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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

image2017-9-22_14-32-53.png

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

image2017-9-22_14-32-24.png

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 

image2017-9-22_14-31-10.png

Captures errors and exceptions within a process and identifies the path that should be executed after a business error or exception is captured. 

Error End

image2017-9-22_14-31-35.png

Indicates that a process or a subprocess represented by Sub-Process or Call Activity event ends up with an error.

Timer

image2017-9-22_14-31-53.png

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.

Annotation 

Annotation text

image2017-9-22_14-25-21.png

Provides additional information for the reader of the process diagram.

Activities 

Call activity

image2017-9-22_15-10-4.png

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.

Sub-Process

image2017-9-22_15-9-27.png

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.

Receive Task

image2017-9-22_15-15-10.png

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.

Connector

image2018-2-8_13-15-53.png

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.

Gateways

Parallel

image2017-9-22_14-30-1.png

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.

Exclusive

image2017-9-22_14-28-45.png

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

image2017-9-22_15-28-58.png

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.

Expressions

Compute Value

image2017-9-22_15-28-47.png

Use this element to build an expression and use its output in multiple actions.

Not available

Service Broker

Build Input Set

image2017-9-22_15-28-30.png

Creates custom parameters to send to an activity.

Send In App Notification

image2017-9-22_15-29-18.png

Sends out In App notifications to the BMC Digital Workplace Catalog Admin console.

Set Service Request Status

image2017-9-22_15-29-36.png

Updates the status shown to end users in the requesting user's activity timeline in BMC Digital Workplace Client console.

Track External Activity

image2017-9-22_15-29-51.png

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

image2018-3-14_12-24-27.png

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.

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

AWS

Amazon Web Services Marketplace connector

AZURE

Azure connector 

BAO

Atrium Orchestrator connector

CLIENT MANAGEMENT 

BMC Client Management connector

CLIENT MANAGEMENT MOBILE

BMC Client Management connector for mobile clients

FLEXERA

Flexera connector

Not applicable

HRCM

BMC HR Case Management

Not applicable

MS OFFICE

Microsoft Office 365 connector

REMEDY

Remedy Action Request System connector

REST 

Web service 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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