event name Description Default sender Default recipient Dm_startedworkitem Dm_delegatedworkitem Dm_changedactivityinstancestate Pre-timer expires Post-timer expires New task is created Task is delegated or reassigned Automatic task has failed Pre-timer expires Post-timer expires The user whose action has triggered the new task generation. For example, the performer of previous activity. The user who delegated the task. The task performer. The repository install owner. The repository install owner. Task performer Target user Workflow supervisor Users/groups selected to be notified in the pre-timer list Users/groups selected to be notified in the post timer list 124 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

125 Working with Activities To create a new template 1. Select the option to Create a new template and click OK. 2. Type the template name using alphanumeric characters only. Spaces, underscores, or special characters are not permitted. 3. Type the subject for the notification. You can use static text or placeholders that are mapped to process data to represent dynamic text. Placeholders are prefixed with a dollar sign $ (for example, $orderno for an order number). Use two dollar signs $$ to create multi-valued placeholders. To use a literal dollar sign in the notification, use \$ (for example, five hundred dollars would be expressed as \$500.00). Note: Placeholder values must be alphanumeric characters without spaces. The placeholder starts after the dollar sign $ and ends with first non-alphanumeric character. For example, to send a message indicating that a purchase order was processed successfully, you would use the following template text: Purchase Order $orderno successfully processed. The placeholder orderno appears in the data mapping screen and can be mapped to a package or process variable. The notification sent have the following subject: Purchase Order successfully processed, where is the substituted value from the response data mapping. Note: All placeholder values must be mapped to process data. 4. Type the template text in the Body Template text box. You can include static text, HTML copied in from a third-party HTML editor, and placeholder parameters that can be mapped to process data. If you are including HTML markup in the body, you must map the constant value text/html to the Content-Type in the Body node of the message. If Content-Type is not mapped to a value, the content-type is by default text/plain. Placeholders are prefixed with a dollar sign $ (for example, $orderno). Use two dollar signs $$ to create multi-valued placeholders. To use a literal dollar sign in the body, use \$ (for example, five hundred dollars would be expressed as \$500.00). Note: Placeholder values must be alphanumeric characters without spaces. The placeholder token starts after the dollar sign $ and ends with first non-alphanumeric character. Additionally, all placeholder values must be mapped to process data. 5. Click Next. 6. Using the data mapper, associate the process data to the notification. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 125

126 Working with Activities You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the performer selection. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree 7. Click Next to create the input message mapping associating process data to the message. The message structure appears in the right-hand pane and the process data on the left-hand side. You can set values for message attributes by mapping them from attributes of the process data model. If you have multiple attachments, you can click Add on the Attachment node to add more attachments. You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the mappings. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree Note: At least one of the recipient nodes (To, Bcc, or Cc) must be mapped from process data or a constant value. Additionally, all placeholder nodes under the Subject and Body nodes must be mapped at this point. 8. Click Next to map the output message. For example, if you added a process variable MsgId, you can map the notification message ID attribute from the source message to that process variable. You may find that you need to add attributes or elements to some of the data to complete the mappings. Using the data mapping tool, page 130 provides procedures for using the data mapping tool. Using repeating attributes, page 136 provides details on adding and mapping repeating-valued attributes. Showing additional package attributes, page 132 provides instructions for exposing other source attributes of a package that do not currently appear in the tree 9. Click OK. 126 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

127 Working with Activities The template becomes the default template for specific notification for which you have created it. Handling process data When you configure an activity, you need to specify what process data is worked on during the activity and define how the activity deals with each package or process variable that is part of the process template. Process data is defined on the Data tab of the Process Template Properties component. Managing process data, page 61 provides more information on adding process data to the process template The Data tab of the Activity Inspector displays a tree view of the process data organized into the categories associated with either the packages or process variables used in the process. The list boxes at the right of the page display the available packages and process variables along with information such as type, version, and other attributes specific to the process data. To view information about the individual packages or process variables, highlight the specific Packages or Process Variables. For packages, the name, type, and version fields are read-only and can only be changed from the Process Template Properties page. Process variable information can be changed from the node view. You can change how the activity handles the process data by selecting or clearing the checkboxes that are available on the Data tab. To edit how the activity handles packages: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Data tab. 2. Expand the Packages node and select one of the packages in the tree. The list of packages comes from the process template definition. 3. From the Form drop-down list, select the form template (if any) to use for displaying this package to the activity performer. The form template assigned to the package in the Process Properties dialog box appears by default. Only form templates that use the same data model as the default form template are displayed in the drop-down list. See Associating form templates with packages, page 34 for details about using forms in a workflow. If no form template is assigned to the package, the Task Manager uses the default options for displaying the contents of the package, usually enabling the user to open it in the application associated with the document type, such as Microsoft Word for Word documents. 4. To use the form you selected in step 3 to display the properties of the package, select the Use Form for Properties checkbox. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 127

128 Working with Activities When the Use Form for Properties checkbox is not selected, the form from step 3 appears when the performer of an activity selects the package from his or her Inbox; the form is used to save the content of the package. When the checkbox is selected, the form appears when the performer views the package properties; the form is used to set the package s properties in the repository, not the content of the package. 5. To make this package available to the performer of this activity, select the Visible at this activity checkbox. If the Visible at this activity checkbox is not selected, the activity performer does not see this package. The package is still available for transition conditions, however. 6. To require that the package have a content object associated with it, select This is a mandatory package. If the checkbox is not selected, the activity performer can assign content to this package, but need not do so. 7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each package in the process. 8. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. To launch a package automatically from a manual activity: 1. Highlight the Packages node. The page display changes to show only the packages associated with the process flow. 2. Click Auto-Launch Package to have a package or associated Form display automatically when the activity starts. This option enables this package to display right away. By default, when a performer starts an activity from the Inbox, Task Manager appears and displays each package as a link; the performer clicks a link to display the package (through the form assigned to the package or application associated with the document type). 3. Select the package name to be launched from the drop-down list. To edit how the activity handles process variables: 1. Highlight the Process Variables node. The page display changes to show only the process variables associated with the process flow. 2. To make variables available to the performer of this activity, select the This variable is visible at this activity checkbox. If this checkbox is not selected, the activity performer does not see this variable. 3. To expose this variable and use it to generate reports, select the This variable can be used to generate reports checkbox. 128 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

129 Working with Activities Changing display settings The options on the Display tab control how the activity appears in the visual display of the process template. Note: When an activity has one or more timer actions set for it, a small clock icon appears in the lower right corner of the activity s icon in the process template editor pane. To change the display settings for an activity: 1. In the Activity Inspector, select the Display tab. 2. To change the graphic that represents the activity in the template, click one of the Browse buttons that appear to the right of the Image file box, navigate to the file containing the graphic, and click Open. The two Browse buttons enable you to search for images in the Documentum repository (Browse Repository) or in the local file system (Browse Local). If you select an image from outside of the standard location for activity images (which is the repository folder System/Workflow/Images), Process Builder automatically saves a copy of the image in the folder when you save the activity. If you use Browse Local to select an image outside of the standard image directory C:\Program Files\Documentum\BPM\classes\images, Process Builder imports the image file into the System/Workflow/Images repository folder. The selected file appears in the Image file box. 3. To change the size of the graphic representing the activity, select a percentage from the Image size drop-down list. The percentage is the percentage of the actual size of the graphic. 4. Specify whether to display a label for the activity by selecting or deselecting the Show Label checkbox. If you deselect Show Label, skip steps 5 and Choose whether to display a label for the activity with its activity Name or the Performer. Please note that error messages, such as any that occur when you validate the template, will refer to activities by their names. If you label activities with the performer name, you might want to temporarily change this setting to Name in order to locate the activity. 6. Set the font and style used to label the activity in the template. a. Select a font from the Label font list. b. Select a point size from the Point size drop-down list. c. To set the font style of the label, check or de-select Bold and Italic. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 129

130 Working with Activities 7. Click Apply to save your updates without closing the Activity Inspector, or click OK to save your updates and close the Activity Inspector. Using the data mapping tool The data mapping tool provides a graphical data mapping tool that simplifies the process of passing workflow data. The tool enables you to map data between server or workflow attributes on the left side of the window to server or workflow attributes on the right side of the window. This can include data sources such as workflow method arguments, web service parameters, database query return values, and attributes specific to services such as JMS, HTTP, FTP, and so on. Additionally, when defining performers, you can use the data mapper to relate process data from packages or variables in the flow to the skills that you defined in the work queue. Many automated activities require mapping information from one data source to another. For example, suppose a loan-origination process includes an activity that calls a web service to look up a customer s credit score. The activity needs to pass the social security number from the loan application package to the web service, and it needs to copy the returned credit score into another package attribute so that it is available to subsequent activities. The graphical mapping tool enables you to map data from package attributes to the web service input parameters and from the web service output message to package attributes. 130 EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide

131 Working with Activities Figure 5. Using the graphical data mapping tool to pass parameters to a web service The data mapping tool has three columns: The left column displays the available data sources in a collapsible tree control. The right column displays the available data destinations in a collapsible tree control. The center column is the mapping area, which contains boxes representing data mapping functions and lines connecting the boxes to their input sources and output destinations. The contents of the left and right columns depend on the type of activity you are configuring. For activities for which you need to provide input values, the left column typically shows the attributes for all business process packages, process variables, and the runtime execution variables, such as the name of the supervisor, that are available at runtime. The center column displays the functions used to transfer data from one or more data sources on the left to a data destination on the right. The mapping tool enables you to copy values directly from one data source to another, perform data type conversions, concatenate strings, perform mathematical operations on numbers, and include constant values. See Using data mapping functions, page 137 for a list of the available functions. EMC Documentum Process Builder Version 6 SP1 User Guide 131