Adding or copying flows

Adding a new flow

Perform the following tasks in the specified order. 

• Task 1: To open Flow Designer
• Task 2: To choose the source application
• Task 3: To choose the trigger
• Task 4: To choose the target application
• Task 5: To choose the action
• Task 6: To map source fields to target fields
• Task 7: To finalize the flow

Task 1: To open Flow Designer

1. Log in to BMC Helix Integration Studio.
2. Perform one of the following actions: 
   
   • To design a personal flow, go to My Flows > Flow Designer.
   • To design a catalog flow, go to Catalog >  Flows >  Flow Designer.

Task 2: To choose the source application

The available connectors are grouped by category in the Choose Source section.

1. (Optional) Use Search to find a specific connector.
2. (Optional) Click See All to view all connectors in a given category.
3. Click the source application's connector. 
   For example, to design a Slack-to-Gmail flow, click Slack.

Task 3: To choose the trigger

The available triggers for the source application appear in the Choose Trigger section. Each trigger consists of one or more input fields, or source fields. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*).

1. Specify a user account: 
   
   • If a user account that you intend to use exists, click it to confirm your selection. The first account in the list is already selected (highlighted in blue).
   • If you want to use a different user account, click Add Another Account, and enter credentials in the pop-up window.
   • If no user accounts exist, click Add Account, and enter credentials in the pop-up window.   
2. Click a trigger.
3. Provide values for the source fields.
4. (Catalog flow only) If you want to be prompted for a value every time the flow runs, clear the Include in template? check box.
5. (Optional) Add more source fields by using the + icon.
6. Click Next.
   
   

Task 4: To choose the target application

Available connectors are grouped by category in the Choose Target section.

1. (Optional) Use the Search field to find a specific connector.
2. (Optional) Use the See All option to view all connectors in a given category.
3. Click the target application's connector. 
   For example, to design a Slack-to-Gmail flow, click Gmail.

Task 5: To choose the action

Available actions for the target application appear in the Choose Action section.

1. Specify a user account: 
   
   • If a user account that you intend to use exists, click it to confirm your selection. The first account in the list is already selected (highlighted in blue).
   • If you want to use a different user account, click Add Another Account and enter credentials in the pop-up window.
   • If no user accounts exist, click Add Account and enter credentials in the pop-up window.   
2. Click an action.

3. Click Next. 

   Important

   If the target application has only one action, this step is performed automatically for you.

Task 6: To map source fields to target fields

While mapping source fields to target fields in a flow, you can apply default or conditional mapping. By default, all mapping entries are unconditional. You can switch to conditional mapping if you need to apply one or more conditions to source field values. 

Default mapping

A mapping can consist of the following information:

• Source fields that contain trigger data (such as User, Timestamp, and Text to describe a Slack message in a Slack-to-Gmail flow)
• Target field values (such as Priority values for a JIRA issue in a Remedy ITSM-to-JIRA flow)
• Text that you have explicitly entered (such as email addresses)
• A combination of the above

Commonly used target fields for the selected action appear in the Map Fields section. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk (*).

While mapping values, focus on what you want the flow to accomplish. For example, a Slack-to-Gmail flow will send out an email, so you need to populate fields that are relevant to composing and sending emails.

To apply default mapping, perform the following actions:

1. For each target field, enter source fields, target values, text, or a combination, as needed by performing the following steps:
   
   
   
   
   1. From the drop-down list, select Source Fields or Target Values.
      If target values are not available for the target application, the list will be read-only.
   2. To map the fields, select the required values from the list, or start typing in a field to enter text.
      For example, select the source Text value for the target Body value in a Slack-to-Gmail flow. As the result, the text from the selected Slack channel will be displayed in the email body of the Gmail notification. 
      Non-empty source fields appear in a box with a preceding asterisk. Other source fields and target values appear in just the box.
   3. (Optional) To remove an existing mapping, click the preceding X.
      
      
2. (Optional) For the property type of field, add a property by clicking + Property and specifying the property value.
3. (Optional) If you have added a source field, click  to open the Transformations pane. 
   For instructions, see Transforming-mapped-fields.
4. (Optional) Click Show all fields to map more fields.
5. (Catalog flow only) If you want to be prompted for a value every time the flow runs, clear the Include in template? check box.
6. Click Next.

Conditional mapping

Conditional mapping lets you fulfill complex integration dependencies between the source and target applications. By applying conditional mapping, you can adjust a flow to perform actions based on the values of one or more source fields. For example, in a Slack-to-Gmail flow, you can set conditions to send an enhanced text message in an email subject if the text from a Slack channel contains certain values.

To apply conditional mapping, perform the following actions:

1. For the required target field, next to Default mapping, click the mapping icon.
   
   
   
   

2. Select Add conditional mapping.

   Important

   If you add an unconditional mapping before adding a conditional mapping, the unconditional mapping becomes the default mapping.

3. Select a source field value.
4. Select a qualifier and specify a conditional value.
   The following example shows available qualifiers for a text field:
   
   
   
   
5. (Optional) For the property type of field, add a property to the condition by clicking + Property and specifying the property value.

6. (Optional) To extend the conditional mapping, perform the following actions:

   1. Next to the required conditional mapping, click the mapping icon.
   2. Select Add Qualification to Condition.
   3. Select a source field value.
   4. Select a qualifier and specify a conditional value.

   If you extend the conditional mapping, then the flow engine considers the mapping as matched only if all of the specified values match.

7. (Optional) To specify more conditions for the field, repeat steps 1–6.

   Important

   If you are applying conditional mapping to a flow with multiple actions, you can add conditions to the fields of the target applications. For more information about flows with multiple actions, see Creating-flows-with-multiple-actions.

8. (Optional) To change the order of the conditional mapping entries, use the arrows next to these entries.
   
   
   
   
9. (Optional) To delete one or more conditional mapping entries, click the mapping icon and select Remove conditional mapping.

The following execution rules are applied to the flows with conditional mapping:

• The conditional mapping entries are evaluated in the order you add these entries while applying conditional mapping. 
• While running a flow, the flow engine finds and uses the first condition that matches. 
• The flow engine does not proceed with processing the remaining conditions if the first matching condition is found. 
• Only a mapping with the first matching condition is applied to a target field. 
• If no conditions match, then the default mapping is used.
  
  

Mapping options for attachment data type fields

For fields with an attachment data type, the following mapping scenarios are supported:

• Mapping a source attachment field to a target attachment field. 
  When you make such a mapping, all other types of fields are hidden, as shown in the following illustration:

• Mapping two separate source string fields to a target attachment field. 
  To make such a mapping, click the  button, and select values for the name and the contents fields:

For the name field, you can select only string type of fields. Selection of multiple string fields is supported.

For the contents field, you can select both string and attachment types of fields. Selection of multiple string fields is supported. If you select the attachment type, all other types of fields are hidden.

• Mapping a source attachment field to a target string field. 
  To make such a mapping, perform the following steps:

1. 1. Select the attachment value, and click  to open the Transformations pane.
      
      
      
      
   2. Select File Name or File Contents depending on the transformation you want to apply.
   3. Save the changes.
      For more information about transforming mapped fields, see Transforming-mapped-fields.

Task 7: To finalize the flow

1. In the Flow Title field, provide a name for the flow.
   The title is auto-populated based on your source and target applications. Update the title as required.
2. Select a Category. 
   This field is auto-populated based on your source and target applications:
   • Back Office
   • Development
   • File Management
   • Productivity
   • Service Support
   • Social
   • System
3. (Optional) Enter a Description for the flow, including what triggers the flow and what action it performs.
4. (Optional) To change the flow level, from the Flow Level list, select Personal Level or Tenant Level.

5. (Optional) For flows that use webhook connector triggers, if you want a flow to run synchronously, from the Run Synchronously list, select Yes. 

   In this case, the result of the action in a simple flow or the result of the last action in a flow with multiple actions is returned to the webhook caller after the webhook API call.

   Select Run Synchronously only if the webhook calling application is expecting the result of the flow's action to be returned in response to the webhook call.

   Important

   For Proactive Service Resolution (PSR) flows, you must set Run Synchronously to Yes. For more information about PSR, see Proactive-Service-Resolution-for-automatic-incident-management-with-BMC-Helix-Integration-Service.

6. (Optional) To add a metric for the flow, click the + icon. 
   After the flow runs, the metric appears on the BMC Helix Integration Studio dashboard. The available metrics are:
   • Money Saved(USD)—Sets a USD integer amount indicating how much money is saved per flow run.
   • Risk Averted—Sets a negative integer indicating risk points that are reduced per flow run.
   • Satisfaction—Lets you set an integer indicating satisfaction points achieved per flow run.
   • Time Saved(min)—Sets the number of minutes saved per flow run.
   • +New Metric—Adds a custom metric and sets a value.
7. Click Done.
   A confirmation message appears briefly, and then My Flows or Catalog Flows opens (depending on whether you designed a personal flow or a catalog flow).

To convert a personal flow to a tenant-level flow

As the BMC Helix Integration Studio administrator, you can convert your personal flows to tenant-level flows. Tenant-level flows are automatically available to all administrators in your tenant. All tenant administrators can view and manage the flows, which helps to avoid the creation of conflicting flows.

To convert your personal flow to a tenant-level flow, select the Tenant Level option while finalizing your flow, as shown in the following illustration:

You can also convert a flow to a tenant-level flow by selecting Tenant Level while performing the following actions:

• Updating your flow. For more information, see Updating-or-deleting-flows.
• Copying your flow. For more information, see To copy an existing flow section of this topic.
• Using the catalog flow. For more information, see Publishing-or-using-flows.

To view all available tenant-level flows on the My Flows page, apply the Group by: Flow Level filter, as shown in the following illustration:

To copy an existing flow

1. Go to My Flows.
2. Select the flow that you want to copy.
3. Select Actions > Copy Flow.
4. (Optional) Choose a different user account for the connector configuration.
   
   
   
   
5. (Optional) If you want to change the flow level, from the Flow Level list, select Personal Level or Tenant Level.
6. Click OK. 
   A confirmation message appears: Flow has been copied.

To use a flow template

1. Go to Catalog.
2. Select the flow template you want to use.

3. Click . 

   Changes made to the conditional mapping when you use a flow template are not reflected in the flow created by using the template. To update the conditional mapping defined in a flow template, create your flow and then edit the flow to update the conditional mapping.

4. (Optional) Choose a different user account for the connector configuration.
5. (Optional) If you want to change the flow level, from the Flow Level list, select Personal Level or Tenant Level.
6. Click OK. A confirmation message appears: Success! The flow has been added to your My Flows list.