Workflow designer elements overview
This topic provides an overview of all elements used in the workflow designer. Workflow designer is used for building processes that are a part of a service request definition (SRD). Workflow designer uses basic
BPMN 2.0 fundamentals
for building processes in BMC Digital Workplace Catalog.
Basic terms and concepts
This topic uses the following terms:
- Process is a logical sequence of actions that are required to satisfy a business need. Both system and human are involved in execution of actions that a part of a process. A process starts with the Start event which is triggered when the end user submits a request in BMC Digital Workplace, and ends up with the End event or Error End event when all actions in the process are executed, and the request submitted by the end user is closed.
- Workflow is a graphical representation of a process.
- Sub-process is a part of a bigger process. Subprocesses are graphically represented by Call Activity (called process) and Sub-Process (structural subprocess) elements. Any subprocess starts with the Start event, and ends up with the End event or Error End event.
- Design time means the time when a workflow is being designed in the workflow designer.
- Runtime means the time when a process described by a workflow is being executed.
Basic elements
The following table lists basic elements by categories available in the workflow designer:
| Process workflow designer palette groups | Element | Icon | Description | Reference topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Events | Start |
| Indicates the start of a process or subprocess. By default, this event is available on the palette when you start drawing a workflow. It is mandatory for any workflow. If a workflow contains a Sub-process or a Call activity event, they must start with the Start event. | |
| End |
| Indicates the end of a process or a subprocess (Sub-Process or Call Activity). A process can have multiple End events in a process (for example, in a process with gateways, or with error events). | ||
| Error Boundary |
| Captures errors and exceptions within a process and identifies the path that should be executed after a business error or exception is captured. | Handling errors in processes | |
| Error End |
| Indicates that a process or a subprocess represented by Sub-Process or Call Activity event ends up with an error. | ||
| Timer |
| The Timer event can be attached only to the Receive Task. This event interrupts a wait step represented by the Receive Task, and indicates how to proceed a workflow after the wait step times out. | Setting up a timer for a Receive Task | |
| Annotation | Annotation text |
| Provides additional information for the reader of the process diagram. | Annotation example |
| Activities | Call activity |
| Calls for an external workflow. This external workflow is a subprocess (or child process) that can call for one or more other processes, for example request approval process. | Calling external workflows |
| Sub-Process |
| Indicates a type of a subprocess that describes a detailed sequence of actions in a workflow. This subprocess cannot be called from multiple processes, and belongs only to the included process. It is used to hide or show additional levels of process details. When collapsed, the Sub-Process element is indicated by a plus sign against the bottom line of the rectangle. When expanded, the rounded rectangle expands to show all workflow actions and sequence flows. | Embedding sub-process workflows | |
| Receive Task |
| Suspends the process until the the external system sends a response back to BMC Digital Workplace Catalog. The Receive Task element waits for the response in the form of signal. This signal can contain signal parameters to pass into a process. The external system (such as Remedy IT Service Management, Atrium Orchestrator, Active Directory) must be configured to return a message packaged in the same name as the Signal Parameter expected by the Receive Task. | Waiting for a response | |
| Connector |
| Is a generic element used for calling an external activity of any connector enabled in the BMC Integration Service and configured for use with BMC Digital Workplace Catalog. | Setting up workflow to open a JIRA issue through a BMC Integration Service connector | |
| Gateways | Parallel |
| Branches the sequence flow to execute multiple activities concurrently. When a parallel gateway is used as a join gateway to streamline multiple sequence flows into one, the join gateway waits until all the threads are complete before proceeding with the next step in the sequence. | Control of workflow with gateways |
| Exclusive |
| Branches the sequence flow to define the workflow execution paths. For a given instance of a process, only one of the paths can be taken based on the conditions placed on the sequence flows coming out of the gateway. | ||
| Approval request | Create Approval Stub Entry |
| Although this element is available for selection on the palette, it cannot be used directly. This element is a part of an out of the box Approval Process that can be called (by using the Call Activity element) from a process. | Workflow to request approval |
| Expressions | Compute Value |
| Use this element to build an expression and use its output in multiple actions. | Not available |
| Service Broker | Build Input Set |
| Creates custom parameters to send to an activity. | |
| Send In App Notification |
| Sends out In App notifications to the BMC Digital Workplace Catalog Admin console. | ||
| Set Service Request Status |
| Updates the status shown to end users in the requesting user's activity timeline in BMC Digital Workplace Client console. | ||
| Track External Activity |
| Records that an external activity is ongoing, or checks the status of that activity. Track External Activity can be used only with Remedy SRM service requests. This process activity is leveraged in a generated SRD workflows (upon import) and unless you implement the same kind of workflow manually, there is no need to use it. | Not available | |
| My Stuff Remove Service |
| Removes a provisioned service asset from the My Stuff page when executed in a process. For more details about service actions, see Managing service actions. | Designing a workflow to remove a service request from the My Stuff page |
Connectors elements
Available connector elements can be used to build your workflow. These elements are available on the palette, and are grouped together in sections under connector tiles.
Only elements of the configured connectors will show up. For more details about configuring connectors, see Service connector capabilities.
The following table describes the BMC Digital Workplace Catalog connector categories that might be available on the palette:
| Connector section | Connector name | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
AD | Active Directory connector | Active Directory connector |
AWS | Amazon Web Services Marketplace connector | AWS Marketplace connector |
AZURE | Azure connector | Microsoft Azure connector |
BAO | Atrium Orchestrator connector | BMC Atrium Orchestrator connector |
CLIENT MANAGEMENT | BMC Client Management connector | BMC Client Management connectors |
CLIENT MANAGEMENT MOBILE | BMC Client Management connector for mobile clients | BMC Client Management connectors |
FLEXERA | Flexera connector | Not applicable |
HRCM | BMC HR Case Management | Not applicable |
MS OFFICE | Microsoft Office 365 connector | Microsoft Office 365 connector |
REMEDY | Remedy Action Request System connector | Remedy connector |
REST | Web service REST connector | REST connector |
XEN APP | Citrix XenApp connector | Not applicable |
XEN DESKTOP | Citrix XenDesktop connector | Not applicable |
XEN Mobile | Citrix XenMobile connector | Not applicable |
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